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How to create, sell, and profit from an online course in 2024

This guide is everything you need to know about creating, launching and selling a course this year.

Video Overview

No time to read?

Watch the video version of our complete guide to online courses.

This guide will teach you how to create an online course. If you already have an ecourse, learn more about Podia’s software to sell online courses and get your free Podia account.

No matter who you are, you have something to teach the world.

Maybe it’s a long-time passion of yours – something you’ve always loved to teach and answer questions about – or maybe it’s something you’ve only considered creating content for in your most far-flung dreams.

Either way, you know if you could just find a way to bottle up that spark of passion in you and deliver it to the world, to customers, you’d be unstoppable.

But it’s always easier said than done, right?

Not anymore. Now, creators everywhere are translating their passion for teaching into revenue-driving online courses, jam-packing their knowledge into content that changes the lives of their customers.

And that’s the ultimate power of creating online courses: it’s not just that they drive six-figure businesses (they do) or that they help creators share their spark with the world while earning passive income – it’s that they change lives.

You probably know that already, though.

That’s not what’s stopping you.

What’s stopping you is the sheer volume of information to get through, like:

  • How do you know if your online course will make any money?
  • How do you narrow in on your niche and find your target audience?
  • Are there any special tools you need for online course creation or marketing?
  • How do you answer customers’ questions in bite-sized video lessons?
  • How do you define the learning objectives for your online course?
  • How do you plan an online course launch with a small list of social media followers and/or email subscribers?

And that’s just the tip of the question-filled iceberg.

Take heart: No matter what subject matter or topic you want to teach, how much experience you have in creating video and lessons, or whether you’ve ever put together a marketing campaign in your life, creating an online course can be accomplished in a few simple, easy steps.

Which is what we’re doing in this epic 12,000-word guide today. We’ve broken down the process into eight simple steps to build an online course:

Sound good? Then let’s get started.

We hope you enjoy our guide, and we wish you the best of luck with your online course!

First chapter

Who should create an online course and what are the benefits?

Is creating an online course right for you? In this chapter, we’ll look at who can benefit from producing an online course and what the perks of online education are for entrepreneurs and their customers. We’ll also take a look at the most common mental barriers that creators face when they get started and the best way to overcome them.

Start reading →