How To Do Topic Research For Your Online Courses

When I first started creating courses online I picked topics that I had some basic knowledge in and created courses based on those topics.

I didn’t do much research to see what was selling or what was popular which as I eventually found out was a huge mistake.

I kinda was just like “Let’s publish it, get it online, and see where it goes from there.”

Although this worked in a way because it forced me to get my courses online it also made me waste a lot of time creating courses that didn’t sell really well.

I got a few courses that did okay, and I had some others that didn’t do so well.

What I learned from this is that if you have a good idea of what topic is selling and what courses are in demand you will have a way easier time selling your online course…

WAY EASIER, and ultimately you will make more money.

When I created my JavaScript for beginners course I did a lot of research and I made sure that before I started to even create the course I knew it was going to sell.

I researched the web development category and found out that JavaScript is the number one topic on Udemy.

When I went ahead and created my JavaScript basics course I knew it was going to do well because I already did the research for it ahead of time.

I was confident going into the course creation process that I would be well rewarded for my hard work, and because of this I created a high quality course on the topic of JavaScript.

That course brings me in an average of about $1000 in sales from Udemy organic traffic each month alone…

This is the power of doing topic research before you create your online courses, it’s really that important.

Now let’s talk about how you can go about and do basic topic research for your online courses. Here are some tips that I have to share with you…

If you can find topics that have courses with a lot of students and reviews then you can be sure that topic is in high demand.

See a course with 20,000 students and 100+ reviews?

That a good sign!

This means that a lot of people are looking for courses revolving around this main topic and selling your own course in this niche will be a heck of a lot easier because people are already looking to buy.

If you manage to find multiple courses in a topic with high enrollments and reviews you are gold.

My next tip is something that goes a little bit against the grain but if you notice that a particular topic has a lot of courses teaching it then that proves that a lot of people are buying courses on that topic as well.

Sure there will be more competition but there will also be more people searching for courses on that topic as well.

When you don’t have an existing audience to sell to this is a great opportunity for you to get new eyeballs in front of your course.

As time moves on your course will be better and rank better than other courses especially on websites like Udemy.

Don’t be afraid if there are other courses teaching your topic you can take advantage of this and borrow some of those existing buying students.

Don’t spend days, weeks, and months doing topic research. At the most spend maybe 1 day looking around, remember all you are really looking for is an audience that is already buying.

Look at some of the categories on Udemy and pay attention to the best sellers list.

These are the topics and niches that are selling the most. This is how I came up with the idea of teaching a course on JavaScript, it was the top selling topic for web development.

I recommend that at the most you spend maybe 1–3 hours doing topic selection, especially if you are in the process of creating your very first online course.

The important thing is to get a course out there and make some sales so you can start growing your online business and making your dream a reality.

I also want go ahead and mention that Udemy recently released an instructor insights tool to help you do topic research for your online courses.

Although I wouldn’t put 100% of my faith in it, it’s great for brainstorming and validating course topics.

You can access the tool by logging into your instructor dashboard and clicking on the insights tab.

I offer free courses that will help you earn more income from selling online courses.

I cover topic research and everything else needed to create and sell online courses.

Share your thoughts below!

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