Selling Video Courses Online - How to Monetize Your Expertise

What's your expertise? Photography? Forex trading? SEO? Video production? Just about everyone has a job, and most of us also have hobbies that we've developed over the years. Many of us have blogs where we talk about our hobbies or jobs in hopes that we can help our peers and educate them.

You may want to take that next step into video, but aren't sure if it's worth it. It's a lot easier to plan and write a blog post or article than it is to plan, tape, and edit a 20 minute video. Usually the barrier isn't the inability to plan, tape, and edit, but to feel like you are compensated for your time and effort. But there is a way to do both: Create great content that your viewers would pay for.

A few tips to keep in mind when creating a video course that you plan on selling:

1. Target your audience -- Make sure you are able to connect with your target audience. If you are creating a series of chess videos, you should probably have a website or blog about chess. Make sure you know how to find your audience on forums and other blogs as well.


2. Create compelling content -- Create a video course that no one else has created, or at least not as well as you can. The length should probably be at least 10 minutes long. If people can find the same information on a free site such as YouTube or other video sites, they probably won't pay you for your course.


3. Package your course well -- Use the important keywords in your niche. Use basic SEO principles when you write your title and description. You want to get organic traffic too, not just the people you specifically target.


4. Engage with our audience - Build relationships with your customers. Answer their questions. When your audience knows there's a person behind the video, they are more likely to purchase - and more likely to purchase again.


5. Have fun! -- If you sound like you love what you're doing, your viewers will enjoy learning from you. You may make that first sale, but repeat customers are what will really fuel your online business.

The Internet has changed drastically over the past few years. People are willing to pay for online content, but only for information they can't find elsewhere. They need to feel like they're getting some extra when they pay. So when you decide to make the move to video, be sure to follow the basic guidelines outlined above.