Are online courses on it's way out?

30 replies
I'm a newbie... And although i'm getting better at IM, I still have not made 1$ yet...

I decided to go the email marketing route and built a blog with written articles and YT videos to help the people in my niche.

I created 3 diferent freebies that did not work to well and just finished a new one that I think will do much better than the other ones...

My dream is to create powerful online video courses that ruly help people in my niche, but I have been hearing people say that online courses are on their way out because of the sea of free content out there...

What do you guys think about this?

Obviously we still have at least a couple of years to go before anything substantial changes but am I "going in late", trying to make it in something that is dying?

This is litterally haunting me at night since I feel as though if most content becomes free, how will I make money when I sleep?

The main reason why I put so much effort into online marketing was because of my vision of what my life could one day be like:

- Quit my deadend UPS day job of doom
- Travel often (3 months per year)
- Only need my laptop and an internet connection to work
- Make money while I sleep
- Have free time to do cool, fun and adventurous things
- Make between 100k and 200k per year...

... I mean, is this life still possible?? Is it going to be later on?
#courses #online
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  • Profile picture of the author smartprofitmoney
    Originally Posted by Jake Green View Post

    I'm a newbie... And although i'm getting better at IM, I still have not made 1$ yet...

    I decided to go the email marketing route and built a blog with written articles and YT videos to help the people in my niche.

    I created 3 diferent freebies that did not work to well and just finished a new one that I think will do much better than the other ones...

    My dream is to create powerful online video courses that ruly help people in my niche, but I have been hearing people say that online courses are on their way out because of the sea of free content out there...

    What do you guys think about this?

    Obviously we still have at least a couple of years to go before anything substantial changes but am I "going in late", trying to make it in something that is dying?

    This is litterally haunting me at night since I feel as though if most content becomes free, how will I make money when I sleep?

    The main reason why I put so much effort into online marketing was because of my vision of what my life could one day be like:

    - Quit my deadend UPS day job of doom
    - Travel often (3 months per year)
    - Only need my laptop and an internet connection to work
    - Make money while I sleep
    - Have free time to do cool, fun and adventurous things
    - Make between 100k and 200k per year...

    ... I mean, is this life still possible?? Is it going to be later on?
    Hello,

    Having a online training course, for a niche that your in, is great, then sell it on as many affiliate platforms as you can, you can make a lot of money, now the hard part is, creating the course and funnel system, but you are on track.

    Try to build it on WordPress, with membership system.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    IMO they can still work.
    Yes people are giving information for "free" but often the information given for free isn't the same quality as the content that some private communities offer. As long as you can offer content that isn't available for free you have a shot.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    You don't mention (in this thread, at least) how qualified you are to help people in this niche. Is it your experience, your education, an interest in the niche on your part...or does it look like a 'good' niche? The below comments sound good...

    ...to help the people in my niche.
    My dream is to create powerful online video courses thatt ruly help people in my niche
    But at the end you come to this:

    The main reason why I put so much effort into online marketing was because of my vision of what my life could one day be like:

    - Quit my deadend UPS day job of doom
    - Travel often (3 months per year)
    - Only need my laptop and an internet connection to work
    - Make money while I sleep
    - Have free time to do cool, fun and adventurous things
    - Make between 100k and 200k per year...

    ... I mean, is this life still possible?? Is it going to be later on?
    The last part sounds like you drank the Koolaid distributed by so many sales pages of so many MMO products...

    Your problem isn't whether online 'courses' will remain valid - of course they will for a long time to come. However, the internet users become more discerning every year and successful marketers become better at giving the buyers what they want.

    If you want to succeed you need to focus on what you have to GIVE - not on what you want to get.
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  • Profile picture of the author Judey
    Sure, selling online courses is still profitable. If you're an expert in your niche, then you can create a good course and sell for $$$ .

    If you're not really good at creating online courses then focus on promoting affiliate offers in your niche just like how smartprofitmoney suggested.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Originally Posted by Jake Green View Post

    ... I mean, is this life still possible?? Is it going to be later on?
    Like stress, doubt kills. You have to believe in the marketing that you are doing.

    Why would an online course about "passing the police exam" be on its way out (if the interest is there), but almost no one has put forth a solution for it? It's a gaping market already waiting and desiring an answer.

    Would that kind of course be on its way out, to a starving crowd of people looking for "passing the police exam" info?
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    Hi Jake,

    As a newbie, the #1 thing I advise my clients, readers and eBook customers to do is to manage their energy, or, to work on their mindset. This way, when you work on your energy, you do not allow other people's fears to influence your vibe, your decisions, and your inspiration.

    1 perfect example of other people's fears:

    "but I have been hearing people say that online courses are on their way out because of the sea of free content out there..."

    The other people you note are saying this because they believe in scarcity, they fear online courses are not in demand because people will gobble free over pay, and I can likely add 400 more limiting beliefs around their value, the value in their courses, money blocks, the list goes on forever.

    Surround yourself with prospering, successful people. When you level up energetically you begin learning how to create content, how to impress big dawgs by networking effectively, how to be generous, and you will kick these negative nellies to the side and find yourself surrounded with folks who pull the trigger and spend money on courses, eBooks, your services or virtually anything without giving a 2nd thought.

    Ryan
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  • Profile picture of the author Jessica Ambos
    There is free content all over the place but it is not complete. It's different from what you get when you purchase the whole package. You only get a glimpse of the idea from the free content. You can still make money from online courses because people haven't stopped buying it. My boss is continually making videos, courses and blogs for our company Onlinejobs and money is coming in because people get great content from it. They're constantly subscribing and re-subscribing.
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Originally Posted by Jake Green View Post


    My dream is to create powerful online video courses that ruly help people in my niche,[b] but I have been hearing people say that online courses are on their way out because of the sea of free content out there...[/b[

    What do you guys think about this?
    They've been saying this for years. But the fact is people pay money for a convenient, accessible info. that gets straight to the point and helps them
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  • Profile picture of the author rishwoj
    Hi Jake. Honestly you have nothing to worry about, online courses if anything becoming more popular. With new new products being created everyday and platforms created to sell them from.

    With courses/products being released, the trick is making your course stand out from the crowd by researching your niche and finding pain points that you can fix.

    You can do this by looking at similar courses at the reviews and comments at common things things people didn't like and thought were missing but also what they did like as well. Look at both 5* and * star reviews to get some good ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
    The number of internet users is going to to keep growing for many years to come.

    If you look to some of the data say the VNI Global Fixed and Mobile Internet traffic forecast and report. Details here---> https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/soluti...vni/index.html

    One thing that stands out is "video" is predicted to be 82% of all internet traffic by 2021 - whitepaper

    Here's an infographic for you to peruse.



    I think it is a pretty safe bet people will still consume video content and that includes training courses and video instruction so I wouldn't be stressing over what to produce instead.

    Best regards,

    Ozi
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    Courses aren't going anywhere and there is plenty of info (at least in the MMO niche) that you can't find for free on the net.

    What is your niche?
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by Jake Green View Post

    ... I have been hearing people say that online courses are on their way out because of the sea of free content out there...

    As a marketer and business owner, nothing is more dangerous than to believe everything you hear online. Especially if you believe it to the point that it haunts you at night! You're getting all worked up over nothing and you're listening to people that aren't successful selling their own courses. There are many that are "killing it" with info selling.

    Online courses, in fact, information products in all their various forms will always be in demand. So what if the same information is available somewhere else online?
    • Many people in the niche are brand new and just want their info now.
    • Many people don't want to spend the time to go hunt it down.
    • Many people want an expert's opinion and advice on the information.
    • Many people have no clue how or desire to do research online.
    • Many people want someone in the niche to interact or engage with.
    • Many people would pay to have someone knowledgeable organize and present their information.
    • Many people can't tell useful information from useless information and they want to hear what an expert knows.
    • Many people ... (insert a hundred other reasons why people buy info that is freely available).
    The key to your success is not that you have information that no one else in the niche has. Rather, you will be successful when you give prospects in the niche exactly what they want and do it in a way that sets you apart from all the other competition so that buying from you is the prospects only logical choice.


    It's been this way since I came online in the mid 1990's and it will continue to be this way for the foreseeable future.


    Forget the myths that are holding you back and get to work becoming remarkable in your niche.


    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnVianny
    There will be and always have been "FREE" courses.

    That's why they call 'giveaway'. It's something which is useful to let people know you and perceive you as an expert, then you can sell something more expensive.

    But i think the problem is not in the video courses you sell but IN THE PROCESS.

    How do yoi acquire leads? I suggest you to use payed ads, if you don't have any experience maybe it will be better to go to Solo Ads. Go in warrior forum classified ads, solo ads and then choose one. They have reviews so you can judge.

    If your niche isnt im, you can easily find solo ads in Clickonomy and Udimi.

    Step 2: did you put in your thank you page, the selling page of your product or something similar? So you can go to instant monetization and cash some money back from advertising.

    Then: the money are made in the back end, when we talk about email marketing.
    Do you have a good funnell? I mean a sequence of email to nurture your leads, present yourself, and then sell something valuable?

    You need to think out of the box: your potential customer will buy from u if you represent and AUTHORITY for them.

    So direct marketing, email marketing, are elements focused on make you an authority in your field, people expecting the best will buy from you when you have won the battle in their mind.
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  • Profile picture of the author SiteNameSales
    Just my opinion, but courses with a big ticket funnel are the way to go if you are going to invest in promoting courses. Unless you have a very sizable list your advertising costs are going to make for very tough going with a ceiling of $99 or so.

    The more expensive courses usually offer ongoing coaching opportunities and other perks that make it worthwhile for those who can afford it. Not everybody is able, but there is no shortage of those who can.
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  • Profile picture of the author seotprosperity
    If it was as easy and as good as you want it to be in your points bellow of making 100k to 200k per year and make money while you sleep and travel often...why wouldn't everyone be doing it?

    There is opportunity online but it requires you to treat it like a real business, take the risks, and invest/be committed to it efficiently. (Along with a host of other things to mention.)
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    Yes. People worldwide have decided to give up learning new things and improving themselves. Soon universities will be closing their doors for good.

    Everything is free on the Internet.

    Online courses...just another "dead" thing.

    Brent
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Meaney
    Our industry is projected to be worth $325 billion by 2025.

    It's not just about the information, it's also about the people teaching it.

    Remember in school you probably had that one awesome teacher who believed in you? If you become that to an adult who's learning from you, they'll pay good money to feel that kind of significance again.

    We're not just selling information, we're selling support, encouragement, motivation and belief.

    We're selling them a better version of themselves.
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  • Profile picture of the author ydsimple
    There will be always those who will be ready to give you money for valuable info, so dont worry about that, create product and start selling it. Good luck :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author SiteNameSales
    "Education costs money. But then so does ignorance." - Sir Claus Moser
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  • Profile picture of the author tritrain
    People are reading less and watching video more. Responsive, interactive content is also the future. As long as online learning can adjust to the changing landscape it will stay relevant.
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  • Profile picture of the author leadmachine2
    Online courses are still popular today. Maybe not as before but with online courses you can earn some good money if you follow idea and if you have something unique to offer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bella Lopez
    Have you established your footing in your own niche? Why should people buy an online course from you? What makes your course different than the hundred ones out there?

    Online courses are not on their way out for sure. You just need to know how to design the courses in a right way and market them to the right audience for your niche.

    If you know how it works, you'll easily make between 100K-200K and even more.
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  • Profile picture of the author superowid
    Get practice on udemy.com or skillshare.com and see your self how you perform.
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  • Profile picture of the author jonatan snellman
    Here's my take on this: ''people say that online courses are on their way out because of the sea of free content out there...''

    - Normally when someone says that something is dead or saturated it's just because they're trying to sell you on their offer instead. There's no such thing as saturation, it's all about what value you can bring to the table.

    - There's a lot of free content out there but unless someone knows what to do with that content, it won't help them in anyway. What you can offer them is the solution+how to do it (Step by step-system showing how to do it is preferred by most people).

    - It's good to have a vision what you wanna achieve but you still need to have a strategy for achieving the vision you've created.

    I think your vision is very obtainable IF you decide to put in the work and create a strategy for how you're going to get there.

    - Jonatan
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Brindamour
    Jake,

    I think online course will be around for the long term.

    There are 3 (maybe 4) things that you need to make money online:

    1. A Product - something that is in demand that others have also made money from (look for proof)

    2. A System - a combination of landing pages, video sales pages, sales pages and email followup, that will automate most of your business.

    3. Traffic - this is the one area most newbies struggle with. You need a constant flow of eyeballs to your offer in order to generate sales. Not everyone will buy or not buy right away. There are so many ways to generate traffic.

    The one other thing I would suggest you get is a mentor. Find someone who is successful at what you are doing and learn from. Model what they are doing...why recreate the wheel.

    You need all of these in place in order to start making money. You'll need to constantly tweak these and make them better.

    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author xeniux
    There is no quick money, if you want to learn how to generate income you might need to learn from those who had failed and become success.

    WF, Udemy, is some of the place that might help you in your journey.
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  • Profile picture of the author ClarityDesigns
    Udemy is a great website to upload your course if you want to make some money.
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  • I think courses still have there place and can still be profitable.

    Depending on the niche and how much the industry changes in that niche may dictate how long the course is relevant, meaning you may have to update the course or find a new course to create.

    Over time you could get competitors who may copy you if you are successful and again causing you to have to create a newer course.

    That being said, yes the free content is out there, but there is so much of it, it could take forever to find all the information you need to get started. Also once people get the information they won't even know where to start. Thus falling back on purchasing a course.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    It would help to know the niche because video isn't always the best delivery method.

    Example, If my niche is building wordpress themes, as traffic, I'd rather be copy/pasting code as I follow a webpage tutorial than trying to max out the video res. and keep pausing the video to read the code examples.
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