How to Pick the Perfect Online Course Topic

Choosing an online course topic can be intimidating. Today I am sharing some simple tips and tricks to help you narrow and choose your online course topic. By using these tips, choosing a topic based on your passion for teaching will be easy, streamlined, and original.

I'm going to help you figure out how to choose your online course topic. Hang with me here because you might not be ready to create an online course. But I guarantee you have an amazing idea inside your head! And you've thought about it. If you're a teacher, entrepreneur, or Tutorpreneur®, whatever space you're in - I'm sure you've thought about it. If you’re anything like me, you see other people creating courses and you think “I wish I could do that!” Or “How did they do that and make so much money?!” Well, after today, you’ll know how to select an online course topic because I’m going to give you all the secrets of how to do it for yourself!

Start by writing down all the course ideas you have

My first tip is to write down all the ideas you have that are inside your brain. One of the best things you can do to clear your mind is to get pen and paper out and write everything down. It's called a brain dump. And it really helps you get those things off of your mind so that you can be free to focus on what you are creating. If you’re ready to create your online course, then you definitely need to write down all your ideas, and circle back to the one that's going to work best for you. I think you’ll be surprised how many great ideas you have in that teacher brain of yours!

Make a list of all the questions people have asked you related to your niche

My next tip is to make a list of all the questions that people ask you. If you're kind of stumped right now, and you're thinking “Well, I don't know what my course would be about?” then stick with me. Let's say you have a teacher Instagram account/tutoring account. People keep asking you the same questions. What kind of course could you create that would answer those questions, so that you didn't have to keep answering them? You could direct people to your course, and make money passively once the course is created. Always keep a list of those questions, because that will also help you create weekly content. When you're stumped and you can't think of anything to post about, go back to that list. You'll be shocked how many ideas come back to you just with the questions people ask you. A lot of times I'll even screenshot a DM someone sends me so I can remember to go back and put it into the Google Drive folder that I have with all the questions people asked me.

Be passionate about your topic and your course will come to life

My third tip is be passionate about the course that you want to teach, and it will come to life. So if it's something that you're not excited about, you know, it's not, it's not going to come across as exciting. If your course topic is something you like teaching, people are going to be really excited about it. All of the courses I have created are things that I learned over time which makes me pumped to teach people how to do things on their own, so they can have the same level of success that I've had. If you love talking about it, it comes through. I can't say that enough.

Create a course based around a product or product line

My fourth tip is to create a course based around a product line or a product that you have created on Teachers Pay Teachers, or it could just be something you sell on your own website. The example I want to give you is I have a course called Handwriting Fundamentals and it's based around a handwriting bundle that I sell on Teachers Pay Teachers. I'm passionate about teaching kids handwriting, and I created a mini course, so that someone could take all the letters A through Z, and do it self paced at home. The idea came to me after I had created the handwriting worksheets, and I realized my students thought they were pretty fun. They could feel successful doing them with a little bit of instruction. The lessons are shortened and to the point. When the person purchases the course, they get all of the handwriting sheets. As an added bonus, they don't have to go to Teachers Pay Teachers and buy them. If somebody goes to buy the handwriting worksheets, then part of the listing explains that I have a course too; maybe they might want to take that as well. You can see how you can kind of double dip into things and make sales passively that way. I also taught that same course on Outschool. I have a video about Outschool that you can check out here. You’ll want to watch that video because it explains how I aligned those two things to make extra money teaching online.

Once you’re ready to create your course, I recommend Kajabi! Kajabi offers so much you’ll not only be able to host your course, but you can create your website and start email marketing all with them. Try Kajabi for free for 14 days by clicking here!

Test your course idea out with a beta group

My last tip is to test the idea out with a beta group. A beta group is a group of people or one person that is going to take your course as a test trial, either for a lower price, or you might offer it to them completely free. With my handwriting class, I offered it free to one of my kindergarten and first grade students. I had this student for both years. They gave me feedback in exchange for taking the course for free. It was really great because I got a testimonial out of it. I got to test out the course. Once I got that great feedback, I was able to change things and I could find where my mistakes were and what wasn't working. I really encourage you to do that. My course From Zero to Cha-Ching started with a beta phase and I've gotten the best feedback from that as well. You can sell an offer like that while you're creating it. That's one of the coolest parts of being an entrepreneur is that you can think on your feet and create an offer and people will want to buy it if they like, know and trust you.

I hope you found these tips helpful and that you will be on your way to creating your own online course. Let me know in the comments what your online course idea is! Manifest your idea by putting it out in the universe!

If you’re looking to use a TPT product to guide your course, make sure you’re on the waitlist to be the FIRST to know when From Zero To Cha-Ching opens again!