How to Create and Sell an Online Course for Maximum Profit

The online learning industry is booming. In the US alone, the online learning market is expected to hit $687 billion by 2030—which is a CAGR of 14% over an eight-year stretch.

There’s a significant opportunity to capitalize on this trend, and selling an online course is the easiest way to get your share of the pie. 

I’ve seen plenty of articles on the web explaining how to teach an online course, but few focus on creating one that will actually sell (and sell for high profits). 

This is exactly what we’ll prioritize below. I’ll show you how to create an online course that’s positioned to sell for maximum gain. 

Key Takeaways

• Validate First: Use Google Trends and competitor research to ensure market demand before creating content.
• Niche Down: Focus on a specific “ultra-niche” audience to increase perceived value and conversion rates.
• Mobile-First Delivery: Mobile apps see 45% higher retention and 55% better knowledge retention than traditional platforms.
• Launch Small: Start with a maximum of 10 lessons to reach the market within 30 days and test your concept.
• Premium Pricing: Start with higher price points, as it is easier to lower prices later than to raise them.

Step 1 — Choose a Topic

It’s so much easier to create an online course if it’s about a topic you really know. Not just something you’ve dabbled with once or twice. Focus on what you know best that others might be interested in learning.

Starting with a familiar topic significantly cuts down on your preparation, and it’s easier to sell something that’s coming from an “expert.”

• In-demand skills that you currently possess.
• Industry-specific knowledge based on your career.
• Problems you’ve repeatedly solved for other people.
• Credentials and certifications you have.
• Hobbies you’ve mastered.
• Life experiences and accomplishments.

All of these are good places to start brainstorming. It’s fine to keep it broad for now, as we’ll continue to refine this topic in the next steps to ensure it’s positioned for the highest possible revenue. 

Step 2 — Validate Your Idea

It’s time to make sure the topic actually makes sense to pursue. 

Keep an open mind here, and make sure you’re willing to admit the possibility that your course won’t work. It’s better to validate your idea now as opposed to wasting months of your life only to discover that nobody wants to buy what you’re selling. 

• Use Google Trends to explore search interest in your topic over time.
• Look at similar courses on platforms like Udemy to see if they’re selling.
• Check open job boards to look for relevant skills that employers are seeking.
• Run a poll or survey users on LinkedIn, Reddit, and niche-specific Facebook groups.
• Review Amazon’s best-selling books in your topic category.
• Test interest by running a free webinar (this only works if you already have a strong following).

Don’t rush through this step. 

I’m not saying you need to spend weeks running time-consuming focus groups or expensive ad campaigns. But don’t move on until you feel confident that there’s a strong demand for your course topic. 

Step 3 — Narrow Down Your Target Audience

Now look for a specific niche or submarket of your broader course topic.

Selling an online course should be treated like any other product or business venture. If you try to sell to everyone, you’ll most likely end up selling to nobody. 

It’s way too difficult to sell something that appeals to white-collar men in their 30s while simultaneously appealing to first-time mothers and college students. So just pick one.

For example, I have tons of experience with digital marketing and SEO. 

If I create a course on this topic, I might decide to focus strictly on solopreneurs who want to grow their existing businesses and sharpen their skills. This type of course would look very different if I were targeting first-time marketers, agency owners, or corporate marketing teams. 

Beyond the sales strategy challenges, trying to appeal to multiple audiences ends up diminishing the value of your course materials. 

So start with one ultra-specific niche audience and build everything around that customer persona. 

Step 4 — Pick a Platform to Deliver Your Materials

How exactly do you want to deliver your course to your audience? Potential options include:

• Use an existing learning management system (LMS)
• Create your own mobile app
• Live teaching
• “Locked” content on YouTube
• Membership sites

All of these approaches have pros and cons, but using a mobile app is by far the best path to success. Here’s why.

Metric	Mobile Learning Advantage
Customer Retention	45% Higher
Knowledge Retention	55% Higher
Likelihood to Continue	99% Higher
Completion Speed	45% Faster

Remember, everything we’re focusing on in this guide is about selling courses for the highest potential profit. The data proves that it’s easier to retain your students, and you can get those same people to purchase additional courses when they’re done. 

That’s not all. The mobile learning market is growing at a 30.12% CAGR (compared to 14% for the overall online learning industry).

With platforms like Buildfire’s education app builder, anyone can create their own app without writing a single line of code. Plans start at less than $100 per month, and you can try it for free with a 30-day trial. 

Start with a template that’s specific to online learning, and you can customize your course through Buildfire’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor. 

Best of all, Buildfire has everything you need to create a course that sells. You can set up one-time purchases, ongoing subscriptions, and distribute the course material in any format that you want. 

This also makes it really convenient for anyone who wants to purchase your online course, as they can work at their own pace without being bound to a computer or desk. 

Step 5 — Select a Course Format

Next, decide how you’re going to package and format the course. 

It’s totally up to you, and there’s really no right or wrong approach. This is actually the only step in which your decision won’t have a significant impact on your sales. But I’ll share some common ways you can approach this.

• Video lessons with pre-recorded lectures.

• Slideshow presentations.
• Downloadable PDF workbooks.
• Step-by-step guides.
• Screen recordings for software or technical tutorials.
• Audio-only or podcast-style lessons.
• Progress-dependent courses where a quiz must be completed after each training module.

You can mix multiple formats, but I wouldn’t go overboard by trying to apply everything at once.

For example, if you’re delivering an audio-only masterclass, it probably doesn’t make sense to ask your audience to complete a quiz after each lesson. They might be listening to this in the car, at the gym, or in places where stopping to answer questions just isn’t very practical.

Step 6 — Create the Content

To keep things simple for your first online course, I’d start by creating ten lessons at the absolute maximum. This is easier to visualize and it’s far less in

People are going to make millions of dollars in 2025 selling online courses. Are you going to be one of them?

You don’t have to be a traditional educator to capitalize on the mobile learning trend. As long as you can position yourself or your brand as an expert on a particular subject matter, people will be willing to buy it. Creating your own app is the best way to stand out in this crowded market. So start your free trial of Buildfire today, and take the first step to creating an online course that actually sells.

Frequently Asked Questions