How AI Can Help You Scale Online Course Production

The Power of Online Courses

This course on Udemy has over 1.3 million sales, and this one has over 1.8 million sales. Now, assuming each Online Course was sold at the minimum amount of $19 each, that’s over $34 million, minus a 50% commission for Udemy, and that’s approximately $17 million from one Online Course for this content creator, which is absolutely insane. Especially as it’s something they only had to create once and can quite literally sell over 1 million times, generating passive income for years to come.

Now, imagine for a second if that was a physical product. You would have to deal with suppliers, get products made and shipped, stored, and delivered. I mean, how many t-shirts would you have to sell to make over $17 million? I feel tired just trying to think about it. But with digital products like Online Courses, everything is automated.

This is the power of Online Courses, and in this article, I’m going to show you how you can get a piece of this pie yourself using just AI tools. I know what you’re thinking, “Gareth, this is an anomaly. There’s no way I can make that much money.” And you’re probably right. But as they say, if you shoot for the moon, then you’ll at least hit the stars.

And as someone that makes thousands of dollars each month with different Online Course sales, I can say with confidence that this is very doable. And thanks to new AI tools, it’s even easier than ever. Maybe you already have an idea or a niche and just want AI to do some of the work for you, or this is the first time you thought about it.

The Online Course industry is absolutely booming right now, and I have at least one Online Course attached to each one of my YouTube channels. It’s one of the best ways to monetize your views, especially as you don’t need millions of views to earn a good living, just a few thousand well-targeted ones.

We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.

Manual vs. AI-Powered Online Course Creation

But the Online Courses I previously created came with a massive investment in terms of both time and money. The one on this channel took me months to make. But now AI can do most, if not all, of the work for you. So today, I want to take you through two methods: one that is more manual and another that uses a new form of AI to do the research, planning, and even the content creation for you.

I highly recommend reading both, as understanding how to manually do things will better prepare you for using the AI tools properly.

Method One: The More Manual Approach

The first step in this manual method is research. We need to find out what’s sold the most in the past and what’s actually selling now, so the most popular and trending topics.

To do this, we need to go to one of the big Online Course platforms out there. I personally like using Udemy as it’s a bit like the Amazon for Online Courses. They literally have every course in every possible niche you can imagine.

Once inside, you can search based on your niche using the search bar at the top or by scrolling through the homepage, where they show most of the top-performing Online Courses. When on the homepage, two sections normally stand out: a broad section of courses and top categories. These sections will lead you to some of the best-performing Online Courses Udemy has.

Remember, Udemy has an algorithm just like Amazon, so it’s going to recommend the Online Courses that sell best. From here, you want to delve deeper into topics and sub-niches. Take the time to go through most of the popular and trending Online Courses.

Then, when you have your Online Course idea, you want to click into it. From here, you can see the feedback, reviews, course contents, and a full breakdown of what you will actually learn in the Online Course. So make sure to dig deep into the comments and reviews section to see what people said was bad about it or what was missing. This will help you improve the Online Course and make your future course stand out even more.

Choosing the Right Online Course Niche

Now, on a quick sidebar, it’s worth noting that if you want to use AI as much as possible, then you will want to pick beginner-style Online Courses or less visual topics. Otherwise, you’re going to have to create complicated screen recordings later on, which AI just currently can’t do for you.

For example, an advanced Online Course on Excel spreadsheets will require screen recordings that AI can’t create yet. So more theoretical Online Courses are going to be easier to create with AI tools, at least for now.

Your next step will be creating your content outline for your Online Course and modules. This can be a combination of what’s inside the top courses and what people said was missing. If you want to make your life even easier, then I would recommend that you buy the course and use tools like Descript to record a transcript of the videos.

Then you can use ChatGPT or other AI writing tools to rewrite the content for your own videos later. Just make sure that they are original; don’t copy directly.

Scripting and Recording with AI

From here, you want to get ChatGPT to create the scripts for each video. Make sure to fact-check if required, as ChatGPT can only rewrite or reword scripts that are about 6 minutes long. But it is getting better, so if your videos are longer, you may need to break them down into sections to get the best results for your scripts.

Once you have your scripts, use AI text-to-speech tools like ElevenLabs to create human-like voices. Now, don’t worry, I’ll put links and resources to all of the tools I use and recommend in this article, along with any free accounts or discounts that are available.

You could use a human-like AI presentation tool like HeyHi to have a live presenter inside your videos. But I personally prefer the realistic voices of ElevenLabs, and I’m not convinced that people like reading these types of articles for Online Courses. People still get funny about learning from AI, thinking it’s just a faceless video with a real human voice on the other end. HeyHi’s voices can sound a bit robotic, at least at the time of recording this.

Creating Video Content for Your Online Course

If you’re already a faceless YouTube Creator or you’ve read previous articles on this blog, then this is where your AI tools and skills come into play. If not, I’ll also link to a good AI guide below the article that can show you how to do all of this.

You could use Canva to build out classic slide presentations or Pictory for mixed video and image videos. It just depends on what style works best for your chosen niche and Online Course. You can even ask ChatGPT to create these slides for you and use Pictory or Descript to bring them all together.

There are literally so many ways to create high-quality, faceless videos out there these days. Or you could, of course, go old-school and record the scripts and videos yourself to give it the human touch. These types of Online Courses are still generally seen as being more high-value.

But select what style works best for you and your brand. Obviously being in the videos will take much more work for you.

Delivering Your Online Course

Next up, we need to get ready for delivering the complete Online Course in an automated and secure way. To do this, you need to upload your content to a learning platform.

There are two main options here: uploading to a platform like Udemy, where they do all of the marketing and selling for you, but they do take at least 50% of the earnings. And you’ll be competing against the very Online Courses you just decided to replicate, which can work out if there’s enough demand and your course is better or at least of similar quality. But obviously, it only takes a few bad reviews to knock you down the rankings in the algorithm.

So if you do do this, then try to make sure your Online Course is a little bit different to stand out, or maybe offer a combination of two courses to make it even better and bigger.

The other way is selling it yourself. If you have a traffic source like a YouTube channel, then this is the best way, in my opinion, as you can build out your own school with multiple Online Courses and keep 100% of the profit. Plus, you aren’t competing against anyone else.

I use a tool called LearnWorlds for this, as it’s simple and easy to use and allows me to build out multiple schools for different channels.

Method Two: Using AI for Online Course Creation

A quick sidebar before we get started, and a pro tip that I’ve learned is yes, you can get AI to do most of the work for you. But don’t be too lazy. I mean, ChatGPT-4 and some of these writing tools are absolutely amazing. However, the more effort that you put in, in my experience, the more money you are likely to make, and the lower your refund rate will be.

Sure, you can make some fast cash, but a good, well-thought-out Online Course that actually delivers the desired result that the student wants will make you money for years to come.

Okay, back to it. The AI tool that I love and use for method two is called Eureka. Again, I’ll put links below thee article. This tool basically automates everything that we did in method one. It searches topics and niches, giving you ideas on mass, showing how many Online Courses have been sold and approximately how much they have made in total, which is a great way to find opportunities that are actually going to be worth your time.

Just enter the main keyword for the niche idea you have, or use a few of the main topic ideas from inside Udemy if you’re stuck here. This, for example, could be “weight loss.” Just enter the keyword and click search, and in a few moments, it will display hundreds of Online Courses, listing the average price and overall opportunity score.

This score uses an algorithm with ratios weighing enrollments per course and the likelihood of getting a minimum of $2,000 enrollments, plus other ratios and calculations which help show how successful an Online Course in this niche could potentially be. They actually have a full 30-minute walkthrough of how it works, which I really recommend reading before you get started.

Finding Profitable Online Course Ideas with Eureka

You then have the filter tabs across the top for going even more niche. One I really like is “badge,” where it selects the best sellers and highest rated from all of the course platforms out there.

The Online Course results it generates are listed below. You can see the length, earnings, and number of sales at a glance. You can also click each course for more details. Inside here, you have a description, course outline, and even reviews.

You can click the “AI Gap Analysis,” and it will give you feedback on what potentially is missing and needs improvement. You can then save it into your library if relevant for creating ideas later.

I can see here that people like “hypnosis,” “fasting,” and “mini habits,” which are topics I wouldn’t have thought of for weight loss myself. A good idea may be combining two of these topics for an even better Online Course.

Automated Online Course Planning and Creation

From here, you can go into the “AI Lesson Architect” or “Content Planner” to start building out your Online Course content and lessons. These are basically connected to ChatGPT. However, they organize everything, storing progress and making your prompts better than using ChatGPT on its own. It gives you the framework and guidance you need to build out your Online Course.

You’ll still need to create your faceless videos with either AI or outsourcing, and then upload them to Udemy or LearnWorlds for selling. But the research, planning, and scripting are the hardest parts of the process, and it can take months to do. Eureka makes that process much, much faster and easier.

Promoting Your Online Course on YouTube

With that said, if you would like to learn how to sell your Online Course by creating your profitable YouTube channel, then check out the links below the article.

Thanks for reading, and until next time!

FAQs:

The world of online education is vast and ever-expanding. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions to help you navigate your online learning journey:

Which is the best course to study online?

Unfortunately, there’s no single “best” course for everyone. The ideal course depends on your individual goals, interests, and career aspirations. Here are some tips to find the perfect fit:

Identify your goals: What do you hope to achieve by taking an online course? Do you want to develop new skills, advance in your current career, or explore a new field altogether?
Consider your interests: What are you passionate about? Choose a course that aligns with your interests to stay engaged and motivated.
Research course options: Explore online learning platforms like Coursera, edX, Udemy, and FutureLearn to discover a wide range of courses in various disciplines.
Read reviews and ratings: Check what other learners have to say about the course content, instructor, and overall experience.

Is an online certificate accepted in Nigeria?

The acceptance of online certificates in Nigeria can vary depending on the employer, industry, and specific course. Here’s a breakdown:

Reputable platforms: Certificates from well-established online learning platforms like Coursera or edX carrying credentials from accredited universities are generally well-regarded.
Relevance to the job: The most important factor is the relevance of the online certificate to the specific job you’re applying for. If the certificate demonstrates valuable skills and knowledge aligned with the position’s requirements, it can hold significant weight.
Combine with experience: For stronger validation, online certificates are often viewed more favorably when combined with relevant work experience or internships.

It’s advisable to directly contact potential employers or professional organizations in your field to inquire about their stance on online certificates.

What courses can you do online?

The beauty of online learning is its vast selection! Here’s just a glimpse of the extensive range of courses available:

Business and Management: From project management to marketing and entrepreneurship.
Computer Science and IT: Learn coding, web development, cybersecurity, and more.
Data Science and Analytics: Understand data analysis techniques, machine learning, and data visualization.
Design and Arts: Explore graphic design, animation, creative writing, and photography.
Personal Development: Improve communication skills, time management, and leadership qualities.
Health and Fitness: Learn about nutrition, exercise science, and healthy living practices.

There are countless other categories, so you’re sure to find a course that piques your interest.

How can I learn from online courses?

Effective online learning requires a proactive approach. Here are some tips to maximize your learning experience:

Set clear goals: Define what you want to achieve by the end of the course.
Create a dedicated study schedule: Set aside regular time to focus on the course material.
Actively participate in discussions: Many online courses offer forums and discussions – engage with your peers and instructors.
Complete assignments and quizzes: Actively apply what you learn by completing coursework.
Seek additional resources: Don’t hesitate to explore supplemental materials like books, articles, or videos to deepen your understanding.

By following these tips and approaching online courses with dedication, you can unlock valuable knowledge and skills to empower your personal and professional growth.