Imagine going through the rigor of creating an online course, only to launch it, and no one sees it, let alone click the payment link to buy your course. This can be frustrating for you. Therefore, to avoid this, you need to know how to drive traffic to your online courses.
Creating an online course is stressful enough. Not to mention the time, effort, and knowledge you put into building something that should put loads of money in your pocket. But the fact remains; getting massive traffic to your online course is not a walk in the park.
You need to prove to people that your course is worth the money. People have to trust you. And if you cannot make all these happen, then your hope of making money from an online course that you’ve dedicated time and energy to create might be a pipe dream.
In that regard, this article highlights proven creative marketing and sales strategies that can drive traction to your online course and help you cash out consistently.
Fasten your seat belt.
1. Build Your Social Media Presence
The possibilities of social media are endless. Facebook alone garners roughly 2.91 billion active users monthly. To this end, you would be leaving a lot of money on the table if you are not leveraging social media to promote your online course.
Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and surprisingly Tiktok are great traffic generation tools when used right. Here are some steps to building authority and relevance online:
- Start by identifying your target market
- Determine what social media network they are
- Check what competitors are doing; their content, time of posting, etc.
- Set up a goal for what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it as this is key to your success
- Post valuable and engaging contents
- Use a call to action in your post
- Optimize your strategies
The main aim of social media is to get the audience to know, like, and trust you. Therefore, you can build authority through your content and take prospects on a journey that transforms them from strangers to repeat customers and ambassadors of your online course.
2. Run Paid Ads
Want to reach more people in a short time? Then running paid ads is the way to go. Google paid ads, Facebook paid ads, or ads on any platform bring the opportunity for many eyes to see your online course.
Depending on your budget, your ads can reach a lot of people. Another exciting thing about running ads is that there is the option of targeting and retargeting. Targeting allows you to target only those interested in your course based on their activities on social media.
For instance, if you have an online fitness course, Facebook targeting would allow you to target individuals who have shown interest in anything relating to health and fitness.
Retargeting allows you to target those who clicked the link to your ads but didn’t take action. This set of individuals could translate to buyers if they consistently see the ads. Therefore, you can never go wrong with running ads for your online course.
3. Guest Post On Blogs
One of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your online course is by leveraging blogs with authority to write about the value your course offers. This builds trust in your prospects and opens you to a massive amount of traffic.
Usually, the blog post would contain an embedded link that leads to your website where sales happen. Also, blog owners may charge a fee for building a backlink to your website.
Lastly, only blogs whose content is related to your online course would help drive good traffic to your course.
4. Build an Email List
It is said that email marketing guarantees better results than any other marketing approach out there. Research shows that the return on investment for every $1 is close to $36.
Therefore building an email list and creating email campaigns could be a turning point to your sales draught as an online course creator.
You can easily get people’s email addresses by gifting them an ebook in exchange for their email.
Furthermore, email marketing requires expert knowledge of managing email marketing tools and writing email sequences that can gradually take prospects through the buyer’s journey. Therefore, you may outsource the job to an email manager/ copywriter or learn from YouTube.
Klaviyo, Aweber, and GetResponse are examples of email marketing tools to get started with.
5. Use Influencer Marketing
Influencers are well-known individuals on social media with a large following. This is an even better way to drive traffic to your online courses than celebrity marketing because you can source for influencers within your chosen course niche.
In contrast, celebrities may have large followings but with individuals who do not need your course.
A recommendation from an influencer is sure to increase traffic on your website because of the trust and love that people have for them.
6. Create A Free Mini-Course
Everybody loves free things. Therefore, to generate a jaw-dropping number of leads, creating a free mini-course is the way to go.
The idea behind free mini-courses is to whet prospects’ appetites and make them see how much value they can get if they buy the main online course.
For instance, to drive traffic for your online courses on graphics design, you can create a free mini-course that shows people how to design simple graphics with their phones.
You can then pitch your online course as an advanced graphic design course for smartphone and PC users.
It is an excellent way of selling without hard selling, and the result is often ideal.
7. Start A YouTube Channel
YouTube marketing can never go out of fashion. Through YouTube, you can create educative and valuable videos for people for free.
As people begin to trust you and your channel gets more recognition, you may introduce your online course to them.
The only downside to YouTube is that it takes time to build. Therefore it is not a route to follow for inpatient course creators. Nonetheless, it is still one of the best ways to drive traffic to your online course.
8. Start A Podcast
Podcasts are downloadable audio files that are done in episodes to educate or inform listeners. With podcasts, you may present your course as a solution to a problem after a series of teaching on the subject matter.
Furthermore, you may pitch your online course when you are introduced as a guest podcaster. But it is always important that you pitch your course to solve problems rather than directly selling to people.
9. Build a Sales Page/Funnel
Just as the name implies, a sales page is a standalone website, injected with written words, images, and videos, with the aim of convincing prospects to take action. This action could be to instantly buy a product, subscribe to a webinar, or take any action to sell in the end.
On the other hand, a sales funnel is a combination of pages. It is systematically built to take prospects from one page to the other upon undertaking the action required on that page.
Setting up your sales page or funnel is quite easy today. Even without coding skills, tools like WordPress, Wix, and Hubspot are excellent content management systems that you can leverage to build your sales page.
In addition, the higher the number of people who see your sales page, the more traffic you get. Therefore, run ads on social media and link to your sales page.
Lastly, a sales page is a one-off pitch that can bring you tonnes of traffic consistently if done right.
10. Start A Blog
Instead of paying to get your website featured on authoritative blogs, you can start your blog. Although, just like YouTube marketing, it is also time-consuming and requires patients and consistency.
Many online course creators may dread this part because of the work involved. But the good thing about building a blog is that it is a sure way to get continuous traffic once your blog begins to rank high.
Also, when prospects see relevant contents that link to your website, it gives them confidence about the course.
Lastly, creating a blog is effortless these days. Sites like blogger.com allow you to build a blog for free.
11. Go Live On Facebook
Going live is a brilliant way to drive traffic to your online course for those who have a strong Facebook presence. Humans love to interact with humans; therefore, you can always leverage this tool to educate your audience regularly.
From your videos, people may begin to ask questions and reach out to you for help. These are avenues for you to help them by offering them your course as a solution.
12. Use Social Proof
Social proof is a way of showing people the behavior of others regarding your course. Examples include the use of customer reviews, testimonials, endorsements from celebrities, and sharing updates of sales on your social media pages.
It is a great way to show credibility because most individuals believe what others say you than what you say about yourself.
That said, using social proof can drastically increase traction in your online course.
13. Join Relevant Groups and Engage Post
Large and relevant social media groups are quite helpful and can increase your chances of getting more traffic.
Facebook groups allow you to post content. Therefore, making good use of this avenue to educate people on your niche quickly positions you as an authority.
It may also surprise many that your comments on social media posts go a long way in helping you gain traction with your online course. But the truth remains that even the most minor efforts count in traffic generation.
Therefore, taking your time to write meaningful and valuable comments on posts related to your niche can help you draw the attention of people who may become your customers with time.
14. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing involves promoting a product or service to get a commission from each sale through your referrals. As an online content creator, platforms like Clickbank, allow you to become a vendor on their sites.
Affiliate marketers who are interested in your courses can then decide to market your course.
As they make sales, they earn a commission, and the rest is yours. It is one of the best options because your course is open to many affiliate marketers, who will market to the bulk of people.
15. Whatsapp Marketing
As much as Whatsapp is a social network for chatting, it is also a very effective tool to drive traffic to your online courses.
With the introduction of WhatsApp status, it is easy to educate people and build authority as an expert.
You may even run ads on your WhatsApp and attract a wide range of people. As such, WhatsApp marketing stands an excellent strategy for driving traffic to your online course.
FAQs
What are the best ways to drive traffic to your online courses?
The best way to drive traffic to your online courses is by running ads and email marketing. With paid ads, you get massive traffic easily and quickly.
Do you need to spend money to drive traffic to your online course?
Yes. Sometimes it may require that you spend some money on advertising. For instance, running ads or building a sales page requires money.
How do you get customers to buy your online course?
Educate your audience and consistently put out content that presents you as an authority.
Final Thoughts
The internet is swamped with information and there is a myriad of options for learners when it comes to online courses. Therefore, how do you drive more traffic to your online courses?
To drive massive traffic to your online course quickly, running ads on social media may be your best bet. However, growing your social media presence may not yield quick results as running ads, it is a more steady and less costly way to drive traffic to your online course in the long run.
To sum it up, the strategies outlined in this article are enough to help you. You may be smiling at the bank every day if you implement one or two of them diligently.
Finally, find out how to create profitable online courses right in this post.
