Most Online Courses Don’t Sell. Here’s Why (And How To Fix Ix)
Don’t make this mistake unless you want to end up frustrated and broke
I might look like a loser admitting this, but let me tell ya:
I wish I could say that all 80+ courses I launched over the past decade were bestsellers.
But that’s not the case. Most of them were plain duds. Ouch.
There are many reasons why online courses don’t sell.
But if I had to pick one, it would be the one I’m going to share in this article.
See…
I’ve been selling courses for 10 years, and for a long time, I was stuck.
I’d launch a new course and would hope for the best. Sometimes I’d get a few sales, but nothing like the success I knew was possible.
It was frustrating, especially when I knew the content could really help people.
But no matter how much I improved the course itself, the results stayed the same.
Today, things are different.
My courses consistently sell, bringing in the kind of income I used to dream about.
So if your dream is to monetize your expertise with online courses, then pay close attention to what’s going to follow. Because it’s going to save you months (or even years) of frustration.
The marketing gurus aren’t telling you the full truth
Perhaps you’ve been thinking about launching your course. You went down the never-ending rabbit holes of finding the right LMS, autoresponder, landing page creator…
Maybe you took the leap and poured your heart and soul into creating a course. You’ve spent countless hours refining the content, perfecting the lessons, and making sure everything is just right.
But then, when you finally launch it, the response is crickets.
You check your email, your LMS dashboard, your notifications — nothing. The excitement you once felt turns into frustration and doubt.
You start questioning everything.
Was the course content not good enough? Did you price it wrong? Or maybe it’s just you — you’re not cut out for this after all. It’s painful to see something you believed in so strongly, something you knew could help people, fall flat.
And the worst part?
The feeling that you’ve wasted your time. Time you can’t get back.
Deep down, you have this burning desire to share your expertise with the world. You know you have valuable knowledge that could truly help others. But without anyone to share it with, it feels like you’re shouting into the void.
The fear of failure starts creeping in, and with it, the temptation to give up on your dream altogether.
Don’t waste your time on this
Maybe you thought the problem was with your marketing strategy.
Maybe you’ve tried spending money on ads, hoping that if you could just get your course in front of more eyes, sales would start rolling in. But running ads is tough. Clicks don’t necessarily translate to conversions. And quickly, the money can feel like vanished into thin air.
I know it because I’ve spent over $30,000 on ads myself.
Or perhaps you thought the issue was the platform you were using. Maybe you jumped from one funnel platform to another, each time believing that this new system would be the magic bullet. But after a few weeks, you realized the problem wasn’t the platform, and you were left feeling even more frustrated.
Then there’s the classic mistake of thinking you just need to create more content. So you doubled down, producing more lessons, adding bonuses, and making the course bigger and more comprehensive.
You’re busting your butt to create more “value.”
But that didn’t move the needle either. Instead, it just left you feeling exhausted, like you were spinning your wheels and getting nowhere — working for peanuts.
It’s easy to blame yourself when things don’t go as planned.
You start thinking that maybe you’re just not cut out for this, that you’re not good enough to sell a course, or that your expertise isn’t as valuable as you thought.
But it’s not your fault.
You’ve been led to believe that if you just create a great course, people will come. That’s the narrative that gets sold over and over again in the online business world. This is the narrative that’s been pushed by so many so-called “gurus” who make it sound easy, but it’s flawed.
But it’s not the whole story.
The reality is that even the best course in the world won’t sell if there’s no one to buy it.
Is your course (really) useless?
Perhaps you’ve tried to build an audience before but gave up because it felt like too much work or didn’t see immediate results.
Maybe you thought you could just create the course first and worry about the audience later. But here’s the thing: that’s like trying to sell a product in a store that no one ever walks into.
The weak point of these approaches is that they put the cart before the horse.
They focus on the course itself, assuming that people will magically show up to buy it.
But without an audience, there’s:
- no one to sell to,
- no one to listen to your message,
- and no one to appreciate the value you’re offering.
What you really need is a way to build an audience first, a group of people who are already interested in what you have to say, who trust you, and who are eager to learn from you.
This way, when you do launch your course, you’re not launching it into the void.
So the real problem is not creating a course; it’s about creating an audience for that course (and for everything else you want to offer).
The secret every successful course creator knows
Trying to sell a course without an audience is like trying to start a fire without any kindling. You might have all the right tools — the matches, the logs, the firestarter — but without something to catch the flame, you’re never going to get that fire going.
Building an audience is like gathering that kindling.
It’s the foundation you need to create something that can really take off. When you have an engaged audience, selling your course becomes infinitely easier because you’re not starting from scratch. You’re starting with a group of people who already know, like, and trust you.
When I launched the first version of my note-taking course back in 2022, I didn’t start by building the course. I started by writing articles on Medium and sharing my expertise about note-taking.
I watched what resonated with people, what got shared, and what sparked conversations. From there, I started building a list, gathering the people who were interested in what I had to say.
By the time I launched my course, I wasn’t launching it to strangers — I was launching it to a warm audience who was already invested in the topic.
The result? Five figures in sales in just 90 days.
That’s the power of building an audience first.
I wish I could say I knew this all along, but the truth is, I had to learn it the hard way.
When I first started out, I made the same mistakes everyone else makes.
I spent months creating a course, convinced that as soon as I launched it, the sales would start rolling in.
But they didn’t.
I too believed in the lie of “build the best product out there and they’ll come.”
I was devastated. All that work, and nothing to show for it.
But instead of giving up, I started paying attention to what other successful course creators were doing. And I noticed an untold pattern — they all had an audience before they ever launched a course.
So that’s what I did, too.
I started sharing my knowledge for free, writing articles and creating content that would attract the kind of audience I wanted to serve.
Slowly but surely, I built a list of people who were interested in what I had to say.
The right way to launch a course
Your course is the solution to a problem. But without an audience, there’s no one to solve that problem for.
Stop overthinking about creating your course; instead, start overthinking about how you could build an audience of people interested in what you have to say.
Obviously, the easiest way to get started is by creating organic content.
This could be through blog posts, YouTube videos, social media content, or any other platform where your target audience hangs out.
The key is to focus on providing interesting content.
Pay attention to what resonates with them, what questions they ask, and what content gets the most engagement.
Each one of your pieces should build your email list from day one because email is how you launch successful online courses. You’ve probably heard about that before.
The best way to build your list is to offer something of value in exchange, like a free guide, a checklist, or an exclusive video. This helps you create a direct line of communication with your audience and allows you to nurture that relationship over time.
Then, you want to keep those email subscribers engaged by sending regular newsletters. I send daily emails, but you don’t have to.
However, I would at least recommend sending an email once per week so that people don’t forget you.
You’ll have a list of engaged, interested people who are primed and ready to buy. And because you’ve taken the time to build that relationship, they’ll be much more likely to trust you and invest in what you’re offering.
If you’re doing things right, then people are also going to reply to emails. Simply start noticing the patterns. What do they ask about?
When you’re ready to create your course, you won’t be starting from zero.
It’s not the quick fix that everyone wants, but it’s the solution that works.
Audience first, course second.
If you want to monetize your expertise with online courses, click here to get my free course.
