Top Profitable Online Course Ideas

According to some estimations, the online learning market is expected to reach $319 billion by 2025. The share of online courses is likely to reach $49 billion in the next seven years. This is why company owners are looking for the best ideas for online courses that will help them increase their profits and scale up their businesses.

In the wake of the pandemic, it’s now more apparent than ever that the demand for online education is growing and the eLearning industry is struggling to meet it. The online education space is being reshaped by an influx of investments and new players. However, not only educational institutions and large companies can benefit from the growing trend. Private entrepreneurs and professionals of all kinds can also leverage eLearning techniques.

The job market has seen the impact of this tendency as well. With the annual salary of an eLearning curriculum developer reaching $81,260 in the U.S., it is a daunting task to launch a successful course when your business is still in the early development stage. This is why we decided to round up the best online course ideas that can help you stand out among other eLearning content providers and boost your profits by creating a course by yourself.

What is an online course?

Online courses are web-based learning materials aimed at helping students get real-world skills. While they take place in a virtual environment, they are still organized around a traditional syllabus. To develop a strong course syllabus, you need to find your business niche, select your target audience, research the topic, and ensure that content that you offer can help your clients develop their skills.

While educational institutions offer courses that can be a part of a certification program or a degree, small eLearning businesses are usually focused on a specific skill.

There are multiple reasons for becoming an online course creator:

• online courses don’t require significant investment if you are an expert in your field;
• they are a stable source of income;
• they increase the visibility of a brand;
• they allow you to expand your audience and practice networking.

Offering upskilling opportunities to your clients can make your digital marketing funnel more effective and improve your retention rate.

Want to create an online course?

Our online course builder is up and running and geared towards your most innovative and ground-breaking eLearning ideas! Upload your videos, textbooks, and podcasts, run tests, add and collect homework assignments, and issue certificates of completion — all of this and more is now possible with SendPulse.

Revenue-generating ideas for online courses

We’ve made a detailed list of the most popular course topics to help you find inspiration for creating your own course. The general advice is to launch a course on a topic you specialize in. It will allow you to promote your personal brand and become a well-known expert in the field.

Health and wellness course ideas

If you provide health and wellness coaching services, you can share your experience with your followers by launching a subscription-based online course. For instance, Dr. Poppendieck, a college professor with over 15 years of teaching experience, has created the Health and Wellness Online site.

She offers a range of continuing-education programs aimed at helping people cope with the addiction of their loved ones, detect signs of drug use, use social media in a meaningful way, stay healthy at an advanced age, use herbs for solving health issues, improve eating habits, overcome grief, care for pets, and select the most effective parenting style.

As the competition in this niche is quite high, you can stand out by narrowing down the topic of your course. If you have been working remotely for years, you can offer a course to people with a sedentary lifestyle and explain how to lose weight.

Nutritional courses for vegetarians and people with allergies are in high demand as well. If you are a fitness trainer, you can increase your profits by offering a fee-based online course that will help you increase your passive income. Yoga courses remain in high demand too.

Tech product development course ideas

Whether you are a web developer, app and software developer, or UX designer, you can build a profitable side business by teaching others how to master new skills.

LearnSQL offers a variety of courses for data scientists and those who want to master the structured query language. The platform has 66 courses for teams and individuals. It offers generous discounts to students and has convenient subscription options, with the possibility to purchase lifetime access.

You can also offer courses on programming languages, responsive website development, JavaScript, Python, app development, and web design. To make your course materials more engaging, add tests and exercises. It will encourage your students to stay longer on your website.

Alternatively, you can share some unique tips. For instance, you can teach your students how to switch careers and land a tech job.

Digital marketing course ideas

If you have a marketing agency, it’s time to earn money by sharing your expertise. Depending on the size of your business and your experience, you can offer eLearning content to individuals and businesses.

Digital Marketing Institute created courses for career switchers, company owners, and marketing professionals who want to improve their skills. It has a choice of certification programs and standalone courses that can be used for upskilling. Additionally, you can create a course on creating an effective sales funnel, developing brand awareness, managing social media, setting up newsletters, or creating attention-grabbing content.

Want to promote your course?

With SendPulse, you can reach your target audience by sending various types of messages through a communication channel they prefer — email campaigns, web push notifications, SMS, and chatbots for WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, or Telegram.

Self-development course topics

While this niche is extremely popular, you can still offer unique courses that will drive potential clients to subscribe to your membership program. Self-development courses are aimed at improving existing soft skills and helping students acquire new ones.

Jordan Harbinger is a former Wall Street lawyer who launched his podcast with interviews of high-profile guests and achieved huge success. The Jordan Harbinger Show has 5 million monthly downloads. Its creators started to offer free networking courses aimed at the further development of the personal brand. You can also help your students improve their speaking skills, manage stress, and change their mindsets to achieve better productivity.

Foreign language course ideas

If you are bilingual or have a degree in linguistics, translation studies, or language teaching, it’s time to launch an online course. Instead of trying free slots to accommodate your new students, offer them to subscribe to your course instead. It will help you save time and boost your profits.

Learn French With Alexa is a popular eLearning platform offering French courses. The creator of this site has a youtuber with 1.54 million subscribers. She uses her YouTube channel to promote her courses and drive traffic to her website. You can also offer courses to those who want to learn English, Chinese, Spanish, and other languages.

Parenting online course ideas

Whether you have a degree in medicine, child education, psychology, or a related field, you can help parents out by sharing your experience with them. Such courses can also be launched by parents who want to share their expertise in single parenting, potty training, communication, sleep coaching, feeding, time management, etc.

A child psychiatrist Dr. Kaylene Henderson offers a parenting course on her website. She teaches her clients how to handle meltdowns, help kids get along, and become more confident.

Personality development course ideas

While this topic may seem close to self-development, it’s more focused on reassessing relationships, career choices, and lifestyles. Before enrolling in such courses, your potential clients may want to take a personality test on your website. Such courses are created by career counselors, certified psychologists, life coaches, and other professionals in related fields.

A course taught by a renowned psychologist and bestselling author, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, helped 80,000 students better understand themselves and build happier lives.

Home improvement course topics

Manual skills remain in demand, so if you have a knack for redesigning bathrooms, painting walls, or installing new floors, hurry up and share your valuable skills with others. While labor and material shortages slow down home renovations, there is a steady increase in home improvement spending. Offer courses in kitchen remodeling, carpentry, or woodworking, and you will be surprised by the high demand.

Naomi Findlay is an Australia-based professional who renovated more than 120 homes and business spaces. On her site, she offers courses on renovating houses and becoming a property stylist.

Photography and videography course ideas

If you are a professional photographer or know how to shoot engaging video footage, share your skills with people who want to follow your footsteps. This way, they will be able to learn at their own pace. You can also share tips on the equipment you use and explain how to edit photos and videos to give them a professional feel.

Rhubarb & Custard is a photo studio offering online lessons to those who want to master the art of photography. You can create landscape, urban, family, wedding, or wildlife photography courses. Alternatively, you can share photo and video editing tips or offer an iPhone photography course.

Homeschooling online course ideas

According to statistics, there are 3.7 million homeschoolers in the U.S. alone. By launching a web-based course for K-12 children, you can meet the rising demand and get a steady influx of clients. You can also narrow down your target audience by offering your services to parents who have children with special needs.

For instance, Dr. Nicole Caldwell, who has been teaching kids and teenagers for 16 years, created a site listing her online courses. She helps her students improve their communication skills, battle dyslexia, overcome math anxiety, and get coding skills.

Final thoughts

By utilizing these online course ideas, you can monetize your knowledge and expand your client base. Make sure to select a course topic that you are genuinely interested in and that might engage your audience as well. Offer invaluable insights to generate interest and provide your clients with an incentive to drive them to subscribe to your course. If this is your first time creating a course, you can use the handy tools available on the SendPulse platform to help you bring your ideas to life.