So you’ve taken the time to create a spectacular course that you know your students will benefit from. You’ve done all the research. It’s a course that people want and need. You’re ready to start teaching. Problem is, you don’t have a lot of traffic to the course yet. Hmmm.
Without traffic, you don’t have students or sales. You want to make people aware of your course. And you don’t want just any traffic. You want to attract a stream of relevant traffic filled with people who will likely be interested in your course.
It’s important to have a constant flow of traffic to your course since only a small portion of those visiting will convert to students. To get that traffic, you can and should use the basic proven traffic generating strategies that work for any type of online content. But sometimes you have to think outside the box to increase traffic.
Also, remember there are two main types of traffic: paid traffic and free traffic. Paid traffic comes from you spending money to advertise to get yourself in front of relevant people. You are using other people’s existing audiences, saving yourself a lot of time and effort. Some examples are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
Free traffic can be generated in many different ways. Free traffic is often better quality traffic. This is a bit more hands-on and takes time. Some common ways are Social media or SEO.
Here are my top 8 choices to help you generate traffic to your online course.
1 – Social Media
Social media is by far one of the most popular ways to get traffic. But it can also be a huge time stealer if you don’t take control of it. You want to be sharing content and answer questions but not spending endless hours doing it.
To get more exposure, which in turn builds your traffic, you need to be visible and active on many of the social media platforms. It’s important to do more than just create a profile. You need to post content that encourages engagement on a daily basis. Try to get more followers and respond directly to your audience.
You can post links to your course to get your followers to check out your course.
Facebook groups and pages are a good way to build relationships with an audience and get traffic to your course. Just be aware that Facebook makes it difficult to reach your entire audience when you post.
2 – YouTube
YouTube is still one of the best places to share videos. Creating videos is a great way to show off your course whether it’s a visual course like photography or an audio one like teaching people to sing. YouTube is great for abstract topics as well such as meditation.
3 – Quora
Quora is a question and answer platform. Spend an hour or so each week answering questions related to your niche. Provide a call to action to visit your landing page to check out your online course to learn more.
4 – LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great place to get traffic especially if your topic is meant for professionals. You can post articles and updates on LinkedIn about your topic and comment on other people’s posts. You can have a call to action directly to course on your profile page. You build connections of others who are in similar niches. If your topic is about being an effective manager or writing resumes, LinkedIn is a good place to find traffic.
Create eye catching images or pins that are linked to your course for Pinterest users to click through to learn more about the course.
5 – Email Marketing
Email marketing should be a part of your marketing plan. You should already have started your email list. You’ve been sharing content related to your course topic. You can encourage them to share your content with their friends and family. This can generate new leads to your course.
Another way to drive traffic to your online course through email is to include a link to it in your email signature line. So every time you send an email, your course link is exposes.
6 – Live Videos
Live videos are hot right now. Grab your share of the traffic by doing a Facebook or YouTube live video. Encourage your followers to share the videos to get more traffic. Be sure to include a link to your course.
7 – Guest Posting
To use guest blogging to drive traffic you’ll find blogs related to your topic. You’ll want to find sites that get a lot of traffic. Reach out to see if they will accept a guest post from you. Then if they do, create a great post that is helpful to both their audience and your topic. In your bio, include a link to your course for them to get more information.
8 – Webinars
Use webinars to market unique content about your topic. Come up with a twist for your topic and hold a webinar. Provide a link back to your course. Then reuse the webinar to continue to get fresh traffic.
In Summary
These are just some of the many ways you can drive traffic to your course. Now it is time for you to create your strategy of the ones you will use. Don’t be afraid to use more than one strategy. In fact, you should. But don’t try all of them at the same time. That can be overwhelming. Sit down and make out a plan for which ones you will use, how long before you will add another one and keep repeating to build traffic to your online course.
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Please keep in mind that I may receive commissions when you click my links and make purchases. However, this does not impact my reviews and comparisons. I try my best to keep things fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice for you.
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It sounds like a lot of work having an online business. I applaud people who does it successfully.
It can be done, Lily. It does take some work to initially set it up, but once you have your course planned out and written, the hard part is behind you. If you can budget someone to help, then a big part of the back-end workload and marketing can be managed by someone else.
Great list of ways to generate traffic!
Thank you, Martha! Glad you liked it. 🙂
Thanks for sharing these suggestions! Glad I stopped by your blog!
Thank you, Flor!