Has there ever been a better time to sell videos online?
Since the pandemic, most people have started testing the waters of online learning and shifting to online options. Sell training videos online, especially paid ones, are high in demand despite the free content available online.
However, paid tutorial videos are considered to be more professional, legitimate, and trustworthy. Hence, users are willing to splurge. In fact, the market for paid tutorial videos is so profitable that it is expected to grow to $275.10 billion by 2023.
This trend of high demand can be seen in different genres such as video business, including fitness and meditation videos, videos on nutrition, and spiritual growth, workshops, academic courses, and certification courses.
Many professionals and industries across the world have benefited from the practice of creating content and selling tutorial videos online.
What’s more, is that you do not need to be physically present in a particular place to educate yourself. You simply need a computer, phone, or tablet and a stable internet connection.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to sell tutorial videos online and sell video courses what will you need:
Create Some Videos
There are hundreds and thousands of courses and tutorials available online on practically every topic known to man.
Some of them have also been shot using professional equipment so that the lighting is perfect, the sound quality is top-notch, and the background is a plain, basic color instead of your 20-year-old curtains.
And of course, the instructor looks straight out of a movie scene in his brand-new Gucci shoot. The question is, how can you compete with that?
Realistically, you can wait till you are an expert, own a professional production studio, and have a team of editors and graphic designers to make your videos just perfect. However, this route will lead you nowhere.
The only way you can be successful is by starting. Stop spinning your wheels.
Instead, put them to work. We’ll let you in on a secret- your audience will forgive your imperfect videos as long as you are teaching them valuable information that caters to their specific needs.
Identify Your Audience
Before you create a to sell video courses, you need to find your niche. This means identifying your target audience.
You need to decide the kind of videos you want to sell and who you want to sell them to. You can start by conducting some market research on the topic you want to teach.
Through this, you will learn of the demand the content that you want to produce has, as well as the challenges you might face on the way. You can also identify the characteristics of popular videos and take inspiration from them.
Once you identify your audience, you need to come up with a game plan. How will you address their needs? Brainstorming different ideas is crucial to help you sell your videos online.
You can opt for selling online courses, webinars, vlogs, or any kind of format. Whatever you choose, make sure that you offer valuable insights and supplementary resources, such as reference books or access to eBooks (see also ‘How To Write An EBook and Make Money‘) (see also ‘How To Write An EBook and Make Money‘).
Provide Valuable Content
When you create your videos, there are three basic factors that you need to pay attention to value, quality, and uniqueness.
Your content should be worth the price you are charging and should be engaging for your audience. If you are not tech-savvy at all, it is best to seek some professional services so that you do not jeopardize the quality of your videos.
While you learn the features available on free video editing software, you can hire a freelance video editor to help you out.
Make sure to stay updated on the latest developments in the niche that you are teaching so that you can include relevant, up-to-date content in your tutorial videos. Gain the latest insights and inspiration by subscribing to relevant video trends!
Decide Where to Sell Them
Now, the real question. After you have made your tutorial video, where do you market it? What is the best platform to sell your video and earn some profit from the hard work, knowledge, and time that you put in?
You have two options that are considered to be the most reliable in the market:
- Your own website
- An online course platform
Selling on Online Course Platforms
Did you know that unlisted YouTube videos can be downloaded?
Yes, you read correctly. Contrary to popular belief, downloading a video from YouTube is really not that difficult.
A PCMag article talks about 30+ different ways in which you can download YouTube content simply by using downloadable software, helper sites, browser extensions, and mobile apps.
Another way to download unlisted YouTube videos is through a website called HookTube.com. This site is part of the dark side of the internet and allows you to download any YouTube video with ease.
So, why does this matter to you?
Think about it this way. Since everything on YouTube can be downloaded, people don’t essentially have to pay for any videos. If you are comfortable with users downloading your paid tutorial videos that you spent days making, then feel free to put up your content on YouTube.
Moreover, online course platforms have complete and utter control over your content. Udemy, for example, is an online platform that features hundreds of paid courses. However, it does not reach the list of favorite platforms for many instructors. Here’s why:
- To post on Udemy, you first need to get your online video course approved
- You have to comply with Udemy’s naming guidelines and cannot be creative, despite having full authority over your content
- The online platform holds the authority to automatically put your course on discount without taking prior condition
- Your course and content can easily be pirated
- You’ll find a Udemy logo and watermark on all your uploaded work
- You cannot email students directly
- Udemy charges a commission of up to 50%
- You do not have permission to upload your work on any other platform.
Selling on Your Website
The best thing you can do is create your own video website. While there are many video hosting sites that will promise you ultimate control, what’s better than having your own?
You can have full control over how your videos are displayed and represented. This means that you can customize your website color theme and ensure that the microcopy matches your brand identity. You can do all this without taking permission from anyone else!
Keep in mind that there is an option to host your tutorial videos on other platforms and simply embed them on your website. This might seem like a smart option, but the truth is, uploading videos to your website will not work because:
Restricted bandwidth
Video content takes up significant bandwidth. You will find that most hosting providers provide limited bandwidth.
This means that your website will crash as soon as ten or fifteen students use it at the same time. Then, your technical lessons and hours-long videos cannot be viewed by anyone.
You might be able to get the issue resolved temporarily, but when more students use the website simultaneously again, they will face the same problem. This will affect the legitimacy of your content and your brand name as well.
Formatting
You cannot simply upload a video and expect it to be finished. Your video needs to be compatible with different devices, smartphones, computers, and even smart TVs.
Hence, converting your video to every format you can think of is essential. This means that you will need a load of GBs- this is another problem.
Storage
Hosting providers will have limited storage. This means that you will run out of space super-fast when you upload different formats for the same video.
Moreover, another reason to sell tutorial videos on your own website is, of course, revenue. Even though the primary goal of selling videos online is to make revenue, this aspect is often overlooked.
Many online platforms keep a huge percentage of the income earned as payment for using their services. If you own your website, you are solely responsible for the revenue and profits. After all, money is hard-earned, right?
Don’t worry; you don’t have to be a professional designer to create your own website (see also ‘How Long Does It Take To Create A Website?‘) from scratch. You can simply search for online website templates to help you get started.
Marketing Strategies
Apart from the money you will earn, another incentive for selling tutorial videos is brand exposure, which will allow you to reach a higher number of interested users and hence, increase your monthly revenues. This is known as “marketing” or “creating awareness.”
If you want to ensure that you maintain the quality and value of your videos, keep in mind that the free content you offer should only serve as a preview.
While this mainly depends on the kind of content you are offering and your basic niche, your preview can range from a short introduction to your course to a trailer of one of your classes.
Another way to market your tutorial video is by using social media. You can also use email marketing! These two are common ways to help your content reach a wider audience and allow users to stay in touch with you.
One of the worst things about online tutorial videos is that there is no way to get in touch with the instructor. However, through social media and email marketing, you can ensure that your audience has a way to reach you if they ever need any help or advice.
Profits and Margins
You can opt for any online course platform or video hosting website, but you will have to pay a small transaction fee. The word “small” here is critical.
You might believe that this is a tiny trade-off but consider this: if the transaction fee is 5%, you will pay $150 for every $3000 that you earn a month. However, there might be some platforms that charge a monthly fee instead of a percentage of your revenue.
Before you sell your videos, you need to specify a payment structure that you would prefer. This is based on the kind of content you are selling, along with the rules of your video hosting platform. The three most common kinds of payment plans include:
TVOD
Also known as “transactional video on demand,” TVOD is a video monetization strategy that allows users to buy their chosen videos and provides them with lifetime access to the content.
iTunes and Udemy are famous examples of TVOD. DTR, or “download to rent,” also falls under the TVOD category as it gives users temporal access to the videos for a small amount.
SVOD
Also known as “subscription video on demand,” this format allows users to access the videos if they sign up for a membership. This membership gives them full access to the videos until their subscription is valid. SVOD is used by platforms such as Netflix and Disney Plus.
AVOD
Also known as “ad-based video on demand,” this strategy charges by monetizing videos through advertisement placements. This is mostly used in traditional television. Some popular examples of platforms using this payment plan include YouTube and Daily Motion.
Most experts believe that if you want to sell your tutorial videos online, always opt for more than one monetization strategy.
After all, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. To expand your potential consumer reach, you can use different online video-selling tools that will offer content under subscription, purchase, or rent.
Security Issues with Screen Recorders
Remember how we told you that users could easily download tutorial videos off YouTube, Udemy, and other platforms?
The bad news is that it doesn’t matter if your content is paid or free because once the videos are downloaded, they will be circulated amongst people who, instead of paying for the content you spent days creating, simply take advantage of it for no price at all.
Unfortunately, there is no real way to prevent tutorial videos from being downloaded. However, you can make the downloaded video useless. This means that even if your video is downloaded, your content cannot be stolen.
You can do this by using a video hosting platform that offers encrypted ways of delivering video. All you need to do is opt for an online course platform or video hosting provider that provides video encryption services. This will help protect your content at all times.
Another problem with online tutorial videos is the option of screen recording. Screen recording allows users to record the entire video, along with the playback. Basically, they can record everything that is happening on their screen and then share it with their friends.
Sadly, there is no way to stop people from screen-recording your lectures or video tutorials. However, the one thing you can do is use software that prevents people from sharing the recording. This is done by taking advantage of a video platform that uses watermarking.
Such platforms place a watermark on your video. The watermark states your name and IP address.
Through this, no one can resell your video or publish it without your permission because they would expose themselves are thieves. Most people will not even circulate watermarked videos amongst their friends because no one wants to spoil their reputation.
Deciding on What’s Best for You
To wrap it up, you need to decide what is best for you. Online course platforms and publishing on your own website are the two reliable options available to sell online courses or tutorials.
You have to choose one based on the content you wish to deliver to your audience and your priorities. Here are some things to keep in mind:
If you are looking for 100 percent control and flexibility, opt for a video hosting platform or your own website. If you cannot do this, choose to embed your videos where you wish.
If you do not have a problem with sharing your revenue or using the branding of other platforms, you can opt for an online course platform. This also comes with the added advantage of saving you setting-up-from-scratch time. Sometimes, you just want things to be done hassle-free way.
Ensure that your tutorial videos are completely protected from piracy (don’t forget that the screen recording option can make your videos available to a broader audience for free).
For easy revenue-making, simply set up paywalls and accept payment online! The best part is that this will allow you to keep all your revenue instead of giving a portion away for commissions.
Whatever option you opt for, make sure to do your research properly and take some advice from people who have already set up their online tutorial videos on different platforms. Good luck!
