5 Lessons from $3,394,480 in Digital Course Sales

Boost your sales tomorrow with these 5 plays.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ​ ​ ​ Read on [justinwelsh.me](​ Read time: 4 minutes​ ​ ​ ​A big thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free to the reader: Get [published faster and easier](=) with no coding or design skills needed so you can focus on storytelling, freelancing, and building the content business you always wanted. [Start for free here](=). ​ If you want to own your own business, [Your Road to Franchise]() helps you find your perfect fitting franchise opportunity. [Get started here](). ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ Monetizing knowledge through digital courses is no longer a distant dream but a tangible reality for many creators. But if you're like most aspiring course creators, the path to success can seem like a mystery. You've probably been bombarded with conflicting advice, big promises, or maybe even discouraged by the fear of failure. In today's issue, I'm going to share with you five lessons I've learned through my own journey to over $3,000,000 in digital course sales. From building in public to understanding the importance of accessibility, I hope these insights offer a unique perspective into an industry that's crowded with noise. Let's dig into what works and what doesn't, based on real experiences, real numbers, and a genuine desire to help people succeed. ​ ​Lesson 1: Building in public generates massive attention When I built my first course in 2019, The LinkedIn Playbook, I worked on it quietly at home. When I launched it, I had high hopes that it would generate massive interest. In the first month that it was available, I made $11,781, or about $380 per day. I was pretty happy with those results. But, contrast that to my updated version of that course, [The LinkedIn Operating System](, released in July of 2021. I built that course completely in public. I shared each day's wins and losses, metrics, revenue, etc. It took me 91 days to build it, and in the first month, I made$94,651, or $3,053 per day. Both products generated roughly the same amount of landing page views, but The LinkedIn Operating System converted 2.7x higher even at 3x the cost, partly because people could see what I was building, and were invested in the journey. ​ ​ ​Lesson 2: Accessibility breeds word-of-mouth When I look around the digital course space, I see a lot of people with significantly smaller audiences and experience than mine, trying to sell some "masterclass" for $1,499. The amount of trust and nurturing needed to get someone into a high-ticket deal like that is pretty massive, IMO. I price my products at an affordable rate, make them as valuable as possible, and simply ask people to tell their friends if they enjoyed them. The result is an incredible word-of-mouth and affiliate campaign. I've paid out over $138,000 in affiliate commission to generate $395,200 in sales. And every single day, someone is Tweeting or writing a LinkedIn post about a product of mine - even when they aren't an affiliate. It's the old cliche: "Underpromise and overdeliver". This is why I recommend that people price things to be accessible and create a WOM machine. It's easy to recommend a $150 product to your friends. $1,499? Not so much. ​ ​ ​Lesson 3: Social proof drives promotional success more than what YOU say When I promote my products, I always see a spike in sales. But, one promotion has outshined them all - and it's extremely passive. Once per week, I'll share a simple testimonial or DM from a happy customer. When I share them, my course sales go up about 2x to 3x. The words of your customers will always convert prospects at a much higher rate than your own. Every beautiful testimonial is a chance to convert more prospects into happy customers. Share them! My normal days do between $3,500 and $4,500 in course sales, whereas a day where I share a testimonial will often result in $10,000 or more in course sales. So remember, use your testimonials! ​ ​ ​Lesson 4: 80/20 Give/Ask is Key You may have read the above and thought that promoting once every 7 days is a lot, but it's not in the overall game of content I'm creating. I typically create 50 pieces of content per month on LinkedIn, and 55 on Twitter. Out of those 105, I'll share a testimonial about 8-10 times. That means, at most, I'm promoting less than 10% of the time. The golden rule that I've found to be effective is to make sure that you are giving value 80% of the time or more and promoting 20% of the time or less. If you want other people to promote what you're doing, you need to make sure you're promoting yourself and your products too. ​ ​Lesson 5: Brevity is your friend My first course, The LinkedIn Playbook, had a 45% completion rate (the average for course creators is 13.8%) because it's short - only about 75 minutes. Idea.Audience.Proof.Product, a course I never promoted much, had closer to a 25% completion rate, because it's much more robust, clocking in at 3.5 hours. I truly believe the latter was a better, more helpful product, but it doesn't matter if people don't get through it. In hindsight, I would have made it much shorter. I think the longer you are in the creator space and the more well-known you are, the longer and more robust your courses can be. Just getting started? Keep it short! Teach people what they want to learn in 45 minutes or less, and be specific about the outcome they'll achieve. Do this successfully and you'll increase your completion and adoption rate. ​ Conclusion Well, there you have it. My 5 best pieces of advice for selling your digital courses online. - Build in public to generate attention - Price accessibly to breed word-of-mouth - Use testimonials to drive sales - Keep it 80% give, 20% ask - Brevity is your friend ​ But, remember - none of these lessons matter if you never get started. Good luck out there. ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ ​Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. [The LinkedIn Operating System:]( Join 16,000 students and 30 LinkedIn Top Voices inside of The LinkedIn Operating System. This comprehensive course will teach you the system I use to grow from 0 to 440,000+ followers and $4.2M in income on this untapped platform. 2. [The Content Operating System](): A multi-step system for creating a high-quality newsletter and 6-12 pieces of high-performance social media content each week. 3. [Promote yourself to 150,000+ subscribers]( by sponsoring this newsletter. 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