How much do online teachers make? It depends on a few factors. The pricing decisions you make and the policy of the platform you choose for selling online courses probably matter the most – let’s review your options and discover some tips on how to make money teaching online.
How to price your online course the smart way
You can choose to offer your courses for free or monetize them. However, when you create an online course for profit for the first time, pricing can be a huge challenge. How do you choose a price that’s just right? Clearly, if it’s too low, you’ll barely make money teaching online. On the other hand, how much do online teachers make when their prices are through the roof? You guessed it: not a lot either because the majority of potential students simply cannot afford to pay that much.
There are multiple factors to consider when trying to choose the right price tag for your course. What format are the lectures presented in, and how comprehensive is the course? Is the topic complex, or will the user just get their first taste of the basics? Let’s review some general guidelines on pricing your classes so you could comfortably teach online and get paid adequately:
- If you create an online course for profit, make sure you don’t offer the same content cheaper or free of charge somewhere else (e.g., your personal website or YouTube channel). It’s naive to expect the users to pay for something they can get without paying, after all!
- Keep in mind that text courses are a lot easier and cheaper to make, compared to video courses: there’s no need to worry about lightning, editing, video and audio quality and a lot of other things. Therefore, text courses should also cost less to the user.
- If your text course is shorter than 20,000 words, don’t choose a price higher than 7.99 USD. If it’s longer, add a couple of bucks for every 10,000 words – for example, 14.99 USD could be an appropriate price for a course that’s around 50,000 words in length. A higher price would, however, be acceptable in cases when the text course is improved using slides, images, or other materials.
- How much do online teachers make for video courses? Think of both the length of the course and the topic. If you’re selling online courses about programming, software, or using specific digital tools, 7.99 USD would be a reasonable price for an under-one-hour course. If it’s shorter than half an hour, 4.99 USD should do. However, if you’re teaching soft skills (e.g., productivity) or only speak about theory without offering any hands-on experience, it would be smart to lower the recommended price by a few dollars.
- If you’re offering a comprehensive video course that’s over 1 hour in length, feel free to choose a price you believe your course is worth. Look for a balance between sharing your priceless knowledge and making it attainable for students everywhere!
As you can see, there can be no definite answer to the question ‘how much do online teachers make?’: it depends on each individual instructor and the effort they put into making and selling online courses. The earnings of someone who’s selling one short text course can be somewhat insignificant, and someone who has created multiple video bootcamps for aspiring coders will make small fortunes. However, the important part is that both of these people will earn money by sharing their knowledge with students everywhere and help make the world a smarter place.
Licensing fee models available on BitDegree
By now, you should have a much clearer idea of how to price your online course. However, that’s not the only number your future income depends on! When you create an online course for profit and sell it on an educational platform, some of the income inevitably has to go to the administrative costs. How much do online teachers make, then? This depends on a particular platform you choose to teach online and get paid at.
On BitDegree, there are multiple licensing fee models. The exact amount of money you’ll earn when selling online courses on our platform will depend on the conditions of the purchase:
- If the user buys the course using the instructor’s promo code, the instructor receives 99% of the amount they paid. To create a code, visit the Instructor’s Studio, then go to the tab called Sales & Marketing. You can either share the code on itself (the user will need to enter it before making a purchase), or a hyperlink that contains it and directs straight to the landing page of the course (you can copy the whole thing from the Studio). Both of these options will help you make more money teaching online!
- If the user buys the course using the BitDegree platform, the instructor receives 50% of the amount they paid. This includes the users who browse the BitDegree’s marketplace, find the course using search engines, or reach the landing page of the course via a link that doesn’t include any unique digital codes.
- If the user buys the course using an affiliate link (a link to the landing page of the course that has been shared by a BitDegree partner), the instructor receives at least 25% of the price they paid. The instructor may receive a more significant share, depending on the fee to be paid to the BitDegree partner.
- If the user buys the course via a BitDegree ad that leads directly to the landing page of the course, the instructor receives 25% of the amount they paid.
As you can see, the more you work on promoting your classes, the more you earn: not only will more students enroll in your course, but BitDegree will further reward you by offering a better licensing fee! Similarly, if you leave advertising to others, you need to share your earnings with them. So how much do great online teachers make? You tell us!
What’s different about payments in crypto
One of the things that make BitDegree stand out among other educational platforms is the fact that we accept payments in cryptocurrencies. We have actually developed our own token called BTC to make the instructors’ life more comfortable – get to know the benefits it brings!
Paying in crypto ensures the students don’t overindulge in using the refund option: while the 30-day chargeback (refund) option is the default in the industry when paying in traditional currencies, that is not the case with crypto. Because of that, the instructor can also get paid much quicker! There is no minimum amount required for a payout. The instructor can request the withdrawal of all receivable BDG. How much do online teachers make? It depends on them – what’s important is that they can quickly and easily get their earnings.
Moreover, when paying for a course in BDG, the user gets an additional 20% discount. That is a great way to attract more students and expand your user base!
