How to Teach Online: Create & Sell Your First Course

Meet a musician with a PhD who shifted from university teaching to creating and selling online music courses.

You don't need to be an expert to create online courses; publish on Udemy and build income that can grow into a full-time job with effort.

Explore the online course industry in 2026 by analyzing market trends, post-pandemic competition, and the shift toward shorter, two-hour classes driven by ai and platform marketing.

Exploit asynchronous, pre-recorded courses for instant access, reproducibility, subtitles in multiple languages, and lower stress, with the potential for passive income through high enrollment.

Leverage live, synchronous courses to boost engagement and revenue, with easier student interaction and a tax advantage, while noting the extra marketing needed to recruit and schedule students.

Decide between sync and async teaching by weighing prerecorded async classes against viable live sessions, shaped by the pandemic, then do a little bit of both as platforms evolve.

Create evergreen, asynchronous course assets by focusing on timeless content, avoiding dated references, and filming in high resolution to enable reuse across platforms.

Drive student engagement by actively answering learners' questions and checking in daily, since responding boosts reviews and sales more than a purely passive course.

Speak naturally to a live audience, avoiding slide reads for first-time course creators. Provide downloadable PDFs of evergreen resources to prevent broken links and copyright issues.

Outline your online course by listing headings and lecture names, keep notes minimal, and record videos with flexible structure, adjusting as you teach.

Create an online course outline by listing headings and video titles, adjust the sequence as needed, and organize notes in Notejoy to streamline Udemy course assembly.

avoid reading slides by using a simple outline and headings, speak extemporaneously, and rely on editing to refine style and character.

Develop your on-camera personality and teaching style by treating yourself as an actor, shaping an outgoing, entertaining teaching persona from your favorite teachers, and practicing to deliver engaging, improvisational lessons.

Develop the ability to improvise by mastering your content, weaving Taylor Swift into your topic, and filming a single long take with efficient post-production edits.

Avoid filler content in online courses by trimming irrelevant material that inflates length. Focus on concise lessons, as students and market research favor smaller, value-driven classes and better reviews.

Show some personality in your background to avoid a stale look, using books, guitars, a mandolin, violin, and sound absorbing panels while considering lighting or a green screen.

Embrace imperfection to teach online by recording your course, showing real mistakes, and correcting them on camera to reveal the learning process and human authenticity.

End each lesson by teasing the next one to keep viewers hooked, explicitly introducing the next section—like software tools I use to make content—and outlining what’s coming.

Learn how Screenflow handles screen capturing with multiple cameras, doubles as an editor, and delivers fast, simple video creation, while noting its limited motion graphics.

Discover best note-taking apps for online course planning and learn to organize, preserve outlines across classes, export notes with their order for clients, and assemble cohesive course content.

Explore time-saving tools for course creators, including a simple shot list app, Jay's window resizer, and ScreenFlow bulk processor for batch resizing and cropping multiple videos.

Learn why the iPhone is the best camera for creating course videos, connected wirelessly to a Mac and used with ScreenFlow for multi-camera setups and flexible filming.

Explore professional course audio setup using a Shure SM7B, why it might be overkill, and practical usb mics with preamps, a patchbay, and a dac for Screenflow.

Master three point lighting for online teaching videos by balancing window light, using backlights and color accents, and simplifying setup with a single switch and affordable flat lights.

Learn how the loupedeck, a programmable button device, speeds up Screenflow edits with fades, cropping, and delete actions, serving as a centralized command center for course production.

Edit your online course videos by trimming disruptive mouth sounds, adding quick fades, and using a consistent naming system while checking render settings and correct dimensions.

Demonstrates screenflow editing workflows: 4k UHD setup, framing, face-cam placement, and fade edits. Includes ripple delete, overlapping edits, removing mouth sounds, and batch export with web hi preset at 100%.

Adopt a four-folder, numbered naming system for course videos (1-4) and label files with brief descriptions; organize edited, production, talking head, and subtitles for easy course prep.

Set competitive pricing for online courses, considering platform discounts and promotions. Prioritize good ratings over length.

Explore practical marketing lessons for online courses: prioritize quality content and reviews, leverage platform promotion and word-of-mouth, and own a niche, instead of paying for marketing packages.

Learn how to get more reviews by encouraging feedback, letting your personality shine, and handling reader comments while navigating the cruel internet.

Explore ethical considerations for online course creators, emphasizing timely answering of student questions to sustain engagement, quality reviews, and practical tips for efficient support using AI tools.

Identify frequent student questions and add targeted video responses to your course. Update living class materials, track questions, and use prewritten answers and loupedeck to save time.

Learn to use AI tools to speed up reading and summarize long student messages, then set up a Stream Deck or Loupedeck with a macro app.

Explore what comes next after this course, including future classes in teaching technology or music, and learn why the bonus lecture matters for self-promotion on platforms.

Thank learners and invite them to the next lecture, hinting at a bonus lecture within platform rules. Encourage them to avoid junk and make cool stuff.