16 Best Niches for Online Courses That Sell Like Hotcakes

“Successful course creators make around $1k – $10k per month, on average. Top course creators can make 6- to 7-figure incomes per year.” — Nick Malekos, LearnWorlds

It’s easy to see why you’re looking to create online courses to monetize your blog — the financial upside is huge.

But it all comes down to choosing the right niche.

Imagine spending hours and hours creating a course and then… crickets! No sales, no profit — just money and time down the drain.

The good news is that there are plenty of profitable online course niches to choose from.

The even better news is that you’re a smart creator! You’re doing your research before jumping on an online course niche.

To help you succeed, I’ve compiled the 16 best niches for online courses in 2023. I’ll also teach you how to choose the perfect niche for you.

Let’s get started!

How to Choose the Best Online Course Niche for You

You want a slice of that massive pie, don’t you?

Well, here are the three questions you need to answer to help you choose the best online course niche for you:

1. Is There a Topic You Know a Lot About and Can Teach To Others?

This is the most important one; why should people trust you as a teacher?

You need to prove you have first-hand experience and a successful track record in the topic you’re teaching.

This includes not making these 13 worst mistakes with your website. 

2. Are You Passionate About That Topic?

Here’s the deal; you can upload your course to a cross-platform teaching platform like Skillshare, Udemy, or Coursera and wait for the money to come rolling in.

But without driving traffic to your course, you won’t sell much. On top of that, you’ll have to price it cheaply to be competitive in those marketplaces, and then they’ll take a big chunk of your earnings.

“The average instructor’s revenue on Udemy is around $250/month.” — Baidhurya Mani, Sell Courses Online

To make real money, you need to have your own website, write lots of blog posts, study and outrank your competition using this tool, create social media content, and ace email marketing.

All that will take a whole lot of time and effort.

Trust me, you don’t want to build a business around something you’re not passionate about; you’ll burn out before you even make your first sale.

3. What Online Courses Are in Demand?

Wasn’t this the question that brought you here in the first place? Yeah, I thought so.

Keep reading to find out the most popular online course topics.

16 Best Niches for Online Courses 

Before we move on to the 16 best niches for online courses in 2023, we need to answer the question “what makes a good online course niche?”

Two words: Demand and Profitability.

You could create a course about the formation process of sedimentary rocks. That’s specialized knowledge, so it’d definitely be profitable.

But is there a high demand for it? No, there isn’t. Your average Joe isn’t looking for geology courses.

Similarly, you could create a course that teaches how to make rice. There’s huge demand for that — over 60,000 Google searches per month, to be precise.

But would it be profitable? No, it wouldn’t. There’s so much free information online about it, why would anyone pay for your course?

So, in summary: you could have the best online course idea but you also need to do market research to see if lots of people want to learn about that topic and are willing to pay for it. If so, then it’s a great online course niche.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming — here are the 16 top niches for online courses right now!

1. Best Niches for Online Courses: Fitness

The fitness market had been steadily growing with an average annual growth rate of 4.8%.

In 2019, it hit its peak — $96.7 billion in revenue globally. Due to the pandemic, that number has decreased to $81.5 billion in 2023.

Gyms were forced to close and the industry shrank. However, certain sectors, such as online training and home equipment, experienced dramatic growth.

Online fitness (i.e., courses, videos, programs, and blog posts giving online workout guidance) has experienced the most growth of all the fitness sectors.

It was valued at $6 billion before the pandemic. Now, it’s projected to grow to $59 billion by 2027.

Do you see where I’m going with this? The online fitness niche is the one.

Plus, people are willing to pay for courses that improve their lives and health, which is another big plus for this niche.

If you are a personal trainer for example, you could easily offer online classes to your target audience.

Examples of fitness sub-niches:

• Weight loss
• Nutrition
• Workouts
• Marathon preparation

An example of a fitness course — “Marathon Training Masterclass” by Marathon Handbook.

2. Best Niches for Online Courses: Health & Wellness

If you’re a living, breathing human, you’re probably aware of the health and wellness craze sweeping across the world.

79% of consumers think wellness is important and 42% view it as a top priority. This is an online course industry perfect for content creators.

In addition, the global health and wellness market is expected to grow 5.5% per year until 2030.

Bottom line– this is a great opportunity to get into a growing niche for online education. Plus, health and wellness look different for each person, which is like a niche within a niche!

Your first-hand experience in anything from meditation or diet-specific eating to natural household products could be super valuable for your audience.

Within this market, the fastest-growing sector is wellness tourism. It’s projected to grow a whopping 20.9% every year until 2025. There are plenty of online courses in the travel niche, why not create one around wellness travel?

Here are some examples of health and wellness sub-niches:

• Mental health
• Meditation
• Mindfulness
• Yoga
• Aromatherapy
• Gut health
• Immune health
• Stress management
• Sleep

3. Best Niches for Online Courses: Life & Career Coaching

“Life coaching is the second fastest growing industry in the US.” — Paperbell

That’s possibly the most exciting thing about entering this niche.

The second is that pretty much anyone can create a valuable life or career coaching course if they dig deep into their past experiences.

Did you get your first job after being a student? Well, duh, obviously. That’s something you can teach.

Have you ever changed careers, built a side hustle on top of your 9-to-5, or re-entered the workforce after becoming a stay-at-home parent? These are also things you could teach.

Anyone can create a successful course in this specific niche. If you went through a career change or started your own online business that’s now a huge success, these can all lead to profitable course ideas for online learning.

If you’re interested in building a course that helps learners make empowered career decisions or enter the education field, you can recommend resources that allow people to discover your fit in education through interactive career quizzes.

Here are some examples of life and career coaching sub-niches:

• Leadership
• Public speaking
• Time management
• Organization

An example of a career coaching course — “Land Your First Tech Job” by Break Into Tech.

4. Best Niches for Online Courses: Self-Improvement

From personal development books to mobile apps and personal coaching services, the self-improvement market has exploded in recent years.

“94% of millennials reported making personal improvement commitments and said they’d be willing to spend nearly $300 a month on self-improvement.” — Iulia-Cristina Uță, Brand Minds

Now is the perfect time to jump on this niche, and the good news is that you don’t need any formal training to do so.

No matter what your background is, you’re welcome in this niche; that’s the whole point, actually!

People want to learn self-improvement and new skills from someone they can relate to — someone who has lived through a similar situation.

Do you have soft practical skills like time management, emotional intelligence, or negotiation that you can teach others? Create a course around it.

Examples of self-improvement sub-niches:

• Goal setting
• Productivity
• Relationships
• Happiness and wellbeing
• Journaling

5. Best Niches for Online Courses: Finance

The internet has democratized knowledge — saving, investing, and building wealth aren’t reserved for the elites anymore; anyone can have a slice of the pie.

Similarly, with platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, anyone can get a job in accounting, bookkeeping, tax prep, and business analysis, among others.

But before venturing into investing or any of these jobs, people need to learn about them; and these aren’t the type of easy skills you can learn by reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos.

Courses that neatly organize the knowledge layers required to master these skills — from the basics to advanced topics — sell like hotcakes.

That’s because finance is the prime example of a course niche that promises students they’ll make more money with the knowledge they gain than what they spent on the course. It’s a no-brainer for young adults.

Examples of finance sub-niches:

• Personal finance
• Family budgeting
• Investing
• Cryptocurrency
• Accounting
• Bookkeeping
• Tax preparation

An example of a personal finance course — “Family Budget Transformation System” by Family Budget Expert.

6. Best Niches for Online Courses: Business & Entrepreneurship

“Entrepreneurship rates have been trending upwards in the United States for the past 19 years. Nearly 5.4 million new businesses were registered in 2021. That’s a 23% increase year on year.” — Lestraundra Alfred, HubSpot

Regardless of the state of the economy at the time, there’ll always be people looking to start a successful business or venture into new ways of entrepreneurship.

It’s easy to market business and entrepreneurship courses because students know they’ll make more money than they spent.

Besides, around 543,000 new businesses are created in the US every month. That’s a huge audience you could market your course to.

Here are some examples of business and entrepreneurship sub-niches:

• Blogging
• Freelancing
• Solopreneurship
• Side-hustling
• Business planning and budgeting
• Financial analysis

An example of a blogging course — “Pro Blogger Bundle” by Create & Go.

If you are looking to start a blog then I highly recommend you grab this Pro Blogger bundle to begin your journey, and here’s a detailed review of this online course as well!

Thinking about starting a blog? Make sure to do these 10 things BEFORE you start a blog:

7. Best Niches for Online Courses: Writing & Content Creation

The writing and content creation course niche is a bit crowded, but you can always find underserved sub-niches or a new angle to market your course.

Plus, content writing jobs are projected to grow 8% per year until 2026. The audience pool is expanding and opening up room for more creators to swim.

If you’re looking for a high-demand, low-supply writing sub-niche, data storytelling might be perfect for you.

“As data becomes central to the strategies of more businesses, people with the skill to communicate and build stories from it will become increasingly valuable.” — Bernard Marr, Forbes

Data storytelling will be one of the most sought-after skills between 2023 and 2025.

AI-assisted writing is another sub-niche that’ll explode in 2023. Take advantage of it and don’t forget to include affiliate links to the AI tools you recommend in your course.

Remember that writing is also a hobby for many people. There are several angles you could explore within this niche as an online course creator.

Here are some examples of writing and content creation sub-niches:

• Web content writing
• Copywriting
• SEO (search engine optimization)
• Creative writing
• Fiction writing
• Poetry
• Self-publishing
• English grammar

8. Best Niches for Online Courses: Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is one of the most in-demand skills of 2023. Social media marketing, in particular, is projected to be among the top four fastest-growing, highest-demand emerging skill sets.

More and more brands are realizing they can get a higher return on investment (ROI) with digital techniques than traditional advertising.

Plus, anyone can DIY their digital marketing strategy with the right knowledge — in fact, 47% of small business owners do so already. That’s where online courses come in.

From SEO to email marketing and marketing automation, there’s no shortage of digital marketing sub-topics you can teach. Trends and best practices are always changing; what worked for one business may not work for another.

That’s why, although there are many digital marketing courses out there, there’ll always be room for fresh perspectives. Content marketers , in particular, can benefit from courses that provide an introduction to digital principles, techniques and strategies.

Here are some examples of digital marketing sub-niches:

• SEO 
• SEM (search engine marketing)
• SMM (social media marketing)
• Email marketing
• Lead generation services
• Marketing strategy
• Marketing automation
• Google tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console

An example of a digital marketing course – Best Niches for Online Courses — Stupid Simple SEO

9. Best Niches for Online Courses: Coding

Coding is an increasingly valued skill across all industries.

You can create courses for beginners or experts across a range of programming languages. It’s also an ever-evolving field; you’ll never run out of coding course ideas.

Another thing going for this niche is that despite high demand, the supply is limited.

Not everyone has coding skills they can teach — and even fewer are good at breaking down such complex topics into an easy-to-understand course.

Here are some examples of coding sub-niches:

• Front-end web development and design
• Back-end web development
• Computer programming
• Specific programming languages (e.g., Python, C++, Java, etc.)
• Machine learning

10. Best Niches for Online Courses: Technology & Software

Pretty much every job is turning into a tech job these days! By this I mean that everyone is expected to work with technology to some extent.

Cybersecurity, for example, is one of the most in-demand skills in 2023, but it isn’t restricted to IT departments anymore. Every employee is expected to be responsible for the safety of the data they work with.

This is just one of many examples, to show you how important tech skills are nowadays and the vast field of tech topics you could create courses around.

AI is the breakout star of the year, and it’ll likely continue spreading to every type of business and aspect of our lives.

Teaching how to incorporate AI tools into whatever your audience is into will be an excellent online course niche in 2023. Jump on it before it gets too competitive!

Here are some examples of technology and software sub-niches:

• AI (Artificial intelligence)
• Cybersecurity
• Ethical hacking
• Software-specific courses

11. Best Niches for Online Courses: Design

Design is one of the most popular online course niches for three good reasons:

• Anyone can learn how to use design software
• Skills like graphic designer, UX, and UI design are increasingly in demand
• There’s almost no entry barrier to these jobs — to be hired as a designer, you don’t need a degree; all you need is a portfolio showing your past projects

Both Forbes and Upwork highlighted UX/UI design as one of the most in-demand skills for 2023.

Do you have a formal background in design? Are you a self-taught, experienced professional or hobbyist?

Either way, you have something to teach that’s valuable to others! Here’s an example of Pinterest design and traffic course.

And as a general rule, remember, people are willing to pay for courses that’ll help them make money, and design falls under this category.

Here are some examples of design sub-niches:

• Graphic design
• Presentation design
• User experience (UX) design
• User interface (UI) design
• Animation and motion graphics
• 3D modeling and animation
• App development
• Software-specific courses, like Photoshop or Pinterest strategies

An example of a design course – Pinterest Traffic Avalanche by Create and Go

Here are some more best Pinterest courses.

12. Best Niches for Online Courses: Digital Arts

Digital arts fall under the same category as design, coding, tech, and others. Demand is steadily growing with no end in sight.

Besides, things like photography, video editing, video production, and others can be DIYed by business owners to keep costs low.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but nothing motivates people to buy courses like knowing they’ll make more money than they spent!

In this case, it applies to business owners who’ll save money, and those who can start a new career, or progress in their current one, with these skills. Hobbyists are a third category that’d be interested in digital arts courses.

Lastly, this niche is evolving quickly. There’ll always be a new trend or piece of software you can create a course around.

Here are some examples of digital arts sub-niches:

• Animation
• Digital illustration
• Photography
• Image editing
• Video production
• Video editing
• Animation and 3D modeling

13. Best Niches for Online Courses: Arts & Crafts

Arts and crafts are hobbies and most profitable niches people are willing to spend quite a bit of money on.

And, no, you don’t need to be super talented to create an arts or crafts course; you just need some technical skills on a particular topic.

As well as making money from selling your course, you can add affiliate links to supplies your students need to purchase within the course. Learn how to make money from affiliate marketing from this course.

Here are some examples of arts and crafts sub-niches:

• Painting
• Drawing
• DIY projects
• Jewellery-making
• Pottery
• Knitting and crocheting

14. Best Niches for Online Courses: Décor

Décor and interior design have always been profitable niches with a growing demand — Pinterest is a great testament to that!

But after spending so much time at home during the pandemic, people started seeing home décor and comfort as major aspects of their lives, and a lot of people are still working from home as well.

47% of homeowners go for DIY home improvement projects instead of hiring a professional — that’s a whole lot of people you can market your courses to!

Plus, you can increase your income by signing up for affiliate programs and recommending your partners’ products in your course and blog posts. Sign for this awesome affiliate program here.

Affiliate marketing is another great way to monetize your course and each time a new student enrolls in your course, you can earn a commission if they purchase through your affiliate links.

Here are some examples of décor sub-niches:

• DIY home décor
• Outdoor décor 
• Feng shui
• Houseplant care

An example of a décor course — “Indoor Plant Parent Courses” by The Stem.

15. Best Niches for Online Courses: Fashion & Beauty

The apparel market in 2023 amounts to $343.7 billion in the US alone, and it’s expected to grow at an annual rate of 1.96% until 2027.

The beauty and personal care market is valued at $571.1 billion in the US this year and is expected to grow 3.8%annually until 2027.

Both are humongous markets full of opportunities for course creators.

The key to succeeding is to niche all the way down to micro-niches, and to always stay on top of latest trends.

If you browse social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok, you’ll see influencers marketing to ultra-specific market segments — style guides for short and curvy women, skincare routines for acne-prone dark skin, makeup guides for busy millennials… I could go on forever!

Make a list of what you’re passionate about and have first-hand experience in, build an audience around it, create courses, and rake in the cash — it’s that simple.

Here are some examples of fashion and beauty sub-niches:

• Sustainable fashion and thrifting
• Upcycled fashion
• Gender-neutral apparel
• Size segments, like petite or plus-size fashion
• Maternity fashion
• Cosplaying
• Price segments, like budget beauty products or luxury skincare
• Hair type — gray, curly, fine, damaged, etc.
• Cruelty-free beauty
• Makeup segments, like makeup for busy moms or dark skin

16. Best Niches for Online Courses: Parenting

Whether you’ve had children or formal training in child development, this is a great niche for you.

A lot of new parents want to learn how to raise their kids the best way possible, but this niche isn’t restricted to parenting itself.

The pregnancy, post-partum, and home-schooling niches are also quite popular.

In 2020, up to 2.65 million students were home-schooled in the US. That number went up to 3.7 million in 2021 and 4.3 million in 2022.

As you can see, you don’t need to be a parent to venture into this niche. Teachers or anyone with a background in child or teenager development are welcome.

Here are some examples of parenting sub-niches:

• First-time parenting
• Pregnancy
• Post-partum
• Home-schooling

An example of a décor course — “Twins After Singletons” by Twiniversity.

What Are the Most Profitable Online Courses?

Any online course can be profitable as long as:

• There’s demand (i.e., people want to learn about that topic)
• People are willing to pay to learn that topic
• The market isn’t too saturated
• You can attract the right audience
• You can effectively market to that audience

Creating an online course can cost as little as $140. You’ll likely make that money back with a single sale.

Here are some more course ideas that sell!

Here are some examples of highly profitable online course niches:

• Personal finance
• Business and entrepreneurship
• Career development
• In-demand skills (e.g., digital marketing, SEO, coding, etc.)

You can create an online course business in any of these profitable niches by leveraging your expertise and experience.

Do You Need an Online Course Agreement Template?

The short answer is YES!

You definitely need a terms and conditions page to protect you, your business, and your students before you start selling online courses.

Without an online course agreement, you can’t:

• Protect your online course content and confidential information
• Prevent plagiarism and online cheating
• Enforce your rules and regulations against people who violate the agreement
• Resolve disputes between you and your students on reasonable grounds — you’ll likely face hefty legal fees

You could create your own online course terms and conditions, but are you willing to put in the time and effort to go over all that legal jargon?

Most importantly, do you trust you’ll do a good enough job?

If your answer is “no”, take a look at Amira’s terms and conditions template for course creators. This template gives you everything you need to legally protect your online course without any hassle, and it comes with 5 incredible bonuses too!

Most importantly, it’s written by a lawyer and entrepreneur to give you complete peace of mind.

Best Niches for Online Courses — Key Takeaways

We just discussed great ideas for most successful online courses.

Don’t be afraid to get ultra-specific with your niche — as long as there’s a demand for it.

I’ve seen people make a ton of money with online courses about how to grow succulents, how to make money selling Canva templates, and how to paint flowers with watercolors… Super random, right?

First, research your niche to know if there’s demand. Then, test it by starting a blog and offering a related lead magnet.

If people are downloading your freebie, chances are they’ll also be interested in your course.

Continuously tweak how you generate traffic, collect leads, and market your course (use this tool) to grow revenue over time.

Don’t forget to protect yourself and your business with an online course agreement!

FAQ on Best Niches for Online Courses

Related Blog Posts to the Most Profitable Online course Ideas

In addition to the list of profitable niches and examples of online course topics above, you should check out the following helpful blog posts and tools for your own business:

Visit this freebies page to get 5 awesome free business, blogging and legal tips!

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ABOUT GUEST WRITER

Ines is the founder of Free Worker Bee where she’s a digital marketing freelance writer — her specialty is long-form SEO blog posts that drive traffic and generate leads. On her blog, Free Worker Bee, she teaches people how to make money writing online.