Online courses in the fields your niche is in

[bernard]

I just signed up for a $500 online course in my niche. I get a nice little certificate at the end.

Have any of you considered doing something similar to both increase the quality of your content and more important, the trust signals to both visitors and search engines.

With e-learning being as widespread as it is, there's really no reason why you wouldn't use it to gain some kind of formal qualification, which can be listed at your LinkedIn or personal blog, which in turn will over time be connected to your website project.

 

[secretagentdad]

Yeah.
I've been thinking about using it as a monetization funnel for keyword shitter actually.
Charge for edu not tools kinda model.

 

[ToffeeLa]

I have two different official qualifications relevant to some of my general niche content and experience in two relevant jobs, which definitely helps for credibility and when contacting other webmasters for collaboration or general chat.

Kind of the difference between a plumber talking about the best pipes to use for a U-bend and some foreign outsourced copy targeting 'golden ratio' keywords with a template on the same topic.

I do think it depends on how difficult the qualifications are to obtain and their reputation within that niche. For example, how many of us would take an 'Internet Marketing' online course qualification from A.Numpty Enterprises seriously?

Being registered with the local chamber of commerce and tax authorities also helps, even if you don't like the idea and the cost...

 

[bernard]

Being registered with the local chamber of commerce

Right, I also use sponsorships for similar reasons. Usually good for clean links, but also you can use their badges and stuff like that.

 

[illmasterj]

Yeah.
I've been thinking about using it as a monetization funnel for keyword shitter actually.
Charge for edu not tools kinda model.

I've thought about doing a SaaS + course model. Kind of like a "starter kit". Could work well for keyword sheeter... "Get a keyword plan and then take this course to build an affiliate site".

 

[secretagentdad]

Keyword research starter kit or some other starter kit type approach is actually a really great way of spinning it.
Might actually try that one lol. Will owe you a small one if it works.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

https://online.hbs.edu/courses/disruptive-strategy/

I've been meaning to take that online course. The professor died but they still run his course. From what I know about it, it talks about how common, low tech things end up disrupting high end tech. An example is ARM chips overtaking x86 chips or how a catalog and the postal service disrupted neighborhood DVD rentals (when Netflix originally entered the rental business and disrupted Blockbuster). Pretty interesting for my needs.