As the trend of selling online courses continues to grow I have seen a slight shift in the way these premium courses are offered.

Most people slap a price onto their course as soon as it is ready to be sold.

Sure, there may be variants in how the course is priced (subscription versus one-time payment). The course may also have multiple tiers depending on what is included.

But once it is available the focus then shifts to driving traffic to the offering. The more people that see the course the more customers, and the more customers would mean larger revenue.

Or so one would think.

Over the past year or so I have noticed an emerging trend in how these elearning entrepreneurs are offering their courses. The course isn’t available for purchase at all times. Instead, enrollment is opened for only a small amount of time and then it is shut down.

It’s not a gimmick. They really close access (but give you the chance to sign-up to the waiting list).

Under the right circumstances this is a very powerful technique. First, you create real scarcity. People hate to miss out on something so they will feel pressure to purchase the course. The exclusivity of it adds to the allure.

This method also makes it easier for you to sell the course at a higher price-point. It’s a rare product, and rare products usually command higher prices.

When enrollment closes you also are building an asset in the form of an email list of interested buyers. This means that the next time you open up your course you already have warm leads.

This pricing method means you have to build hype for your course. If you already have a site that is generating traffic (such as a blog), then this will be easier for you to do. That said, you have to start somewhere so don’t feel discouraged if you don’t already have a popular site.

If you’re interested in examples of people who do this, consider checking out the following:

• Javascript for WP by Zac Gordon
• WPEleveation and Rockstar Empires by Troy Dean
• Marketer Seal by Matthew Woodward

All three of these individuals successfully use the limited-time enrollment strategy (in addition to using LearnDash to power their courses 😉 ).