Brainstorm Course Topics That People Actually Want

Picking the right topic is half the battle. Most creators pick a topic they find interesting, build a course around it, and then wonder why nobody buys. AI can’t tell you what will sell, but it can help you brainstorm faster and spot gaps you’d miss on your own.

The Brainstorm Prompt

Start with a broad prompt that generates volume. You’ll filter later.

Prompt:

“I’m a [your expertise area] expert. Generate 20 specific course topics I could teach. Each topic should solve one clear problem for one specific audience. Format: Topic title, target student, the problem it solves, and why existing courses might be missing this angle.”

Run this prompt three times with slight variations. Change “expert” to “consultant,” “practitioner,” or “former [role].” Each variation produces different angles because the AI frames your expertise differently.

You’ll have 50 to 60 raw topic ideas in about 10 minutes.

Filter Against Demand

AI generates ideas. You validate demand. These are separate steps.

Take your top 10 ideas and check:

• Search volume. Type the topic into Google. Are people searching for it? Do autocomplete suggestions appear? That’s demand.
• Existing courses. Search Udemy, YouTube, and Google for courses on the topic. Competition proves demand. No competition usually means no demand.
• Forum questions. Search Reddit, Quora, and Facebook groups for the topic. Are people asking questions about it? Those questions become your lesson plan.
• Your audience. If you have an email list or social following, ask them directly. “I’m considering building a course on [topic]. Is this something you’d want?”

AI can help with the search step too:

Prompt:

“For each of these 5 course topics, suggest 10 specific questions a beginner would type into Google. Make them natural search queries, not academic terms. [Paste your topics]”

The questions AI generates are your keyword research shortcuts. If the questions feel like things real people would ask, you’re on the right track.

The Niche-Down Test

Most first course topics are too broad. “Social media marketing” is a book, not a course. “How to get your first 1,000 Instagram followers as a fitness coach” is a course.

Use AI to niche down:

Prompt:

“This course topic is too broad: ‘[your topic]’. Give me 5 narrower sub-topics, each focused on a specific audience with a specific outcome. The narrower the better.”

Run this two or three times until you hit something that feels like a single transformation, not a whole field of study.

The Validation Shortcut

Before committing to a topic, use AI to stress-test it:

Prompt:

“I want to create a course called ‘[your topic]’ for [your audience]. What are 5 reasons this course might fail? What would students complain about? What’s missing from this angle that they’d still need help with?”

The objections AI generates aren’t always right, but they surface blind spots. If the course falls apart under this scrutiny, the topic needs more refinement.

What To Do With Your Final Topic

Once you’ve picked your topic, write it down as a single sentence:

“I’m teaching [specific audience] how to [specific outcome] by [your method/framework].”

That sentence is your north star for every lesson you write. If a lesson doesn’t contribute to that outcome, cut it.