Worldwide, the need for a change in our education system is long overdue. And if you intend to create an online course and sell them, you couldn’t have come at a better time.
Online course platforms are seeing a steady increase in the number of students enrolling in online courses.
And if you act fast, you can have a share of the 325 billion dollars revenue the online course platforms will be generating soon, according to experts.
But not only that; you will also be participating in a revolution that promises to deliver mankind from the static, boring old styles of education that unnecessarily consume his time.
- What are online course platforms?
- What are the best online course platforms?
- How do you create and sell online courses?
Let’s dive right in.
What are online course platforms?
An online learning platform is an e-learning software that combines a set of interactive online services, tools, and supports for both trainers and learners to help them access online education delivery and management.
As an education provider, such software allows you to design a custom online course for your target audience, customize it to suit their experience, set your payment gateway, and offer other services as may be necessary.
And as a learner, it gives you access to various types of e-courses and allows you to select your course of study and follow it through based on your preference.
What are the best online course platforms?
The ability to teach your students with ease and elegance as well as automate your user-acquisition and sales process is among the top criteria you should consider when thinking of choosing an online course platform.
Ideally, the right online course platform would have an integrated learning management system (LMS) that offers the following:
- Administration, documentation, delivery of educational courses, tracking and training programs
- Membership programs
- Some eCommerce capability features
After rigorous research and vetting, I came up with a number of online course platforms that I know will serve you well, and they are listed below:
Best Online Course Platforms
1. Teachable
For all you might need, ease of operation would definitely be on top of your priority.
I made Teachable my #1 choice because of their ability to think like their customers, in all their diverse ranges.
They understand that launching an online course might be a bit of pain in the ass if you have to build your own platform from the ground, especially if you have zero experience in coding.
Hence, they deem it fit to make it simple as in a matter of a few clicks.
Aside from being an easy-to-use platform, they offer you a platform that gives you full control over your own branding, student data, messaging and pricing, all in a single place.
I decline to believe that over 68,000 entrepreneurs use this platform for no good reason.
So, if you are thinking of choosing an online course platform that doesn't make you angry, I’d say, who better?
Who better than Teachable?
While they give you a whole month free trial to test their platform, they have four types of payment plans for you, and you can choose in accordance with your priority.
Their basic plan is $29 per month.
2. Thinkific
You cannot be exploring online course platforms without having heard of Thinkific. For one thing, they are brutally popular and rightfully so.
With their drag-and-drop course builder, multiple instructors profiles, and full eCommerce features, Thinkific has more to boast of than most of their peers in the online course platform world.
And they rightfully declare on their website that their mission is to power your education empire.
Interestingly, on their homepage, they laid bare a challenge that seems to echo their confidence in the value they deliver.
It reads, “Create and sell online courses and membership sites under your own brand, and see first-hand the impact teaching online with Thinkific will have on your business.”
Whether you will hold them up to their words or not, it's completely up to you.
Their basic plan is $39 per month.
3. Learnworlds
A marketing dictum says, “people don’t buy products, they buy experience.”
And that is the value proposition of Learnworlds.
Learnworlds offers a premium online course platform that gives you the chance to not just sell online courses but to sell learning experiences.
They have a pre-made course catalog that requires you to do not more than adding your own content, a library of responsive templates, and styles which allows you to create pages that facilitate engagement with your students.
Some of the Learnworlds feature also allow your students to take note, download other video attachments to your course, and take an online test upon completion of their lessons.
What’s more, the purpose of automation is to create a wonderful experience and ease. With Learnworlds, you and your students get automation features so encompassing it leaves you thinking you are in the future.
On the template side of the thing, too, they lead.
How about analytics that’s available on their platform for you to easily optimize your sales, social media integration, and the life-saving 24/7 support?
If any of these platforms is tailor-made for commercial online sellers in mind, then Learnworld hs to be the #1 among them.
Their starter's plan is $29 per month.
4. Kajabi
Here is an all-in-one online course platform that makes it easy for you to create your online course, build a website, create unlimited landing pages, and launch marketing campaigns.
Succinctly put, Kajabi has everything you might need for creating and running all your online course in one place.
At its core, Kajabi thrives as a platform unrivaled in its marketing automation tools while also providing you many other things you might dream of on other platforms.
If you are coming to the online course platforms with some marketing fire in the belly, Kajabi is the right place to put your prowess in motion.
They are a bit pricey, but it will not be hard to find the value for your money.
For your money, you will have a customizable checkout, irresistible course themes, and unparalleled blog functionality, among other things.
It would be your best shot if you are already an established business with a steady flow of income. Let's just say this is meant for corporate bodies.
Their basic price is $149 per month.
5. Ruzuku
If you are thinking of ease and familiarity, I mean, an online course platform so easy to start that it looks like you are using the common digital tools you’ve been familiar for years, then Ruzuku should be your first inline.
Often referred to as “the ridiculously easy course creator,” I took my time to study Ruzuku on their platform as well as outside their platform, what I found is enthusing.
Ruzuku effortlessly integrates with MailChimp, PayPal, and Stripe. You will also have access to Global Content Delivery Network, daily backup, and a lack of transaction fees.
Ruzuku, aside from offering you the ease of setup and operation, all the necessary tools in one place, Ruzuku has a committed professional community that supports you along the way just like your colleagues at the office.
They brought to the online world the cozy feeling of having work peers who cheer you every step of the way, take care of some part of your assignment, and pick you up when you are down.
With the warmness and personalization of experience on that platform, it is safe to say Ruzuku is best at helping their customers succeed.
Their basic plan costs $75 per month.
6. Academy of Mine
Built on a philosophy of customization and personalized customer success, small and medium-sized business owners who want to offer in-house professional training and certifications for their employees -- or even for clients -- are now called upon.
The price of Academic of Mine may be a damper to an ordinary user, it would mean absolutely nothing when weighed beside the benefits. Their marketing tools and analytics dashboard will help sell your courses without hassle.
If your aim is to create a course for the high-end professionals, Academy of Mine is for you a goldmine.
And if you are targeting a broader audience, you can always be sure of having an upbeat experience with Academy of Mine.
Big corporations are paying Academy of Mine high rates for the ease, the experience, the professionalism, the comprehensiveness, and the quick and ever-available support it offers.
For corporate organizations and higher institutions of learning, this should be the first in line.
Pricing starts at $9,997 a year.
7. LearnDash
LearnDash refers to itself as “the most trusted WordPress LMS.” In case you’ve forgotten, LMS means Learning Management System. But I think there are more reasons as to why Universities and entrepreneurs prefer them
LearnDash integrates easily with WordPress, it is easy to install, it has a pool of free add-ons and a powerful course builder, in every sense.
Fortune 500 companies, major Universities across the world, entrepreneurs, as well as training organizations use Learndash.
If you are tutoring on Learndash, you will have the chance to create an experience almost equaling what people gain when they go to real-life Universities.
For example, you can give your students points, badges, and certificates to encourage them. It is such a big virtual campus!
The basic price is $199.
8. WiziQ
For teachers and educators who want to set up virtual classrooms for live interactive classes, WiziQ should be your go-to LMS software.
Educators as well as corporate leaders who want to reach a live audience online resort to WiziQ to aid them.
How to Create and Sell Online Courses
Having given you the list of where you could best host your online courses to have the best of experiences, I think it would help a great deal to give you a flash of insight into a few things you should try and get right before you endeavor to create your online courses.
As a marketer, I understand that marketing does not begin when you are done creating your product. The production should be founded on the market's interest. You can call it product-market fit or growth hacking.
So before and after you create that course, these are the things you must do if you must attain maximum success.
If you are looking for examples on which you can model your online courses, just see how these real estate investing courses are modeled for inspiration.
Choose a niche you are an expert in
First, I must say it is impossible to sell anything if you do not have it, knowledge most of all.
Don’t just rush into creating an online course if you are not sure of your expertise. For one thing, you set yourself up for both failure and avoidable embarrassment.
Second, don’t just create an online course without conducting a feasibility study into your course to see whether it has the potential to pay you back for your effort. Marketers refer to products/services that do not have enough market to serve profitably as makable but not sellable products.
So, do not underestimate the importance of a good feasibility study.
Mass desire, which sells anything, has been rightly defined as the public spread of a private want.
If you are creating an online course, therefore, you must consider your level of knowledge in that field as well as the number of people searching for such courses.
If you need insight or help of an online marketer, you can reach out to me on the "Contact me" page for consultation.
Plan your marketing from day one
Part of this has been mentioned in number 1.
And it requires you, after establishing there is an audience for your course, to ascertain where you can easily reach them with your marketing efforts.
Do they hang out on Facebook, or Twitter, or Reddit, or Quora or…?
Or all you need is some badass SEO/content marketing campaign like the one I applied to bring you to this page.
Don’t forget, nonetheless, to add your course to Udemy and Skillshare in order to tap into their pool of ready-made audience. While I must forewarn you that these platforms will take a cut from your money, they are also of paramount to you given the number of audiences that they already have.
Get the right equipment
A bad workman, they say, always complain about his tool.
Perhaps, a little search on Udemy and Skillshare will show you how many competitors you’ve got.
Even if you offer the novelty of Albert Einstein, any frailty in the aspect user experience will lead your prospects right down to your competitor’s door.
So, basically, I'm saying you will need the following:
- A video recording tool: Get yourself the best video recording tool. The distance between your prospect walking away or staying is only as far as the first impression your visual makes on them.
- A microphone: I’m not supposed to mention. Yes, I know, but even if you are going to record your course using an Apple iPhone camera, pay attention to your voice; or else it will keep your students away.
- Screen recording tool: Of course, you may need that. I once purchased an entire course where there was no single image of a human, but screen recording all through. Even if that’s not the model of your course, you may still need to do some screen recording at some point. You can check out an app called Loom.
- Apple Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro. Having shot your course to the end, now you will want to do some edits on it to give it the best outlook possible. Those two tools I mentioned might be of great benefit to you.
If you are not sure of where to start, you can read my post on how to start a blog or online business ideas that could make you rich.
I also niched down here on how to start a sports blog.
