Okay, so I’m finally ready to start selling my courses! I’ve been teaching informally for years, and now I want to reach a wider audience and actually get paid for my expertise. But the world of online course platforms is overwhelming!
I have a few different types of courses in mind, and I’m not sure which platform will best suit all of them. Ideally, I’d like to use just one platform to keep things simple.
Here’s a breakdown of the course types I’m planning:
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Self-Paced Video Courses: These are your typical "watch-and-learn" courses. I’ll need robust video hosting and the ability to drip-feed content. Think beginner to advanced levels in topics like digital marketing and photography.
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Live Workshops: I want to offer interactive workshops with a limited number of students, incorporating live Q&A and potentially even breakout rooms. It’s important that the platform integrates well with Zoom or similar meeting software. Think masterclasses on topics like writing and content creation.
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Cohort-Based Courses: These are more structured courses that run over a set period, with assignments, community interaction, and scheduled feedback sessions. They need to feel more like a real classroom environment. Think career advancement in topics like data analysis and project management.
- Downloadable Resources/Templates: I want to be able to sell resources like templates, checklists, and workbooks related to my course topics.
I’m looking for a platform that’s reasonably priced (especially in the beginning when I’m just starting out), easy to use (both for me and my students), and offers good marketing tools to help me promote my courses. Bonus points if it has a built-in affiliate program!
Any recommendations based on those specific needs? I’ve looked at Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, and LearnDash (with WordPress), but I’m just not sure which is the best fit.
Answer
Choosing the "best" platform for selling different types of courses depends heavily on your specific needs, technical skills, budget, and target audience. There isn’t a single universally "best" platform. Instead, there are platforms that excel in different areas. Here’s a breakdown of popular platforms and their strengths and weaknesses:
1. Teachable:
- Strengths:
- Ease of Use: Teachable is known for its user-friendly interface, making it easy for creators with limited technical skills to set up and manage courses.
- Course Structure: Offers a structured course builder, allowing you to organize lessons into modules and sections.
- Marketing Tools: Built-in marketing features, including coupons, upsells, and affiliate programs.
- Payment Processing: Handles payment processing securely and offers various payment options (credit cards, PayPal).
- Integration: Integrates with popular marketing tools like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Zapier.
- Pricing Options: Offers various pricing plans to suit different budgets, including a free plan with limited features.
- Customer Support: Provides good customer support resources, including a knowledge base and email support.
- Quizzes & Certificates: Supports quizzes and certificates of completion to enhance the learning experience.
- Weaknesses:
- Transaction Fees: Charges transaction fees on some plans, which can eat into your profits.
- Customization: Customization options are somewhat limited compared to self-hosted platforms.
- Branding: Branding options can be restricted, especially on lower-tier plans.
- Community Features: Lacks robust community features compared to some platforms like Thinkific.
- Limited control over design: Less flexibility in customising the appearance of your site
Suitable for: Individuals or small businesses creating and selling a few online courses, especially if ease of use is a priority. Good for courses that are relatively standard in format.
2. Thinkific:
- Strengths:
- Customization: Offers more customization options than Teachable, allowing you to create a branded learning experience.
- Course Structure: Similar to Teachable, provides a structured course builder with modules and lessons.
- Community Features: Stronger community features than Teachable, including discussion forums and student profiles.
- Marketing Tools: Includes marketing tools like coupons, upsells, and affiliate programs.
- Payment Processing: Handles payment processing securely and offers various payment options.
- Integrations: Integrates with various marketing tools and platforms.
- No Transaction Fees (on paid plans): Does not charge transaction fees on most of its paid plans.
- Membership features: Allows for creation of membership sites, with recurring billing and exclusive content.
- Weaknesses:
- Ease of Use: Can be slightly more complex to set up than Teachable.
- Pricing: Can be more expensive than Teachable, especially if you need advanced features.
- Customer Support: Customer support can be slower than Teachable in some cases.
Suitable for: Individuals or businesses that want more control over branding and customization and need stronger community features. Also good for complex courses or membership programs.
3. LearnDash (WordPress Plugin):
- Strengths:
- Complete Control: Gives you complete control over your course platform since it’s built on WordPress.
- Customization: Highly customizable through WordPress themes and plugins.
- Features: Offers a wide range of features, including course building, quizzes, assignments, drip content, and certificates.
- Integrations: Integrates with countless WordPress plugins for marketing, membership, e-commerce, and more.
- No Transaction Fees: No transaction fees on top of your payment gateway fees.
- One-Time Payment: You pay a one-time fee (or annual subscription) for the plugin instead of monthly fees.
- Weaknesses:
- Technical Skills Required: Requires technical skills to set up and manage a WordPress site.
- Maintenance: You’re responsible for maintaining your website and ensuring it’s secure.
- Complexity: Can be overwhelming for beginners due to the vast number of options and settings.
- Security: You’re responsible for the security of your website, which can be challenging.
- Requires WordPress Hosting: You’ll need to find a reliable WordPress hosting provider.
Suitable for: Users who are comfortable with WordPress, want maximum control over their course platform, and need advanced features and integrations. Good for large-scale course platforms or those that require highly customized functionality.
4. Podia:
- Strengths:
- All-in-One Platform: Combines course creation, digital downloads, membership sites, and email marketing into a single platform.
- Ease of Use: Relatively easy to use compared to LearnDash.
- Unlimited Everything: Offers unlimited courses, students, and bandwidth on all paid plans.
- Marketing Tools: Built-in email marketing features to promote your courses.
- Customer Support: Known for its responsive customer support.
- Simple Pricing: Straightforward pricing plans.
- Weaknesses:
- Limited Customization: Customization options are more limited than Thinkific or LearnDash.
- Course Builder: Course builder is not as feature-rich as Teachable or Thinkific.
- Community Features: Community features are less robust compared to Thinkific.
- Fewer integrations: Fewer integrations with third-party tools than some other platforms
Suitable for: Creators who want an all-in-one platform to sell courses, digital downloads, and memberships, and who value simplicity and ease of use.
5. Kajabi:
- Strengths:
- All-in-One Platform: Offers a comprehensive suite of features, including course creation, website building, email marketing, and CRM.
- Marketing Automation: Powerful marketing automation tools to engage with students and promote your courses.
- Branding: Good customization options to create a branded learning experience.
- Sales Funnels: Built-in sales funnel builder to optimize conversions.
- Community Features: Robust community features to foster student engagement.
- Weaknesses:
- Price: One of the most expensive platforms, making it less accessible for beginners.
- Complexity: Can be overwhelming due to the sheer number of features.
- Limited Course Types: Primarily focused on selling video-based courses.
- Lacks flexibility: Can be restrictive in areas where it has pre-built solutions.
Suitable for: Established businesses with a larger budget that need a comprehensive platform for course creation, marketing, and sales. Good for creating highly polished, professional-looking courses and sales funnels.
6. Udemy/Skillshare:
- Strengths:
- Large Audience: Access to a vast existing audience of potential students.
- Marketing: They handle the marketing and promotion of your courses.
- Ease of Use: Easy to create and publish courses.
- Built-in Payment Processing: Handles payment processing and payouts.
- Weaknesses:
- Low Revenue Share: You receive a relatively small percentage of the revenue generated by your courses.
- Limited Control: Limited control over pricing, branding, and course content.
- Competition: High competition from other courses on the platform.
- Brand Dilution: Your brand can get lost in the platform’s branding.
- Pricing Control: You often have little control over the price of your course, as Udemy/Skillshare often run promotions that discount courses significantly.
- Quality Concerns: Due to the ease of entry, the quality of courses can vary widely, which can impact your course’s reputation.
Suitable for: Beginners who want to test the waters of online course creation and reach a large audience without investing in marketing. Useful for building an initial audience or generating passive income, but not ideal for building a sustainable, branded business.
7. Moodle:
- Strengths:
- Free and Open Source: Completely free to use and customize.
- Highly Customizable: Extremely flexible and customizable to meet specific needs.
- Scalable: Can handle a large number of users and courses.
- Features: Offers a wide range of features for course creation, management, and assessment.
- Weaknesses:
- Technical Expertise Required: Requires significant technical expertise to set up, configure, and maintain.
- Complex Interface: The interface can be complex and overwhelming for beginners.
- Design: The default design is often dated and requires customization to look modern.
- Maintenance: Requires ongoing maintenance and security updates.
Suitable for: Institutions, universities, and organizations with technical expertise that need a highly customizable and scalable learning management system (LMS).
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Platform:
- Technical Skills: How comfortable are you with technology and website management?
- Budget: What is your budget for platform fees, marketing, and other expenses?
- Course Type: What type of courses are you selling (video-based, text-based, live workshops, etc.)?
- Target Audience: Who is your target audience, and where are they likely to find your courses?
- Marketing Needs: What kind of marketing tools and features do you need?
- Community Features: How important is it to build a community around your courses?
- Customization: How much control do you want over the look and feel of your course platform?
- Scalability: How much do you expect your course business to grow in the future?
In summary:
- Easiest to Use: Teachable, Podia
- Most Customizable: LearnDash, Moodle
- Best Community Features: Thinkific, Kajabi
- Best All-in-One: Kajabi, Podia
- Best for Budget: Moodle (if you have technical skills), Teachable (free plan with limitations)
- Best for Large Audience Reach: Udemy/Skillshare
Recommendation:
Start by clearly defining your needs and priorities. Consider your technical skills, budget, course type, and target audience. Then, research the platforms that seem like a good fit and take advantage of free trials or demos to test them out. It’s also helpful to read reviews and compare features to make an informed decision. You might even start with a simpler platform and migrate to a more robust one as your business grows.
