You’ve spent countless hours and energy creating your online course masterpiece. Now, it’s time to get to the most rewarding part: selling it!
But much as we’d all love it to be true, selling an online course isn’t as simple as pressing a button and watching the money roll in. You’ll need a platform to showcase and sell the course on, a user-friendly way for students to access the content, and a secure way to process payments - among a laundry list of other items.
So which platform should you choose? You could ask in various Facebook Groups, but you’ll get dozens of different recommendations that may leave you in analysis paralysis, delaying your course launch until who knows when.
Never fear! I’ve combed through a variety of platforms and features to make it as easy as possible for you to choose where to sell your online course. That includes the ones I use myself. So let’s get straight to it so you can go straight to selling!
Why Use An Online Course Platform
Before you’re tempted to think you don’t need a platform to sell your course, let me stop you right there and tell you why it’s the only sensible move. Consider these top reasons for choosing an online course platform to sell your courses:
Ease of use: Online course platforms serve up slick interfaces and tools that simplify creating, organizing, and delivering your content. The last thing you need is to waste time fiddling with a million bits of tech and design elements. Focus on what matters: producing top-notch course materials.
Multimedia support: These platforms cater to an array of multimedia formats like text, images, videos, and interactive elements.
Payment processing: With built-in payment gateways and multiple currency support, selling your courses worldwide is a piece of cake. Plus, these platforms have got your back when it comes to secure transactions. Many deal with the tax side of things for you too.
Marketing, automation, and more: Many platforms come equipped with marketing superpowers, such as affiliate programs, landing pages, and email marketing integrations.
Access control and analytics: Master the art of managing user access, tracking student progress, and analyzing course performance. Harness this data to tweak your content, monitor student engagement, and refine your marketing tactics.
Community cohorts: Online course platforms often feature built-in tools that nurture communication between students and instructors, like discussion forums, chat rooms, and Q&A sessions. Foster a sense of camaraderie and elevate the overall learning experience.
By using an online course platform, you can streamline the course creation and delivery process, reach a broader audience, and provide a high-quality learning experience for your students. All of those are critical to the success of your course and your ability to build passive income for your business.
Now comes the tricky part. There are a lot of course platforms out there, with more seemingly popping up every day. Which platform you choose should depend on the features you need.
Key Features for An Online Course Platform
No two online course platforms are the same (as you’ll see in the next section). But there are several features to look for in the platform that you choose. Ultimately, it depends on your needs and the time you have to manage the platform. More complex platforms with lots of features will have a steeper learning curve, so bear that in mind when deciding which features are most critical for you.
Here are some of the top features to consider:
Ease of use: The platform should be user-friendly, with an intuitive interface that makes it easy to create, organize, and manage your course content.
Content hosting and multimedia support: The platform should support various multimedia formats (text, images, audio, video, etc.) and provide reliable hosting, allowing you to deliver an impressive course without worrying about technical issues.
Customizability: Look for a platform that offers customization options, such as branding, course layout, and design elements, to create a course that fits right in with your brand.
Assessment tools: The platform should provide tools for creating quizzes, tests, and assignments to assess student progress and performance.
Student engagement features: Consider platforms with built-in features to facilitate interaction between students and instructors, such as discussion forums, chat rooms, and Q&A sessions.
Access control and security: Ensure the platform offers tools for managing user access and maintaining the security and privacy of your course content and user data.
Analytics and reporting: Look for platforms that provide detailed analytics and reporting features, allowing you to track student progress, course performance, and overall engagement.
Integrations: Choose a platform that integrates with third-party tools and services, such as email marketing, CRM, webinar, or LMS software, to streamline your workflow and enhance the learning experience.
Payment processing: The platform should offer built-in payment gateways and support multiple currencies, making it easy to sell your courses and giving potential buyers confidence during checkout.
Marketing and promotional tools: Find a platform with marketing tools, such as affiliate programs, landing pages, upsell options, and email marketing integrations, to help you reach a wider audience and increase sales.
Scalability: The platform should be able to handle growth in the number of students and courses without impacting performance or user experience.
Customer support: Ensure the platform offers reliable, timely customer support to help you address any technical issues or questions that may arise.
7 Best Platforms to Create and Sell Your Course Online
It can seem like there are countless course-creation and course-selling platforms on the market. It’s enough to make your head spin!
If you’re stumped on where to sell your course, here are 7 solid recommendations for you to choose from. Depending on your needs and budget, one platform may be better than the other so it will be up to you.
Udemy
Udemy is a well-known and popular course platform. In fact, it’s estimated that Udemy boasts over 200,000 courses on its platform so you’ll be in good company.
Some of the highlights of Udemy include:
Course creation tools
Analytics
Marketing tools
Start for free, and revenue share once your course starts selling
Pricing
Udemy is free to sign up and create a course, but you will start paying once your course makes money. Instructors receive 97% of the revenue generated from sales using the link that Udemy gives them, but only 37% of sales occur off that link. For example, if you make a sale by sharing the special Udemy link on Twitter you will get 97% of that sale. Later down the line though if someone finds your course on Udemy, you will get 37% of the sale.
Teachable
Teachable is a popular platform for new course creators thanks to its user-friendly interface and course authoring tools. In fact, it’s the first platform I used for my own courses and I still highly recommend it for newbies who don’t want to be overwhelmed by the tech. Teachable gives you a great deal out of the box to create branded pages as well as marketing and sales tools to launch your course. They even have options for selling coaching and downloads.
Some notable highlights include:
Custom branding
Various pricing options for your courses
Integrations with popular marketing tools
Free plans are available tom get started
Pricing
You can create a free Teachable account to get started, their paid plans start at $39 per month (if you pay annually), plus a 5% transaction fee on all course sales.
Thinkific
Like Teachable, Thinkific is an online course creation platform that includes templates and page builders. You can create courses, presell courses, and build your funnel all in one platform.
Some notable highlights include:
Samples and templates to get started
Integrations with popular marketing tools
Starts free for one course
Pricing
You can create a free Thinkific account to get started, and their plans start at $36 per month (if you pay annually) and there is no transaction fee.
Kajabi
For those looking for a powerful course marketing and automation platform, Kajabi may be the right fit for you. Kajabi provides course-creating tools, but they also excel at their marketing and automation tools to help you market and sell your course.
Some highlights include:
Email marketing tools
Templates to get started
Automation tools
Pricing
Kajabi is pricier than the other options, it currently starts at $119 per month (if you pay annually), and does not charge a transaction fee on course sales.
New Zenler
New Zenler is one of our favorite platforms due to its comprehensive suite of tools for the price you pay and ease of use. It provides course-creating tools, landing page builders, and more to build and brand a course that will wow your students. As I write this, they still say they’re in beta, but it’s been that way for several years since they’re always adding new features. There’s nothing ‘beta’ about it!
Some highlights include:
Easy-to-use course creation tools
Quiz and survey builders
Marketing funnels
Marketing automation tools
Livestream and webinar options built-in
Community building tools
Pricing
New Zenler has a free plan and then currently starts at $67 per month (if you pay monthly) and does not charge a transaction fee.
Podia
Podia is a great platform for new course creators due to its ease of use and simple e-commerce functionality. Podia provides tools to create courses, set up membership sites, and sell your courses as you grow your business.
Some notable highlights include:
Support for digital downloads
Bundling options for courses
Private membership tools
Pricing
You can create an account for free, and paid accounts start at $33 per month (if you pay annually) with no transaction fees.
Learndash
Learndash is a popular platform for those with WordPress websites. As a content management system (CMS), WordPress allows a ton of flexibility and customizability - which is where LeardDash excels. Learndash turns your WordPress website into a learning management and course-selling tool that is integrated with the rest of your website.
Some notable highlights include:
Easy-to-use course creation and selling tools
Multimedia support
Integrates with your WordPress website
Pricing
LearnDash starts at $199 per year for one website. They also have a cloud-hosted software option which starts at $24 per month (if you pay annually).
5 Simple Steps for How to Sell a Course Online
Now that you've chosen your trusty course platform, it's time to navigate the thrilling world of selling your course. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or hesitant to ask anyone to buy your course, there are just a few simple steps you need to follow:
Know your audience: Begin with a solid understanding of your target market. This knowledge should inform every aspect of your course creation and sales efforts.
Publish on a platform: Upload your course onto the chosen platform (perhaps one of our fantastic seven?) and make sure it's polished and ready for potential students.
Create an enticing sales page: Your sales page should captivate potential customers with engaging, informative, and persuasive content that showcases the value of your course.
Develop a sales strategy: Craft a well-rounded sales strategy that combines outreach and an enticing sales sequence to attract and retain students.
Promote, promote, promote: Spread the word about your course far and wide! Develop a promotion strategy that builds your audience and funnels enthusiastic learners to your course.
Selling a course may seem daunting, but with the right platform and a solid plan, you'll find yourself on the path to success in no time.
Best Ways to Promote Your Online Course
In order to sell your course (and make a profit), you need to promote it.
Promoting a course is a broad subject. We covered our 19 favorite course promotion tactics in depth, but here are a few quick hits to get you started.
- Network at local seminars and meetups to get in front of your target audience
- Join an online group (Facebook, Slack, or Discord)
- Write guest blog posts to build your website’s authority and reach
- Leverage social media and grow your following
- Build an email list, and email them regularly so you are always top of mind
- Showcase testimonials from past customers to provide social proof
- Broaden your reach with ads (either on Google or social media)
Pick the ones that sound easiest to you for a great head start. Then check out the rest of the tips in our blog post for more advice as you build your course launch plan.
Here’s How to Kick Your Course Sales into High Gear
As you can see, selling a course isn’t as simple as pressing a button to go live.
If it were that simple, everyone and their dog would have a successful online course! Fortunately, you’re armed with a little know-how and a few secret tidbits of knowledge that will set you apart from your competitors.
You need to choose the platform, launch the course, promote it, and then worry about marketing and sales along the way. I know it still sounds like it’s a lot to deal with, and we haven’t even mentioned the costs and time that go into creating a course.
You can get a jump on your competition though by skipping ahead in line and selling a course that is already written and just needs to be published and sold. We sell thousands of courses to business owners and coaches just like you. With our white-label course, you can offer knowledge and training at scale, focus more on serving your clients, and add new revenue streams quickly - without wasting weeks creating courses from scratch.
From email marketing courses to business planning courses, we have you covered. Browse our shop and find a course to sell to your audience today.
Check Out Our Full Range of Courses in the Shop
Teach Yourself. Then teach your audience.
When you purchase a license to any of our ready-to-go course kits, you get the rights to edit it any way you want (or leave as-is) and add your own name and branding.
Then use your new course to:
- Attract new clients and customers (such as with a free training, webinar, or eCourse)
- Add a new stream of income (such as with a paid course or workshop)
- Keep your current customers successful and coming back for more (such as with bonus webinars, videos, and other learning resources).
Enjoy!
The curation of online course platforms is spot on, Sharyn. I joined Teach:able when it was still Fedora and loved the platform so much that I got a Basic Subscription. They keep adding new services and facilities and handle taxes for a small fee. Marketing is always a must to benefit from this platform and I'm currently exploring Udemy for a marketplace course to raise my visibility.
Thanks Vatsala! It will be interesting to hear what you end up doing with Udemy. I have mixed feelings since I don’t like being on a platform that isn’t your own. And if you’re going to spend a lot of time marketing yourself, I’d rather build an audience on my own turf and not have to give a huge cut of sales to someone else (except affiliates who send me traffic!) Let me know how it goes.
Wow Sharyn You have shared some great information here. Good to be able to refer back to when I am ready to launch my course.
I’m so glad this was helpful, Fran. Let me know any time if you have specific questions. Don’t wait to launch your course! Even if you don’t get into promoting it immediately, the quicker you have a minimum viable course set up, the faster you can profit from it, even if it’s just a little. And once it’s set up on a platform, you can focus your spare time on building an audience who will benefit from it and be interested in buying. That includes any mini-course that acts as a lead magnet vs. a paid course. Those are just as important. See which platform you think will suit you best, and then sign up for a free plan.