You don’t need a lot of money to create an online course. You just need the right tools.
Here are tools you can use to record, deliver and sell your first online course.
How do you get prospective students excited about your course?
Offer them a sample.
One of my favorite thing about going to Costco is the samples. When it’s time to introduce yourself and your course to the world, you want to set up your own sample booth on the internet. There are two ways to do this: with a full website or with a much simpler tool designed specifically for offering people a “sample” of your product.
When you’re first starting, and if technology and design make you a bit nervous, definitely go with Leadpages, one-page website where you can introduce yourself to your potential students, collect their email addresses and deliver your “sample”. Because Leadpages was designed specifically for this purpose, they have pre-made templates to make the process super easy. Some of the most profitable course creators use this instead of a full website.
Want to offer courses and maybe consulting services down the line? Or maybe you want to include a blog, then a website might be perfect for you. I’d hands down recommend Squarespace for beautiful, professional looking websites without the steep learning curve.
Tools: Squarespace.com ($26/mo)*
*You’ll save some money in the long-term if you pay for a year upfront with either of these tools.
Want to create a course, but you’re nervous about having your face on camera?
Create and deliver your course with slides.
Some of the most profitable course creators started with slides and their voices. Create beautiful slides, your course workbook, logo and more using templates in Canva. When it’s time to record yourself teaching the lesson (with voice or video), there’s no need for fancy or expensive add ons. Websites like loom.com or Quicktime, a built-in program on for Mac users, let you record your screen and your voice.
Tools: Canva.com ($13/mo)* & Loom.com ($0)
*Canva offers a free version that will get the job done. However, with Pro you get some features that make creating graphics across platforms (like Facebook, Instagram, and your course materials) even easier. It’s 100% worth it!
Feel like creating slides will slow you down? Your phone and computer is all you need.
We live in a time where our phones also happen to be some of the best cameras out there. When you’re just starting out, or even if you’ve been at it for a while, all you need to record your course is your phone and a computer or program for light editing (which you could totally skip). How do you do it? Record on your phone, edit with iMovie (free app), and download your video to be shared with your students. Done and done.
And don’t worry about your video being perfect. People who want to be where you are are more concerned about your message and your realness, not your perfection.
Tools: iPhone and iMovie ($0) plus Lapel mic ($10)
Where do you store your course?
Welcome to your (virtual) classroom.
Now that you have your content created, let’s make it accessible to your students. There are several places to host your course, some of them with steep monthly price tags. When you’re just getting started, it’s okay to use free/low cost tools.
Teachable is super easy and the perfect place to start because uploading your content is easy, each student has their own login, and you can see students’ progress. How much is it? The basic plan is free (a small percentage of your sales goes back to the company).
Want an even simpler start, use Google Drive! Google Drive is heavenly not just for housing your course, but also for helping you keep all of your content/materials organized. Think of it like a locker, a very neat locker.
Note: I actually deliver my course via my website, which makes keeping up with everything much easier since it’s all in one place.
Tools: Teachable.com and Google Drive