Have you been thinking for a while now about creating an online course to share your knowledge and expertise, but the stumbling block is deciding where to host it?

You want it to be easy to use and the least amount of hassle possible for you but also for your client who purchases don't you? You want to be paid quickly and make sure that after the effort it takes you to create a course that is easy for clients to purchase and navigate?

Taking the decision to host your 1st online course can seem a big step in itself but researching what platform to actually host on it is even trickier.

With the experience of helping clients create online courses since mid-2020 and having done plenty of challenges and courses myself here is a summary of what you should look out for! At every stage you should consider how easy it is for your end clients as users but also for you as the host.

Platforms

I’ve helped clients to put courses on Mighty Networks and MemberVault . MemberVault in particular I found very intuitive, and I have hosted a challenge there too.

I’ve built my own course ‘Jumpstart your Efficiency’ on my Squarespace website  https://www.virtuali.uk/courses-workshops. If you are thinking of changing websites or building a new one, I highly recommend the services of Ellie from Calibrated Concepts who is the Squarespace guru.

I also have done courses that others have created on Thinkific ,Teacheable and Udemy.

If you have your own website and the capacity to host your course, there and it’s easy to navigate that’s also a very obvious place to put it as potential clients will find more readily if they are already on your website.

Having a pretty interface or being free shouldn’t be your deciding factor! Here are 13 elements I would advise you look out for when researching where you want to host your course:

1.   How intuitive is the platform to use?

As the host

How easy it is to use, and it is obvious how and where to upload:

·      Course titles

·      Course/modules description

·      Images

·      Links for video uploads. Does it allow you to use (YouTube/Vimeo*/loom)

·      Supporting material such as PDF worksheets

·      Move/Duplicate/Hide/Delete content

·      To decide frequency of when you want to release contact (immediately upon purchase/drip feed/date feed etc)

·      Access-can you manually give someone access to the course (test/prize/promotion?) as well as letting them purchase it

*You can record your screen and share your screen and make videos directly in Vimeo now which makes life easier. If you need any help doing this, please contact me as I just made them there for my Jumpstart your Efficiency Course.

Canva is also a fantastic place to make all your products-slideshow, eBooks, social media posts and record your screen and do voice overs.

As the client

How easy is it for the client to access, to purchase, to navigate your course, to go back to previous modules, to see their own progress and to contact you if necessary.

Login-Do clients have a protected member area and can they reset their password easily enough?

2.   Marketing

When you create your course does it have an independent URL that you can share across your social media platforms and can you upload a preview video for example and then share.

 

3.   Payment

As the host

How easy is it for you to add payment details and what options do you have (Stripe/Paypal). Each payment service has a different fee it takes.

How easy it is to add different currencies and to add terms and conditions and wording around a refund policy?

As the client

How easy is it for the client to find the details about your course and to click through on the shopping cart? Can you see a preview video? Is the process straightforward and do they receive a confirmation email giving them clear instructions as to what to do to log in and follow modules?

4.    Community Aspect

Is there a messaging or other service within the platform where you can receive messages from participants and engage with them? Or can they engage with other users and learn from each other experiences?

5.    Reporting Dashboard

Is there a dashboard that gives you an overview of sales and in which you can delve into deeper metrics like how many modules clients completed/when they purchased etc.?

If you have different products, can you see what most people are buying and when?

6.    Integrations

Does the platform have established integrations already or under way with email marketing platforms (Mailchimp/Mailerlite/ActiveCampaign) so for example when someone purchases a course you can ask them if they want to be added to your mailing list and keep them informed of future courses/tips? Or set up an automated email in your email marketing and send them a message welcoming them to the course and telling them how to access course.

7.    Interactive Element

Can you create an interactive element where you have quizzes/polls or tests etc within your platform to keep members engaged?

8.   Pricing

How does the platform charge you for use? By the amount of subscribers/number of interactions/numbers of courses you upload/video storage? Be careful of platforms which are free to start off as prices can hike up quickly.

9.    Intellectual Property

Who really owns your material is it you or is the platform? Be mindful of that when uploading and make sure if you are creating videos etc that you have the original copy and that you keep a spreadsheet of all your titles/course descriptions/ module descriptions so if anything happens to the platform.

 10. Reputation

Is the platform new or well established? Do have they a good reputation? The last thing you want is to upload all your course content to a platform and then for them to go out of business and you have no way to protect your material.

11.  Support

Sometimes we can be lured by a free product but as they say nothing in life comes for free and if a tool is free chances are you will pay instead in the hours you spend on trying to work it out. Before purchasing a product always check how much support is available –

-is there 24-hour chat bot?

-do they offer online or face to face tutorials?

-do they have a comprehensive how-to section (Xero accountancy is an example of a company with a fantastic help section) I swapped from Mail Chimp to *ActiveCampaign in 2020 and they had a really thorough induction programme with customer support.

12. Affiliate codes

Does the platform have an affiliate service so if you refer it to someone else that you get some kind of monetary reward or discount?

Can you set up your own course affiliates so that your loyal clients, ambassadors, or people who share the same type of clientele can share it for you?

 13. Discount codes

Can you create a special discount code so that if you have a special offer or give your course free to someone as a prize that you can create a free or discounted option of it for a certain amount of time?

Please reach out if you have further questions and you can also DOWNLOAD my free roadmap to creating your online course. In each step, I'll pose questions you should answer before you get started.

Let me know what course you are creating and which platform you are leaning towards.

I’ll be running regular online Course Creators challenges so if you are interested register your interest, to be the first to find out the date of the next one HERE.