Okay, so I’m not going to lie to you, there is a fair amount of technology to learn if you want to launch an online course.
And yes, it can be bamboozling and difficult to know where to start given there is so much advice and information out there..
Well worry no longer, because help is at hand! Here are the answers to three of your biggest tech questions, and the options that I recommend you use:
- Do I need a Membership Site?
The truth is that the decision as to whether to build a membership website depends on what your objective is.
There are lots of sites you can host your online course on such as Udemy and Skillshare, and they will give you access to many many potential buyers. The downside of this option is that often courses are priced very low (we are talking $10, $20 even) and these sites take a large percentage of any sales you make on your course.
So if you decide this is not the route for you, you then need to consider if you can deliver your online course without a membership site. If you already have a website that you can sell your online course through, in first instance you might not need to build a membership site. You can simply sell your course through your existing site and then host your video tutorials on Wistia or unlisted on Youtube and give your buyers links to your videos by email. It’s not very professional looking but it is a very cheap solution.
Personally, I think you cannot beat having your own Membership Site. Especially if you are keen to build your brand and grow your member numbers quickly. Having your own membership site also makes it easy from an administration perspective, as when people purchase your online course they are automatically set up as members and emailed their login details so they can start accessing your online course right away. As you grow your student numbers, you will be glad of this, trust me!
A reliable and not very expensive route to go on the technology front is to purchase a membership plugin for WordPress sites. This membership plugin will give your WordPress site the functionality to add members automatically when prospects purchase your courses through your website. Your members can create their own login details and then login to the members only area whenever they wish. Some of the best membership site plugins are OptimizePress, WishlistMember and Kajabi.
If you want to build your membership site yourself and you are a bit of a beginner when it comes to IT, then I would suggest opting for ZippyCourses. It is probably one of the easiest of all the plugins to use and is designed for IT novices.
- What email marketing service provider should I go for?
If you are just starting to build your email list then there is absolutely no doubt that I would recommend you sign up with Mailchimp as your mail service provider. It is free for up to 2000 email subscribers, and when you are ready to send out automated emails then it is still quite a low monthly fee.
As your list grows, I am sure you will start to see your monthly fees with Mailchimp add up. What often happens with Mailchimp is you end up with the same subscribers on multiple lists, so even if your list is actually only 2000, you could have 3000 in total because your subscribers are held on multiple lists. And thus you get charged for 3000 subscribers and not 2000.
At this point you’d be well advised to switch to another mail service provider that has better functionality where you can tag individual subscribers. Some good options here are iContact and GetResponse.
- Which Webinar Software Should I Choose?
For me it is really simple, I use Gotowebinar. However, I know this is the expensive option (and also the most reliable), and from experience students on my Passive Income Inner Circle programme quite often want to choose a cheaper option. In which case WebinarJam, is the next best option. It has some with lovely webinar registration pages, swish automated email webinar reminders and being half the price of Gotowebinar, that could well be enough to sway you too.
So there is it, if you have found this article helpful, please comment below. And of course if you would like to launch an online course then click here to book in a call:
