eLearning is arguably one of the fastest-growing industries at an estimated $325 billion by 2025. eLearning platforms literally change the way we learn and study things that are way beyond the comprehension of traditional methods people have been following for ages.
Although learning on any online learning platform is way advantageous, creating and selling an online course on these platforms can ensure a steady stream of passive income.
Either someone can opt for a daily or weekly or monthly webinars and courses or upload a course at once to set the ball rolling. Now, all boils down to deciding which platform you want to work on. This is because there are tens of online platforms you can work with to earn.
We know that zeroing down to any particular platform is a task as each has its own pros and cons. That’s why we searched the web to find the best-quality of elearning platforms that you can use to create and sell courses in 2021. Follow along to know about it here.
Teachable
Teachable is one of the most recommended elearning platforms for both learners and creators. In fact, the latter can use it to cash on their skills by creating and selling courses online and get a fair share of revenue out of it. Talking about the revenue, creators on Teachable have earned more than $100 million which gives away its dominance and brand value.
For those who don’t know what Teachable can do, it is a pretty savvy learning platform, to be honest. It lets you create courses, domains with landing pages, and sales pages. If you are tech-savvy, you can take it way ahead with the powerful Power Editor where you can design the page and the courses within or simply check out a huge catalog of templates available at your disposal. Choose from a payment plan or a one-time fee or a subscription, Teachable is flexible about it. Creators can boost their sales by offering coupon codes and whatnot.
There’s a native email marketing tool available on Teachable that lets creators take advantage of an email blast to reach potential users. Sprinkle the course with surveys and forms and you are done. To summarize it, Teachable is all about marketing, branding, and selling courses online.
Pros
- Flexible payment plans
- Easy to use
- Create coupon codes to boost sales
- Create a brand and not that mint on courses sold
Cons
- Lack of learning elements like projects and portfolios
- Course builder is confusing at times
- Limited video size & type
SkillShare
Unlike other platforms, Skillshare has an upper hand when it comes to creative courses such as designer, writer, entrepreneur, etc. The site offers learners access to more than 22,000 premium courses on a yearly subscription service that will unlock all paid courses. The eLearning platform offers access to video lessons, projects, and community discussion which gives users depth of field.
It is a great platform for both learners and instructors. The latter can check out popular topics and niches to create their courses on such as cooking, marketing, hand painting, among others to stay ahead of the game and earn well.
Talking about creating and selling courses on SkillShare, a creator gets paid $10 for premium membership referrals. Almost 30-50% of the total revenue generated on SkillShare is put in a pool where teachers get their payout which could vary exponentially. A beginner instructor could earn $200 in a month to over $3,000 a month although the minimum requirement is every teacher must have sold 30 premium minutes before they can end up getting paid for it.
Pros
- Offline learning is available
- Well-organized & well-planned UI with ease of use
- Affordable pricing
Cons
- Some courses don’t have certificates
- Payments vary for creators due to pool pay
LearnDash
LearnDash is one of the most popular WordPress LMS tools. It is actually a WordPress plugin that users can install to get an adrenaline-packed tool to create and sell online courses. LearnDash is a full-fledged tool that offers access to a host of features including drop out information, rewards to the learners, and so on. It is synonymous with speed and helps create impressive online courses, features sets, and whatnot on the go.
Go to your existing WordPress site, add this plugin and you are in for a treat. The tool allows you to tap into the world of elearning where you have access to all the tools required for single or multi-tier courses and more. It’s engagement trigger system automated the response of the website based on the event-triggered and the same is followed by its email marketing campaign.
This is a great way to integrate online courses onto one’s website so don’t mistake it to be a standalone platform. It does offer support to numerous media types and to be honest, it is more than just a plugin but a complete package towards your journey in creating and selling courses online on your website.
Pros
- Engagement triggers
- Integrated with PayPal for payouts
- The built-in video progression tool
- Drag and drop course editor/builder
Cons
- Its deep functionality could be confusing at times
- Plugins are required to install for payment integration
Thinkific
With over 30 million courses taken and 40,000+ creators, Thinkific is one of the largest elearning platforms by any means. It has a foothold in over 164 countries and competes for head-on with both local and international platforms. It has a drag-and-drop editor for those who want to design a course.
Putting together a course on Thinkific isn’t that of a daunting task once you get a hang of it. You as a creator basically design two fronts i.e. course material and landing page. Of course, the platform gives you everything you need from templates to design and more. You can select the nature of the course such as digital download, webinar replay, flagship course, and rest assured as Thinkific will take care of the rest. Add a flavor of quizzes, instructor messages, downloads and more to make it look different than others and you are good to go.
Thinkific offers unlimited students with the first 3 courses free, there are no transaction fees either. There are three plans that users can select according to which they’ll get to interact with your and other content.
Pros
- Supports eLearning authoring tools like Captivate, iSpring
- A clutter-free well-designer interface
- Create numerous courses targeting different plans
- Get paid via Stripe or PayPal
Cons
- Slightly expensive than its competitors
- Designing course is a bit challenging for beginners
Udemy
Undoubtedly, Udemy is a well-known e-learning platform that is available across iOS and Android apps and web. It uses a spiked up marketing strategy that allows potential learners to reach it while creators/instructors are paid in lieu of it after Udemy takes its cut. The platform is super easy to use and offers quite a lot of functionalities such as offline learning for those who can’t stay online. It is self-paced and lets users view it, pause and play and repeat it whenever they want.
Udemy offers assessments that users can use to calculate their take on any topic. For creators, Udemy offers a bunch of tools such as StudioU, Facebook group, that they can use to bounce around their topic ideas. The Teach Hub provides all the resources needed including how to plan and create courses online.
There’s a marketplace insight feature as well that gives creators a lot of potential courses they can opt, keywords, high-paying courses, and whatnot. The revenue earned is credited to the creator’s PayPal or Payoneer monthly after Udemy takes its share.
Pros
- Sufficient resources for instructors such as Teach Hub, StudioU
- Highly-effective marketing strategy
Cons
- Limited video captions
- Most of the courses on Udemy target beginners
- Takes a huge revenue cut depending upon promotional channel
Podia
Podia is a great learning tool that has its following, to be honest. It creates an online store where creators can post their digital content and courses. There’s no limit on how many courses you upload and neither there’s any specific file type required. Creators can host large videos thanks to the increased storage and bandwidth.
Podia offers several membership plans that users can go through. The platform also lets creators build landing pages for specific parts of the courses that would lure users. You can either push all the digital content via the platform under membership or pre-launch it via email blasts. Creators can upload audio, text, videos, ebooks, cheat sheets, checklists, and other content that would give them a personalized experience for their user base.
Of course, Podia isn’t the best with everything you should have on-board, it does have a few shortcomings. It doesn’t have any analytical features like Facebook Pixel or Google Analytics that makes it easy for creators to target an audience, find the best & highest-grossing courses and keywords. Its membership plans have varying features such as 24/7 support, free migration, zero transaction fee, email marketing, and more.
Pros
- Affordable and fair pricing
- No transaction fees
- Large bandwidth and storage for videos
Cons
- Lack of critical analytical features like Google Analytics
- Lacks design flexibility
Ruzuku
Ruzuku offers a video streaming option and webinars that content creators can schedule and conduct for its users. It offers a great venue for students to interact with each other and form communities which is something only a few other platforms offer. There’s a teleconferencing service where students can connect with their creators. The platform supports various file types including PDFs, audio, video among others.
There’s a live chat option that users can utilize to interact with creators to seek out solutions to any questions or queries. Ruzuku offers a bootstrapper plan at $99/month for its instructor. It supports everything from unlimited courses, coupons, payments gateways, and students alike. Overall, Ruzuku has a simple, easy to use but powerful course management system that you can check out.
Pros
- Email marketing with MailChimp
- Integration with PayPal and Stripe for payments
- Create multiple price points for each course
Cons
- It requires an upfront fee for the instructor’s subscription
- Limited customization options
- Webinars and teleconferencing can handle a limited number of students
LearnWorlds
Certainly, one of the best UI I have seen with online learning platforms, LearnWorlds offers a world-class course building and selling experience. The platform lets creators create their schooling solutions with everything well-created and choreographed courses, quizzes and other tests, and branded certificate of completion, and more. There’s no limit on how many courses you have on-board and no cap on the earning potential as well.
You as a creator are the admin and can control the workflow on the platform. Add courses, add numerous instructors, and allow their privileges as you want. The platform supports countless media files from PDFs to ebooks, audio, and Soundcloud, etc. There’s an option to conduct CE (continuing examinations) as well as your branded certificate of completion that you can award to the learners completing the course. Create a community for teachers and students to discuss tips, suggestions, issues, queries, and whatnot.
Pros
- Super easy to use
- Customizable & flexible course player
- Supports a whole range of media files
Cons
- Extensive plans are expensive
- Learners from different time zones could find issues
- No overview of student’s progress
Whether you are a passionate creator/teacher or someone who’s looking to cash in their skills, there’s a platform for you. The online learning marketplace is massive and there’s much fish to fry when it comes to picking up the right online platform to create and sell courses. Budget; pros and cons of online platforms; time constraints, and earning potential are a few things you should look for when selecting any particular platform. Overall, all the platforms listed above are competent and powerful and allow migration to other platforms without any hassle.
Each platform offers a variety of features and marketing tools to both create and market to sell courses online. It really boils down to the quality of the content you publish so as long as the quality is good, I guess the shortcomings of any platform you choose (which is imminent) will not matter much.
