Top 8 Best Platforms for Creating and Selling Courses Online

The rise of digital transformation coupled with remote work necessity through recent years has fueled remarkable growth within the online learning industry. Some projections estimate the total addressable market for global online education swelling towards a staggering $350 billion valuation within the next several years as increasingly tech-savvy populations seek knowledge acquisition flexibility matching fluid life/career demands.

This meteoric expansion and voracious information consumption certainly create lucrative monetization opportunities for subject matter experts able to decrypt complex topics, translating insights benefiting others, specifically by packaging wisdom into engaging educational offerings distributed virtually and leveraging scalable technology channels.

But for in-person instructors or seasoned professionals considering translating abilities into supplemental income streams online – identifying the right platform for publishing and promoting course content represents a crucial first step. 

This guide will explore “The Art of Online Teaching,” illuminating effective pathways capturing audience attention, building credibility and paid enrollments over time through the top course hosting site recommendations for 2023 specifically optimized servicing independent experts, coaches, and small business training teams ready to turn experience into profits. Let’s examine the significant course creation contenders competing for your teaching content.

Why Sell Online Courses? 

Beyond obvious financial motivations, several other meaningful reasons exist driving individuals toward virtual teaching pathways:

Impact Audiences Globally

Digital course distribution allows scaling to reach exponentially compared to geographic classroom constraints. Online learning permits engaging global niches thanks to translation capabilities and cultural digital liaisons connecting previously disconnected groups.

Location Independence

Recording and self-publishing course content removes restrictive reliance on physical facilities or commutes. Professionals gain location flexibility by balancing work/life dimensions more seamlessly, fitting families.

Passive Income Growth

Successful online training products earn residual income even while instructors sleep by leveraging automated purchase funnels and establishing credibility, bringing referrals over decades. Initial efforts compound over time.

Authority Establishment

He is positioning himself prominently by publishing online demonstrations highlighting abilities gained through extensive experience, which signals subject matter mastery to consumers seeking trust indicators before enrollment commitments.

Supplemental Revenue

Many education and training professionals treat online offerings as side income diversification hedging against shifting workplace reliance risks if considering self-employment. Small increments accumulate satisfyingly.

The appealing advantages entice experts to consider converting knowledge into online courses that benefit others while sustaining income. What software platforms promote the best chance of capturing audiences at scale?

Top 8 Course Creation Software Recommendations

1. Teachable

Teachable rightfully earned the reputation as the premier standalone course publishing solution, enabling creators to maintain independent brand identities and ownership. This full-featured platform supports multifaceted curriculum construction, integrating live streaming and delivering interactive experiences. 

Robust marketing capabilities empower targeted audience building through built-in email sequencing and balancing automated and personalized touchpoints, while slick checkout integrations retain higher customer conversions.

Pricing

• Free – Unlimited Students, Pay $1 + 10% per sale 
• Basic – $29/month plus 5% Fees Per Sale
• Pro – $99/month for 3% Fees

2. Podia  

Podia uniquely centralizes online courses, membership sites, digital downloads, and webinar management under one streamlined system. Creators publish various monetized content formats that are all reversible, promoting holistic brand education.

This unified dashboard upholding congruent stylistic themes throughout checkouts, engagement, and purchases presents seamless user experiences that persistently subtly market integrated offerings, keeping awareness perpetually peaked.

Pricing

• Free – Students up to 1,000
• $39/mo – 5 Products, Email Marketing
• $129/mo – Unlimited Products, 2 Team Members

3. Kajabi

Kajabi pioneered the automated closed loop “course funnel” concept for productized online training, essentially fusing educational content construction tools with built-in email marketing, sales, and member portals. This comprehensive ecosystem neatly bundles the entire learner lifecycle journey.

Creators produce high-quality video lessons while the software handles technically delivering seamless visibility across enrolled student activity monitoring and communicating next steps continually through integrated messaging capabilities. Admin stays focused on educating rather than content/community facilitation logistics. 

Pricing

• Basic  – $119/month for core feature access
• Professional – $199 Expanding Capabilities  
• Premium – $399 Advanced Integrations, Pipeline Automation 

4. Thinkific

For those wary of wading into steeper software learning curves but ready to tackle course material itself – Thinkific offers wisely balanced functionality, including versatile multimedia content support, smooth purchase integration, and confident delivery mechanisms – without overwhelming non-technical users with elaborate site development duties tangential from topics taught.

The platform reliably assists digital course design, construction, securing checkouts, and automatically administering enrolled access permissions. Hence, experts concentrate on crafting stellar lessons rather than wrestling with superfluous tools distracting from priorities, sharing wisdom simply and instead. Sometimes, less proves more.

Pricing 

• Free – $0 Where Needed 
• Pro – $79/month Growing Businesses
• Premium – $399/month Mature Enterprises

5. Udemy

Recognized universally, spanning over 50 million students and 190+ country reach, Udemy remains the world’s largest marketplace, matching established course creators with vibrant global learner demand through an extensive searchable catalog and multipronged marketing exposure.

The highly competitive platform vets quality stringently but rewards contributors generously if garnering enrollment velocity. With polished multimedia and charismatic delivery skills – significant income scaling over 100K+ levels full-time proves attainable by elite performers actively engaging motivated niche communities.

Pricing

• Free signup. 
• Udemy charges 30 to 50 percent commission on courses sold depending on pricing levels and activity, driving traffic back to listings. Monthly payouts reward creators continuously compounding.

6. Skillshare

Creatives seeking inspiration and education flock to learn Skillshare’s premium model, showcasing 35K+ classes spanning all artistic domains – photography/video, illustration, writing, marketing, cooking, crafts, and more. The streaming access fee structure means subscribers return regularly to reviewing extensive libraries while teachers earn income proportional to watching duration. 

For visual/performance experts teaching engaging creative topics through measurable content richness metrics – Skillshare offers supportive community pathways supporting lucrative skills development.

Pricing 

• Free signup.  
• Instructors paid $10 for referring new Premium, annual memberships plus highly variable royalty minutes rates based on content depth and enrolled viewing quantity. Top creators generate over $150K annually in residual income through the platform’s creative ecosystem.

7. LinkedIn Learning

With over 690 million member profiles populated essentially comprising career-driven professionals and 3 million registered companies – LinkedIn Learning gives enterprise experts prized access to large addressable audience segments critical to making sustainable corporate training businesses work. But high content standards must match immense reach potential.

Invited LinkedIn Learning instructors undergo extensive screening and proposal reviews before recording facilities become available, capturing polished video series comprising certification learning tracks enhancing in-demand tech/business competencies – reaching peers globally through robust algorithms personalizing relevant educational recommendations. But for most, prerequisites and selectivity initially limit entry currently.

Pricing  

By invite only based on subject expertise/experience evaluated. Compensation includes set creation fees and accumulating viewer-based royalties over time as course ratings determine suggested visibility by platform algorithms. Income scaling linearly correlates to enrolled student hours consumed.

8. CoachCampus

Finally, recognize CoachCampus emerging as a purpose-built course hosting solution dedicated purely to empowering online coaches, consultants, and service professionals publishing booking-integrated virtual/onsite training products, events, peer communities, and client portals as consolidated engagement hub converting audiences into higher-touch retained-value relationships managed.

Custom branding and lead generation capabilities make independently cultivating niche training businesses frictionless through automated workflows handling complex fulfillment logistics, scheduling, and payments in the background – freeing founders to focus on niche value delivery and attracting perfect patron demographics incrementally without technology burdens.  

Pricing

• Free – Core features facilitating service commerce foundations
• Growth – $19/month adds email marketing, coupons, client portals, and branding  
• Scale – $49/month for appointment calendars, custom domains, and team access

The Art of Online Teaching

No shortage exists of platforms promoting online educational offerings in the booming digital learning marketplace. Seasoned experts across countless topics translate offline instruction successes into global distance formats while neophytes leverage technology shortcuts, jumpstarting income faster from experience hard won. 

Carefully weigh goals, competencies, and risk/reward scenarios, selecting course publishing tools calculated realizing the art of online teaching and selling wisdom must orchestrate multifaceted technology, creative finesse, and marketing balancing expanding profitably.

Conclusion

The meteoric rise in online education and skills training industry penetration shows no signs of slowing down, given the perpetual knowledge expansion and career dynamism realities now facing modern professionals. This remarkable maturation opens doors for patient experts who can decode complex concepts recently restricted within limited physical environments.

Leveraging scalable course hosting software puts your insights to work, automatically attracting perfect students while automatically handling tedious administrative workflows. As enrollees grow, so too does your authority – and income.

Now, technology removes the heavy lifting from the equation, consistently empowering online teachers to dedicate energy to engaging audiences through valuable content and community-building generousness. Find an audience and serve them perpetually through evergreen online course products that resonate.

FAQs

What are the main advantages of selling courses online?

Key benefits instructors gain from digital course distribution include greater reach, unlocking global niche audiences, location independence flexibility, potential for passive income growth over time as offerings scale, reinforced authority and thought leadership when generosity shines, and sharing knowledge openly to benefit others’ journeys through lifelong learning.  

How much can I realistically earn from my online courses?

Earnings scaling potential from online course results proves limitless, anchored chiefly by creator dedication to continually promoting offerings, actively engaging enrolled learners, reinvesting profits, improving production quality, and further compounding enrollments. But, through consistency and perseverance, several instructors have already generated 100K+ in annual residual income from popular classes.

What critical criteria should I evaluate when choosing online course software?

Beyond core functionality supporting seamless course creation and selling logistics, it also examines sophisticated integrated marketing capabilities, diverse content formats flexibility, mobile experience quality, scalability capacity, inherent vs external community enablement tools, balanced pricing models, and automation strengths fitting current business maturity while allowing growth runway. Identify gaps hampering goals.  

Is an online course marketplace easier to sell through than my website?

Marketplaces vastly simplify launching initially by leveraging existing discovery traffic but limit custom branding, communication streams, and long-term audience ownership. As products and expertise confidence advance, they are migrating to wholly owned sites via software-unlocks retention potential, bonding students into higher lifetime value through website stickiness and back-end access exclusivity advantages direct-to-customer.

What alternatives exist beyond dedicated course marketplaces?

Consider multimedia modules, microlearning video libraries, interactive assessments, audiobooks, membership portal education perks, virtual workshops, and other means of packaging knowledge monetization if standard online courses become saturated or fragmentation better serves specific niches. Public speaking, conference keynotes, and physical books also translate and diversify creator development. Content marketing and lead generation funneling tactics apply online and offline, driving high-value patronage.