Tools You Need To Deliver Your Online Course
Summary
TLDRThis video script addresses the pitfalls of relying on all-in-one cloud course platforms, which can leave educators without control during outages. It offers a comprehensive guide to setting up a self-managed online course platform, discussing essential tools for different stages, from beginner to professional. The script emphasizes the importance of owning your platform to maintain control, avoid high costs, and ensure scalability, recommending tools like WordPress, LMS, shopping carts, and community platforms for a robust, flexible business.
Takeaways
- 😀 The video discusses the importance of having control over one's own course platform, especially after a popular cloud course platform went down, causing significant disruption.
- 🔒 Relying on an all-in-one cloud platform means losing control during outages, with no ability to intervene or communicate with customers directly.
- 💡 The video suggests that while cloud platforms may seem appealing for their ease of setup and management, they can be costly and limit customization and scalability.
- 📈 The speaker argues that self-managed systems, such as those built on WordPress, can be more cost-effective and flexible in the long run.
- 🚀 For beginners, starting with social media, PayPal for payments, and secure video hosting like Vimeo can be a quick and low-friction way to launch an online course.
- 🌐 A domain and hosting are essential for a professional online presence, with WordPress being a recommended platform for its flexibility and ease of use.
- 📚 Investing in a Learning Management System (LMS) is crucial for structuring course content and tracking student progress.
- 🛒 A robust shopping cart solution like WooCommerce is recommended over built-in LMS payment gateways for long-term business security.
- 💌 Email marketing is vital for customer communication and lead generation, with the suggestion to start with a more advanced system to avoid future migrations.
- 📈 Advanced tools like landing page builders, sales funnel systems, and membership platforms can enhance course sales and student engagement.
- 🤝 An affiliate management system is essential for tracking partner sales and commissions, with AffiliateWP being highlighted as a reliable choice.
- 📱 Having a native mobile app can significantly improve student engagement and provide a professional touch to a course platform.
Q & A
What was the main issue with the popular all-in-one Cloud course platform mentioned in the script?
-The platform went down for several hours, preventing users from accessing their courses and memberships, and those in the middle of a launch were locked out, resulting in lost sales and inability to communicate with students.
Why might a user consider running their own course platform instead of using a Cloud service?
-Running their own platform gives users control over their content and sales, avoiding the risk of being locked out during a system failure, and it can be more cost-effective in the long run compared to Cloud services.
What are the potential downsides of relying on an all-in-one Cloud platform for course delivery?
-Downsides include lack of control during outages, inability to intervene or enact redundancies, and the potential loss of sales and data if the company rolls back to solve issues.
What is the main advantage of using a learning management system (LMS) for course delivery?
-An LMS allows for the organization of separate videos and resources into structured lessons and topics, creating an actual course and often including features for student management and progress tracking.
Why is it recommended to start with a robust shopping cart system like WooCommerce instead of using the basic payment gateways provided by some LMS systems?
-Starting with a robust system ensures that payments stay with the business owner and can accommodate future upgrades without the need to migrate past payments to a new system.
What is the role of an email marketing system in the context of selling online courses?
-An email marketing system is essential for communicating with customers, collecting leads, and promoting courses. It's better to start with a more robust system to avoid the need for migration as the business grows.
Why might a basic landing page builder not be necessary at the beginning of an online course business?
-At the start, basic page building can be handled by platforms like WordPress with Gutenberg. A dedicated landing page builder becomes more important as the business grows and requires more specific pages for various purposes.
What is a sales funnel system and how does it benefit an online course business?
-A sales funnel system allows for the creation of dynamic sales pages, order bumps, upsells, downsells, and cross-sells, maximizing profits from each buyer by offering additional products or services during the purchasing process.
What are the benefits of having a membership system in addition to an LMS at the professional level of course delivery?
-A membership system can lock and unlock content based on student enrollment, manage access to exclusive resources or services, and can double as a payment and shopping cart system for subscriptions.
How can a native mobile app enhance the student experience and business growth for an online course creator?
-A native mobile app provides a dedicated platform for course delivery, allows for offline viewing, push notifications, and can facilitate in-app purchases for frictionless payments and subscriptions, increasing student engagement and sales.
Why is an affiliate management system important for a growing online course business?
-An affiliate management system is crucial for tracking partner sales, providing unique links, and paying out commissions, which is essential for expanding the business through partnerships and promoting sales.
Outlines
😥 The Risks of Relying on All-in-One Cloud Platforms
The video script discusses the recent downtime of a popular all-in-one Cloud course platform, which left users unable to access their courses or manage their sales during a critical launch period. The host, Jason Broderick, emphasizes the lack of control users have when such platforms fail, highlighting the inability to communicate with customers or take any corrective actions. He points out the limitations of these platforms, such as being locked into the system with no ownership over sales or customer data, and the high costs associated with them compared to self-managed systems. The script also mentions the challenges of migrating away from these platforms due to the proprietary nature of the content and customer data.
🛠 Essential Tools for Selling and Delivering Online Courses
This paragraph outlines the minimum tools needed to sell and deliver online courses at various levels, starting with social media for audience building and PayPal for secure payments. For basic tools, it suggests starting with a WordPress website, a learning management system (LMS) like LearnDash or Tutor LMS, a shopping cart solution like WooCommerce, and an email marketing system. The script also touches on the importance of having a professional LMS, a membership system, and a community platform for more advanced levels. It stresses the need for flexibility and control over one's business, as well as the cost-effectiveness of self-managed systems over time.
🚀 Advanced Tools for Professional Course Creators
The final paragraph delves into the advanced tools necessary for professional course creators to grow their business and maintain control. It includes a landing page builder for creating dynamic sales pages, a sales funnel system for maximizing revenue, a professional LMS for course content and student management, a membership system for content access control, and a community platform for student engagement. Additionally, it mentions the importance of a marketing automation system, an affiliate management system for tracking partner sales, and the benefits of having a native mobile app for increased student engagement and sales. The paragraph concludes by encouraging viewers to consider these tools when choosing a platform for their online courses, emphasizing the importance of ownership and flexibility.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Cloud course platforms
💡Launch
💡Control
💡Learning Management System (LMS)
💡Shopping cart
💡Email marketing
💡Membership system
💡Sales funnel
💡Community platform
💡Marketing automation
💡Affiliate management system
💡Native mobile app
Highlights
Popular all-in-one Cloud course platforms experienced a significant downtime, causing loss of sales and highlighting the vulnerability of relying on third-party platforms for course delivery.
The importance of having control over one's own course platform is emphasized, as it prevents being locked out during critical times like launches.
The limitations of all-in-one platforms are discussed, including the lack of control and the inability to take action when the platform goes down.
The potential loss of sales and customer data during a platform outage is highlighted, emphasizing the risks of not owning the sales process.
The limitations of all-in-one platforms in terms of feature customization and the high costs associated with them are critiqued.
A cost comparison between an all-in-one Cloud platform and a WordPress-based system reveals significant savings with the latter.
The challenges of migrating from an all-in-one platform due to content and customer data being locked within the system are outlined.
A tiered approach to setting up an online course platform is introduced, with minimum, basic, and professional levels of tools discussed.
Social media is suggested as a viable starting point for building an audience without the need for an immediate website.
PayPal is recommended as a simple solution for accepting payments globally for online courses.
Using password-protected videos on platforms like Vimeo is presented as a basic method for securely delivering course content.
WordPress is highlighted as a free and open-source solution for building a course website with ease.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) are introduced as essential tools for organizing and delivering course content effectively.
The necessity of a robust shopping cart solution like WooCommerce for handling payments and security is discussed.
Email marketing systems are identified as crucial for customer communication, with MailChimp as an example of a starting point.
Landing page builders and sales funnel systems are recommended for enhancing course sales and conversions.
Membership systems are introduced as a way to manage access to course content and additional resources.
The value of a dedicated community platform for student engagement and success is emphasized.
Marketing automation systems are discussed as a way to segment and automate email marketing for better lead management.
Affiliate management systems are highlighted as essential for tracking partner sales and managing commissions.
The benefits of having a native mobile app for increased student engagement and course accessibility are outlined.
Transcripts
last week one of the most popular
all-in-one Cloud course platforms went
down for several hours not only could
nobody access the courses or memberships
that they were part of but anybody who
was in the middle of a launch to their
students was locked out of their system
losing sales by the minute
so that left a lot of their users asking
what do I actually need to be able to
run my own course platform to sell and
deliver automated courses in exactly the
way I want that I have control over in
this video I'm going to walk you through
exactly that what tools you need at the
absolute minimum basic and professional
levels to deliver your online courses in
a way that you control let's Dive In
foreign
[Music]
boss podcast where we dive deep into the
strategies that will help you build
launch and grow your online course
Community or membership platform I'm
your host Jason Broderick head of
content and marketing strategy here at
bodyboss
challenges of an all-in-one Cloud
platform all-in-one Cloud platforms for
delivering courses and memberships can
be appealing for a lot of reasons
typically they require little to no
technical setup and because they're
managed by Third parties you never have
to worry about technology headaches or
so they would have you believe but last
week has shown us that cloud course
platforms are just as fallible as every
other website the challenges of relying
on them to sell and deliver your courses
and memberships are real you don't
really control anything if you're all in
one Cloud platform goes down while
you're in the middle of a launch there's
nothing you can do about it except sit
there refreshing Twitter and hoping for
the best you can't intervene in any way
you can't take any action on your own
site you can't enact a fallback or a
redundancy but at least you can
communicate the issue with your own
members right run you don't own anything
if your whole business lives inside a
cloud platform and it goes down you
can't access anything you can't message
or email your own customers you can't
even export a list and send an email to
them manually when your system is all in
one if one part goes down it takes your
whole business with it and we saw with
several high-profile users last week if
you're in the middle of a launch and
your Cloud platform goes down you don't
even own the sales or the emails that
you collected during that time and if
the company decides to do a rollback to
solve their issue poof there goes any
money or data that you collected during
that time you're stuck with subpar tools
now these all-in-one solutions would
have you believe that they have
everything you'll ever want to need to
run your business but in my experience
these platforms often are only good one
element and the others are the bare
minimum for what you need and if you
decide that you want to level up your
email marketing strategy or you want to
double down on your affiliate system or
you want to roll out a killer Community
forget about it you're limited to only
the features that they've provided and
you'll have to migrate your entire
business to make even the smallest
enhancement you're paying through the
nose these all-in-one Cloud platforms
love to tout that they simplify your
process and reduce your costs by
combining all these tools into one
system and whilst it might be true that
the billing is simplified typically
these all-in-one platforms are
significantly more expensive than
comparable self-managed systems I
recently did a direct cost comparison
between the most popular all-in-one
Cloud platform and a suite of Premium
WordPress tools and hosting and I found
that it was 52 percent more expensive in
year one and up to 90 percent more
expensive from year two onwards
particularly if you're just getting
started don't be fooled that it's
cheaper to use a SAS you're locked into
their system then the day comes when
you've had enough you're sick of the
limitations you want to enhance the
experience you could have afforded your
own private island for the money that
you've handed over to them over the
years so you decide to leave well good
luck to you your content is all stuck
inside there your customers they're
billing in their subscriptions and
payments are all stuck inside there even
their contact details are stuck in there
and if you want to move you're going to
need to do a serious amount of manual
work to get out and typically you're
going to lose most of your recurring
income in the process
so if you are considering what platform
to use and you're seriously weighing up
your options between an all-in-one cloud
service or a self-managed system let me
outline for you what you really need to
sell and deliver your online courses at
the beginner intermediate and advanced
levels minimum tools you need to sell
and deliver your online course so this
level is quick and dirty it's all about
getting set up and moving quickly with
no friction this method is probably fine
as long as you have less than 100
students otherwise it starts to get a
bit harder to manage and you should
probably be earning plenty by then to
invest in moving up a tier social media
it might be tempting to think that the
very first thing you should go and do is
build yourself a flashy website but if
lockdown has told us anything it's that
social media is now more than enough to
get started building an audience of fans
and followers who are ready and willing
to buy your online course influencers
like Courtney black used Instagram alone
to build an audience of 800 000 and she
was selling her content directly through
Instagram for months before she managed
to catch up with her meteoric popularity
and launch your own website and mobile
app take payments at the absolute
minimum you just need a secure way for
anyone to send you money from anywhere
in the world now there are plenty of
tools out there that let you do that but
the absolute most basic way is just to
set up a PayPal and Link it to your
social media simple send videos finally
you need a way to send videos to people
that have paid you in a secure enough
way that they can't easily be accessed
for free
during lockdown when the home workouts
craze was at its peak I jumped on the
bandwagon and I found a super fun
trainer running daily workouts that were
themed around food called Bobby's Bakery
think bonds of Steel
no joke it was brilliant for months
Bobby was just accepting PayPal payments
and sending links to password protected
videos on Vimeo every day it took five
minutes to set the password and send the
emails every day but it worked he had
hundreds of participants show up live
every day using nothing but PayPal Vimeo
and his Gmail account now let's move on
to basic tools to sell and deliver your
online course so you've got a little bit
of money to invest and you want to set
yourself up with a solid foundation that
can grow with you without breaking the
bank here's what you're going to need
website domain and hosting you need
somewhere for people to go and learn
about you and what you sell and
somewhere to catalog and deliver your
courses WordPress is your best friend
here it's free and open source and every
half decent hosting provider on the
planet will offer you a way to install
it with one click being completely
honest at this stage it doesn't really
matter too much who you choose as your
host start by picking a host in the sort
of twenty dollars a month range that
should give you enough room to grow but
eliminate some of the dirt cheap options
that you want to avoid if possible
register a domain at a popular domain
service like namecheap and follow your
host instructions to point that domain
to your new host and you're done you can
start building out your basic course
site straight away learning management
system one of the first tools that I
suggest you invest in to help with your
basic course delivery platform is a
learning management system or LMS
basically a learning management system
allows you to take a collection of
separate videos and resources and Stitch
them all together into lessons and
topics to create an actual course most
of the popular ones like learn Dash and
tutor LMS also add enhanced
functionality to manage students with
things like lesson progress tracking and
more and some also have their own
built-in payment gateways so that you
can sell and deliver your course without
needing anything else shopping cart art
despite some LMS systems having their
own basic payment gateways at this stage
I also recommend that you bypass those
and jump straight to using one of the
more popular shopping cart solutions
that integrates with whatever LMS that
you choose like woocommerce the reason
for this is that your payments are the
one thing that have to stay with you for
the whole life of your business for
security reasons if you decide to
upgrade your payment system later on you
can't take any of those previous
payments with you so starting out with a
robust system like woocommerce means
that you'll never outgrow it and be
stuck email marketing system at this
stage you'll definitely want some way to
email your customers and collect leads
that's more robust than a spreadsheet on
your own Gmail account many people start
out with a freemium service like
MailChimp here which is perfectly fine
to get you started but this is actually
another one of those areas where it
often pays to just start one level up
from where you are now so that you can
benefit from a more robust set of tools
which will help you earn more money
faster but it also prevent you from
needing to to migrate again in future
when you outgrow your free service there
are plenty of great options out there
starting from about 15 pounds a month
that scale up with the more contacts
that you have or you could even Explore
a self-hosted solution like groundhog or
fluency or M if you're a bit more tech
savvy more on that later professional
tools to sell and deliver your online
course landing page builder a page
builder isn't too necessary at the
beginning of your business when you're
just getting started especially if
you're using Wordpress which has
Gutenberg to give you the basics built
in very soon however you're going to
want to be building several specific
Pages for selling your course dashboards
for students Services you provide and a
whole set of other things that a page
builder will help you do much more
quickly a sales funnel system you've
invested heavily in building your
audience and your marketing lists now
you want to make sure that you do your
best to convert and increase your core
sales and the revenue that you generate
from other activities too more advanced
than a simple shopping cart solution a
sales funnel system will allow you to
not only create dining Dynamic sales
pages but order bumps one click upsells
down sells cross sells bundles and
everything that you'll need to maximize
The Profit that you make from each one
of your buyers learning management
system just like above at the
professional level you will definitely
want to have a professional level LMS to
manage your course content and students
membership system in addition to your
LMS you'll probably want to add a
membership system into the mix at this
stage which typically provides two
functions it will allow you to lock and
unlock pages and content outside of your
course based on whether your students
are enrolled or not let's say you have a
private coaching booking page or a
library of resources that are only for
students your membership system will
allow you to manage that but also if you
want your membership system can often
double as your payment or shopping cart
system for example with member press or
woocommerce memberships and
subscriptions which both cover you for
the payments themselves and also the
content restriction controls and course
enrollment Community platform form once
you move into the professional realm
you're going to want to graduate from
relying solely on social media and start
running some kind of dedicated student
Community where you can run cohort
training with small groups of students
as well as enhance the student
engagement and the Student Success rates
with a WordPress based system and a
learning management system like
learndash you have the perfect
opportunity to unify all of that
together under a dedicated platform like
bodybus which provides you with a
dedicated world-class Community platform
that you own and control that isn't at
the mercy of Facebook a marketing
automation system at this stage you'll
most definitely want to graduate from
your freemium email marketing tool to A
system that allows complex segmented
marketing Automation and even better if
that tool integrates directly with your
website and learning management system
there are two schools of thought here
the first is that a high-end SAS service
like activecampaign gives you a
bulletproof way to always stay in
contact with your leads but that come
comes at a price when you start to grow
with the fee increasing per contact the
other school of thought is that you can
fold that system into your WordPress
site using a self-managed tool like
groundhog or fluency or M and
dramatically reduce the cost as you're
no longer paying to store your email
list but then you also have to manage
things like your own sending
deliverability and it can present
challenges for the less tech savvy among
you
Elliot management system a robust
affiliate management system is crucial
as you start to grow your professional
core sales business you're going to want
to have Partners to promote for you and
an affiliate system will allow you to
give them all unique links and track
their sales and pay out their
commissions when you're relying on and
paying commissions to Partners you need
this system to be Rock Solid and there's
no better platform out there for this
than affiliate WP I've partnered with
some people on their course launches
built on some of the most popular
all-in-one systems and their affiliate
systems really leave them down and it's
a poor reflection on their own business
too native mobile app lastly as a
professional course creator there is no
better way to position yourself as a
world leader running a top-notch outfit
let alone know better way to engage your
students and increase their success then
by having your own branded native mobile
app
your students already spend 80 of their
time online on their phones and with
your own native mobile app you get to
deliver your courses in a dedicated way
with offline viewing push notifications
and even increase your sales with
frictionless payments and subscriptions
using in-app purchases
so that's it if you're gearing up to
launch your first online course and
considering what platform to use or if
you're seriously weighing up your
options after having been burned one too
many times by your all-in-one cloud
service now you know exactly what tools
you need at what stage to give you the
freedom and flexibility that you need to
grow exactly how you want to and always
stay in control of your own business if
you enjoyed this video could you do me a
favor and hit that like button it really
helps other people to discover these
videos too and if you're currently using
an all-in-one course platform or
membership platform and you're having
doubts drop a comment below and let me
know what your challenges or what you're
struggling with and I'll do my best to
get around and answer you until next
time
foreign
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