3 Platforms You Can Use to Sell ELearning

By: Justin Ferriman • October 25, 2013
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sell-elearningMany instructional design professionals today have a desire to not only create elearning courses, but to sell them as well. Truth be told, now is the best time to get into the direct sales of elearning programs. Sleeker technology and the growing use of mobile devices has given second life to elearning.

Today it isn’t uncommon for most students to take a portion of their coursework online – the new generation is used to elearning and expects it. As such, they will be most likely to seek it out (free or for purchase).

But, how do you sell elearning?

There are plenty of avenues to selling your courses online. Below are three possibilities you can use for creating and selling your courses.

1. Udemy.com – Udemy is a hub for people to create and market courses on anything they wish. The upside here is that it is pretty quick to get started. Naturally the downside is that if you are fortunate to sell your courses, then Udemy takes a share of the revenue (50%) if the students who take your courses weren’t brought there by you. Also, you don’t have control over the “look and feel” of the site.

2. Skillshare.com – Similar to Udemy, you can create an account with Skillshare and sell courses. What’s unique about Skillshare is the ability for students to upload projects based on the course content. With Skillshare you keep 70% of the course price (or 85% if you get someone to sign-up through a unique link).

3. WordPress – Once used primarily as a blogging platform, WordPress has evolved to a point where it can function as a content management system. Setting up a course to sell takes a bit more time than the first two options, but the added benefit is that you get to keep 100% of the revenue. Membership plugins, or a WordPress LMS plugin like LearnDash make it painless to set a price and instantly begin selling.

There are other platforms out there that will allow you to set-up courses and to sell them. No matter what option you choose, there are always trade-offs. In some cases you can get started rather quickly, but you don’t get to keep all the revenue from your sales.

You should also consider your long-term goals when it comes to selling courses. For example, if you built-up a substantial customer base but are selling on a third party platform, your customers aren’t really your customers, but rather the parent company’s customers (i.e. Udemy).  Also, you won’t be able to sell your business one day – assuming that is something you want to do.

All that said, today is a great day to start selling your online courses, and it has never been easier!

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter