This year encouraged many entrepreneurs to start thinking about changing their business, upgrading, creating different offers…
Some have decided to move the whole business into the online world.
As online courses, workshops, lectures, training…
But when it comes to the technical part, they don’t know where to start.
Where to go?
What to choose?
What are the possibilities?
In this post, I share with you two (in my opinion) good choices: choosing a Third-party app for online courses or hosting on your own platform.
More on which is more suitable for you below…
Third-party app
There are quite a few providers that offer different platforms for selling online courses.
Some of the better known are:
Each has its advantages and disadvantages. What do you need to check and look out for with these providers?
Some very important criteria are, for example:
language (especially if your language is not English),
payments options,
requirements you need (e.g. if you want video formats, offer a monthly subscription…).
Hosting online courses on your own platform
You can offer courses on your own platform – e.g. as part of your website.
The biggest advantage is that it is fully owned by you, there is no need to pay a monthly subscription and it is flexible to your needs.
What about weakness?
Maintenance and possible adjustments.
Comparison
If you still don’t know which one to choose, here is a table that can help you with this:
Third-party app | Own platform | |
---|---|---|
Price | Monthly / annual subscription | Larger initial investment for installation |
Design, flexibility | Limited | Unlimited |
Installation and ease of use | Usually already installed (possible additional adjustments), fairly easy to use. No need to know programming languages. | Usually an external contractor is needed for implementation and design. Fairly easy to use when set up. |
Support | Support according to the monthly subscription | Support by arrangement with an external contractor |
Maintenance and updates | Not required (usually part of a monthly subscription) | Regular updates and maintenance are required as needed |
Content ownership | The content is your property and access to this content is restricted by the provider | Content and platform is your property (unless otherwise agreed with the contractor) |
I hope this post helped you make a decision.
Do you have questions about online courses? Write it down in the comments or [email protected].
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