Types of online courses you can create and sell – Create & sell digital products #16

There are many types of online courses you can create and sell on the Internet. Let’s take a closer look at them to help you decide, which type of internet course is best for you.

Types of online courses you can create and sell – table of contents:

Video courses
Webinars
Interactive courses
Introductory courses
Certified internet course

Video courses

It is the primary type of online course. The author has to determine the subject and the range of the material of the course, and later he records educational content. Before the release of the course, the author should review the recording to remove all the mistakes and inaccuracies. Such type of Internet course, when finished, can be offered for sale without a time limit.

Clients can pay for access to the Internet course at any time and benefit from the substantial content. They may go back and forth in the course and review their chosen lessons to analyze given content on many occasions.

The disadvantage of the video courses, which have to be recorded ahead of time, is the fact that participants don’t have any direct contact with the lecturer. Many authors leave their contact details and encourage the users to send messages in case of questions, but the response from the author may not come as quickly as it is sometimes needed by the participant.

Video courses may present many different subjects. It is worth to think if the video course is not about the matter that quickly becomes outdated and irrelevant. In such situation, clients may not be eager to pay for the course, because they will have the awareness of the fact that their knowledge will soon not be actual.

One of the most popular platforms with different video courses is Udemy.com. It is beneficial to observe this website, because of the frequently offered favorable reductions in prices of courses. The choice of courses is enormous and anybody should find something suitable for himself. Udemy courses are well planned – in the description tab of the course, we may find information about its duration and detailed content. We may read the reviews left by other participants of the course and the information about the instructor.

Webinars

Webinars are similar to video courses because both are based on video recordings. There is one difference – here the transmission is carried out live. The huge plus of this solution is the ability to interact with participants of the event. The participants may leave their comments and ask questions on the fly, and you, as the instructor, may respond to all their questions in real-time.

Webinars have some disadvantages as well. Above all those are available only at one very specific moment. Participants have to schedule the event in their calendars ahead of time. Sometimes, even with well-settled reminders, the participant may forget about the webinar and not attend the meeting.

From the perspective of the instructor, online transmission is very stressful. Even if the instructor is scrupulously prepared some unexpected technical problems may occur, not to mention sudden, surprising life accidents, that may prevent the instructor from performing in his webinar session.

The instructor may decide between creating paid or free webinars. The second scenario doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t get any benefits from the activity. Thanks to our webinar we may get leads, and what is obvious, during the webinar we may mention our other products or services, increasing the chance for their sale.

Thanks to the ClickMeeting platform we may earn money from creating and leading webinars. The instructor himself may decide which form his webinars are free and which are paid. There are different types of packages customized for the needs of the instructors. The price list for all services can be found here.

Types of online courses - ClickMeeting platform

Interactive courses

Creation of interactive courses has many advantages. They support active learning process. The mere watching of videos may not be as efficient as other forms of learning. We are able to learn more while practicing hence making tasks and solving quizzes is not a bad option.

From the perspective of instructors, interactive courses become a good solution to offer additional value to the educational content. The instructor doesn’t have to use typical teaching methods that are focused on controlling and measuring the learning process – the technology allows this – participants of the course may decide about the time and duration of their learning and they can test themselves individually by making tasks and taking tests.

If you ever tried to learn another foreign language you have used an interactive courses already without even noticing it. For example, FluentU has introduced several types of tools that facilitate the learning process. We may choose between videos, audio files, flashcards, and quizzes – all these help to assimilate knowledge faster and easier.

Introductory courses

When you start your adventure with Internet courses you may start from creating of an introductory course to your chosen subject. Why is it so beneficial? Primarily, you discuss only one element of the given industry what means that you don’t have to make an extensive course with complicated and expanded plan of modules. The course focused on the smaller fragments of knowledge takes less time and resources to prepare.

Publication of introductory course allows you to assess the real number, interested in the topic participants. Your target audience may be strongly interested in the subject or, contrary, not at all. Reviews will help you to find out their opinions about your course and this should help you to create even better courses in the future.

Certified internet course

Such courses, besides the knowledge, allow gaining a document, that will prove the skill of the participant. The mere hunger for knowledge is usually not the only reason for buying and subscribing to a new course. Often clients decide to subscribe because they need to enlist the certificate on their cv or professional portfolio and prove their competencies to their future employer.

The process of creating of a certified internet course requires the instructor to have a lot of professional knowledge. Real commitment is also necessary. The price of certified courses is usually higher than traditional courses and it means that their quality has to be exceptional.

Summary

There are many types of online courses that can be created and sold online. Each type requires possession of a different types of knowledge and commitment. Consider all features, advantages, and requirements of each type of course before embarking on the process of creating them.

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Author: Martin Sparks
E-commerce enthusiasts which constantly digs around the internet in order to make sure he hasn’t missed any important information on the topic of starting and scaling profitable online stores.
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