Best Software To Create And Sell Online Courses In 2023
How To Create An Online Course With Teachable Platform
Learn all about the Teachable online course platform. Get an in-depth review, feature comparison, and user feedback to help you decide.
Course Creation Software Free Tutorial: Teachable Mini Course
How To Create A Course On Teachable
Selling your expertise on digital course platforms makes it much faster, easier, and profitable to create an online course.
These innovative apps streamline the whole process so you can focus entirely on your content presentations and teaching students. With a built in ready-made infrastructure designed for your convenience, anyone can share their knowledge rather efficiently.
As such Teachable is a top rated course creation platform designed for all sizes of businesses and individual creators to earn money by selling their courses in an automated manner, saving you valuable time.
Teachable Education Software: A Platform To Create Online Courses To Sell
Interested in creating an online course to share or sell with your website readers, followers and fans?
Want to go beyond e-book creation and into a multi dimensional course format that offers something for every type of learner?
The thought of creating a course can be overwhelming at first. What topic will you cover in your course?
What components will you include, and how will the various facets of your online course become accessible to the people who buy it?
You can certainly rack your brains into a state of confusion trying and failing to envision how this whole online course thing is going to play out. You're hoping for a way to transfer information and knowledge from your brain to the minds of your customers.
Teachable has developed an amazingly simple, easily intuitive course creation platform that will help you get started sharing your knowledge on the web and getting paid for it!
Top 6 Reasons To Use Teachable Course Software:
Once you decide to delve into the potentially lucrative and rewarding practice of selling courses online, you'll want the process to be easy and fun.
Thanks to Teachable, you can quickly and easily create a simple to follow course format that your students can tackle and learn from with ease.
#1 - Simple and intuitive user platform. Teachable offers video tutorials to assist in getting to know their member area and using all of the available course creation tools. But you don't necessarily have to watch the video to figure out how things work. Everyone from the tech side is very straightforward, assuming you have a good handle on the basics of posting content and uploading files to the internet.
#2 - Ease of use. Your students will love the convenience and ease of use that the Teachable course platform provides. They can log into their account any time of day or night, from any location where internet access is available, and read the learning materials, work through any exercises or assignment you provide, completing the course at their own pace and in their own time frame.
#3 - Robust learning environment. The Teachable course platform provides a multi-dimensional learning experience, offering you the opportunity to present several types of files for students to download and learn from. In addition to PDF ebooks which can be the basis of your written course material, you can also transfer files from Teachable to the students who take your classes - including image files, video and audio files.
#4 - Framework to guide students through the course. Rather than just having students log in and see a folder with files that they must figure out how to download, Teachable gives you space to offer step by step instructions in how to utilize the available course materials. When students log in, they will see a text overview that you supply to them, which directs them on what to do first, how to download course materials, and what assignments to tackle in which order.
#5 - Interactive course delivery format. In addition to providing an assortment of different learning formats, you can use the Teachable member platform to initiate course-related discussions with your students. For each course you set up, you'll be able to configure a comments area so that students can post questions or leave their remarks and feedback as they work through the assignments that you have provided. As a Business member on Teachable, you can also arrange telecalls to have students dial in for a group class that takes place by phone.
#6 - A multitude of pricing options. If you've taken courses created by other experts online, then you may have noticed that pricing can vary from one course and platform to the next. With Teachable, you get to utilize coupon codes, set up payment plans to help make your course more affordable to students, and more. You can even offer a free mini course or free trial that lets students sample your learning materials and then upgrade to a paid, comprehensive course if they wish.
Features of the Teachable Course Creation Platform:
Interactive remote learning environment. Use the comments function to communicate with students, initiate group discussions, critique projects or invite students to offer feedback on each other's work and more.
Beyond ebooks. The Teachable platform lets you deliver a multitude of learning materials to enhance students' learning experience - such as PDF, video, audio and image content - also conference calls with Business membership levels.
Ease of use. FTP (file transfer protocol) makes it easy to upload files for members to access from their login area)
Create quizzes. Built-in course creation software so you can create quizzes on the fly to include with your course. Quiz grading features also available with higher paid owner membership options.
Highly scalable platform. Start simple with by launching your free trial and create a single, complete course that you can offer a paid or free version to 10 students. Upgrade to Professional or Business level which increases the number of students you can enroll in a course.
Add a team of owners/admins. With the higher level membership on Teachable, you get the option to create multiple owner/user profiles with varying levels of access and control of the course materials. This way, your VA or a team of helpers continue to expand your learning area with the addition of new courses and other fantastic features.
Teachable FAQ
What will your course be comprised of? How will you package all of your vast knowledge into a learning format that is easy for students to follow?
Thanks to Teachable's simple, intuitive course creation platform, you can easily organize, create, style, brand and upload a variety of course materials for students who sign up for your online courses to access from their member area.
The best way to get a clear picture of how your Teachable course will be presented is to simply sign up for a free trial membership and jump right into the process of creating a course. You can set up a name for your course, add text, upload files such as PDF documents that contain written learning materials, video instructions, images and more.
Will Teachable give you the option of creating more than one course?
What if your course material isn't enough to fit into a single series of lessons?
Each time you click on the button of your Teachable member area that lets you start a new course, you will get to customize the contents of your course - including adding a series of Lectures, Lessons, and accompanying file types to go deeper with the learning materials and facilitate retention of the information you provide to students with your course.
Even the free trial membership gives you plenty of space to add additional components to your "mini course" that you get to launch and present to 10 students.
Where will my online course live? Will people be able to access it directly from my website? Or will I have to direct them to another online location?
Your Teachable courses will live inside of the Teachable platform. If you already have a website, your courses on Teachable will live separately on the Teachable domain. They will not appear as part of your own website's domain name unless you configure/specify this integration from within the Teachable platform.
Related: How To Create A Blog To Sell Digital Products
So if my course lives on Teachable, how do my students find their way to my learning area on the Teachable site?
When you direct your students to sign up for your Teachable courses, they will do so by visiting a specific link that leads to your own "home page" or "school" of learning on Teachable.com.
Will I get to name and brand (style) my courses on Teachable, so that students get the flavor of my unique company and image?
You will have the option to give your "Teachable homepage" a unique heading and description to help students become familiar with this as the home of your online learning materials.
Also from the unique Teachable homepage of your courses, you get the opportunity to designate an email address of yours where notifications arrive automatically each time someone new signs up to be a student of yours or changes their course subscription.
How do students access their course that they pay for (or sign up for free) from me on Teachable?
Your Teachable course will be accessible to both the course creator and the students who take the course, from a private member area of the Teachable platform.
As the creator and instructor of the course, you will have your own login area which is essentially your member sign-in. Likewise, after students sign up to take your course, they too will have a unique Teachable login that will give them access to the inside of the member area where all course curriculum are located.
How will I communicate specific details about the courses that I sell and run on Teachable?
When you sign up as a Teachable course creator, you will be given the option to activate your own blog on Teachable.
This gives you a posting space that you can log into and engage in an ongoing dialogue with students and prospects. Use your blog as a means of broadcasting information them such as what courses you plan to launch, when the course dates are, what will be included, how to sign up, and other important details.
What if I run some classes online from Teachable for a while, but then decide that I want to take a break from hosting courses? Can I do an "open and closed enrollment" type of initiation into the course?
Yes. It's actually a great idea to offer stop and start dates for when your online courses will be active and accessible to students and potential students. This gives them a sense of urgency, so that they will be more likely to take action and sign up for the courses you offer that they're interested in.
For example, you might decide that as a coach or consultant, there are certain times of the year when you'd prefer to focus solely on working with clients. During other months, you might decide to run your courses. If you do this, there is an option to hide or show your Teachable course area, so that students will be able to see when you're actively running classes versus when it's "off season."
How many students can sign up for and take my online course at one time?
The total number of students who can sign up for a single course that you launch via Teachable depends your own membership level as the course creator.
Your free trial Teachable membership gives you the option to sign up as many as 10 students to take your online course using the Teachable platform.
This means that each student will be able to access a signup page via the web which you supply to them as an emailed or shared link. From there, they can create a member account, sign in, and access course materials that you have uploaded to the main Course Curriculum area of the Teachable platform.
Will students be required to log in all at the same time and take the course? Or can I set this up so that each person who purchased the course will be able to work on it at a time and place that suits their schedule and preference?
Each student who signs up to take your online course via the Teachable platform will be able to access the course via email and the web, and log in from any computer that has an internet connection, at any time, day or night, whenever it's convenient for them to work on it.
Of course, you can contact your students via email or via your Facebook group, and post a message requesting that they each sign on at a specific day and time, so that you can all upload your own projects or assignments, and do a group review of everyone's submissions.
However, most course instructors find that this level of engagement is not necessary to create and sell an engaging online course that will offer both the benefit of high quality, informative learning materials, and the convenience of letting students work according to their own availability and at their own pace.
What is the difference between a course and an ebook?
Many people are familiar with the process of purchasing an ebook online.
An ebook is a PDF file containing mainly written content (often, images as well) which teaches a specific skill, imparts information on a topic, or shares advice.
When customers order an ebook from your website, they make a one-time payment using a secure payment processing system online, and their file is automatically delivered via email.
The purchaser of said ebook can then download the ebook to his or her own computer, to read and learn from on his or her own time.
You yourself may have already created and set up ebooks to sell automatically via email. This is great, and now you may want to go beyond ebooks. The course materials that you provide to your students via the Teachable platform will make it easy to take your company to the next level in interactive learning.
A course is more in-depth than an ebook. An online course is referred to as such because includes multiple learning modules such as the aforementioned PDF ebook, plus other interactive elements as video tutorials, audio files, images (think of all of the step-by-step how-to wikis that you'll find online), quizzes, checklists, journaling assignments and perhaps other materials such as planners.
What types of learning materials can I offer with my online course?
You can offer any of the above mentioned learning materials - such as ebooks, videos, audio recordings, infographics, quizzes, checklists, tips sheets, reports, case studies, journaling pages, planners, and anything else you can think of.
I have branded my website to a certain color scheme and font/logo selection. Will I get the option to customize the look and feel of my Teachable courses?
Teachable is generous with their platform features and functionality. Even at the free membership level you will get the opportunity to include some branding with your Teachable online school. This includes selecting a unique name, choosing from a list of provided fonts, changing the background color, adding your logo, and customizing link colors to contrast with your chosen color palette.
How will I know if a student or students has/have signed up for my course on Teachable?
Will I receive an alert?
Under the Settings tab of your member account (left sidebar), you'll find a section entitled Notifications. Click this and you'll be taken to an area of the site where you can designate which actions students take that you will receive notification of via email.
You can select or unselect in order to receive notification via email of the following:
When a new student signs up for your Teachable school
When a student enrolls in a paid course
When a student signs up for one of your free courses
When a subscription (such as a monthly payment) either fails or is cancelled
When a student unsubscribes to one of your Teachable courses
You can also designate or cancel whether you'll receive notification on comments that students make on your courses.
Can I integrate my Teachable course emails with a third party email software such as Aweber or InvisionSoft?
Yes. Teachable offers something called Webhooks which enables users to integrate with third party email managers.
Will I be able to utilize the help of a virtual assistant or team of VAs to assist with the creation of, uploading, organizing and setting up courses to sell on the Teachable platform? If so, how does this work?
Yes, the Professional and Business membership levels enable you to designate unique user accounts with vary levels of control - to add team members who can log in and work on adding new courses and related materials to your online learning area on Teachable.
The roles that you can set up for users to access certain control functions include primary owner (that's you), owner, author, and affiliate.
What is the membership and pricing structure for a course creator to enroll in on the Teachable platform? In other words, what do I get at specific membership levels.
Pricing
Teachable has a free trial membership plus 3 paid membership levels.
The 3 paid levels are Basic, Professional and Business.
#1 - Basic Membership (level 1):
The Teachable Basic membership currently (2022) includes unlimited students, the option to run your course on a custom domain, drip content, third-party integrations, coupons, and an extra course author/owner to help you divide up course creation duties.
#2 - Professional Membership (level 2):
The Professional membership level on Teachable includes everything in the Basic membership plus you get custom payment gateways, an unbranded website, 5 author/owners, advanced reports, graded quizzes, priority customer support for your courses, and an affiliate program so you can recruit salespeople to promote your courses and earn money when people sign up via their link.
#3 - Business Membership (level 3):
The Teachable Business membership level includes everything accessed in the Professional level. PLUS you get bulk imports of student contact info, advanced theme customization to enhance branding, 20 authors/owners with custom roles, and access to group coaching calls so you can offer a tele class as part of your course curriculum.
How good are Teachable's course creation and management training materials?
Teachable's member area is extremely intuitive which makes it easy for anyone to take a test drive of their platform and get a feel for how things work without a lot of confusion. In fact, it's one of the easiest course creation platforms to navigate.
Teachable's platform is scalable to grow from one teacher creating one course and selling it to a small group of ten, to a team of course creators working to develop a more a high volume, grand scale learning academy. Therefore, it's important to know everything you might want to know about how to get the most from your use of this platform and teach your helpers to do the same.
For this purpose, there is TeachableU.
Their paid memberships offer free access to this amazing training resource that will help you take your Teachable course creation to the next level of professionalism and profit.
What if I'm not ready for the up-front-investment in teaching a course online?
If you're worried about the budget, Teachable offers a free trial of their course creation software that permits you to test-drive their platform and even offer access of your course materials to 10 students who can sign up and take your course online.
This is a great way to get your feet wet, familiarize yourself with the process of planning, outlining, writing and organizing your course materials, then transferring all files to the Teachable platform and setting everything up to sell.
Step by Step Course Creation Using Teachable Software
Teachable is one of the more popular choices in course creation software.
One big reason why is that you get the freedom to test-drive their platform before committing to a paid membership.
Step 1: Sign Up for Your Free Trial
The first step in creating a course in Teachable is easy enough. Simply head over to their website at Teachable.com and sign up for a free trial membership by entering your email address and choosing a password.
You'll receive an email confirming your membership. Click on the email, then sign in to your free trial Teachable account.
Inside your member area, Teachable will prompt you to enter your personal/business information. Complete all required fields before moving on to the next phase.
Whatever name you filled in when you opened up your Teachable account is the same "author name" which is automatically filled in as soon as you begin to create a course. You will have the option to change this name if you like. To do so, click the box which will give you a drop-down that permits you to "add an author."
Step 2: Choose a Name for Your Teachable "School"
The next area of the Teachable platform contains space for you to fill in the name of your "school" or learning area on Teachable as it will appear to students who choose to take your course. You can add a temporary name of your school, and then change the name later once you get clearer on the branding aspects of your course and how you plan to market it to the right audience.
It's a good idea to choose words for your course that reference learning or education. The first word or phrase should probably talk about the topic that you'll plan to cover in this "school." And the second word might be a word that describes school, such as academy.
So consider that you might call your "school" something like…
______________ Academy
______________ Learning Center
______________ Courses
______________ Learning Area
______________ Classes
______________ Clinic
______________ University
______________ Training Center
______________ Education Center
School of ________________
You should also decide if you want to be specific or vague in choosing to name your school. How many courses do you plan to create? If you have already brainstormed a list of lessons or topics that you plan to cover, then you'll probably have a good sense of what to name your school.
For example, if your name is Charly, and you know that you'll be running four courses this year covering the topics of knitting, needlepoint, quilting and latch hooking, then you might name your school Charly's Crafting Corner or Charly's Crafting Courses.
You get your choice of what to do next. If you're a hands-on learner who best figures things out by trying them, you can head directly to the course creation area and dive right into the creation process.
Or, if you prefer to go into this experience with some basic understanding of how things work, then begin with the Teachable Tutorial. View the included instructional video to help you become familiar before embarking on course creation.
Step 3: Create Your First Course on Teachable
Whether or not you opt to preview the course creation how-to video or not, the next step will be creating your actual course.
Type in a title and/or subheading for the course. Then click on "Create Course" to move ahead to the next section.
Please note that if you decide to hit the back button on your browser, you will be returned to the prior page where you just entered information - but the space that you had just typed your text into will be blank. So you'll lose whatever you typed into that space.
For this reason, it's not a good idea to type your course directly into the Teachable text area without first having the info backed up.
Ideally, you should have your course details, such as step by step instructions, learning information on your topic of expertise, or whatever you choose to make the theme of your course, stored in a document of its own, either on your computer or on some type of remote file storage such as Dropbox, Google Drive, etc..
You can draft up your course in MS Word or in Google docs if you like. Just be sure that you keep it saved, so that you can have the document open to copy and paste content into the Teachable course creation area as needed. This will also make it easier should you decide to move sections around or copy and paste chunks of information, such as bulleted lists, into certain areas.
Step 4: Select a Structure for Your Course
Right now, if you're continuing along with our step by step instructions, then you should still be on the page where you fill in a title and subhead for your course as well as the author name.
The next step is to choose a template for your course. Teachable offers three different course structures. The first is a blank canvas that gives you total control how you lay out and present your online course to students.
The second is a mini course that lets you "fill in the blanks" according to a course structure that Teachable provides for you.
The third is a standard, comprehensive course. If you know you'll be including lots of information in your course curriculum, then this might be the way to go.
If this is your first time designing a course in Teachable, then it's probably a good idea to select either the mini course or the comprehensive course, rather than inputting your course materials freestyle. This way, you can use their layout as a guide to follow.
Even if you do not have a formal presentation worked out for your course yet, choosing the Teachable templates will give you the opportunity to learn as you go, then model your written course outline after what you see in their template.
Teachable's mini course format is very straightforward. You will be creating your course in the Curriculum section of their site which is accessible from the right sidebar.
They provide space for you to fill in your own files, text, images and other details as such:
"Template Info"
"Template Info" is the editable title for your course's intro area. You can leave the title as "Template Info" if you like. However, a better option would be to create a heading for this area that lets the reader know this is an overview of the course, as well as what's included and how to approach learning using the provided materials.
"How to Use This Template"
Information that explains to the reader how to use the course template. You must think of this from the perspective of the person who is taking the course. They have just signed up and logged into the course. They're not sure how this course works or what to do next. In the "template info" area of your course is where you will provide an overview of what's to come and what they will be learning and doing.
Each of the above listed areas can be set to specific viewing and downloading options for your course students.
Once you input all of your chosen information for the "Template Info" and "How to Use This Template" areas of the course, you can configure settings so that readers can download the information to their own computers if they like.
You can also configure this initial course setting so that students who are interested in signing up to take the course but have not done so yet can get a free preview - which means they'll be able to read an excerpt which will help them make their purchasing decision.
Teachable - Creating the Mini Course
On the Teachable website, the instructions suggest setting up a mini course for free. This will give your website visitors, followers and fans a way to sample the types of educational material you offer. It will also help you get the basics of putting a course together, without things becoming too complicated.
Interestingly, your free course that you create doesn’t have to be so mini after all. There is space inside of the mini course creation area to expand on the main areas of the course, including the lecture portion and the lessons which are labeled 1, 2 and 3.
What are "Lectures" in Teachable?
The lecture is the initial portion of your course's learning section. Your lecture can include text, files, video, images, and/or quizzes. These are elements that you will create yourself, using your own computer programs, and then upload to your Teachable course curriculum area.
"Lecture 1" - What to Write
Click on the Edit button for "Lecture 1", and a small text box will open up. You do not have to call this a "lecture" - you can name this learning material anything you like, as it pertains to whatever you are teaching.
So for example, if you're creating a course on how to breed guinea pigs, then "Lecture 1" could be renamed "Guinea Pigs 101".
To add actual content to your lecture in the form of written information, images, videos or quizzes, click directly on the words "Lecture 1" (or if you have renamed "Lecture 1" to your own course title, such as "Guinea Pigs 101" then click on those words).
A window will open up and prompt you to "Add content to your lecture."
To add a content element, click one of the named types of content listed on the left-hand side.
The choices of content you can add are:
Files (including PDF, video and audio files):
Text (meaning you can type course text directly into the rich text editor)
Quizzes (use the built-in quiz creator to add a series of questions to your course section)
Code Example (useful if you're teaching an HTML, PHP or other tech related course)
Built-in Code (maybe you want to include a form for your students to sign up)
Upsell (opportunity for students to upgrade to another level - for example, if you're offering a free mini course and you want to use this space to encourage them to upgrade)
Let's go into a bit more detail for each of the course elements that you can include in the Lecture area of the Teachable platform.
"Add File"
Navigate to the Add File area (on the left), and click the Edit button. You will then be prompted to upload from one of a series of file locations.
The types of files that you might want to add to your course include PDF files, video files and audio files.
PDF files are ideal if you've written an ebook that you want to include as part of the course deliverable. In fact, if you've already written an ebook and sold it on a specific topic, the Teachable platform provides a nice, next-level learning opportunity. Your ebook can be a part of the complete course package - one that also includes video learning, an audio lecture, a set of quizzes and a series of graphics to facilitate learning for students who take your course.
You have several options for uploading content and adding it to your course. They are as follows:
Upload content from your own computer
Upload content from a link on the web
Upload content from an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program
Upload content from your chosen online storage program such as Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive
So for example, if you already have a website with images on it and you want to grab one of the images from a page of your website to upload to your course, you can use this feature to navigate to that web page online, and upload the image from your site to the course.
"Add Text"
What would you put in the "Add Text" of your online course that you create in Teachable? This is a good spot to offer instructions and guidance to your students on how they might best go about using the included learning materials.
You can explain to them things like:
What all of the included files are for and how the included information might prove useful in their online learning experience
The order of which files or quizzes they might choose to look at and learn from
How to view or download each of the included course files
Suggestions on what to do with or how to apply the learning materials
So if you were creating the pasta-making course material, you might start by typing something into the text area like:
"Welcome to the Culinartistry Pasta Making Course. Today we'll be covering the basics of how to make pasta noodles using Semolina wheat. But before we jump into the pasta-making experience, let's delve into some details about how this delicious worldwide meal staple came to be.
For your initial foray into the fine art of pasta making, please start by downloading our PDF ebook covering everything you ever wanted to know about the history of pasta making. To download a copy of the ebook for your own personal use, please click the icon in the left sidebar…."
(Then you might continue on by explaining how they can watch a video on the art of pasta making.)
"Add Images"
Visuals are highly useful when developing learning material. If you're teaching a skill using step-by-step instructions, visuals often convey meaning where words fall short. For example, it would be very difficult to explain how to build a model airplane without using a visual diagram to point out which parts go where and in which order.
Infographics have become increasingly popular for their ability to sum up key points in a compact space, using visuals to provide an intriguing focal point for the eye. An ordinary series of bullets can be greatly improved through use of a cleanly designed and brightly colored visual presentation.
For example, if your course was about starting a wildflower garden, you could choose a visual of a sunflower to pop in short steps that the reader would follow when learning to prepare and plant a flower bed.
"Add Quiz"
The "Add Quiz" section of Teachable's Lecture area makes a terrific enhancement that definitely takes your educational content up several notches in terms of being considered learning materials.
After clicking on the Add Quiz icon in the left sidebar, a window will open up where you can include a quiz with this section (lecture) of the course. Here, you can easily formulate multiple choice questions to include in your quiz.
If you have not yet prepared a series of questions to include in the quiz, you can easily create some on the fly using the handy quiz maker. However, in the even that you accidentally hit the back button or end up losing your internet connection somehow, it's probably a smart idea to have your quiz questions prepared and saved ahead of time.
At the very least, if you're creating a quiz right in the lecture area, you can copy and paste each question of the quiz into a separate MS Word document or Google doc that you can continue to save as you progress along.
Your quiz will be a great way to sum up what's already been taught in the course by way of the included ebook and/or video material that you added. However, it is worth noting that you will not be able to offer your students the benefit of having a quiz that can tally up their total of correct answers (a graded quiz), unless you upgrade to a higher, paid level of the Teachable membership.
"Add Code Example"
What does this mean? "Code" refers to HTML. What sort of course might you be teaching that would require you to "add code?"
If you're teaching a DIY online business course on how to do things like build websites, create email newsletters, monetize a website or make edits to a blog's template, then there are all good reasons to show an example of HTML (hyper text markup language) code.
Specifically, you might include an HMTL code example of any of the following:
HTML tagging basics (such as how to Bold and Italicize text, how to code an image to show up in your newsletter, how to formulate an HREF statement when adding links)
How to copy and paste the code from your Google ads into your website
How to code Javascript or HTML subscriber forms so that you can collect email subscribers on your website
The code example area is necessary because, after all, if you were to type in the HTML code directly into your Text area, it would simply show up as whatever the coded text was supposed to look like or function as after coding.
"Add Custom Code"
In addition to showing an example of HTML code, you might actually want to include a website element in your course that would require you to copy and paste HTML or Javascript code.
For example, if you were wanting your students to submit a form or sign up for your mailing list, then you might decide to include your actual form right inside of the Teachable login area where your course material is laid out.
"Add Upsell"
Many online coaches, experts and educators include a "next level up" opportunity for students to upgrade from the free course to a more in-depth paid course on Teachable, and even to a tier-3 option which might include their coaching packages.
While Teachable does offer you the ability to add an upsell directly inside of the course you're teaching, with a sign-up option readily available… this is only accessible to course creators who have upgraded to the paid level of the Teachable membership.
"Test Your Learning"
One useful feature of the Teachable mini course which makes this a course rather than just an ebook, is the "Test Your Learning" section. Here, you can set up a series of questions, such as a review quiz, for your students to run through to see how well they have retained the information.
Depending on the subject matter, you could also make this a short written assignment or journal exercise, if you like.
Another option would be to replace "Test Your Learning" with a checklist or set of goals.
You can call the "Test Your Learning" section anything you want. "Apply What You've Learned," "My Take-Home Assignments" or any other title that pertains to the type of lessons you're offering, would work here.
For example, if this is a personal development course, then your students might use the available space to type out an self-created assignment or series of next-steps to tackle in their quest for self betterment.
Or, if your course teaches a practical skill, such as pasta making, then the space that says "test your learning" might become "Apply Your Knowledge"… or "Let's Get Cooking" if you want to get cute with the name.
Inside of this space, you can offer a series of steps that they might try out. So if we're still working with the pasta-making example, this section could be…
Step 1: Gather your ingredients.
Step 2: Forming the pasta dough.
Step 3: Making noodles
and so forth.
Pricing Your Teachable Course
Also in the left sidebar of your Teachable member area is a tab named Pricing. Click this and a window will open which will prompt you to "Create a Pricing Plan."
Click the button that says "Add a Pricing Plan." Another window will open up with options for creating a pricing structure for your course.
You can select from Free, One-Time Purchase, and Subscription.
Free
If you're creating the mini course as a Try Before You Buy, you can check off this option so that students will be able to access your course curriculum sample free of charge.
The next option that you can select is One-Time Purchase. Here, you would designate a dollar amount and then use the available text sections to type in details that let the customer know what exactly they're purchasing and what's included for that price.
So for example, if you wanted to launch a class on how to kick off a newsletter campaign in Mail Chimp, then you could title it "Mail Chimp How-To Basics" and subtitle it something like "No More Monkeying Around When It Comes to Your Email Newsletter". Then in the Detailed Description area, you can fill in specifics on what your students will learn.
You could say something like, "From signup forms to autoresponders to managing email contacts, you'll learn everything you need to get started with an email marketing campaign using Mail Chimp".
One-Time Payment
If you prefer to make your course available for a single, one-time payment, then check off that button in the list of choices. Fill in the your course details in the same way as you would have done for the free option.
Subscription
A subscription is a great way to space out payment for a course that is ongoing.
Or, if your course is of a slightly higher price point, you can ease the pressure of having to pay the entire sum at once, by breaking up payments into manageable, smaller chunks.
Set the amount that you'd like to offer your readers to save on a subscription. Then designate the frequency - for example, every month.
What about pricing psychology and making payments more manageable?
A monthly fee of $7.99 per month for 6 months sounds more inviting to many people than a one-time payment of $48.
But on the other hand, if you offer students the choice of paying $38 today versus stretching $48 out over 6 payments… they might bite for it.
After you set the price on your subscription, you can fill in the description area in the same way you would if you were doing the Free or One-Time Payment option.
Beneath the course description area is a box where you can check off "include a free trial" which means your students will get a sample of the course for free for a certain number of days, such as a week, or a month, that you will also be able to specify by typing your chosen number into a drop-down menu.
Payment Plan
As mentioned, a payment plan may appeal to some of your course students, especially if budget is a concern. In this case, you can choose the number of payments that students can divide the course total into.
So for example, if this is a $250.00 course, you might offer students the option to pay $20.83 per month for 12 months, to continue to have access to your course material.
"Drip" option
The Drip feature of your Teachable course is only available to course creators who have upgraded to a paid membership level.
"Drip" refers to an email drip campaign. This basically means that after a certain number of days of having access to a course curriculum level, your students will receive access to the next level in the course by way of an email that arrives automatically. This gives the impression of "advancing" through the coursework in a linear, progressive fashion.
The Comments Feature
The comments feature is especially handy because it enables course instructors and students to interact within the framework of the course curriculum.
Students can log in, read the learning material, do the included exercises, take any quizzes that are offered, and also type in their own remarks or ask questions of the instructor at any point in their learning experience.
Course creators/instructors have the choice of enabling the Comment Moderation feature from within the general settings of their Teachable account.
This means that any comments made by students will require approval by the moderator before the comments appear live.
You can also opt to have single or multi-threaded comments. This means that users can respond to comments within comments.
Finally, you will control over whether or not your students are able to also upload images to include with their comments. This may prove useful in the event that the student has a specific question and wants to take a screen shot of what he or she is looking at.
Or, the student might do his or her assignment, which could be something like drawing, journaling, or making a project… and then he or she could take a picture to upload for sharing, commenting, group analysis and critiquing.
Coupons
Everybody loves to score a deal, and your online learners will be no exception. Pricing psychology factors in strongly when people are thinking about committing to taking an online course.
Is it worth the money? Will your students actually use the material, or will they flake out and lose interest?
A special coupon offer might be just the thing to get fence-sitters to take action and buy while the price is right.
It's super simple to offer your customers a coupon code to make their course purchase a bit sweeter. Just pick a word, type it in and designate a dollar amount that will drop off the price if they type in that word or promo code.
You can add to the pricing psychology factor by including a start and end date to your coupon offer which will increase a sense of urgency and convey the idea that if they want the best deal, they'd best take action now.
"Bundle Contents"
Another big incentive that is likely to get students excited for your course(s) is if you offer a bundle package to increase value for them.
Simply navigate to "Bundle Contents" in the left sidebar and then a window will open after you click. You'll see a dropdown menu that lets you choose from all of your previously created courses. You can select as few or as many as you'd like, to bundle together with the main course that you were planning to promote.
Reports
Want in-depth analysis of who's taking your course and what they're getting out of it? Course data analysis is a great tool for knowing what to do more or less of when you create future courses that are similar to the one you just launched.
The Reports option is only available with the Professional membership level in Teachable. Did you upgrade? Click on Reports in the left sidebar to get a glimpse of in-depth video engagement data, leader board, and quiz grades.
Certificates
Want to congratulate students on a job well done? The paid Teachable subscription gives you access to course certificates that you can customize and distribute to people who took and completed your course to a successful end.
A course completion certificate is a nice way to offer your students a pat on the back for their dedication to learning, and mastery of, the materials included with your online course. It's also a great way to be remembered for offering that extra special touch of personal care to students who put in the extra effort.
Niche-Specific Ideas for Creating Courses in Teachable
Wondering what types of courses you can sell using the Teachable platform? With the ability to include multiple file types including PDF ebooks, videos, audio files, images, HTML examples, and even space to add your own upsells and signup forms… there's no limit to what you can dream up in the way of exciting new courses for your students to learn from.
Art
Acrylic Painting on Ceramics
One-Stroke Painting on Glass
Watercolors 101
Calligraphy Basics
Calligraphy for Wedding & Shower Invitations
Business Coaching
How to Launch an Online Business
Planning Your Product Launch Calendar
Level UP: Systemize, Outsource
How to Create Multiple Income Streams
How to Advance Plan Your Marketing Newsletter
Cooking & Culinary
Cooking Basics
Baking Techniques
Chinese Cooking
Learn to Cook Italian Food
Easy, Healthy One-Pot Meals
Pressure Cooker Hacks
Master the Perfect Pie Crust
Crafting
Knitting 101
How to Crochet
Latch Hook Happiness
Christmas Crafting Using Upcycled Materials
How to Crochet Afghans
Sock Knitting Mastery in 7 Easy Lessons
DIY
Do-It-Yourself Event Planning
The Ultimate DIY Wedding on a Shoestring Budget
Barn Wedding Bliss
Upcycled Baby Shower Game Plan
Finance
How to Get Out of Debt Forever
Family Budgeting 101
How to Set and Achieve Financial Goals
Investing for Dummies
Gardening
How to Grow an Organic Garden
Herb Growing 101
Ultimate Tomato Growing Guide
How to Can Your Own Produce
Holistic Healing
Essential Oils 101
Homemade Skincare Recipes
Herbal Remedies for Every Ailment
Home and Family
How to Get a Great Deal on a Used Car
For Sale By Owner
First Time Home Buying Guide
Life Coaching
How to be a Better You
Be Happy and Know It
How to Rise Up from Adversity
Heal Your Soul
Become a Positive Person
Savor the Moment: A Guide to Mindfulness in a Fast Paced World
Relationships and Self Help
The Addiction Affliction
How to Find a Good Man to Marry
How to Find The Ideal Person for You
Post-Divorce Survival Guide
Dearest but Not Nearest: Setting Boundaries with Family
Self Improvement
Be a Go Getter Goal Setter
Take Back Your Time: Productivity Boosters
Writing
Let's Write Your Memoir
Journal Your Way to Happiness
Poetry Writing 101
Short Story Writing
Try Teachable - Start Your Course Creation Free Trial Today
Want to go the next step in course creation?
The Teachable platform is a familiar and easily navigated platform for many. This multi-faceted learning environment will enable you to simply, quickly and easily design and launch new teaching materials that add value for your students while remaining an affordable alternative to coaching hours.