Trainers and coaches have more opportunities today than ever before to create and offer digital products. A few years ago, the motto was: “Exchange free e-book for email address.” Digital products such as e-books or newsletters were primarily used as freebies for marketing purposes. What has changed? Creating your own online courses and offering additional digital products makes sense for trainers and coaches.
Note: This article was first published in March 2016 and was updated in November 2018.
Today, more and more trainers and coaches are creating their own online courses and achieving several goals:
They share their knowledge with their target audience and generate additional revenue.
They expand their offerings: In addition to seminars and course offerings, these trainers can now also offer online courses or online coaching. The time spent creating the online course pays off over a longer period, as course support takes less time afterwards.
If the content is relevant and helpful to the target group, the marketing effect is automatically achieved. Customers who are convinced by a (free) course are likely to book paid offers as well.
Create your own online courses: Some tips
Maybe you already have a video or materials that you could also use for an online course. You can find concrete steps for implementation in this blog post: From a learning video to your own online course. When it comes to digital products and extensions, trainers and coaches are always faced with the choice: “make or buy.” How much money do you invest if you spend your own time on it? If you can earn your hourly rate during that time, then you have a rough estimate of what your time investment costs. If it involves fragmented hours, then it truly is just a time investment.
Time and money, in our experience, are not even the biggest hurdle. To create your own online course, you also need the corresponding knowledge. Most trainers have didactic fundamentals and have already created media (e.g. texts, images, worksheets, quizzes, etc.). The choice of platform has a significant impact on the level of prior experience and knowledge. The entry is significantly more difficult if you also have to deal with web development and the technical configuration of the course (e.g. security settings, email distribution lists, and payment providers, managing and integrating several service providers for streaming and quizzes, optimizing display for mobile devices).
The first search: Free offers for online courses
Many trainers and coaches do not want to invest money at the beginning and first look for free offers. Therefore, the choice often falls on a WordPress solution for the first online course.
WordPress has many strengths. Creating and managing online courses is not necessarily one of them. For a blog or a homepage, WordPress is a reliable solution. David Goebel describes in this blog post how he created his first online course with WordPress and what lessons he learned from it.
If you are toying with the idea of implementing your online course with WordPress, then you should take a look at his blog post. To build a running WordPress course, you need knowledge and time. I have tried this with various WordPress plugins. Once the course is created and the content is uploaded, the administration of the WordPress site still takes time.
blink.it vs WordPress
With the blink.it app, you can create online courses. Here, I would like to compare our offer from blink.it with a WordPress solution.
| blink.it | WordPress || -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- || Ready-to-go! We provide you with everything you need to start creating courses immediately. | Depending on the hosting solution, you have various options here. Many hosts offer pre-installed solutions for €3-10 per month. || Yes, you can offer your courses under your domain. We will gladly set that up for you. | You can, of course, set up your WordPress solution with your domain. This is usually handled by the host for you. || No, we take care of that for you. | It depends on which host you have chosen and what happens with your WordPress solution. Anyone wanting to work with WordPress should at least be somewhat familiar with databases. For example, if you need to delete several thousand spam messages, you will need to do that in the database and not in the WordPress interface, as it takes a lot of time. || Less is more. We offer an appealing design without much frills. It is important to us that the blink.it app looks good and is easy to use. If it is important to you, you can get a custom design so that your course fits your brand. | Here, WordPress offers a variety of customization options. If you know what you want and which WordPress design is right, then you have many freedoms here. || No, with us your course works from the start without further configuration. | Yes, to offer courses through WordPress, you need to install and configure some additional plugins. Good plugins are paid. A popular plugin for a member area is Digimember. This costs €27 in the Pro version. When using plugins, one should always ensure that they are kept current by the developers. The search for the right plugins can take time. || If your content is well prepared, you can create a course and invite the first participants in 30 minutes. | Depending on prior knowledge and hosting solution, installing a WordPress platform can take a few minutes. Installing and configuring the required plugins will take more time. Additionally, with a new installation, the design needs to be adjusted. || Our user management offers you all functions in one view so that you do not have to click through endless menus. | Through plugins. Some of these are paid. || We are constantly optimizing our loading speed so that your participants are not frustrated when they visit your course. | Your WordPress host offers a fast WordPress site in its basic version. Depending on what and how many plugins you use and how many participants access your course, the loading speed may slow down. || No, with us you get as much storage space as you need for your content. | It depends on the hosting provider. The cheaper WordPress solutions usually offer 25GB of storage. If you use videos in your courses, that can become tight. || No, with us your videos are automatically converted and delivered in the best streaming quality on all devices. | Depending on the host and bandwidth used, there may be costs involved. Videos need to be converted by you. You can, of course, also use an additional video host, but then you will manage an additional service. || Security and data protection are our top priority! Our servers are located in Germany, and we are committed to complying with German data protection regulations. Our clients include banks and insurance companies. These clients require the highest security standards. We meet this standard and offer it to all our customers. | The security of your WordPress solution will depend on the hosting solution and the installed plugins. Many hosts do offer an update service for the WordPress installation, but plugins are not automatically updated. Because WordPress is so popular, WordPress sites are a popular target for hackers. WordPress plugins are the most common entry point (see current evaluation from Wordfence). || If you have questions or need advice, we are here to support you! | All hosts will provide you with technical support for your WordPress solution. If you have problems with plugins, you have to contact the developers. |
We believe that as a trainer or coach, you should focus on what you do best and what you enjoy most:
Expressing your charisma and personality. This happens naturally during the course. Online, you reach your participants with a video recording.
Enthusing your participants for your content.
Developing training concepts. Implementing training and coaching methods.
Supporting your participants and promoting their learning.
Marketing your products or having them marketed.
We focus on what we do best:
Making the administration of your online courses as easy as possible so that you can devote your time to marketing.
Providing your content quickly and securely on all devices so that you can keep your cool.
Offering your participants a user-friendly and engaging platform. This way, your participants enjoy learning on the platform and are more motivated to use your online content.
What experiences have you had with WordPress or other providers? Are you thinking about creating an online course? We at blink.it are here to help you with advice and assistance!
