A good topic and a strategy on how to teach your students your expertise are very important for the success of an online course.
But without the right tools you won’t be able to actually create and sell an online course.
There are many different tools on the market to create online courses, but which ones do you need to build a successful online course business?
With my experience since 2006 in the online course and e-learning market,
I have put together a list of my favorite tools to start and grow your online course business.
Affiliate Disclaimer:
Some of the links that you’ll find below are affiliate links. This means that if you buy one of them I will receive a commission for the sale. In the list below you will only find online course creation tools that I use or have used myself and therefore recommend because I know they help you to create online courses.
Only use the tools that will help you achieve your goals right now. Don’t spend money on tools you don’t need yet.
Essential Online Course Creation Tools
If you want to start creating and selling your online course then you need an online course platform.
You can choose to host your own online course platform in combination with WordPress and an LMS plugin so that you have the freedom to make your online course website exactly the way you want it.
Online Course Platforms
Do you want to create online courses and you don’t want to worry about technical hassles such as hosting your online course, security, and updates? you can go for a hosted online course platform where everything is taken care of for you.
Thinkific is my #1 recommendation as an online course platform for starting your online course business.
Thinkific is an online course platform that has all features you need to create and sell online courses and create membership sites. Thinkific has a clear user interface that makes it really easy for you to set up your online course and launch it, without any knowledge of coding.
If you want to bring your online course business to the next level and integrate all your tools Kajabi is the #1 all-in-one online course platform.
Kajabi is an all-in-one Online business platform which can do a lot more than just create and launch your online courses. You can build your website, do your email marketing and much more in one platform.
WordPress LMS Plugins
Do you want to transform your WordPress website into an online course platform? Then you need an LMS plugin. Below you can see my two favorite WordPress LMS plugins to create online courses.
I think LearnDash is way ahead of its competitors. If you are looking for a WordPress LMS plugin then Learndash is definitely my #1 choice.
LearnDash is one of the most popular if not the most popular WordPress LMS plugin. LearnDash has a great course experience for students and a really simple drag and drop course builder. LearnDash has lots of add-ons and plugins to extend its features.
LifterLMS is my #2 pick as WordPress LMS Plugin. that lets you create your online courses really easy.
LifterLMS is also a very popular plugin to transform your WordPress site into an online course platform for selling your online courses. LifterLMS is a freemium LMS plugin. It consists of a free core plugin with lots of paid add-ons for extra functionality.
Screen Recording Software
If you want to capture the screen of your computer, tablet or mobile phone to create tutorials or online training video’s you need screen recording software. Here are the 2 tools that I mostly use.
If you’re planning to create and edit screen recorder videos for your online courses, Camtasia is my number #1 tool.
If you want to create tutorials, demos, or training videos for your online course Camtasia is the best screen recorder and video editor to easily create good looking videos on a Mac or a Windows PC. Camtasia is easy to learn.
Don’t need complex editing options and only want to capture your screen? Screencast-O-Matic is the tool for you.
If you’re only planning to do screen recordings and don’t need complicated editing needs Screencast-O-Matic is the right tool for you. Screencast-O-Matic is very intuitive and easy to use. Screencast-O-Matic has a free version to record videos and a paid version for less than $20 a year.