Why I Switched To Teachable To Host And Sell My Online Courses
This is Part 3 of 3 of the Creating & Selling Online Courses series.
Part 1. How to Create an Online Course in 72 Hours (With Guided Instructions!)
Part 2. How to Sell Online Courses 101
Part 3. Why I Switched To Teachable To Host And Sell My Online Courses
Something big happened in my business about 2 weeks ago. I decided to switch to Teachable to host all my online courses.
This move did not come easy for me as it is a hassle to shift all my students from my old platform to Teachable.
However, I am glad that I DID IT!
Thus far, everything has been running very smoothly and I love the experience. I should have done this earlier.
In this post, I will touch on the reason behind why I switched and how the Teachable experience has been so far.
But first… What is Teachable?
Teachable is an online course hosting platform. It allows you to host and sell your online courses.
The great thing about Teachable is that it is an all-in-one platform: It handles your sales pages, your customer payments (but you can opt for Stripe/ Paypal as well if you prefer), has a built-in affiliate system, hosts your course videos and PDFs, gives you the necessary analytics, etc.
Basically, if you want to create and sell an online course, all you need is Teachable and your materials, and voila! You are in business.
Why I switched to Teachable and how has it been so far:
Slowly but surely, my old plugin was falling apart
When I first started out, I opted for a WordPress plugin which did a fancy launch at that time. It was great, to be honest, but as time passed I realized that the owner did not seem to be adding improvements to the plugins.
For instance, I did not have the function of using a coupon code. I could not have affiliates without installing ANOTHER plugin. I had to use Vimeo to host my videos separately.
Do you know the feeling of driving an old car? You feel like it could fall apart anytime soon. That was how I felt.
There are many behind-the-scenes functions of Teachable that I really appreciate and need. I kept hearing people raving about Teachable. However, because of the “inertia” of moving, I stayed put.
Finally, I had enough when a student of mine had issues downloading a PDF and emailed me. Funny how the smallest things will trigger you to make a big shift.
The biggest reason for why I switched to Teachable specifically
Well, you may be thinking, so why Teachable? The online course hosting market has a ton of options.
I came across an article recently which talked about how Seth Godin would launch a business with just $1000. In it, Seth Godin said:
“Remarkable marketing starts with a remarkable product.
But, what’s a remarkable product you ask?
It’s a product that your customers simply CAN’T live without; they love it so much that they tell their friends, who tell their friends, who tell their friends.”
And I completely agree.
The biggest reason why I switched to Teachable was because I wanted to create the best product experience for my students. I want my course students to enjoy consuming my course and be motivated to learn, which would, in turn, bring more people to join us 🙂
If you have ever logged into a Teachable course, you would realize that Teachable’s user experience is really unparalleled…… And quality is something I really pride myself on.
User experience is something that is difficult for people to replicate, unlike functionality. Things are just REALLY REALLY SMOOTH AND PROFESSIONALLY DESIGNED IN EVERY STEP OF THE TEACHABLE COURSE EXPERIENCE.
And true enough, I have received a ton of compliments from my students about how much they loved the new course platform.
Here’s an example. I did not ask anything and this email was spontaneously sent to me from a Traffic Subscribers Yours (Update: this program has now been upgraded into List Building Incubator) student after transferring her over:
There are many more.
Happy students make me happy and reflects well on me. And also, from a business POV, happy customers are the cornerstone of a successful business.
A neat course dashboard with all your courses
It is not just the “inside” of your course that looks and works great.
Externally, you get a really beautiful course dashboard with all your courses easily available. I love it so much, because my readers can easily head over to my dashboard and see what I have for sale.
With everything so professionally arranged, I feel like my courses have a proper “home” to be in where they can be easily browsed and purchased.
As a course creator, I am able to focus on creating and selling.
I love that Teachable is an all-in-one solution. I don’t have to scurry to find another solution and try to piece things together because Teachable handles everything related to my courses for me.
Previously, I had to install another plugin to have an affiliate system. Another plugin to connect my course site to Convertkit so that I could send my students emails. I created my own sales pages using the Divi theme. I hosted my videos on Vimeo and then attached them onto my WordPress membership site. I used the Essential Grids plugin to create a pseudo course dashboard so that my readers could browse my courses in a neat place. The list goes on and on.
All this piecing together took a lot of brainpower and technical work on my part. Thank God that there is such an integrated solution available in the market now.
All course creators should leverage on Teachable to cut the learning curve and within a week you are open for business! We live in amazing times. [Tweet “All course creators should leverage on Teachable to cut the learning curve. It’s amazing!”]
You can create great-looking sales pages
If you aren’t technically savvy, it may be difficult for you to create a sales page from scratch.
Well, I know *I* had issues when I first started out trying to create a sales page. If it wasn’t for the miracles of Divi (which you should totally use if you are a beginner and need a website theme), I would not have been able to create a professional looking sales page.
Well with Teachable, you need not worry about that. They don’t just host your courses for you, you can also easily create professional looking sales page(s) in Teachable.
Or if you prefer to create your own sales pages, you can easily do so and connect it to the Teachable platform as well.
Protection from thieves
There are a ton of content stealers out there who would distribute your course content out on the internet. Teachable helps to prevent this from happening!
All your course content will be safely embedded in the Teachable environment to prevent content theft. Of course, if someone really wants to steal your stuff it will always be possible, but Teachable will help to minimize this.
If you just host your course content on a page on your website, people will find your course and use it for free.
As a course creator you wouldn’t want to be bothered by such trivial matters but focus on things that grow your business.
In-built affiliate system
You get a great in-built affiliate system for all your courses that work out of the box. Teachable will automatically count your payouts and provide the affiliate links.
Affiliates are a great way to boost your business sales without incurring additional expenses. With Teachable, it is 100% possible now!
You may also like my 5-part Affiliate Marketing series:
Part 1. What is Affiliate Marketing, And How Does it Work?
Part 2. 18 Top Affiliate Marketing Programs to Join
Part 3. 10 Crucial Tips to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing
Part 4. How to Multiply Your Affiliate Income Using The 80/20 Rule
Part 5. The Ultimate Guide: Step-by-step Affiliate Marketing For Dummies
Very intuitive and easy to set-up for the technophobe
I have used many tools (my recommended tools are here) and Teachable is one of the easiest ones to pick up.
If you do not know how to code, Teachable is perfect for you because you will not need to touch a line of code. It is really easy to figure out where everything is at and to get things all set-up with Teachable.
On the off chance you need help, everything is well-documented on their site for you to follow. Importantly, their support is readily available and there is a live chat function which will allow you to talk to Teachable’s support easily if you require any assistance.
Integration with email service providers
Teachable integrates really well with Convertkit, as well as a ton of other email service providers. Here is a list of email providers that Teachable integrates with:
- Convertkit (this is my email service provider, which I use and love)
- AWeber
- Mad Mimi
- Constant Contact
- Infusionsoft
- MailChimp
- GetResponse
- Drip
This allows me to add my new students to an onboarding sequence in Convertkit where I send them encouraging emails after they signed up, which engages my course students.
When someone purchases a course, they are tagged automatically in my email service provider so that they won’t be sent further sales emails.
Unlimited courses, unlimited students
Unlike other course hosting platforms, Teachable allows you to host as many courses as you like for the same price. You can also have unlimited students! It’s amazing.
This is important because you will most likely be creating many versions of the same course, such as when you run promotional bundles, partner with other bloggers, or expand your business to incorporate other products.
This gives me peace of mind that Teachable will grow with me as my online business increases in size without charging me a hefty bill.
Summary
I love Teachable because it:
- Has a ton of useful functions I love, such as coupon codes
- Creates a superior course experience that makes my students happy!
- Regularly updates itself with new features
- Is extremely easy to set-up and use
- Has an inbuilt affiliate system
- Allows me to create beautiful sales pages
- Provides an all-in-one course hosting solution
- Gives me the necessary analytics to see how sales are
- Has a readily available live chat and email support!
- With unlimited courses and users, Teachable is a software that grows with me.
With Teachable literally all I needed to do is to get my course content up, and Teachable handled the rest.
It provides an amazing experience for my course students and I pride myself in creating the best quality courses. It has become a pivotal part of my business, and I love it!
I highly recommend that you get onto Teachable ASAP. I can’t believe that I didn’t do this earlier!
It could be pricey, but it has everything you need for your course business and has been worth every cent I have spent. AND most importantly, it allows me to create a great product experience for my customers which is the cornerstone of any business.
Click here to sign up for Teachable and get your course business started today!
This is Part 3 of 3 of the Creating & Selling Online Courses series.
Part 1. How to Create an Online Course in 72 Hours (With Guided Instructions!)
Part 2. How to Sell Online Courses 101
Part 3. Why I Switched To Teachable To Host And Sell My Online Courses
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