You may have been gathering info, articles, posts, and what not to build your first online course. You may have even created your content outline for your course. But when it comes to apps, software, tools, and techie stuff, you suddenly think you’re trying to figure out a hieroglyph. A very expensive one. So let me help you with that! First, check out this blog post about creating an online course without any experience at all. And then, check out this list of tools you’ll need if you want to build your online course on a budget. My favorite ones – or those I use most – are marked with a [*].
This post may contain affiliate links with NO cost to you.
Tools and apps to create an online course on a budget
Content Writing / Grammar Check Apps – A must if you want your course to look professional
♥ Grammarly [*] – Free web version / Desktop version: prices start at $11.66 per month
♥ Hemingway App – Free web version / Desktop version: $19.99 per month
Slide Creation Software – Necessary if you’re going to use videos with slides
♥ Keynote [*] – Free for Mac!
♥ PowerPoint – Free with the Microsoft Office pack.
VoiceOver / Video Recording
♥ BluYeti microphone [*] – Ca. $100 – Optional, but the sound quality difference is enormous!
♥ SmartPhone / PC camera [*] – More than enough if you don’t want to invest in a photo camera.
♥ Parrot Teleprompter [*] – Not necessary, but very practical to read your scripts while talking to the camera.
♥ Zoom [*] – Free app to join/record online meetings. I use it to record myself or my screen on video.
Workbook Creation – It’s always advisable to offer your students a workbook or a guide for them to download and complete
♥ Pages (Mac) [*] – Free!
♥ Adobe InDesign
♥ Canva – Its free version is more than enough.
Online Teaching Platforms / Hosts – Upload your course and forget about coding, payment or hosting issues
♥ Teachable [*] – Free version / paid plans starting at $39 per month
♥ Thinkific – Free version / paid plans starting at $49 per month
Email Providers – I’m afraid this one you can’t forget about. Having an email provider linked to your teaching platform is a must!
♥ ConvertKit [*] – $29 per month until 1k subscribers / $49 per month for 1k – 3k subscribers / $79 for up to 5k subscribers
♥ ActiveCampaign – Prices starting at $15
Now, compare these prices with the investment you’d have if you were to open a brick-and-mortar school for your courses. Isn’t it incredible that you can have an online school for less than $100 per month?
Do you use other tools? Which ones? Write a comment below and let me know 🙂
Alicia
Are you born to freelance?
