Top 6 Best Online Course Creation Tools

Top 6 Best Online Course Creation Tools

The internet and social media platforms make sharing your knowledge with others easy. However, creating an online course and launching it requires a bit more skills and tools.

Launching a course implies not only creating a course but building a community and coming up with a strategy to grow this business to make an income.

That is when online creation tools come into play. Their role is to make building an online course easier and quicker. Choosing the right tools will determine the quality of your future work, and finding the tool that will simplify this process is crucial. Then, as a course creator, you can do what you are best at – focus on the content and your students.

We researched many available apps and online course creation tools and came up with one list of the best ones.

In this article, you’ll find:

• What are the steps to have a successful course?
• What is the best online course creation tool, and why?
• Comparison between GroupApp and other course creation tools.

The main criterion for determining the best course platform was the tools they offer. We think having everything for your course in one place is essential.

Keep reading to find out which app to use to create an online course!

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Before Launching a Course

We will go through some crucial steps you need to take before launching a course and highlight how GroupApp can help in this process.

Choose the Course Topic You’re Passionate About

This might seem obvious, but we think it’s important to note it. Don’t pick something just because it looks like a profitable topic and popular subject.

Having an online course implies hard work, consistency, and precision. So, finding a course topic, you’re genuinely passionate about and want to work with is crucial. You certainly have many skills, talents, and life experiences that you can choose from.

Remember that you’re not applying for a teaching job at a university. You can start even if you’re still practicing and learning. If you love the subject, have experience in it (formal or life), and are good at it, then you have a topic and expertise you can monetize.

Check Market Demand of Your Course Idea

Once you come up with the topic, it is time for market research. This will help you figure out whether your idea is profitable.

Course creators are often shocked by the results of their market research tests – many of them didn’t realize the full potential of their idea and are surprised by the high market demand.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. Are people searching for your topic and asking questions?
2. Have you noticed any gaps in what competitions are offering?
3. Will someone pay money for the subject you’re offering?

If the answer is ‘yes’ to all three questions – congratulations! It means you have a course idea that has the potential to become a best-seller.

But, if you’re still unsure about it, here are some top tips to make it easier for you:

• Check your subject matter in Google Trends. It will tell you whether it is popular or not.
• Test search volume to validate demand for an online course subject.
• Analyze your competitors. It’s vital to compare your ideas with others.
• If you are not sure whether someone would pay for your online course or not, there is a solution for that. Many creators first pre-sell their e-learning courses. It’s a beneficial and popular option to test your course and avoid a debacle.

In addition, online course marketplaces are an excellent test to see what’s happening with your competitors.

Another successful piece of advice is to talk to your audience. That way, you will have firsthand information about their challenges and whether they want to pay for your course or not.

Don’t forget to do your keyword research. It will show how many people search for similar courses on Google.

This is not an extensive list of steps you need to take before launching a course, but they are indeed crucial, and we wanted to outline them for you. If you did your course preparation, now it’s time to see the best platform to launch!

The Best Online Course Creation Tool – GroupApp

GroupApp is an online platform where you can sell courses as a course creator. It’s membership-based, meaning it is designed for building communities.

Creating Online Courses

Creating a course on GroupApp is easy and practical. The most significant advantage of this platform is all of the learning and marketing tools that they offer.

In addition, GroupApp offers a variety of user-friendly tools, and you won’t need to use different platforms to create and launch the best course possible. GroupApp’s course builder feature is all you need.

One of the crucial steps when planning an online course is organizing the course material you will share with your students. Thanks to the Library feature in GroupApp, it is easy to set up and store interactive PDFs, images, worksheets, or any other materials students will use.

So, students with different learning styles can combine different visual, audio, and practical methodologies.

One feature that is unique to GroupApp is the Drip Course feature. The main idea is to improve students’ experience by allowing you to send course content gradually. So, students can follow the material at their own pace, which has shown to be fantastic for their understanding of previous course material.

As said, GroupApp values communication, and the tools that will make that even easier are live streaming and chat tools. Having an opportunity to talk to your members in real-time and help them in online learning in any way you can is an absolute must.

From everything previously said, it is evident that GroupApp is the best option for creating cohort-based online courses. If you are unfamiliar with this term, it is one of the learning styles that cherishes student interaction and helps create a more personal connection with people in the community.

The cohort-based learning combines the best of traditional education with online tools and promotes motivation and engagement through interactive content.

The Priority of Community

The key to every successful job is open communication which GroupApp encourages through the community builder feature.

GroupApp offers direct messaging and group chats. Every person in the community can connect with one or up to 10 members of your community. Depending on the topic, this can be an incredible way to share ideas, support others, ask questions, and make friends.

Community discussion and subgroups can be organized with channels. That way, finding information is handy and accessible. It makes life easy for you, as a course creator, and for your community members.

In addition, there is a fantastic option for the course creator to set posting permissions and access levels. This level of security will help you to run content smoothly.

We cannot highlight enough the importance of community and organization. It is the main reason GroupApp came up with its Event feature. Live streams will keep your community engaged and motivated to continue learning.

In the Events Calendar, you can schedule future events, and your students can RSVP and set up reminders.

Other Features

However, that is not all. GroupApp has plenty of other features that will help you run your community and course platform smoothly.

One of our favorite features is scheduling posts and emails.

You might become so overwhelmed with business and personal life that it’s impossible to keep one more piece of information or data in your head. In those situations, the option for scheduling posts and emails is a lifesaver!

Whenever you have time and ideas, you can schedule your course content and maintain consistent engagement with your students while making your life easier.

Speaking of planning, GroupApp offers a terrific online course builder, which is crucial for preparing and recording the entire course. You wouldn’t need any other tool for providing video lessons.

GroupApp offers different access levels for your members with the Membership Tier system. Available options are Free, Standard, and Premium. That way, you can separate people depending on their needs and will to participate.

Pricing is relevant whether you’re a beginner or a professional. We have fantastic news! GroupApp has multiple pricing plans to choose from, depending on your needs, while keeping every program budget-friendly!

You can check it by yourself, thanks to 14-day free trials, which don’t require a credit card. And you do not have to worry about choosing a plan because you can change it to another whenever you realize something else would be more suitable.

GroupApp has three different plan options. The Basic plan holds Online courses feature, Community, Membership Subscriptions, Zapier integration, and DM & Group Chat.

Pro plan has the same as Basic but additionally a Drip Schedule feature, Event Scheduling, Post & Email Scheduling, and Custom single sign-on.

The Premium plan includes everything from the Pro plan, plus Custom API integration, priority support, and product training.

We believe you now see why we think it is the best course creation platform available. This platform’s ambient is motivating and supportive for both online course creators and students. There are a variety of options and features with great pricing. You will have everything in one place with one subscription. The experience will be engaging and straightforward, but you will also keep 100% of your income and pay only for a membership subscription.

Alternatives

If you are unsure, let’s compare it with other tools.

GroupApp vs. Thinkific

Thinkific is an online course platform where course creators can create and sell courses. Although it has some great benefits, such as its integrations, features, and affordability, there are also significant drawbacks.

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In contrast to GroupApp, you cannot make a community with Thinkific. Another drawback is that Thinkific doesn’t offer a live chat support feature.

In addition, there are no live office hours or workshops this week. Unlike with GroupApp, you cannot test this platform thoroughly because the Thinkific trial has severe limitations.

And the last drawback we want to mention here is that it’s not available on Google Play or App Store. So, if your students are on the go, they cannot follow the course.

GroupApp vs. Podia

Podia is another alternative for people that want an all-in-one marketing platform for a business, a place to create online courses, run webinars, and sell membership subscriptions.

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Podia is one of the most common solutions for anyone looking to build an online store and create courses and membership sites all within one storefront.

The landing page includes information about what you can offer, including how it will benefit your customers, and answers any questions they might have before purchasing from you.

This means no more sending them back out into their inboxes and possibly losing the answer among hundreds of other emails.

However, with Podia, there is no option to customize email notifications. For instance, you will not be able to add the recipient’s name to the letter. Another common complaint is the inability to categorize products offered on the storefront.

GroupApp vs. Kajabi

Kajabi is similar to GroupApp because it is also an all-in-one tool with similar features. Kajabi offers pre-set themes and templates to help you start with the course. Besides that, everyone has an option to customize them and make them more unique.

They are straightforward to use, and a significant advantage is that they will be fully optimized for all mobile devices and a desktop. There is an option to upload any documents – images, audio files, presentations, etc.

With Kajabi, landing pages, email marketing campaigns, and all kinds of digital products can be created.

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However, there are some cons to Kajabi:

• It doesn’t offer a free/freemium model.
• Prices are a bit higher than GroupApp’s.
• It doesn’t support certificate completion, so creators must use a third-party application.
• Compared to GroupApp email campaign functionality, with Kajabi, it is not so good.

GroupApp vs. Teachable

Teachable helps you create a course that is tailored to your needs. You can choose from numerous templates and edit them as needed or build something unique within the Teaches Builder!

Once launched, you have to set up pricing options: one-time fee ($ launch price) and payment plans/subscriptions (leveled monthly).

Teachable’s Course Creator also offers flexibility when generating sales pages, whether sold individually or through bundles.

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However, users’ most significant disadvantages are transaction fees on all plans and the inconvenience of designing a sales page. These fees are different amounts depending on the plan you choose. So, every time you sell a course as a free plan user, you will pay a 10% transaction fee and $1 for every new enrollment.

GroupApp vs. Skool

Skool is another course creation platform with a community at its center.

This platform aims to improve the learning experience through a community. Unfortunately, realization isn’t the greatest, and it is the least popular option.

Skool doesn’t offer key features, such as members’ payment, an email marketing system, and support & community.

Unlike GroupApp, Skool doesn’t provide a video hosting tool and group chat feature. In addition, it might be pricey for some creators considering what features it offers and that you will probably need some external tools to run your course.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re a beginner or have teaching experience, GroupApp will help you achieve your goals.

We believe this is the best available tool to launch your course based on pricing, offer, and earning potential. If your next step is to launch a course, sign up for GroupApp!