One of my favorite side hustles is creating online courses.
Online courses are great because they are highly scalable, can be automated to bring in passive income, and you feel great being able to solve someone’s problems.
There have been an explosion of online courses over the years and it’s now a big online industry.
When I created my first online course, it was a little intimidating because I didn’t really know how to go about making it.
Would it just be lectures? Would I film myself with a camera?
There are a ton of ways to create online courses so it can be intimidating figuring out what tools you need.
Which brings me to the focus of this course. Here are 8 of the best tools to create online courses that I personally use.
These are all great (and cheap) tools that will get the job done and really help make your course look very professional.
1. Wondershare Filmora Video Editor
If you’re really bad with technology like me, but still want to make amazing professional quality videos, then get Filmora Wondershare.
They have a lot of paid addons to the basic software package, but the basic version is really the only thing you need to be able to create an awesome online course.
The great thing about Filmora is you don’t need to be a video editing whiz to be able to use it.
A lot of the stuff is really intuitive. I learned everything I know about using Filmora by just intuition and playing around.
Sure, I did have to google a few things or watch a few YouTube videos, but it wasn’t that hard to learn.
Here are some of the amazing things you can do with Filmora:
- Add music to your videos
- Crop images and videos
- Slow down and speed up your video
- Add titles, subtitles, and words onto your screen
- Edit out background noise
Plus, Filmora allows you to export video in a ton of different formats (WMV, MP4, AVI, etc) – this feature alone is worth 2X what you’ll pay.
I have been using Filmora for 2 years now and it is by far the cheapest and versatile video editing software out there.
Check out the video I made to promote my Banff winter trip a few weeks ago.
Pretty good, right? I think I did a fairly great job creating the video and it only took me about an hour to put all of the pieces and voice over together with the music!
And none of that was really hard to do (just a little tedious) due to Filmora.
So if you want to make professional looking video for your online course, Filmora is one of the cheapest options available.
Click Here to get Filmora and start making those amazing videos.
2. Debut Video Capture
Debut is one of the cheapest video capture software programs on the market.
It basically creates a screen recording of your computer. So you can use it to create tutorials, show a powerpoint presentation on your screen, or just goof around on your computer.
This program is great if you just want something cheap to record your video lectures. It doesn’t really do anything special, but it certainly gets the job done.
I have been using Debut for years and would highly recommend it to anyone.
Click Here to get Debut Video Capture!
3. Blue Snowball iCE Microphone
If you want to record video lectures, then you need a good microphone.
Now, most people will recommend you blow $100+ and get a Blue Yeti.
But you don’t need to do that. These days, even cheap microphones offer AMAZING sound quality. It’s one of the reasons why you see so many podcasts now.
Anyways, my favorite microphone is the Blue Snowball iCE. It’s cheap, but offers great sound quality.
I got mine off amazon for about $50, which is a steal in my opinion. I have been using it for about two years now and it’s still alive and kicking!
Now, it does look weird…like an orb, but it works GREAT. Just plug it into your computer and sit a few inches away from it and start recording!
You’ll sound like a professional podcaster in no time!
Click Here to get the Blue Snowball iCE Microphone!
4. Audacity
Audacity is a free tool so you should definitely get it.
Do you ever hear that annoying background noise in your videos? It usually happens if you’re using the default microphone on your laptop.
But it can even happen sometimes if you use a good microphone. Well, get rid of that annoying noise with Audacity!
Remove all of that noise and make your videos sound A LOT more crisp and professional.
And because it’s free, you can get a lot of value with this awesome tool. I use it for most of my videos.
Click Here to get Audacity and get rid of annoying background noise!
5. Canva
Do you want to make really cool illustrations, covers, or social media content?
Then Canva is you.
Canva is basically a graphic design tool on steroids.
I use them all the time when I want to design a cool looking professional photo for my YouTube videos and online courses.
They have hundreds and hundreds of templates for:
- Book covers
- Pinterest pins
- Instagram photos
- Facebook photos, ads, and cover pages
- YoutTube thumbnail images
- ….and so much more!
Even an idiot like me can create some pretty professional looking stuff with Canva. It is WELL worth the money you spend every month.
If you need to create some professional looking illustrations for your course, then Canva is your solution.
Click Here to get Canva!
6. PicMonkey
PicMonkey is very similar to Canva, so you’re probably wondering why I have it on this list.
Well, I like PicMonkey for several reasons. It’s primarily a photo editing software. Think of it as a cheaper and much easier version of Photoshop.
I actually like using PicMonkey over Canva to purely edit photos. PicMonkey has a lot of cool tools to edit your photos.
You can add frames, play around with the lighting, and they have a ton of different fonts.
And the great thing about PicMonkey is they offer free cloud storage with some of their paid plans.
Now, I use PicMonkey to create images, collages, and other things for blog posts and even for the course itself.
And best of all? It’s really cheap (less than $6 per month).
If you need to make or edit professional looking photos for your course, then PicMonkey is 100% worth it.
Click Here to get PicMonkey!
7. Teachable
Alright, if you want to make real money selling an online course you’ll need to host the course somewhere.
I HIGHLY recommend you use Teachable.
This is a one-stop platform that does everything for you.
It’ll host your course content, create your sales and checkout pages, process credit cards, and integrate with your mailing list and so much more!
I have been using Teachable for over two years now and have never had a big problem with them.
If you didn’t have Teachable, you would need:
- Website/blog hosting (could easily cost $15+ a month)
- Credit card processing
- Video hosting
- Course or membership software
- an email service provider (easily $15+ per month)
Teachable really is a one-stop solution for people that want to create a great online course.
Click Here to start building your school on Teachable!
P.S. Click here to read my Teachable Review. This is BY FAR the best platform to host your online course on.
8. Mailchimp
If you want to build a solid relationship with your students and automate your sales process, a mailing list is critical.
I LOVE using Mailchimp because they offer free emails if you have less than 1,000 subscribers.
And let’s face it, if you have 1,000 subscribers on your email list, you can certainly afford their service 🙂
Anyways, I have been using Mailchimp for 3 years now and I LOVE their service.
With Mailchimp, it’s easy to set up automated emails, create templates, integrate social media, and create professional sign up forms.
Mailchimp is one of the most important tools I use to build my online course empire.
Click Here to sign up for MailChimp!
Best Tools To Create Online Courses: Final Thoughts
Overall, you don’t need expensive tools and toys to be able to make professional looking online courses.
The tools I mentioned are all great and offer a ton of bang for your buck. So give them a try and let me know if they were able to help you!