Online Course Archives -

Free Wireframes – How to Create an Online Course Outline

Haiden Hibbert — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 07:01:21 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

Creating a successful online course requires more than just great content. A well-structured outline is key to to ensuring that you stay on topic during the course creation process and deliver content that is both engaging and impactful for your students. In this post, we’ll walk you through the steps to create an effective online course outline and provide you with free wireframes to help you get started!

Download free online course wireframes!

Download these free wireframes and use them as a blueprint when mapping our your online course membership site. Tested by the pros, these wireframes are a roadmap to success.

Step 1: Define your course goals and objectives

Before you start outlining your course, it’s important to identify your target audience and define the learning outcomes you want your students to achieve. Ask yourself, “Who is this course for, and what do I want them to learn by the end of it?” Jot down these goals in a bulleted list to help you create focused and relevant content.

Step 2: Break down your objectives into modules

Once you have your course goals and objectives in place, it’s time to break them down into modules. Each module should cover a specific topic or skill that contributes to the overall learning outcomes. As you’re crafting your topics, consider the flow of information and how each module builds upon the previous one.

Step 3: Come up with 2-3+ subtopics for each module

With your modules defined, it’s time to dive deeper and create lesson topics. Each module should have 2-3 or more subtopics that explore different aspects of the main idea. These subtopics will form the basis of your individual lessons.

Step 4: Outline your module/lesson content

Now that you have your modules and lessons outlined, it’s time to identify the content that you plan to include in each lesson. This step is key to making the course creation process go smoothly and help you determine where to allocate your time/resources. The most popular types of content to include in courses are:

Videos
Screen recordings
Slides
Quizzes
Certifications
Practice activities/action items
Free downloads, like worksheets, guides, ebooks, spreadsheets, etc.

Online course outline wireframes

To help you visualize the structure of your online course, we’ve created free wireframes!

These wireframes include a module page, lesson page, quiz page, and navigation menu options. Use them to map out how your course will be structured on your website (or pass them along to your designer!).

Online course outline example

To give you an idea of what a course outline might look like, here’s an example for a course on Sewing for Beginners.

Objectives:

Learn basic sewing techniques and skills
Create simple to advanced sewing projects
Understand how to read sewing patterns and choose materials

Module 1: Sewing Basics

Lesson 1.1 – Introduction to Sewing and Materials (Video, Free Download: Fabric and Notions Guide)
Lesson 1.2 – Threading the Machine and Basic Stitches (Video, Practice Activity)
Lesson 1.3 – Finishing Seams and Pressing (Video, Quiz)

Module 2: Simple Projects

Lesson 2.1 – Sewing a Pillowcase (Video, Free Download: Pillowcase Pattern)
Lesson 2.2 – Sewing a Tote Bag (Video, Free Download: Tote Bag Pattern)
Lesson 2.3 – Troubleshooting Common Issues (Screen Recording, Quiz)

Module 3: Advancing Your Skills

Lesson 3.1 – Reading Sewing Patterns (Video, Free Download: Sample Patterns)
Lesson 3.2 – Adding Zippers and Buttons (Video, Practice Activity)
Lesson 3.3 – Continuing Your Sewing Journey (Audio, Free Download: Resource Guide)

Setting up your online course

Now that you know how to outline your course content, let’s talk about the best way to launch it when you’re ready to share it with the world!

MemberSpace allows you to build your course on your own website, giving you complete control over the structure, design, and functionality, so you aren’t limited to the capabilities of an online course platform.

Here’s how it works:

Create a MemberSpace account for free.
Add your online course materials to pages on your website.
Restrict access to those pages with MemberSpace.

4. Set a price for your online course.

Once you’ve set up your online course with MemberSpace, students can use the signup form on your website to create an account and pay for access!

Final Thoughts

Creating a well-structured online course outline will save you effort in the long run and ensure that your content is valuable and easy to navigate for your students. By defining clear objectives, breaking them down into modules, and outlining lesson content, you’ll have a solid foundation for your course!

And when it finally comes time to launch your course, consider using MemberSpace to host it on your own website. With MemberSpace, you have full control over your course structure, design, and pricing, allowing you to create a unique learning experience tailored to your audience. Try it free today!

Download free online course wireframes!

Download these free wireframes and use them as a blueprint when mapping our your online course membership site. Tested by the pros, these wireframes are a roadmap to success.

Free Theme – How to Create an Online Course with WordPress!

Haiden Hibbert — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:06:14 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

Creating an online course is an exciting way to share your knowledge and expertise with a wider audience. While there are many course platforms available, they often come with limitations that can hinder your ability to create a truly unique and customized learning experience. If you want complete control over your course content, design, and pricing, the best solution is to build your course directly on your own WordPress website using the MemberSpace plugin.

With WordPress and MemberSpace, you have the freedom and flexibility to structure your course exactly how you want, with no restrictions on layout, branding, or functionality. Plus, by keeping your course under the same umbrella as your blog and other digital products, you can provide a seamless experience for your audience. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the simple process of creating a professional online course with WordPress and give you a FREE online course theme that you can use to get started!

Download our free online course WordPress theme!

A free online course or LMS template for anyone using the Elementor plugin on WordPress

How to create an online course in WordPress tutorial

Step 1: Create your online course pages

The first step in creating your online course with WordPress is to add your course materials to pages on your website, including sections for:

Modules
Lessons
Free downloads
Quizzes
Certifications
Navigation menu

Download our free online course website template to help you setup your pages!

Module pages

Module pages should include a preview of all of the lessons within each module. You can display all of the lesson videos on the page, or link a preview of each lesson to its own page.

Online Course Tip: If you’re not including modules in your course, simply create one hub page previewing all the lessons.

Lesson pages

If you plan to use individual lesson pages, they should include the information you’re providing students for that specific lesson, such as a video, written guide, or free download. Don’t forget to include “Back” and “Next” buttons that link to the previous and following lessons, making it easy for students to navigate your course.

Free downloads

Using free downloads, like templates, wireframes, and worksheets, within your online course is a great way to keep students engaged and increase the value of your teaching.

Quizzes

If you plan to include quizzes in your online course, display them after the course material you’re covering in the assessment. For example, if you want to do a brief quiz after each lesson, create a page for each quiz and link to it from the corresponding lesson.

If you plan to do a quiz after each module, link the quiz on the last lesson page of each module. For a final assessment that covers the entire course, add a link to the quiz on the very last lesson page. You can either embed the quiz on a web page or simply link to the quiz tool that you used to build it.

Certifications

Offering a formal certification program or certificate of completion as a part of your online course is a great way to increase student engagement and completion rates, as well as attract more potential students to your course! There are several free certification generators that make the process of designing your certificate really simple.

MemberSpace Member Menu (recommended): The Member Menu is the easiest way to help your students seamlessly navigate your online course. Logged-in students can locate the Member Menu in the floating button in the bottom right corner. In the next section, we’ll go over how to add your online course content to your Member Menu.
Custom Menu (for experienced web designers): Since your online course is built on your website, you have the freedom and flexibility to build it however you’d like. Although more time-consuming and requiring more web design skills, you can create a custom navigation menu for your online course if you prefer. In our wireframe above, we have an example of how you might set this up: a sidebar that displays on all course pages and allows students to navigate to any page by clicking on the module, lesson, or quiz.

Download our free online course WordPress theme!

A free online course or LMS template for anyone using the Elementor plugin on WordPress

Step 2: Install MemberSpace to protect your online course pages

After setting up your online course pages on your website, head to the backend of your WordPress site and the install MemberSpace online course plugin. This only takes a few minutes. With MemberSpace, you can:

Password protect your online course pages
Accept payments on your website
Sell access to other digital products
Access revenue growth features!

Then, go to your MemberSpace account to restrict access to those pages, ensuring only paying students can view them.

To do this, go to Products > Add product > What type of product are you selling? > Online Course. Then, fill in the name of your course and the URLs you want to protect. This is also where you would activate the Member Menu.

It’s also important to have a clear and organized URL structure for your online course pages. Here are some best practices:

Structure your online course the way you would a blog (i.e., yoursite.com/blog/category/post-name). For your online course, it might look something like this:

yourwebsite.com/courses
yourwebsite.com/courses/module-name/
yourwebsite.com/courses/module-name/lesson-name

With MemberSpace, you can also protect pages en masse. For example, protecting /courses/* will protect all pages that begin with /courses/, which in the example above would include all module and lesson pages.

Step 3: Set a price for your online course

You can choose from one-time, multiple, or recurring payments, or even offer your course for free. MemberSpace has a built-in Stripe integration that makes it easy to securely and quickly accept payments on your website via credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

Step 4: Add signup links or buttons to your website

MemberSpace will generate a unique signup link that you can add to a sales page on your website, emails, social media, and anywhere else you want to sell your online course. The link opens up a signup form, allowing students to create an account and pay for access.

Final Thoughts

By following the steps outlined in this post – setting up your course pages, protecting them with MemberSpace, setting your price, and adding signup links – you’ll be able to launch a professional online course that provides a great experience for your students. Online courses are only growing in popularity, so there’s never been a better time to package your expertise into a digital product! For more tips and strategies on scaling your business, check out MemberSpace University.

How to Create an Online Course with Squarespace

Haiden Hibbert — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:17:13 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

Creating and selling your own online course can be a great way to share your knowledge and build a revenue stream. With the right tools, you can build a course that looks professional, is easy to navigate, and can generate income from the very start. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to use Squarespace and MemberSpace to create and sell an online course, step by step.

Sell digital products on Squarespace!

The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!

Get started for free! 5 minutes to set up.

Step 1: Develop Your Course Content

The first step in creating an online course is to plan out your content. Start by outlining the main topics you’ll cover. Once you have those, break them down into manageable modules or sections.

Each module can include:

Video lessons
Downloadable materials like PDFs or worksheets
Quizzes to test your students’ knowledge
Certifications, if applicable

Take your time with this step. The better you organize your content, the easier it will be for your students to follow along, and the more professional your course will look.

Step 2: Set Up Your Course Pages in Squarespace

Once your course content is ready, it’s time to add it to your Squarespace website. One of the best things about using Squarespace is that you have total control over how your course looks and feels.

Here’s a simple structure to follow:

Create a page for each module – This page will act as a hub for all the lessons in that module.
Add individual lesson pages – Each lesson should have its own page, with the video at the top, a brief description, and any downloadable materials or quizzes.
Include navigation buttons – Make it easy for your students to move between lessons by adding “Next” and “Back” buttons on each lesson page.

By keeping everything organized and easy to navigate, your students will have a smooth learning experience, which helps them stay engaged with your course.

Organize Your URLs

A clear, logical URL structure is important for both you and your students. You want to keep things tidy and easy to navigate, especially as your course grows over time.

Here’s an example of a clean URL structure:

YourSite.com/members/module1
YourSite.com/members/module2
And so on…

This not only helps with course organization, but it also makes it easier for your students to find specific content if they need to revisit it later.

Step 3: Protect Your Course with MemberSpace

Now that your course pages are set up, you need to protect your content with a tool like MemberSpace. MemberSpace adds advanced membership features to your Squarespace site to help you generate more revenue, and it and allows you to lock specific content pages, so only those who signup can view your online course content.

Step 4: Set Up Your Pricing Options

Deciding how to price your course can be tricky, but there are a few common options to consider:

One-time payment – Great if you’re selling the course as a standalone product.
Subscription model – Ideal if your course is part of a larger membership or if you plan to offer ongoing content.
Payment plans – Perfect for higher-ticket courses that might be out of reach for some students as a lump sum.

Another popular strategy is to offer the first lesson or two for free. This gives potential students a taste of your course and might encourage them to purchase the full version.

Once you’ve decided on pricing, you’ll receive a sign-up link from MemberSpace. Add this link to a “Purchase” button on your website,. When someone clicks the link, they’ll be prompted to sign up and pay.

Step 5: Promote Your Course and Start Selling

With everything set up, you’re ready to start promoting your course. Use social media, your email list, and even blog posts to drive traffic to your course landing page.

Remember, this is just the beginning. As you gather feedback from students, you can improve your course by adding new content, offering additional digital products, or even raising your prices as the value of your course grows.

Here are a few ways to keep your course competitive:

Add a student forum for discussions.
Host live Q&A sessions to engage with students.
Include expert interviews as bonus content.
Build a library of supporting materials like additional readings or case studies.

By continually adding value to your course, you’ll keep your students engaged and increase the lifetime value of each customer.

Final Thoughts

Building and selling an online course on Squarespace is not only doable, it’s a powerful way to grow your business. With the help of MemberSpace, you can easily lock your content behind a paywall, ensuring that only paying students get access. As you grow, you can continue to enhance your course and boost its value, creating a long-term revenue stream for your business.

How to Create and Launch an Online Meditation Course on Your Website

Haiden Hibbert — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 15:58:54 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

As a meditation teacher, sharing your passion and skills with a wider audience has never been easier. By creating an online course and hosting it on your own website, you’ll have complete control over your content, pricing, and branding. Plus, you can easily offer additional digital products like coaching sessions, ebooks, and workshops alongside your course. In this post, we’ll walk through how create and launch your own online meditation course in just five steps.

Launch an Online Meditation Course!

The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!

Get started for free! 5 minutes to set up.

Step 1: Convert your website into a membership site

The easiest way to sell your online mediation course is to convert your website into a membership site with a tool like MemberSpace. This allows you to lock access to your online course pages and accept payments from students.

Step 2: Add your course content to pages on your website

One of the benefits of hosting your course on your own website is the flexibility to structure it in a way that best serves your students. Most meditation courses include a mix of:

Module/lesson pages that include your course content, like videos or presentation slides
Downloadable resources, like guided meditation audio files, meditation music, or ebooks on meditation techniques
Quizzes that serve as a checkpoint after each lesson or module
Certificates for completing your course or earning a professional certification

If you need some inspiration for how to set up your course, download our free online course website template!

Step 3: Lock your online course pages for paying students

After adding your meditation course content to your website, it’s time to ensure that only paying students can access it. Using your MemberSpace account, simply add the URLs for each of your course pages. If your pages are organized under a single category page (such as yoursite.com/lessons/), you can save time by locking them all at once.

Business Tip: To make it easy for your students to navigate your meditation course lessons, be sure to enable Member Menu when locking your pages. This will add a floating button/menu in the bottom right corner of your website that students can use to seamlessly navigate through the different sections of your course.

Step 4: Set a price for your meditation course

After you’ve locked your meditation course pages, you can choose from one-time, multiple, or recurring payments, or even offer your course for free. MemberSpace has a built-in Stripe integration that makes it easy to securely and quickly accept payments on your website via credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

You can even set up multiple pricing tiers to offer varying levels of access to your course. For example, you could offer:

A free tier where students can access the first lesson or two, requiring them to upgrade to get access to the full course
A premium tier where students get access to the full course and a private forum
A VIP tier where students get access to your course, plus the private forum group and live-streamed workshops

Step 5: Add a signup link to your website

With your website set up and pricing set up, it’s time to start promoting your meditation course. Grab the signup link from the Pricing tab in your MemberSpace dashboard and place it throughout your website and marketing channels. Here are some ideas on where to add your link!

A “Buy Now” button on your sales page
Your website header/footer
Email marketing campaigns
Social media posts and profiles

Online Meditation Course Example – Amanda Gilbert Meditation

Meditation instructor, Amanda Gilbert, offers an online course for anyone interested in practicing meditation. The course covers starts by covering basics and fundamentals of mindfulness meditation, then dives deeper throughout the final two sections. The course also includes guided audio meditations, a digital practice journal, meditation music, community support, and more.

Final Thoughts

Creating and launching your own online meditation course is a great way to share your hard-earned knowledge with others and generate passive income. By following these steps and utilizing a platform like MemberSpace, you can create a professional, branded course that’s easy to manage and sell. If you have any questions after starting your free trial, let us know!

6 Time-Saving Ways to Use Canva for Online Course Creation + Free Online Course Wireframes Included!

Haiden Hibbert — Thu, 02 May 2024 13:18:59 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

Creating an online course involves a lot of moving parts, from recording and editing lesson videos to creating engaging slides to designing worksheets. It can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have a background in design or video editing. And let’s face it – not everyone has the time or budget to learn new software or hire a professional.

That’s where Canva comes in!

With its easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor and library of 2+ million templates (yes, you read that right), Canva makes it easy to create all your course materials in one place. In this post, we’ll explore all the ways Canva can help you create an amazing online course!

Download free online course wireframes!

Download these free wireframes and use them as a blueprint when mapping our your online course membership site. Tested by the pros, these wireframes are a roadmap to success.

1. Design presentation slides

Most online course videos include a mix of presentation slides and video, but putting together slides from scratch can be super time-consuming. You can streamline this process by choosing a template and customizing it to match your branding and fit your course content. Once you do some customizing, you can save your version as a new template so you can reuse it for future slides/courses.

2. Record and edit video

Canva offers basic video editing and recording tools built right into your account. They might not be as fancy as dedicated video editing software, but they’re perfect for editing your slides and video clips together, adding transitions, and more. The Record Yourself button is particularly useful, allowing you to record a video of yourself that gets embedded right on top of your slides – a popular format for online courses.

3. Build free downloads

Many successful online courses offer free downloads like worksheets, templates, guides, or ebooks to enhance the learning experience. Creating these resources can be time-consuming, but with Canva’s library of templates, you can design professional-looking materials that perfectly complement your course content.

4. Create certificates

Offering a formal certification program or certificate of completion as a part of your online course is another great way to increase student engagement and completion rates, as well as attract more potential students to your course! There are thousands of free certification templates on Canva that make the process of designing a digital certificate really simple.

5. Design your online course website/landing page

If you need some help with your website, you can use Canva’s website templates to create a sales page that highlights your course content, pricing, and call-to-action. You can even publish the page directly to a custom domain or connect it to your existing website.

Online Course Tip: While Canva does offer a course creation feature, it’s a bit limited in functionality. For the best results, host your course on your own website using the materials you’ve created with Canva.

6. Create social media posts

Once you’ve launched your course, you’ll need to create marketing materials to promote it. Canva is popular among creators for its selection of social media templates, as well as the Resize & Magic Switch feature. This allows you to quickly resize any design and repurpose it for multiple social media platforms.

Launching your online course

After creating your course materials using Canva, it’s time to put everything together on your website.

First, add all of your course materials to pages on your site. For some inspiration on how to structure these pages, check out our free online course wireframe.

Once you’ve added your online course materials to pages on your website, you’ll need to install MemberSpace to restrict access to those pages and accept payments for your course. It only takes a few minutes to set up!

With MemberSpace, you can:

Password protect your online course pages
Accept payments on your website via credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay
Sell access to other digital products
Access revenue growth features

Final Thoughts

Creating materials for your online course has never been easier thanks to Canva’s design tools and extensive template library. And when you combine Canva’s design capabilities with MemberSpace’s monetization features, you have everything you need to launch a successful online course! To get started, try MemberSpace for free today.

Download free online course wireframes!

Download these free wireframes and use them as a blueprint when mapping our your online course membership site. Tested by the pros, these wireframes are a roadmap to success.

How to Turn Your Videos into an Online Course – Monetize Your YouTube Channel in 5 Steps

Haiden Hibbert — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 20:33:36 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

If you’ve invested time and effort into producing educational and informative videos for your YouTube subscribers, you may be wondering how to take the next step and monetize your content. Turning your videos into an online course is a simple way to repurpose the content you’ve already created and start making some passive income! In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the process of transforming your videos into a structured, engaging, and profitable online course.

Launch an online course!

The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!

Get started for free! 5 minutes to set up.

How to turn your videos into an online course [Video Tutorial]

How to know if your videos would make a good online course

Before diving into the course creation process, it’s important to do some prep work to determine if your videos make sense for an online course. Consider the following:

You’ve created multiple videos relating to the same topic or contributing to a common goal (like teaching different ways to use a sourdough starter, or teaching foundational elements of ballet).
Your videos are inherently educational and informative (not just entertaining).
You have lots of free video content on YouTube and want to start monetizing it.

If you meet these criteria, you’re ready to start building your online course!

Step 1: Pick a course topic

Based on the types of videos you have, you’ll want to start by identifying the overarching goal of your course. Your videos don’t have to be a step-by-step process that works toward this goal, but they all need to at least contribute to the same goal. Consider the main theme or skill your videos address and use that as the foundation for your course topic.

Step 2: Organize your videos into lessons and/or modules

Once you have your course topic, it’s time to break it down into smaller, digestible chunks. If you have 10 or more videos, consider grouping them into modules to create subsections within your course. Then, include at least 2-3 videos in each module as lessons. This structure will help your students navigate the course content easily.

Step 3: Set up your online course on your website

Now that you have your course structure in place, it’s time to create a home for your course on your website. Here’s an idea of what you might want to include:

Course pages – Create a page for each module and lesson and embed your YouTube videos on the pages. If you’re not using modules and only have lessons, you’ll only need one hub page for all your videos. We’ll talk about the best way to protect your videos in the next step.
Free downloads – If you have worksheets, templates, or other resources that complement your course content, these can be added directly to your module and lesson pages.
Quizzes – Incorporate quizzes to test your students’ knowledge and reinforce their learning. You can embed quizzes directly onto pages on your website, or link to a quiz tool from your module or lesson pages.
Certificates – Consider creating digital certificates and offering them to students to motivate them to complete your course.
Navigation menu – Enable MemberSpace’s Member Menu to create a clear navigation menu for students (see next step for how to do this).

Step 4: Protect your course videos with MemberSpace

To ensure that only paying students can access your course content, you’ll need to set up a MemberSpace account. MemberSpace seamlessly integrates with your website, allowing you to protect your videos and accept payments for your online course.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create an account for free.
2. Protect your online course content by adding the URLs for your course pages to MemberSpace. This will restrict access to them so students have to sign up and pay to view them. This is also where you will enable the Member Menu.

3. Connect to Stripe to handle payments securely. If you don’t already have a Stripe account, it takes just a few minutes to create one.

4. Set a price for your online course. You can choose between one-time, recurring, or multiple payments, as well as free.

5. Add a snippet of code to your website to enable MemberSpace functionality (this also only takes a few minutes, and simple instructions are provided, so no tech expertise needed!).

Video Tip: As an added layer of security, we recommend uploading your YouTube videos (Vimeo or Wistia works, too) to MemberSpace as Content Links. This will create a secure link that you can use to embed your videos on your web pages, ensuring only students who have signed up and paid for your course can view them.

Step 5: Launch and promote your online course

With your course set up and protected, it’s time to launch and promote it to your target audience. Share the news about your course through your email list, social media channels, and other platforms where your audience engages with you. Consider offering a special launch price or bonus content to encourage early sign-ups and generate buzz.

Final Thoughts

Turning your videos into an online course is a great way to share your expertise, help your audience, and monetize your content. By following these five steps, you’ll be well on your way to creating a valuable and profitable online course that showcases your knowledge and skills. To get started, sign up for a free MemberSpace trial today.

How to Create a Digital Certificate – 4 Best Certificate Generators for Your Online Course

Haiden Hibbert — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 17:09:16 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

Offering a certification program or a certificate of completion can be a game-changer for your online course. Not only does it provide a sense of accomplishment for your students, but it also enhances the credibility of your course and likelihood that your students will share about it online. You don’t need design skills or an accredited program to offer a certificate to your students – all you need is a certificate generator! We’ve narrowed down the top four tools to help you create a digital certificate that your students will be proud to display.

Launch an online course!

The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!

Get started for free! 5 minutes to set up.

How to add quizzes and certifications to an online course (tutorial)

1. Bannerbear

First up, we have Bannerbear. This user-friendly certificate generator lets you whip up professional-looking certificates in one click. You can create up to five PDF certificates per day for free, which include the student’s name, a subtitle, a date, and signature.

Price: Free

Key features:

Auto resizing (i.e. if someone has a long last name, the tool will resize it on the certificate for you)
No design skills needed
Integrations with Zapier, Airtable, Integromat and more
Can produce certifications in bulk through their API

2. Canva

Canva is definitely the most flexible, feature-rich certificate generator on our list! This popular design tool has thousands of certificate templates to choose from, and the drag-and-drop editor makes customizing your designs super easy.

Price: Free plan, Paid plans starting at $15/month

Key features:

Easy drag-and-drop editor
Thousands of templates
Over 3 million free stock photos and graphics
Simple to share and download certificates in any format
Design printing and delivery (if you want to send physical certificate copies)
Create your own templates

3. Adobe Express

Adobe Express is another certificate generator and design tool that’s similar to Canva, making it easy for non-designers to create professional certificates with their templates and drag-and-drop editor. While it’s not free forever, you can test it out at no charge for 30 days.

Price: Free trial, then $9.99/month

Key features:

Free certificate templates
Drag-and-drop editor
More than 25,000 Adobe Fonts to choose from
Resize in one-click to share across social media channels
Create your own templates

4. VistaCreate

Last but not least, VistaCreate is another user-friendly design platform with a variety of certificate templates. With its huge library of design elements and simple interface, you can create professional-looking certificates quickly.

Price: Free plan, Pro $10/month

Key features:

More than 100,000 free design templates
Over 1 million photos, videos, and vectors
Brand Kit with colors, logos, and fonts
Sticker maker
HD download

How to create a digital certificate

In addition to using a certificate generator, there are a few other steps to consider when adding a certificate to your online course.

Decide what to include on the certificate, such as:
- Course name and description
- Student name
- Date of completion
- Your signature and logo
- Any additional relevant information. Depending on your course or certification program, you may want to include additional details such as the student’s score, the duration of the course, or any special achievements.
Give your students instructions on how to claim their certificates.
Communicate what students need to do to earn their certificates, whether that’s completing the course, taking a final exam, or something else. Consider using a survey or quiz tool to collect student info, like how they want their name displayed on the certificate.
Send the certificate to your students.
Once your student has met the requirements for earning the certificate, let them know they will receive it via email within a certain number of days!

Why add a certification to your online course?

It’s more than just a piece of (digital) paper! Offering certificates to your online course students comes with many benefits, including:

Increased perceived value. Offering a certificate of completion or a certification program enhances the perceived value of your course. It demonstrates that your course provides tangible outcomes and skills that students can showcase to potential employers, clients, etc.
Improved student engagement and completion rates. The prospect of earning a certificate can motivate students to stay engaged and complete your course.
Enhanced credibility and trust. Providing certificates from a reputable source (i.e., your course or business) enhances your credibility as an educator and expert in your field.
Sense of accomplishment for students. Earning a certificate gives your students a sense of achievement and pride and acknowledges all of the effort and time they put into your course.
Competitive advantage. Offering a certification program can differentiate your course from competitors in your niche. It adds an extra layer of value and can attract students who are looking for credentials to boost their skills and/or career opportunities.

Final Thoughts

Creating a digital certificate program for your online course can be a powerful way to add value, recognize your students’ achievements, and enhance your brand’s credibility. By choosing the right certificate generator and following the steps outlined in this blog post, you can design professional certificates that your students will be eager to earn and proudly share with others.

For more tips and strategies on online courses, check out MemberSpace University.

5 Best Quiz Tools for Your Online Course + Free Online Course Wireframes Included!

Haiden Hibbert — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:58:52 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

You’ve put in the hard work to create an online course that shares your knowledge and expertise with your audience. But how can you ensure that your students are truly engaging with and retaining the information you’re teaching? One of the most effective strategies is incorporating quizzes into your course! In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the best quiz tools available, as well as some best practices around crafting engaging quiz questions.

Download free online course wireframes!

Download these free wireframes and use them as a blueprint when mapping our your online course membership site. Tested by the pros, these wireframes are a roadmap to success.

Best quiz tools for your online course

Creating an online course can be a huge undertaking, so it’s important to find a tool that makes crafting quizzes quick and easy. We’ve narrowed down the best five options for course creators of all experience levels, and yes, they all have free plans or trials!

1. Google Forms

If you’re looking for a free quiz tool with basic features, Google Forms might be the perfect option for your online course. You can create custom quizzes and surveys that include any type of question and easily embed them on your website.

Price: Always free!

Key Features:

Assign point values, set answers, and automatically provide feedback
Add collaborators
Manage how responses are collected
Show a progress bar
Customize a confirmation message
Share results summary/analytics with students

2. Survey Monkey

If you’re looking for another free, beginner-friendly option that offers more features than Google Forms, Survey Monkey is a great choice. With the free plan, you can create unlimited quizzes with up to 10 questions each.

Price: Free plan, Premium plans starting at $25/month

Key Features:

Start from scratch, use a template, or build with AI
Use free themes to create a professionally-designed quiz
Customize the look by adding your logo, changing the font, colors (paid account)
Question bank
Progress bar
Embed your quizzes on your website or share a link

3. Typeform

For a sleeker-looking quiz with a modern design, check out Typeform. The free plan is a bit more limited than Google Forms and Survey Monkey (you can create quizzes and collect up to 10 responses before upgrading), but if you want a nicer aesthetic with the same user-friendliness of the other tools, the cost is worth it.

Price: Free plan, Paid plans starting at $25/month

Key Features:

Unlimited number of quizzes
Quiz templates
Design flexibility
Branching and calculations, scores, and variables (allows you to show your students different questions based on their answers)
Custom Ending screens to show any message you’d like, depending on the outcome of the quiz
Export quiz results

4. Quiz Maker

Quiz Maker is a dedicated quiz creation tool that offers a free 7-day trial. The tool offers AI-generated quizzes and feedback, a wide range of question types, tons of integrations, and design flexibility. If you want a more robust quiz tool with lots of features and integrations, QuizMaker is a great option.

Price: Free trial, paid plans starting at $28/month

Key Features:

Ability to assign grades and certificates
Auto-grading option
Leaderboards and timers
Customizable look and feel
AI based feedback platform
Multi-language translations

5. Mentimeter

Mentimeter is a presentation tool that also allows you to create quizzes. This is a great option if you want your quizzes to be visually appealing and offer a more engaging, interactive experience. They have lots of templates you can choose from, and the free plan includes up to 50 quiz takers per month.

Price: Free plan, paid plans starting at $9/month

Key features:

Add your own company logo and branding
Word clouds, polls, quizzes, and slides
Export results to Excel
Flexible branding and customization

How to add quizzes to your online course

Now that you know about some of the best quiz tools available, let’s talk about how you can incorporate quizzes into your online course. Here are three options to consider:

At the end of each lesson – A simple way to keep your students engaged is by adding a brief quiz (around 1-3 questions) at the end of each lesson. This serves as a quick check-in to ensure they’ve understood the key concepts covered in the lesson.
At the end of each module – If your course is divided into modules, consider adding a slightly longer quiz (around 3-5 questions) at the end of each module. This allows you to assess your students’ understanding of the topics covered throughout the module and give students the chance to recap topics before moving onto the next section.
At the end of the entire course – For a more comprehensive assessment, you can create a longer quiz that covers the content of the entire course (no more than 10 questions). This quiz can serve as a final step for students to complete the course or even earn a certification.

When you create an online course with MemberSpace, you have the flexibility to embed your quizzes or share links to them anywhere within your course!

Why add a quiz to your online course?

As a course creator, quizzes can be one of the most effective tools you have to gain a clearer picture of what’s working well in your course and what areas might need improvement.

Adding quizzes to your online course can also:

Help students retain information better by reinforcing key concepts
Allow students to assess their own understanding of the course material, identifying areas where they may need to focus more attention
Serve as milestones, motivating students to complete the course
Be used to control the pacing of your course, ensuring students have a solid grasp of each section before moving on to the next
Help you create personalized learning paths, directing students to additional resources or lessons based on their individual needs and performance (Typeform allows you to create custom End screens based on quiz performance, so you could add in those resources there)
Be used as requirements for earning course certificates or completing the course

Best practices for writing quizzes

Don’t worry if you’re not an expert quiz creator – these best practices are easy to implement and will help you design assessments that help your students get the most out of your course.

First, start by thinking about what you want your students to take away from each lesson or module. Jot down the key concepts, skills, or ideas that you want to reinforce. These will serve as the foundation for your quiz questions.
Next, consider the types of questions you want to include. Mixing things up with multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, and short answer questions.
Aim for questions that are clear and concise. No trick questions!
When it comes to the length of your quizzes, keep them focused and manageable. For a quick check-in after a lesson, 1-3 questions should suffice. For an end-of-module assessment, 3-5 questions is a good target. And for a comprehensive end-of-course quiz, you can go a bit longer (10 questions max), but make sure your students can complete it in one sitting.
Finally, before launching your quiz, give it a thorough review. If possible, have a friend take the quiz to ensure it functions smoothly and provides a positive user experience.

[FREE DOWNLOAD] – Online Course Wireframes

If you’re in the beginning stages of creating your online course, be sure to check out our free online course wireframes! These wireframes include a module page, lesson page, quiz page, and navigation menu options.

Use them to map out how your course will be structured on your website (or pass them along to your designer!).

Final Thoughts

Incorporating quizzes into your online course is a powerful way to ensure your students are getting the most out of your teaching. By using a quiz tool like Google Forms, Survey Monkey, or Typeform, and integrating it into your course using MemberSpace, you can easily create and add quizzes to your online course. Get started for free today!

Download free online course wireframes!

Download these free wireframes and use them as a blueprint when mapping our your online course membership site. Tested by the pros, these wireframes are a roadmap to success.

6 Best Platforms to Create and Sell Online Courses

Haiden Hibbert — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 15:25:39 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

Whether it’s flipping houses, traveling on a budget, or crafting five-minute meals for your family, everyone’s an expert at something. And in most cases, there are people out there willing to pay to learn about the exact hobby, hack, or ideology you know all about – no matter how unique or unpopular it might seem. This is why creating an online course can be one of the best ways to earn income and cultivate a community around your passion.

So, where do you begin? You’ll first need a software to set up your lessons, accept payments, and manage student access. There are tons of them out there, so we’ve put together a list of the best online course platforms to help you narrow down your search. Let’s get started!

MemberSpace

MemberSpace has everything you need to earn income from your online course. Because it integrates directly with your website, you have the greatest amount flexibility to curate your lessons however you want, as well as access to tons of features to help you generate more revenue, including:

Flexibility of billing options
Content access options
Revenue recovery features
Design flexibility
Dozens of integrations
Ability to sell access to courses bundled with other digital products (like coaching sessions and podcasts) and memberships
VIP, real human support
An online university to help you scale your business

Another benefit of MemberSpace is that there is only one plan tier: all access. For $39/month you get full access to all features, without needing to upgrade to higher tiers like some other online course platforms require.

For some visual inspiration, check out these online course websites built by MemberSpace customers:

Sell your online course!

The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!

Get started for free! 5 minutes to set up.

Teachable

Teachable is a popular online course platform that helps creators build and manage their curriculum, as well as sell digital downloads and coaching products. With a drag-and-drop course editor, Teachable makes it simple to create any kind of online course. Customers also get access to a few website templates, marketing tools, and AI features.

There is a free plan, but it limits you to launching one course with only 10 students. Upgrade to a paid plan, and you’ll be charged $59/month +5% transaction fee for Basic, $150/month for Pro, and $249/month for Pro+.

Kajabi

Kajabi is another well-known platform where creators can launch and sell their online courses. Similar to Teachable, Kajabi has a suite of marketing and AI tools, like templates, stock images and videos, and social media scheduling as a part of their Creator Studio. In addition to online courses, Kajbai allows you to sell memberships, communities, podcasts, and coaching products.

It is a bit more expensive than other platforms on our list, starting at $150/month for the Basic plan, $199/month for Growth, and $399/month for Pro.

Thinkific

Thinkific is a solid option for creators who want pre-designed templates for their courses. Upon signing up, customers get access to templates for pre-sale, mini-courses, flagship courses, webinar replays, and membership resource libraries. You can add things like quizzes, downloads, and surveys to your online course. There’s also a “Communities” feature that allows for peer-to-peer discussion.

Thinkific’s Basic plan is $49/month, the Start plan is $99/month, and the Grow plan is $199/month.

Udemy

If you’re looking to add your online course to a marketplace with an existing audience, Udemy might be the right option for you.

To earn money from your online course, you’ll have to be a premium instructor and meet their course requirements, including a minimum of 30 minutes of video content and five lectures. Instructors can also add quizzes, discussions, and assignments to the courses.

Because everything is hosted and sold on their platform, there is a revenue-sharing model used when courses are sold. According to Udemy’s website, “instructors receive 97% of the revenue when the student purchases their content using an instructor’s coupon or referral link. Instructors receive 37% of the revenue for any Udemy sales where no instructor coupon or course referral link was used.”

Skillshare

Similar to Udemy, Skillshare is another online course marketplace that instructors can use to share their content. The content on Skillshare is primarily focused on creative skills, so it may be a good option for photographers, artists, musicians, or marketers.

To start teaching on Skillshare, you have to apply first. Once you’ve been accepted, you’ll film your course and publish it on their platform. They have New Teacher Programs to help you get started and do payouts monthly. Income is based off of minutes watched and engagement.

Final Thoughts

There are several great online course platforms available to help you share your expertise and earn income from your knowledge, whether you’re looking for flexibility, lots of features, or great support.

If you want the most control over your online course, revenue-generating features, and top-notch human support, adding MemberSpace to your website is a great place to start. It’s free to get started and only takes a few minutes to install. If you have any questions, let us know! Our support team is happy to help.

How to Sell Courses on Squarespace – The Top Plugin to Launch a Profitable Online Course

Haiden Hibbert — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 17:11:46 +0000

Haiden Hibbert

I'm a Content Manager at MemberSpace helping entrepreneurs and creators sell digital products.

If you already have a Squarespace website, did you know you can use it to sell your own online courses? No need for a separate teaching platform!

Hosting courses directly on your site keeps everything conveniently in one place tailored to your brand – your blog, membership offerings, newsletter, or whatever else you provide your online community. In this post, we’ll walk through exactly how to set up and sell a course on your Squarespace site. Let’s get started.

Sell courses on your Squarespace website!

The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!

Get started for free! 5 minutes to set up.

Step 1: Pick a Squarespace course plugin

While Squarespace has some basic functionality for selling online courses, using a plugin like MemberSpace allows for greater flexibility and more features to monetize your website, including:

Flexibility of billing options
Content access options
Revenue recovery features
Design flexibility – Design the course experience however you’d like, not restricted to Squarespace’s course format
Sell access to courses bundled with other digital products (like courses and podcasts) and memberships
VIP support

MemberSpace integrates seamlessly with Squarespace, so you can keep your website design while getting more monetization and membership capabilities.

Step 2: Outline your lessons and course content

First, choose your course topic based on your area of expertise and what you want to teach. Examples: Photography basics, beginner piano, yoga and mindfulness, etc.

Next, break your bigger topic down into smaller chunks that will become your individual lessons. For example, if your course is on baking:

Introduction to bread basics
Easy no-knead recipes
Tools, ingredients and staple recipes
Flaky pie crust from scratch
Decorating desserts like a pro
Gluten-free baking alternatives

Separate your knowledge into 5-8 main subsections or lessons. This makes the information more organized and digestible for your students as they progress from start to finish. Then, consider including supplementary materials like cheat sheets, workbooks, or shopping lists in your lessons as well.

Course Tip: It’s tempting to cram everything in right away! But go slow, even the basics you take for granted can be eye-opening revelations for some students.

Step 3: Create your course pages on your website

Now that your course topic and lessons are planned, it’s time to create web pages on your Squarespace site to house all of the educational content. This will include:

A sales page to advertise your course
Individual pages for each lesson (these will be password protected in the next step)
Any additional resource pages like downloads or assessments

For some inspiration, check out these MemberSpace customers who have created online courses on their Squarespace websites!

Business Tip: Make your sales page exciting and benefit-focused to convert visitors into paying students!

Step 4: Protect your course pages with MemberSpace

Once all of your content is created, it’s time to restrict access to your course pages.

MemberSpace allows you to easily password protect any URL on your website, so anyone that tries to access your exclusive course content will be prompted to sign up for an account and purchase access before they can begin the lessons.

Step 5: Set up pricing for your course

MemberSpace also makes it easy to set up flexible pricing for your online course. You can charge one-time or recurring payments, offer free trials, create payment plans, and more.

Some popular course payment models include:

One-time payment for lifetime access
Monthly subscription with ongoing content updates
Free intro course to capture leads
Payment plan broken into 3-4 installments

Step 6: Sell and promote your course!

Once all the backend work of creating your course content, protecting your pages, and setting up pricing is done, it’s time for the fun part – getting students enrolled! Simply take the signup link from your MemberSpace account and add it to your sales page, as well as anywhere else you’d like, such as your blog, newsletter, or social media.

Here are additional ideas to promote your new online course:

Announcing the course to your current email list
Running ads targeting your niche audience
Reaching out to relevant bloggers or partners for collaborations
Promoting the launch through social media and organic content

Final Thoughts

Selling online courses on your Squarespace website is easy with the right platform. MemberSpace equips you with all the tools you need – from flexible payment options to password protected course pages, and more. With your course content outlined and pages designed, you’re ready to get started monetizing your knowledge and expertise.

Sign up for a free MemberSpace account to get access to our full suite of membership site features. Also check out MemberSpace University for more tutorials, inspiration, and tips on growing a profitable membership site!

Online Course Archives -

Free Wireframes – How to Create an Online Course Outline

Haiden Hibbert

Download free online course wireframes!

Table of Contents

Step 1: Define your course goals and objectives

Step 2: Break down your objectives into modules

Step 3: Come up with 2-3+ subtopics for each module

Step 4: Outline your module/lesson content

Online course outline wireframes

Online course outline example

Setting up your online course

Final Thoughts

Download free online course wireframes!

Free Theme – How to Create an Online Course with WordPress!

Haiden Hibbert

Download our free online course WordPress theme!

Table of Contents

How to create an online course in WordPress tutorial

Step 1: Create your online course pages

Module pages

Lesson pages

Free downloads

Quizzes

Certifications

Navigation menu

Download our free online course WordPress theme!

Step 2: Install MemberSpace to protect your online course pages

Step 3: Set a price for your online course

Step 4: Add signup links or buttons to your website

Final Thoughts

Free Online Course WordPress theme!

How to Create an Online Course with Squarespace

Haiden Hibbert

Sell digital products on Squarespace!

Table of Contents

Step 1: Develop Your Course Content

Step 2: Set Up Your Course Pages in Squarespace

Organize Your URLs

Step 3: Protect Your Course with MemberSpace

Step 4: Set Up Your Pricing Options

Step 5: Promote Your Course and Start Selling

Final Thoughts

Need help setting up your online course?

How to Create and Launch an Online Meditation Course on Your Website

Haiden Hibbert

Launch an Online Meditation Course!

Table of Contents

Step 1: Convert your website into a membership site

Step 2: Add your course content to pages on your website

Step 3: Lock your online course pages for paying students

Step 4: Set a price for your meditation course

Step 5: Add a signup link to your website

Online Meditation Course Example – Amanda Gilbert Meditation

Final Thoughts

Need help with your meditation business?

6 Time-Saving Ways to Use Canva for Online Course Creation + Free Online Course Wireframes Included!

Haiden Hibbert

Download free online course wireframes!

Table of Contents

1. Design presentation slides

2. Record and edit video

3. Build free downloads

4. Create certificates

5. Design your online course website/landing page

6. Create social media posts

Launching your online course

Final Thoughts

Download free online course wireframes!

How to Turn Your Videos into an Online Course – Monetize Your YouTube Channel in 5 Steps

Haiden Hibbert

Launch an online course!

Table of Contents

How to turn your videos into an online course [Video Tutorial]

How to know if your videos would make a good online course

Step 1: Pick a course topic

Step 2: Organize your videos into lessons and/or modules

Step 3: Set up your online course on your website

Step 4: Protect your course videos with MemberSpace

Step 5: Launch and promote your online course