Are you a coach or course creator starting your online journey?

You might be wrestling with a big question.

Should you self-host your course on online course platforms like Kajabi or Teachable?

Or should you list them on marketplaces like Udemy or Skillshare?

It’s a tricky one, isn’t it?

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

In this post, we’ll explore this topic to bring some clarity.

Upfront verdict

The decision between self-hosting and utilizing online marketplaces for your online course business depends on your marketing skills and the amount of control you desire.

However, the self-hosted option seems to be superior.

It allows for value-based pricing rather than commodity-based, giving you the freedom to set your course’s value.

Although it may require more effort and resources, the flexibility, control over the learning experience, and direct relationship with your audience make the self-hosted solution the preferred choice for successful online course creators and coaches.

The reality of online marketplaces

There are various online marketplaces for listing unlimited courses, such as Udemy, Skillshare, and more.

The marketplace option can be suitable if you want to list your course and let the popularity of these online learning platforms handle the marketing, especially if marketing isn’t one of your strengths.

In these marketplaces, there will be already huge audience-base and support communities to get to started and going.

Commodity pricing and profit sharing

However with marketplaces, as you won’t handle the marketing, your courses will be treated as a commodity and sold at commodity prices.

For instance, on Udemy, people are conditioned to buy courses priced between $7 to $10.

If you list your course on Udemy and it’s not priced below $10, there’s a high chance you won’t make any sales.

This is because Udemy’s audience expects more affordable courses.

Additionally, you won’t earn the entire profit from each sale.

That’s because Udemy operates as a course search engine it takes a significant portion of your earnings. After all, Udemy’s popularity is the reason why you got the sale, right?

The same applies to Skillshare, which pays you based on the number of enrollments your course receives. Also, they recently changed their terms and conditions, which led to a lot of backlash.

Dependency

Listing on these online course marketplaces is like relying solely on SEO traffic (Google) for your blogging.

It’s only effective as long as the competition is low and these marketplaces are driving traffic and marketing your courses.

If you’re looking for passive income, you can create a course and leverage Udemy to drive side income.

As explained in my previous blog post, Udemy instructors are earning as much as $3,306/year on average.

You don’t own your audience

But along with this low pay, there’s a significant downside.

When you list your courses on these platforms, and students enroll, you won’t have access to the student data.

👉 You’re not allowed to collect the email addresses of your students, market to them, upsell them, or have a one-to-one consultation call with them.

You’re not even allowed to contact them, except when the online course platform sends automated emails to notify them about new training courses.

In short, when you don’t own your audience, your relationship will be limited to some pre-recorded videos and some comments, missing the feel of a community.

Self-hosting courses is not for all

On the other hand, self-hosting your training courses may seem appealing to mitigate these downsides.

But you need to remember that without strong marketing skills, many coaches aren’t earning even a single dollar from self-hosting courses.

The need for marketing skills

When you self-host your training courses, you’re completely responsible for marketing, promotions, lead generation, and funneling.

This means you need to market your courses, promote your personal brand, create YouTube videos or blog posts, drive traffic, and nurture leads to make a sale.

But the profit margins are huge.

You can do value-based selling

As I told you before, by self-hosting courses you will be transitioning from commodity-based selling to value-based selling.

This means you can significantly increase the perceived value of your course through your positioning, landing page design, YouTube videos, and overall offering.

The flexibility of self-hosting

The major benefit of self-hosting courses is the complete control and flexibility they offer in deciding how you deliver value.

So, unlike marketplaces, you will not only be creating pre-recorded video courses, but you can also sell weekly one-to-one calls, enhancing student experience.

This also offers full control over branding, customization options, email marketing tools, accountability, community, and other value-added services.

The rise of community platforms

The current trend is learning towards community-centric courses where individuals will be a part of the community and receive courses as complementary content.

The era is changing. Pre-recorded videos are no longer valued and are considered a commodity.

That’s why many dedicated community platforms like Skool or Circle are trending nowadays.

They enable you to sell the intangible aspect – the community and the ability to connect with like-minded individuals.

These online course creation platforms not only sell courses but also serve as a space for community involvement and growth through regular events, online challenges, and more.

Owning your audience

And also, unlike marketplaces, you will be owning your audience.

You will be able to gather audience-related important information like their email address or their mobile number, and reach out to them when necessary.

This allows you to add them to your email marketing system, nurture and segment them based on their engagement, and effectively convert them into high-ticket clients.

You know, the flexibility is endless.

Maximizing sales through funnel creation

You can maximize the sales by creating a funnel.

For instance, let’s say your course on Udemy manages to secure 100 sales. From these, you can employ a sales funnel to specifically target 5 individuals who may be interested in a more personalized offering.

However, this type of targeted promotion is not possible within Udemy itself.

The time requirement for self-hosting

Self-hosting training courses provide the flexibility to set up your marketing funnels, create content to attract leads, do email marketing, nurture them, and build community.

However, these activities need more time and effort.

Self-hosting your courses cannot be considered a side hustle. Teaching this way is a profession in itself. On the other hand, if you’re leveraging course marketplaces, all you need to do is list a pre-recorded course and it will be good to go. However, the profitability is quite limited.

👉 To summarize, if you are a professional coach or a course creator, then self-hosted platform is a no-brainer. But if you are looking for some side hustle income, then placing your course on Udemy or Skillshare may be an idea.