Many entrepreneurs would love to share their knowledge by creating online courses. However, they usually abandon the idea because they don’t have the right tools or assistance or information to get started. Perhaps, they just don’t have enough time to create the courses by themselves.
I’ve even had negative experiences where I hired contractors only to find out they couldn’t deliver the desired result I wanted.
A common question often asked in the online course community is “where can I get help creating online courses?” I will be highlighting some of the best places I have had success hiring gig workers to help out with my course creation.
A common solution is to post contract job postings online on social networks or job boards. If you’re lucky, you’d find someone with the right skills and knowledge to deliver the desired results. However, you will most likely end up with unqualified candidates – both overqualified and underqualified.
Discovering and hiring talented professionals can be a herculean task for a small business owner. However, you can improve your chances of landing professional help. You can also get this expert help at an affordable price.
Top 6 Best Sources to Get Help Creating Online Courses
1. Thinkific
Thinkific is a platform that makes it possible for business owners to develop, market, sell, and also deliver their own online courses and membership websites. They offer solutions to help you run your business in one place.
Thinkific platform is highly recommended if you want to get vetted professional help creating online courses.
Thinkific experts marketplace provide experienced professionals who can help you with the following.
Publish your course
Thinkific experts can help you accelerate your e-learning startup and online course design tasks. They can help you migrate your learning materials, repurpose your online course and improve your curriculum designs.
Design your website
Their website creation experts can help you unify your digital assets by creating intuitive websites and landing pages.
Thinkific experts specialize in website setup, web design, and development to provide you with the bespoke solutions you deserve.
Enroll students
Optimize your course sales and ensure your students return for more content.
Thinkific provides reputable market and sales experts who are exceptional in digital marketing, customer acquisition, and branding. They will help you drive traffic, generate leads, and convert your leads to high-paying customers.
Customize your course
Connect your existing systems and favorite tools with the support of Thinkific Technical Implementation Experts.
Thinkific experts are capable of creating one-off API solutions capable of solving technical issues, SSO implementation to easily log students into Thinkific, and integrating other tools into your current tech setup.
However, most of their services are primarily aimed at Thinkific customers. The majority of the experts on the platform can provide assistance with your online course creation.
2. Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the most popular online marketplaces for freelance services. Services offered on the platform include graphics and design, digital marketing, writing and translation, programming, video and animation, music and audio, and other gig services.
You can visit the platform and sign up for an account and head straight to the “Writing & Translation” section. Here you will find several gigs offered by writers.
Use the filters provided to narrow down your search. I recommend you employ a seller with a “Pro VERIFIED” account or at least someone with good reviews.
When I need to get some writing tasks done, Fiverr marketplace is the first place I check. When I can’t find a solution for my writing tasks or creating online courses, I head straight down to Upwork where I can get customized solutions for my need.
3. Upwork
Upwork emerged in 2015 as a merger of two freelance marketplace companies – Elance and oDesk. The company is a leading online talent solution marketplace connecting businesses with independent experts, freelancers, and agencies.
At Upwork, you can find lots of freelancers and agencies who can develop courses. I like Upwork because I can find freelancers and as well post a specific job with specific requirements.
After you create a free account, go ahead and search for the help you need. Use keywords like “e-learning,” “course,” and “education” to see the search phrases that Upwork suggests.
You can quickly save the profiles of specialists who look promising and then if you decide to publish a task, invite just that group of contractors to bid on your project.
Additionally, you can just post your gig; see who bids, and then filter down to the best choice. Again, this filtering procedure is quite simple on the Upwork platform.
A cool Upwork feature is that you get to see ratings and earnings for all of the contractors. Another cool feature is that Upwork manages all of the communication with the contractors which includes payments and time tracking.
Upwork has improved its algorithm to improve the chances of businesses getting the right candidate for their job and eliminating payment fraud.
Usually, contractors are several miles away. However, if you choose to work with someone local you can narrow down your search just like Fiverr. Another popular alternative you can consider is freelancer.com.
With Upwork, you can get the help you need to create your online course.
4. eLearning Heroes
eLearning Heroes is the community platform of Articulate – the makers of StoryLine. Go ahead to the platform and create a free account to access their discussion board.
There is no official job board on the platform however, you can find people posting about needing help. You can do the same.
You will most likely get recommendations from other helpful members connecting you to someone who could provide solutions that fit your needs. Meanwhile, a good contractor may also respond to your post.
Meanwhile, the Articulate website provides a wealth of resources for any serious online course creator. I recommend you join the platform.
5. Local Association for Talent Development Chapters
Association for Talent Development is a non-profit association dedicated to those who develop talent in the workplace. In case you aren’t familiar with them, ATD is a huge association for individuals in the training industry.
Find out if there’s a local chapter near you. You may be able to post gigs on your regional ATD national organization’s website. You can also call them to request contractor names available for hire, or simply show up at a conference and network with online course experts.
The Association for Skill Development (ATD) has local chapters all over the U.S.
In addition, ATD does have some worldwide chapters and partners, so if you live outside of the United States, you may wish to check them out to see if they have any potential to meet your needs.
6. Local Universities and Colleges
This option is particularly recommended for anyone who needs help with scholarly topics. Universities and colleges near you are also great places to check for online course experts.
Check to see if they have programs in your course niche or similar areas. Then find out of there is a trainee employment office or some similar department that connects students with temporary employment opportunities.
You may not be able to get someone with a degree in instructional design or experience with online course development or some similar education expertise. The goal is to get someone who can handle web technology and multimedia and is willing to go the extra mile.
Conclusion
Many of these avenues to get help creating online courses are also applicable to classroom-based courses and seminars when it comes to creating online courses.
If you have a decent budget, I will highly recommend you use the Thinkific platform to get the help you need. Otherwise, I’d recommend you get help on gig marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr.
Thanks for reading.
Do you like this article? You can learn more about creating online courses here.
