In our Payhip Review, we had discussed the various important features of the Payhip eCommerce platform. We also explained why we recommend this beginner-friendly online shop builder to sell digital products. But did you know that this eCommerce platform can also help you to sell online courses for free?
You can indeed sell your online courses for free using a free Payhip user account. There is no need for the premium plan or any other monthly subscription-based solutions. In this article, we will discuss how you can sell your online courses for free using the Payhip eCommerce paltform.
Table of Contents
- Prerequisites to sell Online Courses for Free
- Steps to Sell Online Courses for Free with Payhip
- Limitations of Payhip when Selling Online Courses
- Alternatives to Payhip for Selling Online Courses for Free
- Conclusion
Prerequisites to sell Online Courses for Free
To sell an online course for free with Payhip, you need the following:
- Active Internet Connection
- Online course to sell
- An audience to sell your online course
- Paypal or Stripe to receive Payments from Payhip
- Free Payhip Account
Steps to Sell Online Courses for Free with Payhip
Although Payhip has several premium plans for its customers, you do not need a credit card to create an account with Payhip. You can use the platform perpetually as a free tier user. In this article, we will discuss how to sell online courses as a Free tier user of Payhip.
Create a Free Payhip Account
The first step towards using Payhip is creating an account on the platform. Account creation is a straightforward activity.
- Navigate to Payhip.com
- Click on the button Get Started For Free present on the right-hand top.
- Key in your email address and a desired password.
- Click on Create Account
- Payhip will send you an email for validation.
Of course, we recommend exploring Payhip’s pricing options to decide if a premium plan would work better for you.
Once you validate your email address, you can immediately start selling an online course with Payhip.
But, foremost you must configure your Payhip store.
Configure your Payhip store
- Navigate to Payhip.com and log in using your credentials.
- Configure your newly launched online shop.
- On the right-hand corner, you will find the Account dropdown. Navigate to the Settings section using this dropdown.
- The Settings section allows you to set up different key attributes of your store. For example, you can set up the Store Name, Payment methods, Taxes, etc.
- Finish your settings by saving the details.
The Payhip dashboard is quite intuitive. So, you will be able to set up your storefront in no time without any help. But, if you still need some guidance – please comment on this article for help.
Now that you have finished setting up your store, let us discuss how you can create your first online course and sell it for free using the Payhip platform.
Create an Online Course in Payhip
Courses in Payhip are just like any other physical or digital product you sell. So, there is no difference in how you create and list an online course on your Payhip store. In other words, you define an online course in Payhip just like any other product.
Follow the steps below to create an online course you can sell using your Payhip shop.
- Click on the link Products present on the menu bar on top.
- Once you are on the Products page, click the Add New Product button to create a new listing.
- Payhip will show you the various supported product types.
- To sell an online course, you need to click on the Course option.
I like Payhip for its intuitive user interface that can assist you in navigating the system. The user-friendly interface is also helpful when you try to create your online course using the wizard.
The first thing that you need to do is provide the course title. For example, I am creating a course on How to Sell Online Courses for Free. After providing the course title, click on the Add Course button.
Payhip lets you define the curriculum of your online course flexibly. It can help you to break up the course material into Sections and Lessons.
You can create multiple sections in your course and can have multiple lessons in each section. For example, I have created two sections having lessons linked to each section. Another interesting feature of Payhip course builder is that it allows you to drag and drop the lessons and sections to rearrange the course material.
When you have structured your course (or even without having the structure ready) you can modify the individual lessons accurately.
Click on the Lesson you want to update.
Payhip lets you choose from a combination of different types of lessons. The following list is the type of lessons you can choose at present.
- Text
- Video
- Quiz
- Assignment
- Survey
- Download
- Embed
As you can see, Payhip gives you enough options to create an online course for free. Apart from creating content based on one of the supported lesson types, this free eCommerce solution also provides you with various advanced features and settings.
For example:
- You can have a lesson in draft state. Your students can view the lesson only after it is published.
- You can also create a free preview lesson. This can help you to boost sales.
- You can mark a lesson as a prerequisite. Students need to complete the lesson before they can proceed to the next section.
- You can enable discussions on the lesson.
- You can even remove margins from the media player for multi-media content like videos.
- Optionally, you can also choose a lesson icon and label.
After you have created a lesson or the course, I recommend you preview how your course will look in real-time. Click on the Preview button to launch the player and check it yourself. For example, our demo online course at this point looks something like the below screenshot. But, I am sure you can do it better!
After you have designed your course you can add a pricing plan and tag it with your course. You can define either of the following pricing structures for your course.
- One Time Purchase
- Subscription
- Payment Plan – Fixed number of monthly payments
- Free
Once you have created your pricing plan attach it with your course like the image below.
When you are happy with the way your online course looks in the Preview, you can publish the course and make it available on your hosted storefront.
You get the following three options here:
- Draft – Students can’t purchase or enroll in this course. For students who are already enrolled, this course will not appear on their Student Dashboard.
- Preorder – Students can preorder and enroll in this course, but can’t access its content. For students enrolled in this course, an item will appear on their Student Dashboard with a “Coming soon” badge.
- Published – Students can purchase, enroll in, and access the content of this course. For students who are enrolled, this course will appear on their Student Dashboard.
Payhip also gives you the following options regarding to visibility if you choose Preorder or Published status.
- Visible – Everyone can see this product listed on the store and can see its sales page.
- Invisible – Nobody except you can see this product listed on the store and only you can see its sales page.
- Unlisted – Only people who know the direct link to this product’s sales page can see the sales page. Won’t be listed alongside other products in your store.
Sell an Online Course for Free with Payhip
Payhip has plenty of features that are offered even in its free tier.
- You can add a custom domain to your store or eLearning shop.
- You can have an elegant theme activated.
- You have complete ownership of your customers.
- You can access significant marketing tools to promote your shop or course.
- You can connect PayPal or Stripe to withdraw payments.
Promoting your Online Courses for Free with Payhip
Payhip offers you many free tools to promote your online course. With features like Upselling, Cross-selling, Email Marketing, and Analytics you are well-equipped with different tools to run your e-learning business.
Upselling with Payhip
With Payhip’s Upgrade functionality, you can encourage buyers of one of your products to purchase another by offering a special discount.
Cross-selling using Payhip
If you sell more than one product in your store, you can promote your products by offering special incentives. For example, you can offer your customers to buy one and get the other for half price.
You can access both up-selling and cross-selling functionalities from the marketing page of your dashboard.
Email Marketing
Payhip does not have an email marketing system built into the platform.
But you can connect your store to one of the several popular email marketing platforms to connect with your customers.
You can set up a mailing list for your Payhip store after navigating to the Mailing Lists tab of the Marketing page.
Affiliate Management with Payhip
Payhip also has an in-built Affiliate management system which you can utilize to boost your sales using referrals. The referrals can drive significant referral traffic in exchange of commissions.
Payhip Analytics
Payhip has an analytics system built right into the platform. If the in-built analytics system is too basic, you can connect Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel to your Payhip store. You can access these from the Advanced Settings tab on your Account Settings page.
Limitations of Payhip when Selling Online Courses
Alternatives to Payhip for Selling Online Courses for Free
If the Payhip platform seems limited in functionality and features, you can refer to this list of Payhip alternatives that also allow you to sell online courses for free.
Podia – If you are unaware of what Podia is, you can read our Podia review for a detailed introduction. In short, Podia is an online platform that lets you sell courses, webinars, memberships, and digital goods. Like Payhip and Shopify, Podia is a hosted platform; you do not have to manage your infrastructure.
Podia is rich in features and surprisingly offers a generous free tier. Even the paid plans are very affordable considering the functionalities you can avail of. To give a perspective, you can launch your store just for $4/month with a custom domain.
One major difference between Podia and Payhip is the transaction fee that you must pay. While Payhip charges you a 5% transaction charge, Podia charges you 10% in the free tier. Moreover, while you can sell unlimited courses for free using the Payhip platform, Podia lets you sell only one coaching course.
Conclusion
To summarize, the Payhip platform is a versatile tool to create and sell online courses for free. With a custom domain, beautiful themes, and powerful marketing tools – the platform is an all-in-one software that can help you create and sell an online course for free.
The account creation is free and does not need your credit card for activation. Moreover, a very low transaction fee (5%) in the free tier is perfectly suitable for the first-time creator. Of course, if you have an established audience – the premium plan is the better choice.
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