This is the second of 10 Steps to Building and Selling Your Courses Online.

You may have developed the most outstanding online courses that have ever existed. People from all over the world may be eager to purchase your courses and start learning the material. However, if you don’t have an effective Learning Management System, your courses are basically non-existent outside of a physical classroom.

What is a Learning Management System?

Once you have created training content or courses, a Learning Management System, or “LMS”, is where your courses will reside online, waiting to be sold or distributed. Your LMS should have a turn-key package that allows you to quickly load and deploy your training courses to learners across the internet. An LMS will allow you to earn money by selling your courses online, and will also function as the software application for the delivery of your courses or training programs. In addition, it will handle:

• Administration
• Documentation
• Tracking
• Reporting

Have a fully functioning shopping cart

Your online training software should be able to provide you with an LMS that has all of the features that online learners have come to expect. This includes having a fully functioning, integrated shopping cart. Your shopping cart should have the ability to take payments online and verify the transactions.

Offer discounts and coupons

Your learning management system should also have the ability to offer discounts and coupons to those who are purchasing your courses online. It should be capable of generating and redeeming coupons that will offer an additional incentive to people shopping online for your type of courses or training program, as well as give you full control over the price you charge for your courses for different circumstances.

Reports that help you run your business

Last, but not least, your LMS should have an effective reporting system that allows you to manage the life-cycle of your students, and provide you the ability to track and measure your students. With a highly functioning LMS, you will be able to track things such as logins, total time spent on courses, grades, and course completions. Your LMS should also offer you many other customized reports, accommodating for multiple markets, companies, and enterprises.