The long-awaited dream of home office has become something achievable for specialists in various fields, without them needing to change professions.

Teachers, consultants, artisans, trainers, and many other professionals are discovering that the internet allows them to take their knowledge and services far beyond geographical limitations.

Online business: how to transform your work into an online venture

The first thing to make clear is that you don’t necessarily have to quit your regular job to have your own online business.

Depending on your goals, there are a few options to consider:

• Working exclusively with an online product/service;
• Having an online and offline business at the same time;
• Transition your work from offline to online gradually.

Define your goal.This is the first step in launching your online business.

Before taking any action, conduct a brief assessment.

Start by making a list of what you already own that can help build your online business. For example:

• Website
• Social media pages
• Email list
• Online audience

If you already have all or some of these resources, you’re off to a good start.

TIP: To create your audience in the virtual world you can also take advantage of the customer base you already have from your offline work.

The next step is to list exactly what you need to have an online business that delivers results.

– How to build an email list for your business

1. Start by creating a product

The first thing you need to decide is what will sell. What knowledge do you have that you would like to share with others?

Think about what you are really good at and what you would enjoy teaching to others.

Don’t get attached to a topic just because you THINK it will sell more. Nobody is truly excellent at what they don’t enjoy.

Next, think about how you can “package” this knowledge to offer it to someone.

There are several types of digital products:

• E-book
• Online course
• Live online group classes
• Consultancy
• Services

To begin, choose a product that is simpler to implement, where you can test your idea.

For example, if you are a painter and want to teach residential painting, you could start by offering a one-hour online workshop covering all the necessary materials to get started and the basic principles of good painting.

If this material has good adhesion, you can think about organizing a course to explain more advanced painting techniques, such as painting on metal, wood, textured surfaces, and so on.

Notice that even the work of a painter, which is essentially in-person, can be transformed into an online business.

The biggest challenge when it comes to transform your area of ​​expertise into a digital product it’s narrowing down your ideas to a specific topic and deciding between the different formats you can explore.

– 7 Types of Infoproducts to Increase Your Online Sales

2. Choose an idea and test it

Here’s a very important tip: Don’t start creating a complex product without first testing whether your idea is well-received.

To do this, talk to people who are interested in the topic you want to discuss.

Talk to acquaintances, join communities and forums focused on the topic, search online for similar content.

Ask questions. You want to understand what people want to know, what difficulties they face, what interests them.

Once you get those answers, then it’s time to make a sketch of your product.and start selling.

That’s right, sell before you have the product ready.

Creating an online course or even an e-book can take considerable time and effort, so you want to make sure you have an idea with good sales potential before creating the full version of your product.

– 3 ways to validate your idea before creating online courses

3. Launch your product

For those starting a business, this part is, initially, more important than having the complete product.

This is the stage of idea validation.

If your plan is to have an online course, for example, start with a simple live event.

With this event you will be able to obtain valuable information, such as:

• Validate your idea obtaining confirmation that there are people interested in what you have to offer.

• You will likely answer questions, which will help you understand what your audience wants to know.

• These questions can give you new content ideas that can then be included in the full version of your product.

• You’ll be able to get an idea of ​​the value you’re delivering, which helps you to price your product.

You can even offer a free initial workshop to help grow your audience a little, but you should sell the next one.

This is where marketing strategies start to take action, and our main tip is, if you don’t have a large audience, don’t invest in mass marketing strategies, invest in personalized approaches.

The reason is that mass marketing converts leads into paying customers at only about 0.5%. This means you would need 200 interested people to get a single paying customer.

However, it’s normal for those who are starting out to have a small audience, so you should also start small.

Focus on being personal. Make it a point to talk to each person in your network. This approach usually has conversion rates of 10% and 50%!

Therefore, while mass marketing may generate one or no sales, personalized marketing can reach 5, 10, or even more people, depending on how many you manage to approach.

– 5 marketing tips for beginners

4. Sell your product

Okay, now that you’ve agreed that personalized marketing is the best strategy, let’s see how you can sell your live event.

To do this, let’s go back to the list of everyone you know. Use your email list, social media followers, friends — basically everyone you can reach.

So, divide these people into two categories:

• People who might be interested in your product: Contact them in person and extend an invitation, such as “Hi! I’m giving a painting class and I know you’re interested in the subject. Would you like to participate?”

• People who are not interested in your product:Talk to them too, but change the subject to something like, “Oh, I’m going to give a painting class, do you know anyone who might be interested in participating?”

Remember that asking questions doesn’t offend anyone, and when done this way, there’s no pressure at all.

Moreover, people love to help, so even if they don’t remember anyone at first, they’ll keep your offer in mind as soon as they find someone who might be interested.

5. Automate your online business

The final step in this process is to create the complete version of your product and automate your online business.

The automation aspect encompasses two parts: product and marketing.

Automating a product means making it ready to be sold at any time, not depending on your interference.

When you create an e-book or an online course, for example, they are ready to be purchased at any time.

Automating your marketing means moving away from a personal approach (or hiring a team to handle those interactions) to a system that promotes your business for you. Again, it doesn’t depend on your direct intervention.

Don’t try to do both at the same time – if you do, it probably won’t work well. Focus on automating one at a time.

Popular automated systems include email marketing, sponsored ads, recorded videos, etc.

Regardless of how you automate, your goal is to guide people to discover your product, learn more about it, and buy it without you needing to be heavily involved in each step of the process.

– How does automated email sending work?

Create your online business and expand your opportunities

Having an online business is a great opportunity to make a living doing what you love and helping people at the same time.

If you can easily solve someone’s problem, that person will want what you have to offer, and believe me, this applies to the most diverse (and unthinkable) areas of work.

As a house painter that can now sell his skills online, several professions have already found a new way to operate in the virtual world. Simply teach what you know how to do very well.

And it doesn’t even have to be a profession; any knowledge can be transformed into an online business.

Here in Coursify.me we host successful online courses that cover a wide variety of topics. We have courses on folk dances, religious studies, plasma jets, and even how to win at Playstation games.

See, even if your idea doesn’t seem to have an audience, don’t give up before testing and proving it.

If you find a market niche with very low competition, even if at first glance it seems like there aren’t many people interested, it can end up becoming a great online business.

Take that first step! In a year, you’ll look back and regret not having started.

A complete e-learning platform, Coursify.me is the ideal solution for those who want to create, sell and promote courses on the internet.

Serving businesses and professionals in more than 60 countries, the platform is a dynamic and customizable Learning Management System.

– Learning Management System: What is it?

To learn more, visit our website, try the platform and start changing your future.

The post How to turn your work into an online business appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

By changing the main way the platform calculates the performance of each post, “Views” also aligns with Instagram’s expectations for 2025.

In this article, we will explain what this new metric means, how it is calculated and how to use it strategically to improve your presence on the platform.

What are Instagram Views?

In August last year, Instagram Views was implemented with the aim of simplifying metrics across all content formats.

Now, Reels, Stories, Carousels, Lives and Photos, all types of publications possible on the platform, have the same main performance metric, Views. This means that metrics like “Likes” and “Impressions” have lost relevance.

Views represent the number of times a post was viewed, including whether the same user watched the same content three times. In other words, it’s no longer just about unique users.

For Reels, for example, the process is the same as what was previously labeled “Plays” — each time a Reels starts playing or plays again, it is counted as a view. 

The same applies to other content formats, whether it’s a quick look at a photo, a scroll through the Carousel or a repeat of a Story.

By focusing on views, Instagram is aligning its metrics with platforms like TikTok, where, rather than the number of followers and likes, views have always been the highest performance indicator. 

Therefore, to measure the impact of content, the focus is less on superficial engagement (such as likes) and more on the real attention that the publication receives.

– How to use TikTok to sell online courses

Why is Instagram prioritizing Views?

The appreciation of Views follows a global social media trend: measure the time and quality of users’ attention. 

It’s common for you to like a photo “in automatic mode”, without really paying attention to what you’re seeing. On the other hand, a viewing requires a higher level of engagement, even if brief.

This change also follows the growth of video formats. Reels, for example, have become Instagram’s flagship product in recent years, as a direct response to the success of TikTok. 

By placing more emphasis on Views, Instagram reinforces the importance of content that captures attention quickly and encourages continued consumption.

Without a doubt, the goal is to keep the user on the platform for as long as possible.

Instagram Views also helps measure the real reach of content, since a post may have few likes but many views, indicating that more people saw it, even if they did not actively interact.

This offers a more complete view of the impact of the publication.

– 7 tips for creating a video script

How are Instagram Views calculated?

Understanding how Instagram Views are counted is essential to correctly interpret the results. Here are some important points:

• Posts and carousels: When your post appears in Instagram’s main feed, hashtag searches, or Explore page, each view counts as one view.

• Minimum time: For videos in the feed, the user must watch for at least 3 seconds. If he scrolls quickly without watching, that view won’t count.

• Stories: Story views are counted every time someone views your story, including replays.

• Lives: Are counted both during the live broadcast and in the replay.

To access this data, you need to go to Instagram Insights, Instagram’s integrated analysis tool. 

What changes for content creators with Instagram Views?

For those who produce content on Instagram, this change in focus on the main metric represents an opportunity — and also a challenge. 

Creators and brands now need to think not just about generating engagement, but about holding user attention.

Brands, for example, often analyze engagement metrics to assess a creator’s influence. Now, this changes to the number of Instagram Views.

A creator with 42K views but only 150 likes may suddenly appear more attractive to businesses than someone with 8K views but 320 likes. 

It’s a delicate balance between quantity vs. quality, and if you’re a creator, balancing the number of views with maintaining your engagement will be fundamental.

This change also means experimenting with different formats. 

Reels may continue to be preferred, but Carousels — now with the ability to display up to 20 images or videos — could become a valuable resource. 

And don’t forget Stories; they’re still irresistible to most audiences and a quick way to rack up Instagram Views.

Strategies to make better use of Views

To make the most of this new metric, we suggest the following:

• Invest in short and dynamic videos: Reels continue to be the viewing champions. Take care in the first few seconds, as they are decisive in keeping the viewer.

• Use captions and on-screen text: Many people watch without sound. Subtitles maintain understanding and increase viewing time.

• Bet on visual hooks: Start your videos with something that catches attention — a question, a problem, an impactful image. The opening moments of your content determine its success more than ever.

• Optimize video covers: An attractive thumbnail can increase your click chances and, consequently, your Views.

• Repurpose popular content: If a post has many Views, think about updated or complementary versions to take advantage of public interest.
  

In other words, keep doing what all great content creators do: experiment. 

Test new formats, change the style of your content and see what works. It’s time to find out what captures the most attention and makes people want to share and watch on repeat.

– 10 ideas for creating social media content 

What will be relevant on Instagram in 2025

For 2025, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, says that the platform wants to rescue its original essence, giving more visibility to content created by real people. 

With the growing dominance of professional brands and influencers, the feed ended up being full of highly edited productions, often far from the everyday experiences of ordinary users. 

Now, Instagram wants to balance this scenario and encourage spontaneity, authenticity and real connections.

This decision is not by chance. The social network realized that genuine content, that which shows real everyday moments, generates more identification, engagement and a feeling of community. 

Therefore, profiles that share simple scenes, such as a morning routine, a walk in the park or an outburst, tend to gain more prominence in the algorithm. In summary: less filters and scripts, more reality and vulnerability.

Additionally, Instagram will increasingly prioritize sharing. Content that is sent via DM, added to Stories or shared with friends will have more weight in reach. 

This signals a clear change in the way the platform measures a publication’s success. 

Instead of just focusing on likes and comments, Instagram wants to value how much a post is considered worthy of being reposted — something that demonstrates social value.

For content creators and brands, this represents a new challenge: producing materials that, even with quality, appear more authentic and generate immediate identification. 

Showing behind the scenes, recording errors or real moments can be more strategic than maintaining an impeccable and distant aesthetic. 

For ordinary users, this change could be an opportunity to express themselves on the platform again without feeling the pressure of competing with over-produced content from influencers.

In short, the Instagram of 2025 wants less perfection and more truth. 

The focus is on making the network a space where people feel comfortable sharing who they really are — and not just what they think they should show. 

– 7 Ways to Increase Your Social Media Authority

Instagram Edits

The use of AI also comes with everything! 

To encourage users to create more, Instagram recently launched a new app called Edits.

It is designed to help content creators produce high-quality videos directly from their smartphone, without needing third-party applications like the famous CapCut. 

Available for free on iOS and Android, Edits offers a variety of advanced tools that aren’t present in the main Instagram app.

Its main features are:

• Advanced video editing: Edits lets you capture videos up to 10 minutes long and offers a precise timeline for editing, with features like clip trimming, speed adjustment, filters, green screen effects, and AI-generated animations.

• High quality export: Videos can be exported in 4K resolution without watermark, ready to be shared on any platform.

• Integration with Instagram: The app is linked to your Instagram account, allowing you to easily share edited videos directly to Reels or save them for later use.

• Organization and collaboration tools: With features like “Stickies”, you can add notes and ideas to your projects, making it easier to plan and collaborate with other creators.

• Real-time insights: Edits provides analytics on how your videos are performing, like view rates and engagement, helping you better understand what works with your audience.

Edits was developed with feedback from content creators and continues to evolve based on community needs. 

Despite being an app separate from Instagram, it promises to make content production for the platform much easier, helping beginner creators improve their performance and get more Instagram Views.

– How to use AI in your social media strategy

Use Instagram Views to benefit your business

With the Instagram Views, the social network reinforces its commitment to content that captures the user’s attention and generates more immersive experiences.

If you are a content creator, social media or entrepreneur, it is worth adapting your strategy, focusing on creating engaging publications designed to retain the public’s attention. 

After all, more than being seen, the important thing is to be remembered — and Views are an excellent thermometer for this.

When hosting an online course on Coursify.me you personalize the course page with your identity and create links to your social networks, facilitating its dissemination.

Complete and optimized eLearning platform, Coursify.me is the ideal solution for those who want to create, sell  and promote courses on the internet.

– What is an eLearning platform?

To learn more, visit our website, test the platform and understand why we are the best option for your online course.

The post Instagram Views: everything about Instagram’s new metric appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

This form of billing generates security and ensures greater stability to the company, since it allows revenue predictability.

What is Recurring Billing  

Recurring billing is a payment model that occurs in the case of the purchase of a continuous service, where there is a subscription or monthly fee.

This type of payment is usually characterized as having no end date, ie as long as the service continues to be provided, the consumer continues to pay.

In this type of contract, determining how long this agreement will last can vary.

In most cases, a minimum time is established and, if the service is canceled before the end of this period, the client must pay a fine for termination.

If formerly the recurring billing used to be used only by service providers, such as schools, telecommunications, magazines, among others, the advantages of its business model ended up drawing the attention of those who sell products as well.

Amazon, for example, used recurring payments to encourage consumers to create a buying pattern.

If the customer usually buys a hair cream, for example, he can schedule the purchase of that product monthly, and the charge is made through recurring billing.

In addition to making life easier for consumers, this payment system contributes to user retention and billing growth.

How Recurring Billing works

When buying a product or purchasing a service, the normal thing is to pay for it at the time of purchase.

However, when signing a service contract, the customer agrees to pay a monthly fee and agrees that the amount be paid at regular intervals of time.

To understand better, here’s a step-by-step look at how recurring payments often work:

• the customer subscribes to or buys a product or service for an annual / monthly / weekly fee;
• the customer enters credit / debit card details when making the first payment;
• the details are saved for the next purchase;
• when it comes time to renew the purchase, the money is automatically debited from the customer’s account.

As we have explained, this is done automatically at regular intervals. The customer does not have to do the entire purchase process again.

Who can use Recurring Billing

Recurrent billing is a great way to keep income flowing. However, it is important to make sure that this plan is suitable for your business model.

Signature plans are not always easy to build. Depending on the segment in which you operate, you need to customize your product / service and form of payment according to the customer’s needs.

Although it is commonly used in the case of utilities-based products or services, recurring billing can be applied literally to any business idea. Check out five examples below.

• SaaS – Software as a Service: recurring payment is already quite popular in SaaS businesses. Companies like Adobe and Microsoft market their products in exchange for payment of an annual fee.
• Content: buy articles for blog, newsletter, etc? Do you pay for exclusive content on a magazine or website? Subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime? All these services work through recurring billing.
• Products: from hair creams to razor blades, the purchase of recurring products through a signature plan has already fallen into consumer tastes.  
• Rentals: if you are in the rental business, you can allow a customer to use a product / service for a certain amount of time in exchange for a periodic fee, such as a hotel room or car, for example.
• Affiliate sales programs: this is a slightly different form of subscription plan, in which you are usually a reseller of a service or product and in return receive a commission for each sale / customer added to the affiliated company.

– Why to invest in a Loyalty Customer Program

With subscription services and recurring billing gaining space in the most diverse segments, it’s time to learn a little more about its advantages and how to implement it.

Advantages of Recurring Billing

Consumers no longer want the burden of ownership, but want the immediacy of results.

Signature services are also nothing new. Pymnts.com reminds us that “there is a reason why the tallest building in all cities is an insurance building.”

One simple reason for this type of billing to be so popular is that it is a beneficial option for both business and consumer.

Advantages for companies

There are many advantages to recurring billing for companies, such as:

1. Reduces missed or late payments

In addition to the possible loss of revenue, the administrative costs associated with collecting defaulters decrease, giving companies a double win.

2. Improve customer relationship

With payment being made on a recurring and automatic basis, you can focus on having positive interactions with your customers, focusing on increasing sales.

3. Security

Between PCI compliance and tokens used by payment gateways, the company has confidence about the security of its customers’ data.

4. Enhance customer experience

When set up correctly, a recurring billing system has a simple to use and interface. In addition to making life easier for consumers, this increases the conversions and chances of free promotion because people like to share positive experiences.

5. Enables flexibility

Due to the simplicity of subscription, most software allows you to offer promotions for new users and makes it easy for subscribing customers to change their plans.

6. Increase customer retention

Given the set-and-forget nature of recurring billing, the charge is made periodically without the customer even thinking about it, which reduces the likelihood of repentance and cancellation of the subscription.

– How to retain customers

Advantages for customers

Regarding the advantages that this type of payment brings to customers, we can highlight:

1. More options

Having the option to choose between different subscription plans allows consumers to make a decision based on their budget and needs. This power of choice and control makes customers more comfortable and inspires a positive feeling about the company.

2. Better utilization

Payment automation allows the consumer to enjoy their purchase without worrying or even remembering accounts payable.

3. No use restrictions

The products/services acquired can be accessed when the customer wants, without time restriction. In some cases, the purchase is immediately available, which acts as a huge incentive in decision making.

4. Flexibility

Many recurring billing systems allow consumers to change their payment details, switch plans or simply end their subscription.

5. Ease of use

It is necessary for the customer to enter their payment data only once, which facilitates the whole process.

It is important to remember that the environment also benefits from this form of billing.

The recurring payment is done in an automated way and can be carried out totally online, eliminating the excessive use of paper, printing and invoice delivery.

Segments that benefit from Recurring Billing

Although industries such as streaming, insurance, telecommunications, and public services have implemented recurring billing systems with great success for years, for many other segments this is new.

Here are some types of businesses that started using recurring payments and are improving their results.

Retail

The retail industry is a clear target for subscription-based offerings. The fashion industry, for example, has begun to enter this market with box delivery.

Ranging from offering socks to full suits, companies hope to win loyal customers by ridding them of the hassle of having to decide what to wear and go out to shop.

Retail pet products have also grown as companies explore people’s willingness to dress and give their pets presents.

Fitness

Thanks to the incredible volume of fitness models and “influencers” in social media, the fitness industry has seen marketplace expand and solidify.

The continued pursuit of vitamins, supplements, special clothing, among others, expanded their recurring billing options that were previously restricted to gyms.

Monthly supplies of vitamins, protein powders, training videos and healthy diets are just the tip of the huge growth that the fitness industry is experiencing thanks to the recurring billing.

Food

Facility in the kitchen? Yes please! If before only delivery was the solution, now it can be practical in a slightly more personalized way.

Among organic growers who periodically deliver fresh vegetables and fruits in your home, to selected and hard-to-find foods on the market, everything is within a monthly fee reach.

Food signing services have come up and have risen sharply in recent times, making it easier to prepare and organize meals.

Online courses

The recurring billing in schools is nothing new. In fact, this is one of the first segments to use the monthly tuition system.

With the growth of online courses market and distance education, the whole process of teaching and learning was facilitated, and could not be different with the payment method.

Online course instructors can easily create subscription plans or tuition so that the student has unrestricted access to all of their content and receives news from time to time.

This brings great benefits to both parties, and it means stability for those who create and sell online courses.

– How to sell online courses

As long as you have an elearning platform like Coursify.me, which can manage user interactions, a payment gateway that offers multiple forms of payment, and an easy system for billing, recurring payment is the best way to reduce expenses and increase the profits.

With user friendly interface, Coursify.me facilitates and enhances the user experience, increasing your chances of getting more students.

– 5 tips to attract students

In addition, Coursify.me has integration with PagSeguro, PayPal and soon Stripe, allowing you to receive payment in the currency of your choice.

Ideal for those who want to sell courses online, the platform allows the receipt of payment in a single installment or recurring billing.

Present in more than 60 countries, Coursify.me is the perfect solution for you to start your own business without investing anything for it.

To learn more, visit our website, test the platform and understand why we are the best option for your business.

The post Recurring Billing: Benefits for your Online Course appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

Many people have set up their own online businesses in recent years either as their main job or as a way to earn on the side. 

If you too want to enter this world full of possibilities, this post will offer a few suggestions for ways that you can hit the ground running with your online business.

12 ways to boost your online business

There are all kinds of different businesses that can be run entirely online these days and include many benefits, such as lower costs and the ability to work remotely. 

However, new entrepreneurs also find it hard to get noticed early on and don’t know exactly what to do to see better results faster.

To help, take a look at a few tips that our new creators find useful to boost their online business when beginning from scratch.

1. Use Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding can be ideal when starting a business because it can do two birds with one stone: you can raise funds and build brand awareness. 

You also want to make sure that you raise enough money to get your online business up and running to a high standard, but without giving up much control, and so crowdfunding is a great way to do this. 

On top of this, you will find that this creates awareness about your business and should help you to build a following even before you have started. Having a following will keep you motivated to keep on building. 

2. Determine A USP

Much like any business, you need to have a USP if you are to find success. 

You will likely face much more established competitors in your industry, so you need to bring something unique to the table to stand out from the crowd and attract your target market. 

This is why research is such a key stage when starting a new business, and you will want to spend time learning everything that you can about your competitors to find weaknesses and create a USP that will help you to succeed.

3. Create Buyer Personas

Leading on from this, you also need to have a strong knowledge of your target market and work out the demographics of this group as well as what their wants and needs are. 

Many companies find it useful to create a couple of buyer personas that you can keep in mind when marketing the business. 

This should help you to find the best ways to appeal to your target market, which will be critical if you are to find success with your online business.

– How to create buyer personas?

4. Build A High-Quality Website

With an online business, your website takes on even greater significance. This is how you portray your brand to the world, and it is vital that it is a website that will convert visitors into customers.

In order for this to happen, the website needs to be modern, stylish, and easy to use, and this means that it is worth hiring a web designer. This will ensure that the website is of the highest standard and will impress visitors. 

It may cost you a lot in the present, but it will make you more money in the future. 

5. Hire An Experienced SEO and PPC Company

Many online startups struggle to get traffic to their website, and this is understandable because it can be so competitive online. 

SEO is an obvious way to improve your presence and direct organic traffic to the website, but it is complex and time-consuming. 

This is why, as soon as you can afford (crowdfunding may help with this too), it is best to hire an expert SEO company that will be able to improve your visibility online and help you to compete with the bigger and more established companies in your industry. 

It is a good idea to hire an SEO company before you have launched so that they have the opportunity to improve your ranking from day one.

Leading on from this, it is also a good idea to supplement SEO with PPC, especially early on. It can take a while for SEO results to show, and this means that it is a long-term strategy. PPC is ideal for the short term because you will increase your visibility as soon as the ad goes live, which means that you can get immediate results. 

– 12 practical SEO tips for beginners

6. Find An Influencer

Finding an influencer could make all the difference when it comes to hitting the ground running with your online business. 

Influencer marketing has become one of the biggest marketing trends in recent times as social media plays an increasingly prevalent role in modern life and consumer choices. 

You can find influencers that can recommend your business and products/services online and this will help you to instantly reach a huge audience. 

Not only this, but influencer marketing is a fast and effective way to build a positive reputation for your brand and should help you to start attracting customers straight away, so it is a highly worthwhile investment for a new online business.

7. Use Guest Posting

Another effective way to raise your profile and get noticed is with guest posting. 

Posting high-quality articles on blogs that your target market reads will be a smart way to raise brand awareness while also building credibility (similar to how influencer marketing works). 

The key is to come up with topic ideas that your target market will find engaging and to put the effort into making this content stand out, such as using video, infographics, and statistics. In addition to this, you should also be creating your own blog posts and posting these on social media to increase visibility and showcase your expertise. 

– How to start a Blog to promote your business

8. Start A Referral Program

Turning your early customers into brand advocates is intelligent and should help you to attract new customers to your business. 

One of the best ways to do this is with a referral program, which will involve incentivizing your customers to recommend your online business to their friends and family. 

People will always trust recommendations from loved ones and could allow you to reach a much larger audience and people you may have never otherwise reached.

9. Collect Customer Reviews

Following on from this, another way to turn your customers into brand advocates is with customer reviews. 

You should follow up on every sale that you make and encourage people to leave a review (you could incentivize this by giving some kind of prize, like discounts, if you are struggling to get people to leave reviews). 

The importance of customer reviews cannot be overstated, as this is how you attract new customers, develop social proof and build a positive reputation for your business. 

Make sure that the reviews are highly visible by placing them on the company website and on social media.

– Tips to get more reviews for your course

10. Get Active On Social Media

Speaking of social media, this will play a major role in your success as an online business. Social media can level the playing field with the more established businesses, so you want to focus your efforts here and find ways to attract followers to your page.

This will include creating shareable content, engaging in discussions, running social media competitions, and keeping people updated on all of the latest information on your business. It will depend on your target market, but many find it helpful to humanize the brand on social media, and using light humor could prove to be effective. 

Just make sure that you never post anything that could offend or divide your followers (such as politics, religion, and other sensitive topics). 

11. Host An Online Event

It can sometimes feel impossible to make a connection with your target market when you run an online business, but this is not the case. 

An online event is a great way to connect with your target market and gives you the chance to make a person-to-person connection as well as showcase your expertise. 

There are all kinds of online parties that could be held, including lectures, workshops, demos, meet and greets, interviews, and many other types. 

Just make sure that you promote the event and give people enough time to discover it so that you can have as many people log on as possible.

– 7 tips for speaking well on videos

12. Branded Merchandise

As an online business, it is obviously hugely important to build a strong online presence. 

You will find that more traditional forms of marketing can still be effective, though, including branded merchandise. 

Giving branded merchandise to customers and other stakeholders will allow you to advertise your business in the real world while also building brand credibility – as above, this is another way to turn customers into brand advocates and should help you to attract new customers.

ELearning is a great idea for online business 

Hopefully, the advice in this post will help you to hit the ground running with your new online business. 

There are many good reasons to start your own digital business, but it can also be hard to find success, especially when competing against bigger and more established companies. Try combining a few of the above strategies together, and you should be able to find success after launching your online business.

If you are looking for a niche to start, teaching what you already know through an online course is what many people have found to be quite profitable.

Complete eLearning platform optimized for SEO, Coursify.me is the ideal solution for those who want to create, sell and advertise courses on the internet.

With perfect integration with the main social networks, with Coursify.me you are halfway through the job of positioning yourself well in search engines and attracting customers.

Serving businesses and professionals in more than 60 countries, Coursify.me is a dynamic and customizable Learning Management System (LMS).

– Learning Management System: What is it?

Visit our website, test the platform and start your online business right now.

The post How To Hit The Ground Running With An Online Business appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

The flexibility that online education offers allows you to get started in this market even if you’re not sure you want to be a full-time teacher, or if you’re still working at your regular job.

Resources needed to become an online teacher

When we talk about the resources you need to become an online teacher, we are mainly talking about technology.

Most Learning Management Systems (LMSs) used ​​to host online courses only require a good Wi-Fi connection, a computer and, as even for online classes students still like to see and hear their teacher, we strongly suggest a camera and microphone.

Educational technology has evolved in recent years, facilitating and improving the quality of distance education.

Cameras and microphones built into our computers, the ability to watch videos quickly and easily, Virtual Learning Environments that allow organization and access to educational material, these are all technologies that most people already have access to.

Importance of the Learning Management Systems for online teaching

LMSs are platforms specifically developed to enable online teaching and learning. 

This type of software offers several features that transform it into a true virtual classroom, such as the possibility of creating an online school with different courses, divided into modules and lessons.

– Practical guide for creating and selling online courses

A good LMS, like Coursify.me, allows you to provide classes using different media formats, such as videos, audios, graphics, slides, links to reading material or external media, among others.

In general terms, a learning management system is the key to making life easier for the online teacher, who will need to make their classes as simple as possible for their students. 

Among the features that a good LMS offers are:  

Interactive course content

If you’ve attended hours of lectures with just a few exchanges of slides to entertain yourself, you’ll appreciate a big advantage of online learning over traditional classes: interactivity.

Online classes have evolved and simply reading text-laden slides is a thing of the past. 

LMSs must allow video classes, chats for questions and discussion, resources that allow live broadcasts, application of quizzes and tests, in short, everything that contributes to active learning. After all, in online education it is even more important to keep the student interested and engaged, as it is very easy to turn off the screen and go do something else.

– 6 Strategies for Engaging the Student  in Online Learning

Mobile access

For workers – a large percentage of online learners – the ability to access content anytime, anywhere makes a big difference.

Being able to take a class on a lunch break, on the train ride home, or even on a business trip can be a huge benefit, and one that the best online learning programs should offer.

Technical support 

Encountering barriers and difficulties is one of people’s biggest fears when it comes to learning online. 

For those unfamiliar with technology, issues related to computer and software use can be a real concern.

Good LMSs understand this and provide their own technical support team. This resource is available for students and the online teacher, who may also face difficulties in creating and offering their courses, or charging for enrollment, for example. 

Removing this burden from teachers allows them to focus on their classes, while students can rest easy knowing that there is help with any problems they may encounter.

How to Adapt a Classroom Curriculum for eLearning

Online teaching requires special considerations in class formatting.

If you already teach in person, you will find that much of what you say to students in the classroom now needs to be translated into text, or, at the very least, into a video script. 

You’ll also need to know what technology options are available to make sure you’re taking advantage of everything your LMS offers to make your classes great. For example: Does your learning management system allow links to YouTube? Can students interact by asking questions in each class? Is there a way to create tests and questionnaires? 

– Tips for using technology in education 

In addition to knowing the features of the platform you will use, here are some ways to ensure a successful adaptation of your classroom curriculum to online classes:  

• Divide your classes into smaller “portions”. 

One-hour classes are unlikely to hold a student’s attention and motivate him to even begin. One suggestion is to break down what you normally teach into daily one-hour classes, into videos of about twenty minutes each. 

• Prepare activities and reading materials accordingly.

Remember that you won’t need to hand out papers or limit reading assignments to what’s in textbooks. In an online environment, you can give students links to read articles, YouTube tutorials, TED Talks, blogs – whatever you find interesting and useful.

• Use varied teaching resources.

As an online teacher, it can be more difficult to interact with your students enough to get to know each one’s learning styles. One thing we all know is that there are people who learn best by reading, others by listening and others by practicing, so try to include a variety of tasks and materials to ensure each student has the opportunity to learn in the way that is best for them. 

• Plan activities according to class size.

As with face-to-face classrooms, you want to know how many students you will be teaching, as this will affect the types of classes and assessments you conduct. For example, short-answer or essay tests can be challenging to assess in large classes. Class size will also shape course material asynchronous (recorded) versus synchronous (live). Is it possible to ask your students to submit work? Is it possible to organize group activities? Do you have time for correction and evaluation of activities? 

• Make all your classes available.

One thing that the online teacher must always keep in mind is that, unlike physical classrooms, distance education is made precisely for those who need time flexibility. Even if you offer live lessons, it is very important that they are always recorded and available for your students to see when they can.   

–  Learn how to record videos at home

Communication on eLearning

All professionals have working hours and the online teacher is no exception. Be sure to advise your students on how they can get in touch with you and when you will be available to attend them.

It can be interesting to set an agenda just so they can ask questions and interact live. You can organize a Google Hangout at the same time every week, for example. Or hold weekly Lives on social media where you can read and answer questions live. However, if your audience is very large, we suggest that you ask someone to help you, it is not easy to speak and read comments at the same time.

Many professionals also create closed groups on Facebook and use direct communication tools like Telegram. That way, students can also interact and help each other with their difficulties. 

It is important to set a schedule for the course and make all expectations clear so that students understand their responsibilities as well, especially in an online classroom where things can seem less formal. 

It’s also a good idea to ask for feedback on how they’re doing and what they need, and make changes based on those responses to make your course even better.

It can be difficult to predict how the eLearning experience will be for students, so asking for information can go a long way towards achieving great results, both for you as a teacher, as well as for them and your future classes.

– Ways to communicate with the student in online classes

Tips for becoming an online teacher

If you decide to become an online teacher, the first step is to become familiar with the technology needed to teach online.

Do you know how to put together a slideshow? Share your screen? Transfer controls to a student giving a presentation? Start a live stream? 

Talk to people who understand the subject, watch tutorials and ask your LMS support team for help, if necessary, to make sure you understand how to perform the basic teaching functions within the platform.

Also, here are some simple tips to get you through this journey:

• Don’t be intimidated by the process. 

It may take a while for you to learn the steps, but eventually teaching over the internet will become automatic, and you will be able to take advantage of the skills you acquire with each new class you make.

• Get help. 

Many softwares support your first class, such as a technician in your live session if you need help. Knowing that there is someone to turn to can help you relax and enjoy your first class a little more.

• Embrace flexibility. 

Being an online teacher means being able to teach from wherever you are, anytime, while still experiencing the student-teacher interaction of a classroom. Learning new technologies can be stressful, but focusing on the rewards sure makes it a little easier.

The platform you are using is the best way to ensure that you are enjoying all that eLearning has to offer for you and your students.

With the right LMS, you not only reduce errors and hassles when working with the system, you learn ways to save time, add variety to your lessons, and get positive feedback.

Complete eLearning platform, Coursify.me is the ideal solution for those who want to create, sell and advertise courses on the internet.

Serving companies and professionals in more than 60 countries, the platform is a dynamic and customizable Learning Management System.

– Whats is an eLearning Platform

To learn more, visit our website, test the platform and start your new career as an online teacher.

The post How to become an online teacher appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

Favorite among many companies, know a little more about this service and understand how it can help leverage your business.

What is MailChimp?

MailChimp is a web-based email marketing service. Its main function is to help companies and professionals create and send newsletters, share them on social networks and track their results.

Even with all the new online communication channels that come up every day, email continues to be one of the most effective marketing tools.

– How to Create a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

There are 4 billion email users today and this number is expected to grow to 4.5 billion by 2024, which represents more than half of the world’s population. Impressive, isn’t it?

Source: Statista

In addition, the ROI of email marketing is one of the highest among advertising channels.

According to 2019 data from Litmus, for every $ 1 invested in email marketing, companies get $ 42 in return on average. Depending on the industry, this return may be even greater.

Two factors help to explain these excellent results: the investment required is low and the conversion rates are high.

To start an email marketing strategy, you need only 3 ingredients: a domain, a sending tool and a person to execute the strategy.

Why use MailChimp?

Technically, you can send a newsletter through your personal email.

– How to create a Newsletter

There are also email providers like Gmail, Hotmail and Outlook that you may be more familiar with. So, why use MailChimp?

Well, first of all, know that these services are designed for a person to send an email to only a few people at the same time – not a complete list of users.

MailChimp is designed to send emails to thousands of addresses at the same time.

Ranked 8th in Best Software 2020 and used by more than thirteen million small businesses, the tool allows free sending for up to 2000 subscribers.

Easy to use, you can create HTML email templates without any coding. And to improve, the service integrates nicely with various platforms such as WordPress.

If you are still not convinced, take a look on other features and benefits that MailChimp offers:

• Unlimited number of recipients: most e-mail services and Internet service providers (ISPs) limit the number of emails you can send at once. With MailChimp you can send an email to an unlimited number of recipients at the same time.
• Higher deliverability: the service works with ISPs and corporate domains to ensure that your emails are recognized as secure and approved. If there is a problem with delivery, MailChimp will try to resend the email and will tell you what the problem might be.
• Privacy laws: senders are required by law to include an unsubscribe link in all emails. MailChimp automatically includes this and asks recipients why they are leaving your list.
• Professional layout: the tool offers a wide variety of customizable templates to create your email layout. You can also create a template from scratch.
• Compatible with multiple readers and devices: MailChimp gives your recipients the option to read your emails only in HTML or in fully stylized text. In addition, it also provides tools to see how your email campaign is displayed on mobile devices.
• Integration: MailChimp enables perfect integration with other applications and services. Works well with CRM software, WordPress in general, registration forms for e-commerce, social networks, among others.
• Analysis of results: unlike what happens in the case of sending an email through your personal email, the provider give you all sorts of analytics on successful deliveries and open rates.

Want more? Here are some cool things you can do with MailChimp:

• Divide your lists into groups: dividing your subscriber base into subgroups based on engagement, location, social statistics, and more, lets you customize your message and organize your sales funnel.
• Install a registration form on your site: customize the required fields and embed the HTML in your site. MailChimp also helps you submit your application form via URL, Twitter, Facebook and QR code.
• Schedule: you can prepare your emails in advance and schedule them to be sent on specific days and times.

How much does MailChimp cost?

MailChimp offers a variety of different plans. See a summary below.

• Free: As long as you have up to 2,000 subscribers in all your account listings, you can send up to 12,000 emails per month without paying a cent.
• Monthly plans: You can upgrade to a paid plan if you do not want to limit the number of emails sent per month. Unlimited email plans start at $ 10 for 500 subscribers and go up from there.
• Pay as you go: If you are not a frequent sender, you can purchase credits that act as e-mail seals. Buy them when you need them starting at $ 0.03 per email. The price decreases as the volume increases.

Remembering that these values ​​can be updated, so it is best to check directly on the company page: http://mailchimp.com/pricing/.

6 ways to use MailChimp for your business

MailChimp offers highly effective ways to create email marketing campaigns for your business.

Here are six tips on how to make the tool work for you.

Create an email ad

Create a killer email and send it to everyone on your list. Once you have all your contacts imported into MailChimp, on the recipient screen, select the “send to whole list” option.

Send emails to a specific audience

Ideal for those who use the sales funnel strategy, MailChimp easily targets your lists. Simply use the “send to a segment” option on the recipient’s screen and choose the group to which you want to send.

Reactivate subscribers

Someone is not opening your email? Send another asking if the person is still interested in your product or service. Offer a discount coupon or special offer for the first purchase.  

– How to use a Discount Coupon on your business

Bet on content marketing

Provide valuable information about your industry or product by setting up a four-week education campaign. The process is easy. Set the campaign start date and set emails to be sent 1 week apart. You just need to schedule once.

Create campaigns for special occasions

One of the most open email campaigns is the one focused on birthdays. Keep your customer base updated and send a happy birthday message along with a discount coupon for the next visit.

Optimize results

Send an email to the customer with more information when a specific link is clicked. You can do this automatically in the Automation area of ​​MailChimp by using workflows.

MailChimp is a powerful and effective feature to help your company get closer and connect with customers, increasing your conversion rate.

With a robust, free version and low-cost updates, it’s a solid email marketing tool.

How to use MailChimp

Setting up an account in MailChimp is very simple. Just go to the company website, click the “Sign up free” button and follow the steps indicated.

Once you’ve made this registration, you’ll land on a dashboard page each time you log in that gives you an overview of your account.

This will keep you update on everything from your most recent campaign stats to how many people have signed up for your mailing list.

Manage a list

MailChimp allows you to easily organize your subscribers through lists, which are the basis of every email marketing campaign.

You can add new subscribers, access and manage your list on the “Lists” tab on the main navigation page.

Each time you create a new list – whether it’s for your customers, subscribers, students, etc. – you are prompted to enter some default information such as who the emails are, how subscribers have entered your list, and how you would like to receive notifications about changes to the list.

Once you complete these settings, you can add new clients by entering each name and email address manually or by importing them from a worksheet, site, or database.

If you do not have any subscribers when you make the list, MailChimp will automatically create a subscription form for your list and allow you to customize it to post on your social networks and website.

Create a campaign

Once you’ve set up your list, it’s time to prepare the email.

MailChimp provides a variety of basic templates to get you started (which means you do not need any prior knowledge of HTML).

You can easily edit layouts by dragging and dropping the different content blocks, and you can save your layouts for future campaigns.

Set up a new campaign by clicking the “Campaigns” tab in the top navigation bar and selecting the “Create Campaign” button in the upper left corner.

After completing the setup of your campaign, MailChimp checks and advises you if you skipped any important steps in the process. Then, just click “Publish”.

Analyze a report

Once a campaign has been successfully submitted to your list, you can check its performance under “Reports”.

Doing this analysis is critical to checking your email engagement, finding out which links are most appealing to your readers, and doing some testing with the user.

The reports are detailed and show how many people have opened your message, how often they opened it and what links they clicked on.

MailChimp also syncs with Google Analytics to provide even more detailed reports.

– How to use Google Analytics

Why use MailChimp to promote and sell online courses

Excellent resource for promoting online business, MailChimp is an extremely attractive option for anyone who is starting their email marketing strategy.  

In addition to being quite affordable and simple to use, the tool also makes it very easy to start building an email list and running marketing campaigns without prior knowledge.

The entire user interface is intuitive and well documented, designed so that anyone can send professional looking emails without the need for a marketing degree.

Those who create online courses and do not understand anything about design do not have to worry, just choose a template and then define the layout and text using the drag-and-drop resource.

That way you can get in touch and develop a relationship with your students by maintaining a professional look and a sending schedule, which strengthens your Inbound strategy.

With a well-planned and aligned strategy, you will soon have your first students.

– 5 tips to attract students for your online course

Coursify.me is a dynamic and customizable eLearning platform, which provides all the resources you may need.

Present in more than 60 countries, Coursify.me is the perfect solution for those who want to create and sell online courses.

To know more, visit our website, test the platform and find out why we are the best option for you.

The post MailChimp: create email campaigns to sell online courses appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

But, if you want to get a slice of this pie, you need to find a niche that people are looking for. In other words, it is necessary to find out if there is a market for your course.

What you need to define before start creating online courses

You have an excellent idea for creating online courses, you’re ready to start developing the content, but the question arises: is there a market for this product?

How do you know if your idea will be a huge success or a big failure?

The answer is simple: do market research.

Researching whether there is an audience interested in your online course before creating it is very important.

Unfortunately, most people find this part too complicated and end up “going blind”, which tends to go wrong. Write it down: planning is the first step to success.

– Simple guide to create and sell online courses

The good news is that it is quite simple to validate your idea for ​​an online course. There are several online tools that facilitate market research.

But first of all, start by answering the following questions:

1. Is there a demand for your course topic?

Naturally, you want to invest your money, time and effort in something that is in high demand. Otherwise, creating online courses and building a distance education business will be a complete waste of time.

To find out if a topic is in demand, here are some tips:

Ask people 

Ask friends, family and people who fit your target audience, that is, have a relationship with the area and theme you intend to teach. Find out what their difficulties are and what they would like to learn. 

You can use social media, email, join groups and discussion forums, among other channels, to get as many responses as possible.

Check the competition

This survey can give you an idea if the topic you intend to address has a demand and if enough people are already trying to solve it. Search Google, Amazon, popular podcasts and other online education-related platforms. Take the opportunity to use your competitors as inspiration to create successful online courses.

But be aware, if there is little or no competition, this is a bad sign. It probably means that there is little or no demand for your idea.

Do a keyword research 

Google is a powerful tool that you can use to analyze the demand of their course. Use the keyword planner to find out what people are searching for and what topics are most searched for. 

Another great keyword tool is Answer The Public. Just select keywords related to the course topic and see how many questions arise. The more questions there are, the greater the interest in the subject.

– How to define and search for keywords

2. Do you have a specific target audience?

Many people who start creating online courses make the mistake of assuming that their course is perfect for everyone. However, those who do not focus on a specific group, end up reaching anyone.

It may seem counterintuitive to restrict your course audience, but it is proven that courses have sold best when created with a specific target audience in mind.

To define who your client is, answer the following questions:

• Do you know someone who would be interested in taking your course? If so, what do you know about this or these people?
• What is the age group of your target audience? Genre? Economic status? Profession? You must have specific demographics in mind.
• What are the problems of this audience?
• What do they want to achieve? What would be the ideal outcome that your course could offer?
• How much are they willing to pay to get the desired result? 

The answers to these questions will help you define your buyer persona, that is, your ideal customer.

– How to create a buyer persona

Keeping that persona in mind is essential to learn how to create online courses that meet the expectations of the audience you intend to reach.

3. Do you have a powerful goal?

Of course, one of your goals when creating online courses is to make money, but that should not be your only reason to dive into this endeavor. In addition to increasing your income, you need to have a greater motivation when it comes to teaching.

Without a real passion for your topic, you will not be as enthusiastic as your competitors, and your potential students are sure to notice, which will result in less sales. 

Many professionals create a course just for the purpose of winning and forget that the most important thing is to serve your audience.

The result? Low sales rate.

So, be sincere and answer yourself what your goal is. What is your motivation to teach on this topic?

Perhaps you have had an experience that has taught you some valuable lesson, and now you are inspired to share what you have learned.

Perhaps you love your profession or some other subject with all your heart, and the idea of ​​passing on your knowledge is wonderful.

Or maybe a friend or loved one has inspired you to share something you know, that has made all the difference in his life.

Doing an internal search is just as important as external search. If you have no motivation other than money, you may need to rethink your idea of ​​creating online courses.

3 ways to validate your idea before creating online courses

Thanks to technology, you have several simple and free tools online to validate your course idea.

Conducting a survey is important to assess whether there is a market for your course and to give you more security before you start.

There are different channels for making this query and Coursify.me has listed three that you can test before creating online courses.

Google

Go to Google and start with the obvious, do a search for keywords and phrases related to the topic of your course.

Think about how your potential audience could search for that topic on the internet and don’t necessarily include the word “online course”. Pay attention to these results:

• How relevant is your idea of ​​an online course to searchers? In what position does it appear?
• Videos appear on the first page?
• Are there any paid ads related to the topic?
• Are courses on the same topic already available?

If these items appear in your search, contrary to what may look, this is a good sign. It means that there are other professionals or companies that agree that it is possible to profit from this idea.

When creating online courses, you want to address a niche where people are spending money.

– 10 profitable niches for online courses

If no competition appears, you need to think about why no one is investing in it.

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a powerful SEO tool that evaluates shares on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest and Instagram.

Just type a topic or keyword in the search field and the program will show you which sites are gaining the most likes, shares and links related to the subject.

These results provide a good sense of how popular a topic is and on which channel it attracted the most attention.

This not only helps to validate your idea before you start creating online courses, but it also shows you where it’s most interesting to start promoting it.

It is also possible to know what engagement it has and how your competition is doing.

Amazon

You may be wondering what Amazon has to do with creating online courses, and the answer is: nothing. But don’t forget that the focus here is market research.

Website where we can find everything today, let’s remember that this is only possible thanks to a powerful search engine.

The Amazon Kindle Store area is particularly valuable for course creators. It contains a large number of eBooks on various subjects.

Through Amazon’s search engine you can find out if there are books on the topic you want to address and if they sell well.

Enter your search terms in the search bar and select “Kindle Store” from the side menu.

If you see several results related to your course topic, and if any of them are on Amazon’s Best Sellers list, this is a good indication that you are on the right track.

As simple as it may be, this market research is very effective in helping to validate your idea before finally starting to create your course.

Create and sell online courses with Coursify.me

Determining whether there is a market for your course is as important as creating and selling it. 

Remember that you don’t have to have tons of experience or qualifications to teach on your chosen topic.

What you need is a passion for the subject, a willingness to teach and a determination to create well-made and effective online courses that stand out from the competition.

And, most importantly, you must strive to create a course that meets the needs of your target audience. Do this and the money will follow.

In addition, all you need is a Learning Management System (LMS) where you can host your courses and that is easy and interesting for your students to access.

– Whats is a Learning Management System

Elearning platform, Coursify.me has integration with other content platforms, such as YouTube and Vimeo. In addition, the user can upload videos, texts, images, audios and any other material that is hosted on Dropbox or on his own computer.

Attending schools, companies and professionals in more than 60 countries, Coursify.me is a dynamic Learning Management System, ready to serve you. 

To learn more, visit our website, test the platform and start creating online courses right now.

The post Creating online courses: how to validate my course idea appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

Stripe: history

Who performs some kind of commercial transaction over the internet needs to use the services of a payment processor to be able to carry out this operation.

Created in 2010, Stripe is a payment gateway that quickly became known as a well-crafted and simple-to-use solution.

Considered the “PayPal of the mobile era,” the platform allows individuals and companies to accept payments over the internet.

With a discreet profile, the Stripe was created by two Irish brothers, Patrick and John Collison, who decided to found the company because they were frustrated with the existing online payment systems.

– How to make money online

In 2007, the brothers had a funding request declined by Enterprise Ireland, so they decided to go to Silicon Valley, where they merged with Y Combinator and formed the Auctomatic.

Auctomatic was responsible for creating tools for eBay and in 2008 it was purchased for $ 5 million. At that time John Collison was 17 years old.

So, in 2010, the brothers founded Stripe. In a short time, the startup caught the attention and received investments of names such as Sequoia Capital, Andrew Horiwitz, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and Max Levchin.

Today Stripe is worth over $ 9 billion, and is used by more than 100,000 companies, including Kickstarter, Slack, Lyft, Adidas, Under Armor, OpenTable, Best Buy, InstaCart, Docker, HubSpot, Unicef, NPR and Khan Academy.

Stripe: who can use

Relatively new company, and disputing market with PayPal, a well-established payment processor, you must be asking yourself: what is special about Stripe?

The answer is simple: easy integration. As the company itself says, “We believe payments are a problem rooted in the code, not in finance.”

Focusing on facilitating business between online companies, the platform is widely used by developers seeking easy integration with other sites.

The developer resources the company offers exceed any other platform on the market.

Whether you are a SaaS owner who needs to charge a subscription, or a marketplace looking for an easy way to split payments, or an online retailer that wants to facilitate and increase mobile payments, Stripe has a solution for you.

Easy to use and resource-packed, Stripe has powerful tools for marketplaces, e-commerces, SaaS, and developers.

Stripe: how it works

The basic tools offered are deceptively simple, so you discover resources you never imagined existed.

Everything is divided into two categories:

Payment Processing

Stripe offers instant access to processing, just like PayPal.

The company approves your registration almost instantly and scans your account more closely as you continue to do business.

Its services are available in 25 countries at the moment, but the platform accepts payment in more than 100 currency.

Developer Tools

This is the part that most users really care about.

Its APIs provide a solid and well-crafted framework for developers to quickly and easily integrate the platform using a variety of languages ​​(curl, Ruby, Python, PHP, Java, Node, etc.).

This creates a solid foundation for developing and expanding your business, and Stripe constantly updates its resources and documentation.

Here are some features offered:

• Checkout: Prevents you from creating forms and payment streams from scratch, but also allows for a high level of customization.
• Mobile integration: Provides documentation for Android or iOS to power in-app payments. There’s also the one-touch solution that allows users to save their data for faster purchases next time.
• Marketplace solutions: A wealth of tools to help you direct your payments to your vendors, including instant deposits.
• Subscription solutions: unlimited options for subscription plans. You can even enroll unique users in various types of plans.
• Free coupons and trials: easy-to-use marketing tools. Attract potential customers by offering a free trial period or a special offer.
• Teams: divide your employees into teams and assign permission levels to them. This helps keep your data safe.
• Stripe Connect: a set of tools designed specifically for marketplaces. Stripe supports over 100 currencies and automatically converts them. You can also use Connect to check international sellers, add text that appears on credit card statements, automate payments, or create a custom payment schedule.
• Stripe Atlas: Atlas allows international companies to join the US, create a bank account in the country and obtain tax and legal guidance. Stripe says it already has more than 1,000 startups in more than 120 countries and has already added more than 100 partners to its network since launch.
• Stripe Radar: Stripe solution for e-commerce fraud. Radar uses machine learning to identify and stop credit card fraud. It also provides tools for marketers to define transaction-specific rules, test the impact of those rules, and reduce the amount of manual labor their team needs to complete.
• Stripe Relay: allows you to boost purchases in mobile applications. Relay features enable marketers to link their e-commerce catalogs to your application or directly upload product information. It creates in-app purchase buttons and forwards all sales information to merchants to fulfill the order.

If you want to use Stripe without getting involved with the developer tools, consider using a Stripe plugin for WordPress, Magento or Drupal.

You can also take advantage of the services that allow the simple integration of Stripe for e-commerce.

Some integration providers include BigCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace, Big Cartel, Stitch, Harvest, Weebly and many others.

Stripe: advantages

If you are still not convinced about using Stripe, here are some more advantages that the platform offers for your business.

Easy integration

The first great advantage of the gateway is the easy integration of your payment system in different environments and platforms.

Programmers just need to copy and paste the lines of code from the solution that best fits your business, and within minutes, the system is ready for use.

User Experience

Unlike other processors, when using Stripe, your customers are not redirected to an external portal.

Everything is done inside your website, which ensures complete control over the whole process. This helps improve the user experience around each customer’s brand and not around the Stripe brand.

Security

Stripe is a Level 1 compliant PCI service, which is the highest level of security certification.

Also, if you decide to leave Stripe, it will help you export all the data from the card to a new PCI-compliant provider. This is a great deal.

Fixed rate

For each successful transaction, the platform charges only a single flat rate: 2.9% + $ 0.30.

The lack of monthly fees particularly favors small and medium-sized business.

Varied forms of payment

The gateway accepts credit cards, debit cards, ACH transactions (direct deposit) and Bitcoin. You will pay only 0.8% for each transaction, up to a maximum of $ 5.

Stripe recently launched a micropayment plan for digital products (less than ten dollars), for which it maintains the same flat rate.

Accepts multiple currencies

Merchants can display prices in multiple local currencies instead of just one. Stripe automatically converts them to you.

Generally speaking, there are no exchange rates, only the conversion rate.

Technical support

Stripe has customer service and support via email, social media, and also has an IRC channel (#stripe on Freenode) where programmers can chat and get help online.

You can follow the company on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and get updates on the Stripe services via Twitter.

Why use Stripe for your online courses

Modern platform, which values ​​the ease of use, without a doubt this is a great option for online payment.

For those who sell online courses, it is important to make the most of the options available to your customers, favoring the one that is simpler to use.

– How to sell online courses

Important to remember that your students do not need to have a Stripe account. To make the payment they only need a credit or debit card.

For you, Stripe means the end of wasted time by setting up an account and using a confusing payment gateway. Everything is up and running in five minutes or less.

Sellers do not have to call anyone, get in touch with the bank, and fill out endless forms. And to improve, the money can be deposited in any bank.

Not to mention you do not have to worry about monthly fees, installation fees, annual fees, transaction fees, etc.

Stripe is simple, intuitive and has a great support team. Your students are able to make the payment easily, safely and from any location.

Complete platform for hosting online courses, Coursify.me already has integration with PagSeguro and PayPal, and soon you will be adding Stripe as another advantage for our customers.

– How PagSeguro works

Present in more than 60 countries, Coursify.me is the ideal solution to create, sell and advertise courses on the internet without having to invest anything for it.

Visit our website, test the platform and know why we are the best option for your business.

The post Advantages of using Stripe for selling Online Courses appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

With numerous options to make payment through the internet or in physical stores, understand why the PagSeguro is the right choice for your online course.

What is PagSeguro

Cumulative data from Statista anticipates a 246.15% increase in worldwide ecommerce sales, from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $4.5 trillion in 2021.

By the close of 2017, B2C ecommerce sales will hit $2.3 trillion worldwide. B2B ecommerce, on the other hand, will reach $7.7 trillion. Those two data points represent a 234.78% difference in market size.

The massive opportunities of global ecommerce are too big to ignore.

“It is a consistent trend worldwide, the frequency of online shopping grows every year”, said Ricardo Neves, partner at PwC and expert in retail and consumption.

But for all these business transactions take place over the internet, a system is required to process each transaction and make “the bridge” with the financial institutions.

Here is where PagSeguro enters as a payment platform that works for both virtual and physical stores.

The PagSeguro is an integration system that acts making the connection between the sale place (virtual or physical store, e-commerce or website) with the mode of payment that your customer chosen.

The moment your customer clicks on “complete my purchase”, the gateway will be responsible for mediating the payment action, ensuring that all financial data and information from your customers remain confidential and secure.

With over 600,000 registered stores and 40 million buyers, PagSeguro presents the complete solution to sell on and off the internet.

How does PagSeguro works

The PagSeguro is a payment facilitator for entrepreneurs, sellers and buyers.

Any person or entity can create an account on the platform through which they can receive and make payments easily and safely.

Also, you can choose different payment methods to provide to your customer, such as credit cards, online debit, bank slips, deposit account and balance transfer between PagSeguro accounts.  

Payment via credit card can be parceled up to 18 times, with or without interest, but the total value falls into your account within 14 days after purchase.

Working with various financial institutions, the site accepts cards of 17 brands and online debit of five banks.

To create an account, the process is very simple, just follow the step by step below:

• Access the PagSeguro page and click on “create an account”;
• Choose between “seller” and “buyer”;
• Complete the online form and accept the terms of use;
• Wait to get an email from the platform, confirm and finalize the process of creating your account.

At the time of purchase, the PagSeguro can open in three different ways, depending on the payment interface option that the site on which you are making the purchase selected:

• Transparent Checkout: the customer stay at the same website and enter his data normally. Most often, the client does not realize that was the PagSeguro who performed the transaction.
• Lightbox: opens a PagSeguro window, pop-up style, and the customer makes the payment within this screen.
• Standard: the buyer  is directed to the PagSeguro website and there fills his data and password.

There is no charge for tuition or membership fee to have or create an account.

Receiving payments with PagSeguro

To start receiving payments there are some more bureaucratic details that you have to go through, but it is necessary to increase your security.

In general it is quite easy:

• Login and click on “verify account”;
• Enter your bank account and other required information;
• Within 4 days will be made 2 deposits into your account from a value between 1 and 99 cents;
• Log again and click on verify account;
• Use the exact values of deposits to prove that you own the account and confirm;
• After the account is verified, login and choose whether if you want to receive by prepaid card or direct into your account;
• Enter how much you want to receive and confirm.

To use PagSeguro you just have to install the gateway in your virtual store or an app on your phone. It is easy and fast.

The seller does not pay anything to use the service, only being charged a value when the sale is approved.

What kinds of stores can use PagSeguro

Businesses and shops of different sizes and areas, physical or virtual, can use PagSeguro.

To physical stores, the platform have machines to pass card, as Moderninha PRO and Moderninha WiFi.

There is also the option of credit card readers and even payments via mobile.

To make life easier for those who work with Marketplace (site that sells products from other stores in exchange for a commission), the PagSeguro offers a Split system, which divides the money of each part on sales and make payments.

The PagSeguro also works with recurring payments (fees), common in the sale of services such as online courses, SaaS, streaming, newspaper, and many others.

Ideal for e-commerces of all kinds, the platform also allows use payment buttons on your social networks or send links by e-mail, an alternative useful for self-employed and professionals.

Advantages of using PagSeguro

The PagSeguro offers numerous advantages for both sellers and buyers, and one is in relation to its payment release system.

In case of purchase, the platform only releases the money after 14 days, giving enough time for the buyer to open a dispute and recover their money if there is any problem, as undelivered or defective product.

The seller, besides not having agreements costs with banks and card managers, outsources various processes, such as risk analysis, as the PagSeguro is fully responsible for installments and payments.

– Work at home: how to achieve this goal

With more than 80,000 online stores using the platform, see other advantages that PagSeguro offers to its users.

Purchase reminder

To assist the seller in the case of shopping cart abandonment at an online store, the PagSeguro sends an email warning the consumer that the product is still available.

This works to reawaken the desire to buy and drive the user to complete the operation.

Cheaper shipping

The “Shipping Easy” is a PagSeguro partnership with the Post Office that leaves the freight up to 70% cheaper compared to conventional shipping price.

Freight can be paid using the balance of the sale made and the customer is notified, by email, when the goods were posted.

Payments via mobile

Who doesn’t have an online store can purchase the PagSeguro debt and credit player and receive by phone or tablet.

The user buys the player, download a free app and connect the phone or tablet. No need to pay monthly fee for using the machine, only pay for what they sell.

This option provides more flexibility to the professional and is already widely used by those who work on the street, such as taxi drivers, private teachers, sellers, etc.

PagSeguro advantages for those who sell online courses

This year, the company that previously operated only in the domestic market, made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange with its stocks highly valued.

They raised in only one day at least US $ 2.3 billion, which is the largest offer made by a foreign company on Wall Street since the giant Alibaba appears.

Industry analysts believe that the PagSeguro performance on the New York Stock Exchange must follow growing. In 2017, the company recorded net income of R$ 290 million until September, with an increase of 225% over the same period last year.

Consolidated payment platform, PagSeguro is associated with reliable service, capable of providing security to your business and your sales.

Ideal for those who want to sell online courses, the platform enables the receipt of payment in a lump sum or on a recurring basis (monthly).

– How to sell online courses

In addition, the PagSeguro offers collection management, reminder emails to your customers, support by email, installment credit card and, with its entrance on the international market, will soon be accepting foreign cards.

Simple to use, your students can make the payment with ease, safety and from anywhere.

Complete eLearning platform (LMS), the Coursify.me has integration with PagSeguro and PayPal, allowing you to receive payment in the currency of your choice.

Present in more than 60 countries, Coursify.me has pleasant and intuitive interface, perfect for you start your own business without investing anything for it.

– How to make money online

Ideal solution to create, sell and publish courses on the Internet, visit our website, test the platform and find out why we are the best option for you.

The post PagSeguro: how it works and what its advantages for your business appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

How to make money online: Bet on eLearning

If you want to know how to make money online working with what you like and, preferably, in the comfort of your home, we have a great suggestion: invest in online courses.

Why this solution is great? Well, we can list a few reasons:

1 – Market in broad expansion

According to a Docebo report, it is estimated that the online courses market will profit about 165 billion dollars next year and, by 2023, will likely grow about 5%, more than 240 billion dollars worldwide.

In Brazil the numbers also indicate continued growth, since the distance education is still most popular in countries undergoing political and economic crises, which access to traditional education is more difficult and costly.

– Elearning market in Brazil

– Elearning market worldwide

2 – Own business

There are two ways to use online courses as means of making money.

The first is devoting time to create and sell your course.

If you enjoy teaching, this is the perfect option to decide how to make money online.

– To-do list to create online courses

3 – Professional training

Another way to make money is by acquiring new knowledge and skills and become a more desired professional.

Online courses are the best option for those who want to learn with time flexibility and without spending with high fees.

There are several quality courses available on the internet that even deliver certification.

– What the market thinks about online courses in the curriculum

Today, the answer to the question “how to make money online?” is closely linked to the effort you are willing to employ because with the internet, all the possibilities are at your fingertips.

How to make money online: Can I turn my work into an online venture?

If you decide to create your online course, know that it is not necessary to abandon your regular job.

Depending on what your goals are, there are some options to consider:

• Working exclusively with a product/service online;
• Having an online and offline business at the same time;
• Slowly transitioning your work offline to online.

Before you decide, consider what you already have, what you want to do, and what would be the most solid and secure option at the time.

To give an example, in Coursify.me we have a success story about how to make money online leveraging the best of both worlds.

Case: Professor Felipe Oberg

Professor Felipe Oberg, a Portuguese teacher, decided to use Coursify.me to place online lessons and disposal support materials for his students while using it also as a dissemination channel for his regular classes. Check out:

http://professorfelipeoberg.coursify.me/

Absolute success, with hundreds of subscribers, his method can be described in a simple step by step:

• Record your lessons;
• Invite your classroom students to access the online classes;
• Provide extra material for those who are already students as means to study in home;
• Use the online course to sell subscriptions to regular classes;
• Put new content gradually on the eLearning platform.

Notice that he began using material that he already owned and disclosing for those who were already his clients.

Much of the current disclosure statement is made by the students themselves and the business continues to grow.

Getting Started

Take a few hours a day to develop a plan of what you will teach and how this will be done.

Remember that to teach something you need to know a lot about it, then choose a topic related to your field of work and study hard.

Then choose the format of your course (videos, handouts, tutorials, etc) and host it on a LMS (Learning Management System), as Coursify.me.

– Learning Management System: what it is and what it is for

Remember, decide your goal is the first step to give birth to your online business.

How to make money online: How to know if my course has a market

Before starting to invest and create your course, is indicated to do a market survey to assess whether there is demand and potential audience to consume your product.

The good news is that thanks to technology, there are several simple and free tools on the internet to help validate your idea.

The first step is research the existence of courses that address the same subject or similar, and if  there are a considerable number of people who show interest on it.

This is very important because despite competition seem daunting, their existence indicates that there is a market interested in what you have to offer.

So if you want to know how to make money online and if this will be possible with your business idea, see three search channels that can give you more confidence:

• Google: do a search for keywords and phrases related to the theme of your course. Notice how relevant your idea is for search engines, if there is competition, paid advertisements and other factors indicating that there is someone spending money on it.
• BuzzSumo: this is a powerful SEO tool that evaluates the shares on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest and Google+. These results provide a good idea of how popular a topic is, what commitment it has and how your competition is doing.
• Amazon: through the Amazon search engine you can find out if there are books on the subject you want to address and if they sell well. If you see several results related, and if any of them are on the Bestseller list, this is a good indication that you are on the right track.

Simple as it is, this market research is quite effective to help validate your idea before finally start creating your course.

How to make money online: Commercial strategies

Who wants to know how to make money online need to understand a little about business strategies.

There are several effective methods to attract leads, assist in the conversion process, relationship and customer loyalty.

It all starts with drawing a profile of your target audience, understanding their needs and desires.

This is necessary to know how to present your product and also to give you a clear idea of what solutions you can offer to solve their problems.

First, it is important to understand that your customers are different people that may have the most varied reasons to get your course.

This variation of profile and needs is the reason why many professionals offer more than one price option.

Keep in mind that some people will make your course just as a hobby, others to enhance their curriculum and companies may also be interested in your material as a way to empower employees.

Each one of this profiles have an idea of how much they want, can and think they should spend, so different prices are an effective option to close the deal.

The ideal solution is provide three price options, because by having two values available, the client usually opts for the cheaper one. But when included an intermediate value, this becomes much more attractive.

But here comes the question: What can I offer to justify the difference in values?

Here are some options:

Consulting

Many people do not mind paying a little more to get extra help. Offer an hour daily or weekly to give online support.

Set an appointment with your student and remember that the longer you are available to give these extra classes, more money you can make.

Content update

If you intend to publish new content regularly, you are on track to earn more.

You can provide access to all your contents for a month, a year or even indefinitely. This is the case of sell subscriptions, rather than the entire course at one time. A lucrative method of keeping customers always active.

Support material

All extra material that can assist learning, such as eBooks, videos, presentations, among others, can be sold for a price a part.

As we pointed out earlier, methods that generate better results for your client are the ideal way to profit more.

Use your creativity to capture the interest of your audience and create strategies that reflect positively to your pocket.

How to make money online: Selling models

Now that you know how to make money online by analyzing your audience and creating options that meet their different needs, you have to understand a little bit more about sales models and how to price and offer your course.

Currently, companies and professionals are opting for two format types: subscription or one time sale.

Sale by subscription

Ideal for those who will produce a lot of content on a specific niche, in this model you offer the student free access to all your stuff, allowing him to do all the classes he wants, as often he wants, on payment of tuition.

Adopted by large companies such as Netflix, Spotify and Apple, the big advantage is that you sell once and keep profiting recurrently.

In addition, this model is hardly shaken by an economic crisis, since the fee is usually low and the person acquires the habit of paying that monthly fee for the service.

One time sale

Suitable for those who want to create content on different subjects and that do not necessarily need to be consumed together.

This option allows the instructor to create different packages, letting the student to decide what best suits his needs.

If you are English teacher, for example, you can sell separately lessons on grammar, literature and text production. The student purchase only what is of his interest.

Thus, we conclude that the answer to “how to make money online?” it’s wide and depends only on you to make it happen.

To ensure the success of your online course, count on the Coursify.me to create, promote and sell your content.

Complete elearning platform (LMS), the Coursify.me is already used by over 450 users and serves businesses and professionals in more than 60 countries.

Visit our website, test and find out how to make money online easily with your course on the internet.

The post How to Make Money Online appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.