Why You Should Avoid Course Platforms That Host Videos For You
Brooke Elder
Charting the course for ops professionals to navigate from support roles to strategists. I help VAs, OBMs, and Project Managers unlock their full potential & become strategic partners.
So, you’ve decided to scale your business by creating an online course. Congratulations!
Video content is an essential feature of any online course. This is where video hosting tools enter the picture – for storing, tracking, and sharing your content.
There are many different options available including online course platforms such as Teachable or Thinkific, or video hosting tools like Vimeo.
The right option for your business takes into consideration loading time, reliability, cost, analytics, and ability to share your content across platforms.
What is video hosting?
Video hosting tools let you store and publish your video content so they can be accessed by other people. But they can do so much more for you!
They can also help you add privacy features to your videos, add branding, and provide data analytics so that you can see how many views you’ve received, how much of your video is watched, and viewer demographics.
Advantages of using a video host
Videos are really big files – probably bigger than any other file you have on your website. When you upload them onto your site, they take up a lot of space which means they can take a long time to load for your customers. And even slow down your entire site!
Video hosting tools allow you to upload your content on their site. Once it’s stored there, you use an embed code to add the video to the appropriate pages on your site. The result is your page load times remain quick, enhancing your customer experience.
Video hosting platforms have many other benefits. Sometimes, you may want to keep your videos private or be able to set a duration for how long the video is visible. The host will provide this feature. If you’re looking for some analytics on who’s watching your videos and for how long, most hosts offer this too!
In short, a video hosting platform frees up a lot of resources on your site while giving you a powerful tool for your business.
Why you should avoid course platforms that host for you
Hosted course platforms like Teachable or Kajabi make an offer that sounds great on the surface. You pay a monthly fee, get your course up and running quickly, then upgrade your plan as you start making more money.
The problem is these platforms are missing many of the elements you need to be successful in marketing and delivering your course.
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The best marketing plan for your online course includes giving your prospects a sneak peek into your course. Hosted course platforms however don’t let you reuse your video content on other pages, including landing pages.
2. Speed
We already know that video loading speed is really important for your customers. Most hosted course platforms start you out on a shared server along with a bunch of other free or low-cost plans.
What that means for you is that your videos will load very slowly, especially if someone else on your shared server is using a lot of the available bandwidth.
3. Reporting
Video hosting tools include a suite of analytic tools that let you see how many times a video has been watched, how long, demographic data on your viewers, what type of device is most used by your customers, and more.
Reporting tools in online course platforms are typically very basic until you opt in to one of their top-level tiers.?
4. Storage Limits
Some online course platforms limit the number of courses and active users you are able to add to your offerings. As you scale your business, this can be a roadblock to moving forward.
Video hosting tools like Vimeo have generous storage limits (5GB per week at the lowest level) and unlimited bandwidth.?
5. Cost
Many online course platforms charge transaction fees at the lower pricing plan levels. This means that you’re paying them a portion of your course sales – up to 10% on some platforms. The more you sell, the more of your earnings you turn over to them.
When it comes to video hosting for your new online course, you have a lot of options. Choosing the right one can be difficult, but there are some distinct advantages to using a video hosting tool for your content instead of an online course platform including video loading times, reporting, and cost.
Systems with Strategy offers you a learning management system that allows you to host your content on a video hosting tool, with unlimited courses and unlimited users. To find out more about how Systems with Strategy can benefit your business,?book a demo call?with one of our experts.