LMScast

In this LMScast Chris Badgett can help you decide between learning management system all-in-one software vs. an integrated software solution for your learning management system, online course, or membership site requirements.

There are turnkey all-in-one solutions offered by some companies that may or may not serve your needs. For many people, our LifterLMS course development platform provides everything they need. In most cases there’s no complete solution right out of the box, so you’ll want to explore integrated systems that bring together a variety of third-party tools.

We provide a hybrid WordPress-based service for LifterLMS that integrates all the services you need into a custom integrated all-in-one solution, and we’ve just released a LifterLMS add-on for Gravity Forms. It’s one of the best information gathering tools for simple or complex forms, testing, surveys, and signable forms. Plus it readily works with a wide variety of other solutions. Find out more about Gravity Forms from our blog entry at blog.lifterlms.com/gravity-forms.

Whether you employ learning management system all-in-one software vs. integrated software solution, or a custom solution by our LifterLMS service, your online success depends on your ability to share information, develop online courses, sell products, or create software. Let us help you find your best solution!

This is our 100th episode anniversary edition of LMScast, and today’s topic challenges you to ask yourself, what level teacher leader are you? Leadership instructor and author Chris Badgett will help you understand what kind of teacher and leader you are and how you can improve.

The first level you operate from is positional, meaning you are a leader because you occupy the role of teacher for your course. Your authority may take a positive or negative form depending on circumstances, with positive reinforcement being preferable if not always possible. The next level of leadership establishes your authority through your credentials, experience, and proven expertise. At the highest level, your reputation alone will attract students to your online courses.

Having your answer for what level teacher leader you are gives you a place to work up from. That investment in yourself will make you a better teacher and leader, and we’ll continue helping you do that for the next 100 episodes of LMScast and beyond.

The best online learning experience requires a live element, and today’s LMScast explains how to do livestreaming with online courses, membership sites, and more. Livestreaming allows for real-time online interaction through any device that can access the internet, and it’s an extremely effective support feature for your course.

It’s easy to get started with livestreaming using basic services like YouTube Live, and then step up to Livestream or Ustream to schedule broadcasts and view analytics. But at some point you’ll need a custom setup for minimal latency and total control over your broadcasts. codeBOX web development can help you optimize your livestreaming experience.

Livestreaming is especially effective in blended learning environments, providing that human touch that demonstrates that you take a real interest in your students.

Offer online office hours and schedule live discussions to meet your students and respond to their needs through adaptive, personalized learning solutions. Students will also be able to interact with each other in a real-time online community environment.

Visit us today at gocodebox.com to find out more about how to do livestreaming with online courses, membership sites, and more, or to discuss which codeBOX custom online course solutions you need.

If you have an online business, the time will come when you need custom membership site, online course, or learning management system development and design services. In this LMScast codeBOX owners and team members discuss what they do and how they can partner with you.

The LMScast program began with the release of the codeBOX LifterLMS platform in 2014. LMScast was designed to help users get the most out of the LifterLMS software. Technical users really loved LifterLMS, but most people just wanted to focus on their business and needed a custom development service to get them online.

codeBOX provides that service now to help you define the scope of your project and develop the technical system required to support your goals. They begin with their unique discovery process whereby they really get to know you, your business, and your vision before helping you expand and refine your idea, co-creating a plan, and setting a budget and timeline for your project.

You’ll benefit most from professional development services once you’re already successful and ready to move upward with our innovative team of expert programmers, developers, and designers. When you need custom membership site, online course, or learning management system development and design services, the codeBOX team members want to be your long-term technology partners. Visit our website at gocodebox.com to learn more about our services.

This LMScast departs from the usual focus on business to address a more altruistic purpose for becoming an educational entrepreneur. Today Chris Badgett shares his online course creation freedom secrets for creating a livelihood by helping others.

As Sufi poet Hafiz wrote, "The small man builds cages for everyone he knows, while the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low, keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful rowdy prisoners." You can be the one to drop those keys and set people free by sharing your valuable skills, knowledge, and expertise through your online courses. This could become your authentic life purpose.

That’s what LifterLMS is for us. It’s a key to help you discover and unlock your intrinsic value and make that connection with the people who want to learn from you. We’ll give you the tools to fully utilize the Internet to share your passion for your niche globally.

There are no limits here where education, entrepreneurship, and technology intersect. Create your own sub-niche, find your people, and support yourself through helping them. Let LifterLMS partner with you to help you become an educational entrepreneur. Visit us at lifterlms.com/my-online-courses for more online course creation freedom secrets.

Today’s LMScast tells you how not to fail as an instructional designer or eLearning consultant by balancing the three fundamental elements that make up your online course. You must have expertise, instructional design, and a functional online delivery system or your course will fail.

You may actually be an instructional designer or an expert in your specialty area, but you’re still only contributing a third of what’s needed. If you’re a solopreneur trying to do all three tasks yourself, you’ve really got your work cut out for you. And in each case you still need an optimal learning management system to package and deliver your courses.

Like a three-legged stool, if you’re missing the expertise, instructional design, or LMS element then your online course simply won’t stand up and function. And if you’re only skilled or knowledgeable in one of these three areas, the other two legs are going to be short and your business will be unstable.

Partnering with a company like LifterLMS can ensure your requirements for expertise, for instructional design, and for online course packaging and delivery are fulfilled. Watch our introductory video at lifterlms.com/my-elearning-technology-partner. We’re ready to help you build your course and make it successful.

Internal training courses are a great way to help your people grow. This LMScast is about new highly effective smart corporate training and organizational development systems that allow your managers to focus on higher-level tasks instead of onboarding and training.

Most businesses still train new employees by having them shadow a current employee, or worse, throw them into the job to sink or swim on their own. Training tools are still old and clunky, like employee manuals and checklists of tasks and duties. It’s a dry and uninspiring process.

Your training will be much more effective if your people are excited and invested, and online courses give you the ability to bring that color and engagement to the task through gamification and incentives. You’ll also be able to capture the value of your internal knowledge and expertise resources by designing them into your courses and scaling them for repetitive long-term use.

Pulling your system of internal online courses together isn’t as complex as it sounds. You can hire a service like our Boost service, and we’ll set it up in just five days, ready for your key people to add content and media. Improve your business, help your team grow, and capture value with smart corporate training and organizational development systems. Visit us at lifterlms.com/my-corporate-training to find out more.

There are many opportunities open to digital technology professionals, and one of those is online course development. In this LMScast we’ll show you 3 business models for online course entrepreneurship for WordPress and other technologists.

Technology, coding, and programming courses are always changing and often the only way to stay current is self-instruction or online courses through services like Codecademy or Treehouse. You can teach technology courses, too, and these 3 business models will help you get started.

In the first model you simply teach a course on the language or technology you know best. The second model is to offer a platform to publish other people’s courses for a fee or commission. Your third option is to put together online courses for other people who don’t want to learn the technology to build their own. You can provide services for fitness, business, music, or any other industry.

Use these 3 business models for online course entrepreneurship for WordPress and other technologists for a fresh start on doing what you do best. If you want to get busy teaching, we can set up the course platform for you with our Boost service. Find out more at http://lifterlms.com/my-wp-courses.

Today’s LMScast will help real estate professionals teach courses online with a look at the top 3 online courses residential real estate brokers and agency owners use for business growth. Methods of buying and selling homes are changing. If you know how to leverage the internet, social media, and web presence you can teach others.

Online real estate courses generate leads, build relationships, and make you a market leader. They can be fee-based or free. You can focus on creating content, prospecting, or scaling vital relationships.

Three great courses you can offer include guidance for people who want to do for sale by owner (FSBO), help for first-time buyers, and in-depth training to sell for maximum profit. Often your courses will convince people they need to hire a professional instead of handling real estate transactions themselves. And since they now know you through your courses and trust your expertise, they’ll most likely hire you.

Providing real estate courses will help others make good decisions about their real estate activities and you’ll sharpen your own skills in the process, especially your ability to communicate effectively with your clients. You can even use your courses for training inside your own organization.

You will need a delivery system for your courses, like our LifterLMS course development platform. And creating your courses doesn’t have to be a large-scale project, especially if you use our Boost service to get your courses online in just five days. Go to lifterlms.com/real-estate-courses/ for more useful information on the top 3 online courses residential real estate brokers and agency owners use for business growth.

This LMScast explains how online courses can help you grow your SaaS business with 3 ways SaaS product companies win with an online course strategy.

Online courses just make sense for SaaS to provide in-depth instruction for new users and instruction for software upgrades and added features so customers get the most out of your tools. Offering value through a free introductory course encourages customers to opt-in and create an account. The same course functions as customer onboarding support.

You can use the very same course as your employee onboarding tool to quickly bring new employees up to speed. Then create training courses for customer service skills, outbound sales, and prospecting. After documenting these steps for beginners you’ll have much greater clarity about your own products and processes. Online courses also grow your business by supporting your software, generating leads, reducing churn and encouraging customer loyalty. Courses help your employees to assist customers, improve products, and build your company.

Even if your business is not SaaS, online courses can help you support your customers and employees, and improve your products and services. Our LifterLMS course development platform and our professional Boost service team can get your courses online in as little as five days. Visit LifterLMS.com for more information on the 3 ways SaaS product companies win with an online course strategy.