How to Create an eLearning Website

Thanks to the digital era, any information is easily accessible in all spheres of life. Technology has influenced teaching and learning opportunities, and the emergence of online courses has made online education accessible to almost anyone. Statistics reveal that the eLearning market share is going to reach $234 billion by 2022.

Starting an online learning marketplace can become a profitable business.

This article will be helpful for those who want to develop a custom eLearning application. We provide a detailed guide on web app development with tips.

Why are eLearning Platforms Popular in 2021?

First, let’s look at the 7 reasons for online education’s popularity:

1. It corresponds to the needs of many people
2. Unlimited access to information
3. Organized and updated information
4. Cost-effectiveness
5. Scalable
6. High consistency
7. Ability to reduce training time

We also can’t underestimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that led to such a rapid growth of this sphere. This type of learning is more customized and efficient for many students.

Online Education Platform: 3 Main Types

Before we tell you how to create a website like Udemy, let’s get acquainted with the main types of platforms. We can single out the three basic kinds of online education platforms most popular among students. Here are the main differences between them.

1. Platforms

Using these web apps means you teach yourself, as these platforms only present the data remotely, and students learn independently and monitor their own progress.

2. Marketplaces

This software connects teachers with learners for online classes. Such a teaching platform offers a wide choice of courses and teachers according to the students’ needs. If you need some extra income, you can even find items like white label courses to resell.

3. Conferencing software

These platforms help teach large groups of students. On this platform, you need to interact with other students. Such software is in high demand among universities or other educational institutions.

How to Build аn eLearning Website. A Brick-by-Brick Guide

Here are the main stages of creating a website similar to the learning companies like Coursera or Udemy.

Brick 1. Find Your Target Audience

Before you start working on your project, you need to define who it is for. Conduct market research and create an image of your ideal user. You can also analyze competitors and offer an excellent solution that would exceed them. Define the aims of your courses and create a brand image of a trustworthy provider. The most significant thing to rely on is the needs of your potential users.

Brick 2. Offer Excellent Content

No matter how amazing your platform is, it won’t be popular if the content is not relevant and up-to-date. Use various forms of information like videos, texts, images, etc. You can also use games to boost the students’ experience.

Brick 3. Implement Great Features and Technology Stack

If you want to create an online education website like Udemy, you need to take into account the following features:

• User profiles (for teachers/students)
• Easy onboarding
• Progress monitoring
• Courses overview with categories system
• search with filters
• Recommendations
• Feedback and reviews
• Messages, video calls
• Numerous payment options
• Admin panel and blog
• Support

When it comes to the technology stack, you need to trust your development company and its experience. 

As a rule, a tech stack for an educational app or website looks like this:

• Backend

You can opt for any coding language to develop highly-scalable and fast-loading software. When you choose a database, select one popular for search and analytics.

• Frontend

As for the frontend, the most popular options are HTML5, JavaScript, ReactJS.

• External tools and integrations

Here you can use your creativity and collaborate with many time-management, productivity apps. 

When it comes to the development cost, we can’t give an exact amount. Everything depends on your work environment, your software development team’s location, the number of programmers, etc. The best opportunity to cut costs is to hire developers from Eastern Europe.

Brick 4. Pay Attention to the UI/UX Design

Developing the functionality mentioned above is not enough. The best approach is to place this functionality into a logical user interface and support it with a great user experience. 

• The user interface should be as transparent as possible and involve only essential sections.
• Present the content in an organized way so that the students understand the sequence of the learning material.
• Involve gamification and aim-oriented elements to engage the users and enhance the website’s effectiveness.
• Ensure your design is responsive on all mobile devices.

Brick 5. Choose a Monetization Strategy

An important part is deciding on the way your eLearning website will gain profit.

• Paid certificates

Some platforms provide free access to their content for everyone. But if a student wants to receive a certificate, they have to pay for it. Such a strategy supports the aim of free education for everyone.

• Subscriptions

Subscriptions are one of the most popular ways to monetize such platforms.

• Premium account

You can also provide access to your content for free and add an opportunity to upgrade your account for additional features and unlimited access to lessons. Moreover, you can let students download the content on their devices.

Brick 6. Advertise

Let as many people know about your educational website as possible. Here are the most popular ways of promotion:

• social networks
• email marketing
• SEO
• testimonials

Make sure to involve both offline and online advertising methods. 

Cutting-Edge Technologies to Make a Website for an Online Education Even Better

These revolutionary technologies have already changed the game in the app development market. Involve them when you build an educational app and make your platform even more powerful.

AR and VR

You can implement these technologies to boost your platform quality in the following ways:

• Gamification. These technologies can interest students and become an effective online solution and even a highlight of your platform.
• Practicing essential skills. It is widely used to teach medical students, especially surgeons, to train without fear of risking somebody’s life.
• Modeling realistic situations. This opportunity will help many students train their professional skills in situations similar to real life-ones. 

AI and ML

These technologies can be used for:

• Creating customized content. They can monitor the user behavior and suggest engaging and relevant courses for further education.
• Ensure positive experience. With more customized content, users will spend more time on your platform and invest more in new knowledge.
• Collect and analyze information. The main power of AI and ML is to provide you data about the users effectively and instantly to enhance your advertising strategy.
• Fraud prevention. These technologies help detect and prevent suspicious activities that may harm your platform.

Wrapping Up

Online education is both a necessity and a hot trend. It is a great time to present your custom solution to the market. We hope this article gave you some useful ideas for eLearning platform development.

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