Must Have Tools for Course Creators
You know what matters the most after the content of your course? Its quality. Your course content is written, your ideas are there, and you have everything ready to launch. But, cause there’s gotta be a but, you don’t know/have the required material to record, screen record, and edit on.
Well, my friend, I’m here to help. Over the last 5 years, I grew my online course to 2m per year in a small weird niche. I have always been the person wearing multiple hats: camerawoman, editor, designer, and so on. This enabled me to know what every course creator needs in terms of hardware in order to make sure their production is as qualitative as the content.
Hey there, if we haven’t met yet my name is Molly Keyser, I’m an online course expert helping people like you kick start their first online course profitably from day 1 - I put out videos like this every Tuesday so if while I’m talking you think, I want more of this, then don’t forget to join the fam by hitting that subscribe button below - and hit the like button. if you’re in the very first stages of your course creation but you’re not sure which hardware you need in order to qualitatively record, then I got you.
I’ve totally been there and had to learn all of this as a do it all type of person and that’s what I’m about to unpack in 3 steps...which are...
- Your computer is your friend: so get a good one.
A doctor has a stethoscope, a lawyer has a gavel, and a course creator has a computer. It is the most important part of your business, it’s what you will use to screen record, edit on, zoom with clients. etc..
If you are just starting, or you’re not looking to spend an enormous amount of money on a computer, I completely get it. A good computer doesn’t necessarily mean $5000 specs. A computer ranging from $750 to $1200 will get the job done
The most important characteristics for a good computer is its graphic card, processor, and ram power. A good graphic card will enable you to edit your videos, a good processor lets you run the latest apps very smoothly, and good ram power allows you to run a lot of apps at the same time without your computer crashing, and believe me you don’t want that.
For example purposes I will talk about two computers that I think would definitely be the best bang for your buck.
Apple Mac Book Air M1 (950$): This is the newest and latest macbook air released by apple. It has an M1 process, which is considered to be the fastest processor has ever released. 8gb of RAM, which is in my opinion a very good RAM power for the usage we’re looking for, as well as a powerful battery life for those of you who like to work outside.
For my fellow non-mac users, I will suggest the Dell XPS 13.3’’: It starts at around 1000$, and has one of the best specs on the market. I7 processor, which is one of the best processors in the market currently, 8GB of ram, and such a good graphic card that you can play Full HD video games on it (Still get back to work tho).
There you go, these are two of my personal favorites that I will link in the description. But you can definitely go ahead and do your own research while considering the most important aspect of a computer that I mentioned earlier.
- Your sound matters more than your video
What’s worse than a video with a bad sound quality? I’ll wait.. Right, nothing. It is so annoying when your video quality is great but we can barely hear you. This is why I suggest to not rely on the built-in microphone of your computer. They’re usually only good to make zoom calls or record your voice. For quality course content, they’re definitely not doing the job. The built-in microphone will always have some scratchy background noise that will annoy your audience. Let me assure you that you wouldn’t even be this far out on my video today if my sound was bad haha.
I recommend using a microphone that you can plug-in to your computer with a pop filter in order to minimize any background noise. Or a wireless microphone with a clip-on if your content needs you to move around.
The cost of a microphone can range from $20 to $1000. We obviously are not looking to waste money here, there I suggest sticking to a budget of around $65. This is where you will most likely find good quality microphone that are worth the price. One that I would definitely recommend is the Yeti Microphone. The Blue Yeti microphone performs admirably in a variety of recording situations and comes with a plethora of useful features for the money. In recent years, the Blue Yeti USB microphone has become the most common USB microphone.I will also make sure to link in the description some links for you guys!
- Please, at least 720p.
I did say that the sound is more important than the video quality. ...and hey great sound quality and filming with an iphone is better than filming with an iphone and bad sound quality. You really need to have at least a 720 camera. Most computers do have it nowadays, the ones I talked about earlier all offer great cameras, and I am not saying you should go ahead and purchase a DSLR for $2000. Though, I think there are great webcams that you can use to make your video stand out even more. The one I’m using is a Logitech C920x, it offers a Full HD 1080p resolution. A price range for a good quality microphone will be around the $70-100. And if you have a good phone, you can also use it to record, especially considering the latest phones have great video capabilities.
Additionally, I would also say that a ring light is also important if you don’t have any source of natural lights, or you like to record at night. Ring lights make you stand out more and make the quality of the webcam even better. They’re also very versatile as you can use them to record on your phone as well.
...and there you have it, the equipment you’d want to create a high quality online course. I hope that helps and I will make sure to list everything in the description. Now you may be wanting to learn how to come up with a profitable online course idea, or how to know if your idea will be profitable or how to create your online course or how to get your course selling and enrolling students so you can help others...I will be answering and teaching all of that and more in my upcoming free workshop which you can register for here:
www.profitablecourses.com/class
You’ll learn:
- How to find your profitable course idea and ensure it’ll be profitable
- How to create your course curriculum in 60 mins or less
- How to build your following from scratch and enroll in your dream students
See you there!
Molly