Sell a Digital Course With Built-In Payments
You want to sell an online course but you're drowning in questions: Where do I host it? How do I take payments? What about taxes? Do I need a separate checkout? Here's how to set up a complete course with enrollment, payments, and student management all handled in one place — no coding, no piecing together five tools.
Tools You'll Need
| Tool | What It Does | Cost | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable | Hosts your course, handles student enrollment, processes payments, and manages your sales page | $0 – $159/month (free plan takes higher transaction fees) | Get it → |
| Claude or ChatGPT | Helps outline your curriculum and write sales page copy | Free – $20/month | Get it → |
| Canva | Creates course thumbnails, slide presentations, and promotional graphics | Free – $13/month | Get it → |
The Walkthrough
Step 1: Outline Your Course With AI
What to do: Open Claude or ChatGPT and prompt: “Help me outline a course called [your course name] for [your target audience]. Break it into 4–6 modules. Each module should have 3–5 lessons. Each lesson should be 5–15 minutes of content. Include a description for each module that I can use on my sales page.” Review and customize.
Why you’re doing it: Outlining before building prevents the two biggest course mistakes: making it too long (students drop off) and making it unstructured (students get lost). A clear outline keeps you focused during recording.
What to expect: 20 minutes to generate and refine. You’ll have a complete curriculum map before recording a single video.
Step 2: Set Up Teachable and Create Your School
What to do: Go to Teachable and create your school. The free plan works for getting started (5% transaction fee per sale). Customize your school’s appearance — add your logo, brand colors, and a custom domain if you have one.
Why you’re doing it: Teachable handles the entire business side of selling a course: hosting, payments (including international), tax compliance (they handle US sales tax automatically on paid plans), and student management. You focus on creating content.
What to expect: 15 minutes for initial setup. The interface is intuitive — if you can navigate a website, you can set up a Teachable school.
Common mistakes: Don’t pay for a premium plan until you’ve made your first sales. The free plan proves the concept. Upgrade when the 5% transaction fee exceeds the monthly plan cost.
Step 3: Record and Upload Your Lessons
What to do: Record your course content. Use your phone or screen recording software (Loom, Zoom, or your computer’s built-in recorder). Upload videos to each lesson in Teachable. Add supplementary materials: PDFs, worksheets, or quizzes at the end of each module.
Why you’re doing it: Video is the expected format for online courses, but it doesn’t need to be polished. Screen recordings for technical topics and talking-head videos for personal topics both work perfectly. Students care about the content, not the production value.
What to expect: Budget 2–3x your total course length for recording (a 2-hour course takes 4–6 hours to record including retakes). Upload is fast — Teachable processes videos server-side.
Common mistakes: Don’t try to record your entire course in one marathon session. Do 1–2 modules per sitting. You’ll sound more natural and make fewer mistakes.
Step 4: Build Your Sales Page
What to do: Teachable includes a built-in sales page builder for each course. Use it. Add: a compelling headline, a problem statement (who is this for and what pain does it solve), your curriculum outline (Teachable auto-generates this from your modules), social proof (testimonials, credentials, results), and a clear price with a buy button. Use Canva to create a professional-looking course thumbnail.
Why you’re doing it: Your sales page is the only thing standing between a curious visitor and a paying student. It doesn’t need to be long — it needs to be clear about who the course helps and what they’ll learn.
What to expect: 1 hour with the built-in builder. Use AI to write the sales copy if you’re stuck.
Step 5: Set Pricing and Launch
What to do: Set your price (most first-time course creators find success in the $47–$197 range). Enable Teachable’s checkout. Set up a coupon code for your launch (e.g., “LAUNCH” for 20% off the first week). Share your course link with your audience — email list, social media, and direct messages to people you think would benefit.
Why you’re doing it: Your launch doesn’t need to be complicated. A direct link, a compelling reason to buy now (the launch discount), and personal outreach to your warmest contacts is enough to get your first sales.
What to expect: Your first sales will likely come from people who already know you. That’s normal. Use their testimonials and results to attract the next wave.
Confidence Level
This workflow is Beta — Based on Best Available Knowledge. Teachable is one of the largest course platforms with 100,000+ creators. Features, pricing, and payment processing verified as of February 2026. The free plan is a genuine free tier that lets you sell without monthly costs (you pay per transaction instead).
What to Do If It Doesn’t Work
No sales after launch: Price may be too high for a first course, or your audience isn’t large enough yet. Test a lower price point or focus on building your email list first with a free mini-course.
Students not completing the course: Lessons may be too long. Keep videos under 10 minutes. Add engagement elements like quizzes and worksheets at the end of each module.
Payment processing issues: Teachable uses Stripe and PayPal. If you’re in a supported country and having issues, contact Teachable support — payment problems are their top priority.
Sales page not converting: Test your headline. The headline should state the specific result students will achieve, not just the topic you teach. “Learn Photography” loses to “Take Professional Photos With Your Phone in 7 Days.”