Podia describes itself as a ‘digital storefront’.
It allows creators to sell online courses, webinars, memberships, and other digital downloads in an easy-to-use format without needing specialist technology.
Selling through a third party has several benefits, including selling digital products all in one place, customization options for your online course, and the ability to use Podia’s email marketing features and live chat support through the site.
However, there are also downsides, such as regular pricing plans and a lack of flexibility in some aspects of your course creation.
It can be hard to know which membership site is best for you. There are so many possible all-in-one platform you can use to host your online courses and other digital downloads.
We’ve created an in-depth Podia review to discuss some key issues you consider when choosing the right online course platform, including Podia pricing, transaction fees, and user experience.
We’ll tell you the things we like about Podia and the things we would like Podia to improve so that you can review all the facts and decide if it’s the right online course platform for your course.
How Does Podia Work?
Read more: What is Podia?
Creating a Podia Website
There are five steps to using the Podia platform to host your online courses. Firstly you need to create a custom website for your online business.
This is an area where experienced users may find Podia restrictive. Podia specifies certain pre-launch features your own website should have and only provides 11 languages and 22 currencies for your sales page.
However, if your online course is catered to a specific target audience or in a common language this shouldn’t be an issue.
However, Podia offers the option of migrating content from where it has previously been hosted. This makes it easy to use if you already have digital content elsewhere.
Once you have completed and published the required fields, the Podia platform is easy for you and your customers to use.
See also: Can I Build a Website With Podia
Added Bonus
Podia emphasizes ease of use and customer service, making it perfect for beginners. If you’re struggling with things like knowing what to put on your sales page or how to set up email marketing the 24/7 live chat that Podia provides will be very helpful.
Podia also provides a custom domain URL, making it easier for people interested in your online courses and digital content to find you.
With integrations to all-in-one platforms like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel available, too, it’s easier for you to manage your e-commerce and use Podia to create and sell custom content according to consumer trends.
Customizing to Match Your Brand
Although you have your custom domain, it’s natural to want to create and sell a distinctive brand too.
Before you can start selling online courses memberships, it’s important to customize your membership site. Although again, using a third-party online course platform like Podia can sometimes impede your creativity, Podia emphasizes the ease of adding your course videos, images, and audio.
The brand also notes that the all-in-one platform is compatible with all devices, so you don’t need to use any additional software to make your membership site pages and online course easily accessible.
The downside is that Podia does not provide an app, meaning that the most tech-savvy consumers may be put off.
- Build your website
- Sell your course
- Grow your community and brand
“Sales page, emails and course all in one place, amazing!”
Adding Your Products
A major bonus of using Podia is that you can easily migrate unlimited online courses or digital products you have elsewhere onto your right online course platform.
There are also several customization options allowing you to start selling your items quickly and easily.
You can create a sales page that’s as personal as your online course itself, meaning that online courses hosted by Podia are all unique.
Podia provides unlimited bandwidth for your online course platform. This means that whatever your course’s digital content you’ll be able to easily host it on the online course platform.
Podia also lets you market your online course before the course content is finalized. This allows you to review the popularity of advanced course features during course creation to create and sell a better product.
You can also alter the checkout process and options for memberships online courses provide, making it compatible with a credit card or bank transfer as suits you.
Is There a Catch?
One downside is that Podia only allows memberships if you subscribe to the higher-cost shaker plan, which costs $79 per month.
However, once you create an account Podia make it easy to change your plan, so you can start with a simpler online course platform, review at a later date, and upgrade if necessary.
There are many great things about both all-in-one platforms and only you can choose which is best for you — but we want to make sure you have the best information possible before you do.
Marketing
Podia as an online course business encourages a range of different ways of marketing your digital product.
For example, input email addresses and the online course platform will help you create resources like newsletters to fine-tune your integrated email marketing.
Podia also helps you create a sales funnel and has several customization options to help you target the required audience for your digital products and online course.
Extra Information
One of the best things about using Podia is how much it improves the customer support on your online course — as well as the personalized email marketing, even pre-launch Podia helps you create live chats and easy customer feedback streams.
Podia is one of the best platforms for user experience, particularly if you subscribe to the Shaker plan which gives access to a useful blog.
The main downside we found in this Podia review is that again there is quite a tight email marketing framework.
This is great news for those inexperienced in e-commerce and creating a digital storefront, but more experienced course creators may find this lack of flexibility a little frustrating.
Ultimately, Podia will help you sell online courses but isn’t always great for letting you be flexible while you do it.
Starting to Sell on Podia
As we’ve previously mentioned in this Podia Review, the platform is great for those selling a course or digital product for the first time.
One of the main things we like about Podia is how easy it is for you to set up your online courses and other online courses’ digital downloads, and the same applies to creating a membership site.
You can easily harness affiliate marketing, a paid or free plan, and cross-sell products.
This helps to both create a sales funnel builder and boost your online course memberships.
As well as this, Podia offers the ability to sell access to your online course or digital downloads per month and makes the checkout process easy and secure.
Podia Alternatives
There are many alternatives to Podia when it comes to building an online course, online course business, or membership platform. Here are our favorites:
How much does Podia cost?
Podia offers a two-week free trial to allow you to review the WordPress site and check that it’s compatible with your course. This is useful for those who have a bit more experience with different online course platforms and know what they’re looking for. After that, there are two pricing Podia options.
Podia Mover
The mover plan is the more basic Podia option. This allows you access to a wide range of resources for only $39 per month. These include:
- Your custom website
- Integrated Email marketing
- Messaging
- Free migrations
- Webinars
- Digital downloads
- Zero transaction fees
- Online courses
- Support every day of the week
- Build your website
- Sell your course
- Grow your community and brand
“Sales page, emails and course all in one place, amazing!”
Essentially, this Podia option gives you everything you need to create a course, unlimited video hosting, and attract consumers.
The platform is great for people getting started in course-making, and Podia has great customer support to help you get started.
It’s also a very reasonable price compared to many other online course providers. However, this pricing Podia option is lacking some key advanced features you need for a more sophisticated Podia course.
For example, membership can be important when creating a successful online following.
Podia Shaker
The more advanced Podia pricing option is the shaker plan. This gives you access to all the Podia features that the mover plan provides, with some additional ones too:
- Blog access
- Offsite buy buttons
- Third-party code
- Affiliate marketing
- Membership
- Zoom Integration
This upgrade is significantly pricier — this Podia transaction fee costs $79 per month. We would recommend that you start with the mover Podia plan and review after a month or two whether upgrading would be useful.
Podia Review Summary
The Best Three Things about Podia
- One of our favorite things about Podia is its high-quality customer phone support. As well as helping you to set up your digital products, unlimited video hosting, and sales pages, it helps your course to be better at customer service itself. The email marketing tools strategy and interactive options, such as the ability to leave a comment, allow your customers to feel well-supported by your online business.
- Podia is a reliable site that will keep your selling digital products secure. It’s important to check the third-party code of any site you’re using to make sure that what you see as the required fields are marked and your course and digital products will be safe. The site has a great track record of protecting credit card payments and digital downloads, allowing you and your customers to feel safe.
- A great thing about Podia is how versatile it is. You can use it to organize everything from courses to digital downloads to transaction fees and to create more specific content like a table of contents or affiliate marketing.
The Worst Three Things about Podia
- The biggest negative of using another platform like Podia to host your site is the cost or transaction fee. As mentioned, if you want to use all the Podia features that Podia provides you’ll be paying $79 per month and transaction fee for their shaker plan. Even if you only want the mover plan which contains the basic features it will still set you back $29 a month. Although there is a free trial, there isn’t a free plan.
- If you’re already an expert at creating online other platforms you might find Podia restrictive. Although features like Podia’s email marketing features and learning management are great to help you get set up if you have a very specific idea of what you want your platform to be like, Podia might not be for you. Consider trying the free trial and deciding what Podia can offer you.
- Although Podia is compatible with desktops, laptops, and phones, it doesn’t have an app. This can make the platform and your course less appealing to some consumers.