If you make and sell online courses, building your own eLearning website can give you full control over your content, pricing, and branding. The process of creating an online course site on WordPress is both flexible and cost-effective.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to build a WordPress website for your course.
Advantages of WordPress for Creating Online Courses
To start selling online courses, the first thing you think about is a hosting platform. Usually, course creators choose third-party platforms like Udemy or Teachable as they require less work. You can simply sign up as an instructor and add your course content. However, there are many limits when it comes to course platforms, like additional fees for hosting. That’s why more creators are choosing WordPress because it gives them freedom and opportunities for customization.
Compared to popular third-party platforms like Skillshare, and Teachable, building your own eLearning site offers these advantages:
- Retain ownership. You are free to create and control your courses, pricing, and student data.
- Avoid high fees. You will not have any commission charges or high transaction fees.
- Customize freely. WordPress themes and plugins allow you to design a website that reflects your vision and matches your brand.
- SEO optimization. You can rank higher in search engines by adjusting and personalizing meta details and content.
Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Online Course Website
1. Choose reliable hosting and a domain name
A web host ensures your site runs smoothly, and a domain name acts as your digital address. Look for hosting providers that offer:
- Free SSL certificates for security.
- High uptime guarantees.
- Scalability to handle growing student numbers.
Some popular options include Bluehost, SiteGround, and WP Engine. Many of these hosting companies also offer free domains for the first year. You can choose a domain name that’s short, memorable, and relevant to your niche. For example, if you create marketing courses, you could name it as “MarketingAcademy.com.”
2. Install WordPress and configure your website
Most hosting providers have a one-click WordPress installation. After installing it, you need to sign up or log into your WordPress dashboard. You can explore and choose a a lightweight and customizable theme by going to ‘Appearance’>’Themes’. MasterStudy theme is one of the great options for eLearning courses or training programs, and it integrates seamlessly with the MasterStudy LMS plugin.
3. Add MasterStudy LMS
MasterStudy LMS is a feature-rich plugin that transforms WordPress into a Learning Management System. Here’s why it’s perfect for your course site:
- Course creation tools. Build courses with different modules and add videos, audio, and downloadable content.
- Interactive lessons. Make your lessons interactive with games, recordings, and quizzes.
- Monetization. Sell courses as one-time purchases or membership subscriptions.
- Student management. Track learning progress with reports and give course completion certificates. Analyze earnings and engagement to improve your platform.
- Customization. Personalize course pages with drag-and-drop builders and tailor them to your specific needs.
In order to install MasterStudy LMS, you need to open your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New, then search for MasterStudy LMS. Click ‘Install’ and once the plugin is installed, tap on ‘Activate’. After this, a setup wizard is going to open, where you’ll go through the steps and add ready pages to configure your eLearning site.
4. Design your website
Your site’s design sets the tone for visitors. Use a clean, professional layout to enhance user experience. You can customize your theme by navigating to Appearance > Customize and adjusting colors, fonts, and layouts.
The next step is creating key pages like a home page to highlight your courses or training programs and benefits. Another important section is the About page, where you can share your story and qualifications. You need to design a page for your courses to showcase all your available courses to potential students and visitors.
5. Create your course
With MasterStudy LMS, course creation is simple and requires just a few clicks. For this, go to Courses > Add New, and enter your course title, description, and category. Then add various lessons with videos, PDFs, or other types of interactive content. Lastly, set a price for the course or mark it as free if you want to make it available for everyone.
Pro Tip: Break down lessons into manageable chunks for better engagement.
6. Process payments
To sell courses, you need a payment gateway. MasterStudy LMS plugin integrates with well-known plugins like WooCommerce and Stripe. You can simply install and activate WooCommerce. Once activation is complete, configure payment methods under WooCommerce > Settings > Payments, and link your courses to WooCommerce products.
7. Optimize for SEO
SEO optimization helps attract organic traffic to your website. To boost your search engine rankings, use descriptive keywords in the course titles and descriptions. Try to create compelling course summaries that include relevant search terms. You can also add alt text to images to enhance accessibility and improve search indexing.
Imagine you create a programming course for beginners, make the title “Python Programming for Beginners: Build Real-World Projects” and add a description with keywords like real-world applications and beginners: “Learn Python from scratch! Develop real-world applications, automate tasks, and analyze data in this beginner-friendly course.” To support SEO indexing, you might include this kind of alt text: “Python programming course thumbnail featuring real-world projects for beginners.”
8. Launch and promote your courses
Once your site for online courses is ready, it’s time to spread the word. Use social media platforms such as Linkedin, Reddit, and others to reach your target audience. Attract visitors with limited-time discounts or free trials on your course. Utilize marketing strategies like sending emails regularly to keep users updated and interested in your product.
9. Engage with your students
Your students will be more motivated to learn with quizzes and assignments, and you can test their knowledge. Moreover, making real-time classes through Zoom or Google Meet in MasterStudy LMS helps keep learners engaged and active.
Offering certificates upon course completion is a way to recognize and celebrate learners’ achievements. With certifications, students can share their skills and accomplishments online, thus improving their profile for future employment.
10. Continuously improve
Analyze your site’s performance using tools like Google Analytics. It allows you to get helpful information and more insights which you can use to create new strategies. Gather feedback from students to improve courses and website functionality.
Check our tutorial on analyzing course performance with the Reports & Analytics feature in MasterStudy LMS:
Conclusion
Creating a WordPress course website from scratch might seem challenging at first, but you do not have to do everything manually with WordPress plugins and themes. After reading our step-by-step guide, you’ll be able to build a website for online courses and start making a profit.
Right now, you can save 50% on MasterStudy LMS Pro with all the advanced features needed to create a powerful learning platform this Black Friday. Try our live demo now and get the best WordPress plugin for online courses today!