How to Create Online Courses with WordPress

[UPDATED: MAY 2023]

Creating an online course for your WordPress account can be highly rewarding and a profitable venture. Whether you choose to do so for financial benefit or simply to pass on knowledge, knowing what to do to create online courses in WordPress is critical. 

It can easily become overwhelming when it comes to online course creation process, not only because you first and foremost must have the content together that you wish to teach your audience (including videos, workbooks, slides, and copy) but then comes all the tech that certainly can turn into mission impossible itself if not done right.

But worry not in this article I will explain in detail not only what an online course is and how to put it into practice, but also will show you how to create your own online course in WordPress. Btw, if you are not sure, have a look here because there are two different versions of WordPress.

What is an Online Course?

An online course is one which is conducted entirely in a digital format – typically on the internet. The online course is a firmly established method of education. Teachable, Kajabi, Kartra, Udemy, Thinkific, Podia, and Skillshare are all examples of online course providers. If you wish to learn more about each platform, feel free to check out my comprehensive online course tech review.

What Do I Need to Create a WordPress Course?

So, how do you create a WordPress course? Thankfully, it’s not too tricky. What you’re going to want to make sure you have are the following things: 

• An idea for a course. This can be whatever you want, but it should be practical and teachable.

• The domain name. This will be the address of your website – stylized as a “.com” venture.

• A hosting account for your WordPress website where you store all of your course content.

• WordPress website. Don’t have one yet? Launch your Website in Week with WordPress.

• Plugin for an e-learning management system where you can manage and create new courses.

Pros and Cons of Self-Hosting Courses

As is the case with any kind of self-hosting exercise, there’s pros and cons to doing it yourself. Let’s check out some of each. 

PROS	CONS
Complete creative freedom.	You have to do everything yourself.
No extra fees for work done by a provider.	Getting things perfect can take time and money.

What Plugins Exist for Course Creation?

There are a couple of different plugins that you can use for course creation. Popular options include LearnDash, LifterLMS+, LearnPress+, WP Courseware+, MemberPress, Sensei, and CourseCats.

All of these options are pretty flexible. You can use them to create the kind of course that would work for you, and there’s not a high level of specialist knowledge necessary for this. So before I make specific recommendation, you should check each of the suggested plugins out and take into account what your needs are to select which one is best for you.

How Do I Get Started With an Online Course?

Getting started with an online course isn’t too tricky. You just need to make sure that you take the time to experiment with all of the different options available. 

First of all, you need to create your course. Make sure that you’ve carefully taken the time to write and create any content and list all of the different features of the course that it makes sense grammatically. You can always start your course creator journey with a mini course that can be launched in 5 easy steps.

Obviously, you’ll then have to install the core plugin you need for your WordPress website – something like LifterLMS is a good pick & FREE to get started. You need to make sure the plugin works properly in order to see success. In case you need more help, here is a roadmap on how to get started with WordPress website from scratch.

Below I will give you a small tutorial on how to get started with Lifter LMS WordPress plugin. From my experience most of the course plugins are very similar with instructions on how to get started, so feel free to get any plugin of your preference and follow the guide below. 

And if you need further assistance with your website beyond plugins, I highly recommend you check out WordPress Bootcamp course where I dive in deep on everything WordPress.

Let Goals & Needs Be The Guide In Course Creation

At the end of the day, your success will be down to knowing your abilities and subsequent limitations. It is so important to recognize your student needs – what do people need to learn? Other important factors include monthly expenses, site speeds, and the behind-the-scenes work you’ll need to do to keep things running smoothly. Remember, companies won’t do this for you. A lot goes into running your own online course on WordPress, but it’s definitely worth it! 

If you’d like additional expert help on your course creation journey, feel free to get in touch.

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No COurse, No problem – get started today!

And if you don’t have an online course yet or thinking of automating your expertise or passion with an online course, below are some recommended resources for you to get started:

• My Favorite WordPress Hosting Deal
• My Favorite Course Hosting Platform
• My Favorite Social Media Scheduler
• My Favorite Tool for Graphic Design
• My Favorite Email Marketing Platform
• Join Course Creator Bootcamp Course
• Watch the Content2Course Masterclass
• Or Download Course Creator Roadmap

And if all this is still too much hustle for you but you’re ready to turn your expertise into profit in 2023, join the Course Launch Challenge to launch your own course in no time.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2021 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. I believe in transparency. If you use my referral links above, then I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you.