How To Set Up An Online Course Website With WordPress?

If you have ever attended an online training program or even heard of it, you have most likely interacted with a Learning Management System (LMS). In simple words, it is one such technology that helps you enrich the learning experience by making it cost-effective, productive, faster, and, most importantly – trackable. In today’s article, we’ll learn how to set up an online course website with WordPress.

The primary objective of an LMS WordPress theme website is to track and host learning programs on the internet. By offering a virtual hub, such a platform allows learners to access plenty of training resources.

Additionally, an LMS website also allows you to regulate content, measure, record, and learn data while simultaneously communicating with users.

eLearning and Importance of a Learning Management System (LMS):

In the current scenario, the Learning Management Systems have become an integral part of the eLearning developmental and design process, especially if there is a large audience and a massive content to be delivered.

Here are a few pointers that sum up the importance of an LMS system and answer – how to create an online course.

• Organizes Content in One Location To Create Online Course Website With WordPress

Instead of spreading content over various devices and hard drives, an LMS platform helps you store the eLearning material in one single location. This decreases the risk of losing anything important and makes it easier for others to access the needed information.

• Offers Unlimited Access:

Once you have uploaded the course material and published the same, the audience gets unlimited access to the data and information. Sometimes, they don’t even have to log in and can still get their hands on the needed data right away.

• Easily Trails Learner Performance and Progress:

An appropriate LMS system offers the ability to keep an eye on the learner’s progress and make sure that they meet the milestones in terms of performance. Most of the systems also have analytics and reporting tools that help pinpoint such areas that might be lacking or where the course is excelling.

How Beneficial Is LMS for Both Educational Systems and Businesses?

• Online Coaching:

If looking from the educational perspective, an LMS system helps harness the complete potential of a blend of instructor-led and web-based training procedures. A system can effortlessly be used to fulfill a gamut of tasks, from scheduling sessions to informing learners about the schedules, delivering preparatory courses, creating content repositories, reinforcing learning, evaluating online learners, and much more.

• Employee Training:

Undeniably physical and face-to-face training is not even arduous to organize but has the potential to create a hole in the pocket as well. On top of that, trainers even have to incur travel expenses, which are maximized if the locations are far away.

In such a situation, an eLearning possibility helps cut down costs to a great extent. With training material available online, employees get to hone their skills from anywhere at any time.

All it requires is a button click to update the training methodologies across the entire company. Furthermore, this way, companies and organizations can keep their employees hooked and challenged; hence, increasing the enhanced probabilities of retainment.

• Skill Development To Create Online Course Website With WordPress

LMS offers appropriate skill development opportunities not just for potential employees but even for students and learners. A majority of learning management systems have ready-made eLearning content that makes it convenient and exciting to sharpen the pre-existing skills.

On top of that, once in place, this system helps companies save the hassle of hiring managers and instructors to help employees with development.

• Learning Assessment

These LMS systems basically act as centralized sources for information and education distribution. Those instructors who make the most out of a system add tests and quizzes to their courses merely by uploading the same to a central database, which can be used online, be downloaded, and implemented in specific cases by learners.

And then, inbuilt security controls help prevent cheating while making it easier to measure the levels of learning on the automated grading and an individual basis. Thus, organizations can ensure unhindered consistency from the distribution of learning and study materials and stays until learners are evaluated.

To Create Online Course Website With WordPress: A Step by Step Guide:

• Select a Name

Would you like to run an institute, whether offline or online, without a significant name? Definitely not! So, the first step in creating your own eCourse website with WordPress is to choose a name.

This must be done attentively as this name will represent you and your site across the world. It is also recommended that you come up with a name that has an impactful tone yet is easy to remember.

After all, you wouldn’t want your target audience to brainstorm to locate your site. If confused, there are several name discovery sites and apps out there that would help you come up with a perfect choice. You’d have to add a few keywords, and the result will throw thousands of options back to you.

• Get a Domain To Create Online Course Website With WordPress

Once you have selected a name for the website, the next step is to get a domain registered. This one is indeed an essential step as not having a purchased domain can lead to plenty of issues.

If you think your course content could be relevant and useful for the global audience, you can purchase the domain with a “.com” extension. However, if you wish to keep it native to your own country, you can use an extension accordingly.

• Choose the Right Hosting To Create Online Course Website With WordPress

Consider your online course website similar to a physical school building. You wouldn’t want to run an institute that has a ramshackle and run-down structure, right? You cannot opt for a hosting service that keeps your site in trouble in the same way.

It is nothing but imperative to go with an established hosting provider that offers quality services. While choosing one, there are a few factors that you would have to look into attentively, such as site security, reliability, and speed required to create a successful course.

• Get an LMS WordPress Theme

As far as choosing a WordPress LMS theme is concerned, CyberChimps’ LMS turns out to be an adequate choice. Whether your content involves online courses or tutorials, this theme satisfies your requirements seamlessly.

The template also uses the LearnDash plugin to help you easily create and sell courses, offer award certificates & quizzes, and download reports amidst others. Some of the major features that it offers include mobile-friendliness, blazing-fast, ready websites, quick loading, high-coding standards, fully customized, Elementor compatible, search engine optimized, custom layout options, custom typography options, and much more.

Furthermore, the theme is easy to install and activate, as well. If you are purchasing the Pro version of this education LMS WordPress theme, follow these steps to move ahead:

• Choose a pricing plan and Click Buy now.
•  Add your billing details and choose whether you’d like to pay via PayPal or credit card.
• Add your details and click Proceed.

You will get to download a zip file for the learning management system WordPress theme. Then, visit your WordPress website and:

• On the dashboard, click on Themes.
• Upload the zip file in the upload section
• Click Install
• Once done, click Activate.

Now, you can click on the theme option and customize the settings accordingly.

• Get LearnDash WordPress Plugin

Once you have set up your WordPress website. Now is the time to install and customize a Learning Management System add-on. This will help you create an online course and add the same to your site.

To begin with, install and activate the LearnDash plugin. This one is an all-in-one solution that offers features like course management, course progression, assignment, quizzes, lesson plans, and much more. Once you have activated the plugin, then:

• Visit LearnDash LMS
• Click on Settings
• Then, click on the LMS License tab.
• Enter your email ID and the license key
• Click on the Update License button to save the settings.

The next step will be switching to PayPal as this is where you can add PayPal information to get online payments. This can be done by visiting the PayPal Settings tab, entering the details, and saving the same.

LearnDash has also got 2Checkout and Stripe payment gateways. If you don’t wish to use PayPal, you can choose any one of these.

• Add Course Content / Material

Now that your website is fairly set up. The time comes to make it more realistic with relevant courses and material. If you have already outlined the material that you are going to post on the site, begin by making pages, adding content, and publishing those pages.

• Write a Blog Article To Create Online Course Website With WordPress

In the end, to make your site even more informative. You can start writing valuable blogs and articles for your target audience. Shortlist the type of content you will put there. Add a Blog section on the menu and make different Pages for every topic you are going to upload.

Conclusion:

When choosing the right theme and plugin, you can explore endless possibilities while you begin to create online courses. A fairly simple and straightforward process to come up with your own learning management system.

Even if you are a rookie to the world of WordPress. The steps in this post will help you sail through it quite seamlessly.