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How To Create An Online Course With WordPress – Ultimate Guide (2023)

WordPress is a popular content management system that can be used to create online courses. In this guide, we will show you how to create an online course with WordPress. We will also show you some of the best plugins for creating online courses.

Advantages of building a course platform on WordPress

  • Flexibility
  • Ease of Use
  • Cost-Effective
  • Large Community Support

Building an online course with WordPress is a great way to deliver content to your students. WordPress is a flexible platform that can be used to create courses of all types. In this guide, we will show you how to create your own course within WordPress.

Tools you need to build a course platform on WordPress

So in this tutorial, we’ll be using the Divi builder to create a course platform within WordPress. It has all the features you need to create content pages that are locked out for non-paying users, and thus are only accessible to your course customers.

Let’s get started!

    Step 1: Set up a simple WordPress website

    The first step in creating an online course is to set up a WordPress website. You can do this by signing up for a web hosting account and installing WordPress. For more detailed instructions, see our guide on how to create a WordPress website.

    Steps:

    • Get started with Bluehost
    • Install WordPress

    Step 2: Build a Divi website

    Now you’ve installed WordPress, it’s time to install Divi. Divi is a WordPress theme that allows you to create beautiful websites. For more information, see our guide on how to install Divi.

    Steps:

    • Download the Divi theme
    • Install the Divi Theme
    • Activate the Divi Theme

    Steps:

    • Set up your course pages
    • Create your course content

    Step 3: Create a Woocommerce store

    Okay. So you’ve created the course pages including the videos and the course material. But how do you make it private to just paying customers?

    Right. You need to add a paywall:

    • Install the WooCommerce plugin
    • Add your product to your website
    • Set the pricing details

    Now go and promote your new course to the world.

    We’ll take care of the course platform in the next step.

    Step 4: Make the course content visible to customers only

    Once a visitor paid the course fee, you need to have them create a user account to your WordPress website:

    • Install the Membership plugin
    • Make customers create an account after they purchased your course

    Now your customers will have to create an account before they can access the course content.

    Step 5: Display content to members only

    The pages you created in step 3 need to be visible to paying customers only. Here’s how you do it:

    1. Open the page that shows your course content
    2. Go to the section settings

    Now select your preferred conditions.

    You can select to only display content to logged-in users. However, if you have multiple pricing tiers, you can even select specific user roles who will have access to your course content.

    For example:

    • Basic users will get access to just your videos
    • VIP users will also get exclusive access to your templates and bonus sheets
    WordPress course how to make content exclusive

    Concluding thoughts

    Creating an online course with WordPress is a great way to monetize your knowledge. It’s also a great way to build an audience and establish yourself as an expert in your field. With the right tools, it’s easy to create a high-quality course that your students will love.

    Using this guide, you’ll be able to create the course platform for free – instead of using expensive software like Teachable.

    Ralph de Groot – My Codeless Website

    My name is Ralph de Groot. I'm the founder and author at My Codeless Website. Wake me up for a great web design. I love writing about website examples, too!

    PS: Want to know my favorite tools for building a website? 👇