If you don’t want to pay $$$ to services like Thinkific, Kajabi, or Teachable but still want to build an online course website, I guess you should know that you have a solution. I don’t want to say anything bad about the mentioned platforms – they are all good in their own ways but still require you to pay a lot. You can’t control them or own them, so what’s the sense?
I offer you an easy-to-follow guide on how to create a great online course website for free! All you have to do is choose a reliable web hosting service and spare some time. Now, let’s get more specific.
This guide will make you believe there’s always a way out and a better alternative to Kajabi and Teachable, and will teach you how to develop custom online course platform.
Your main tools and services will be InMotion Hosting or SiteGround. I’d also suggest Astra Theme and Elementor as a page builder. And your learning management system is LifterLMS.
SiteGround
SiteGround is one of the most recognizable names in web hosting that boasts impressive server performance and reliability. It is also known for its excellent customer service reports, which makes it an ultimate solution for your web hosting needs.
I cannot but emphasize how important it is that the hosting provider is always reliable and fast because any downtime or slowdown of your website can seriously affect the overall return on investment. That’s why the performance of SiteGround made an impression on me, as it’s able to maintain a 100% smooth operation year after year and fairly fast loading.
SiteGround main features:
- Excellent server performance – 100% uptime and excellent speed;
- Free site migration for GrowBig and GoGeek users
- Free SSL Certificate
- Server location on three continents
- Officially recommended by WordPress.org and Drupal.org
- Easy configuration of Let’s Encrypt Standard & WildCard SSL
- Advanced server speed technology
- Daily Backups
- Save 60% on your first SiteGround account
- Great feedback from other SiteGround users
- Outstanding customer support
I always liked SiteGround because I had very few problems with it. In particular, server reliability, in my opinion, is one of its strongest features. Check out our review of Siteground vs. Bluehost to see more of its features.
Astra Theme
Are you looking for a free WordPress theme that is truly multifunctional, fast, with many features and ready-made patterns? You’ve come to the right place! Ok, you will still have to go to the official website, of course, where you can also get the Astra Theme Pro for $59. The latter, obviously, has even more useful features and extra options, thus your WordPress web design project will be in good hands. The main advantages of Astra are loading speed, the ability to customize any element, a large library of templates, and many plugins to extend the functionality.
The main advantages of Astra are loading speed, the ability to customize any element, a large library of customized site layouts and headers, as well as various plugins and powerful features to extend the functionality.
Astra is one of the best themes on the market. So it’s no surprise it became one of the most popular themes in the world in 3 years. Astra offers more than 100 beautiful site layouts, dozens of plugins to extend functionality, and customize almost all elements of the theme in WordPress.
Right out of the box, Astra is fully compatible with WooCommerce, meets WCAG 2.0 standards, and all SEO requirements. I have Astra Pro and use it on several sites, so I highly recommend it.
Astra Theme main features:
- Loading speed
- Large number of settings
- About 100 ready-made templates
- Simple customization
- Code quality
- Great customer service
- Many proprietary plug-ins for extending functionality
Astra is a really fast and multifunctional theme, locked and loaded for SEO, with a lot of settings, header designs, and even more beautiful ready-made site layouts for creating all kinds of websites.
Elementor
Elementor is a multifunctional and free WordPress page builder used for various layouts – you can build any landing page or long-reads, design a blog, or customize your online shop – anything you want! The page making is done with the help of ready-made elements, which you choose by a simple drag-and-drop and set the necessary features through an easy-to-use admin panel. No code and no programming. Thanks to such page builders, life is much easier for people who want No code and no programming. Thanks to such designers, life is much easier for people who want to make pages themselves. Elementor has virtually stormed WordPress web design!
Elementor main features:
- Ultimate consistent popup builder
- Perfect visual design
- Fast performance
- Easy-to-use theme builder
- Complete set of dedicated tools
- Color/font customization
- Layout Saving Function
- 24/7 customer support
- Clean code
- Compatible with any WordPress theme or plugin
- Website personalization features
- Template & block library
- Extensive mobile responsive features
Elementor is an advanced visual site constructor with no limitations that keeps getting better and better every month. You can use it to stay up to date with modern design trends and keep your website fresh. With all its additional modules and features, it’s simply a perfect tool to start a new website project.
Pleasant experience, speed, and convenience are the first things that come to my mind when talking about this WordPress page builder. Elementor offers visual design and built-in editing, thus, the whole process is performed directly on the page, without having to constantly update or getting into a preview mode. There is also the PRO version that significantly extends the plugin’s capabilities.
LifterLMS
LifterLMS is a new WordPress plugin, which implies a learning management system for creating courses and passing them online. With it, you will be able to create courses of various types, add tests and rewards for achieving certain results, as well as certificates that students will receive on completion of your courses.
The plugin contains a fairly large set of features, so you won’t have to use any additional tools to create a complete course website that accepts payments online and sends online courses to the students.
LifterLMS main features:
- Free Core Plugin
- LMS functions: create courses, tests, student analytics, evaluation, and much more
- Full E-commerce set in one place. No additional plugins needed
- Excellent payment system
- WooCommerce integration
- Automatic student enrollment and gamification. Personal badges and certificates
- Page protection. LifterLMS membership functionality
- Drag-and-drop course builder
- Custom sidebars for your courses
- Student profiles. No WordPress backend logins
- Analytics. Tracking orders, refunds, etc.
- Simple interface. Create courses and start selling immediately
- Coupons. Course promotions
- Adaptive design
The plugin includes a full set of functions for e-commerce, which will allow students to participate in their chosen courses, or, if you are used to working with third-party plugins, e.g. WooCommerce, its functionality is also included. It also has PayPal and Stripe payment systems integrated for making a separate purchase if you want to use it for payments. However, their Infinity and Universe bundle pricing is something that really needs reconsideration.
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