Build Your own E-Learning Website with Learndash

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Creating your own e-learning website using Learndash and WordPress is a cost-effective and simple method to put your business on autopilot (sort of, more on that in a bit).

You might have Googled How to create an online course on a budget and found that in order to create an online course on some of the more popular LMS platforms such as Teachable and Kajabi, you have to pay a hefty monthly fee for them to host it. That’s not the case with Learndash. (Check out their pricing below and a chance to claim $40 off.)

Learndash is perfect for anyone who needs to convert a simple WordPress site into a robust e-learning website or learning management system (also called an LMS).

Is Learndash only for course creators? Absolutely not! If you are a WordPress developer who has a client requesting an LMS, or an organization in need of training and educational tools, Learndash is a perfect solution.

Jump to what you need:
• A quick overview of the Learndash plugin
• Learndash Pricing
• Configuring Learndash
• Adding courses, lessons, topics, and quizzes
• BONUS: How to create a simple checkout process

A quick overview of the Learndash plugin

Learndash is a premium plugin built to create and sell online courses. It integrates with your WordPress website without slowing it down. It’s a popular choice for developers and course creators since it integrates with a multitude of other tools to enhance its functionality:

• Woocommerce
• Easy Digital Downloads
• Samcart
• Zapier
• BuddyPress
• bbPress
• PaidMembershipsPro
• Memberpress
• Mailchimp
• ConvertKit
• Memberium
• Slack

Learn dash also comes equipped with the following features:

• Intelligent course building tools
• Advanced quizzing
• Drip-feed content
• Lesson timers
• Custom and flexible prerequisites
• Course points
• Certificates and badges

How to make money with an E-learning website

Not only are you able to share your knowledge and expertise with your audience, you can also monetize your online course to create a source of recurring revenue.

By default, Learndash offers a one-time payment option for people to pay and access your course. With specialty plugins like WooCommerce, you can create custom payment plans such as subscriptions, memberships, course bundles, and even course licenses.

How much does Learndash cost?

Learndash offers three tiers of their LMS solution. If you are just starting out, you can start with their Basic package which gives you 1 license to use for your site. If you are a WordPress developer or plan to build out multiple courses, then the Plus or Pro package is a better cost-effective solution.

However, for a short time, Learndash is offering $40 off per package which reduces the cost to:

• $329/yr for the Pro Package
• $189/yr for the Plus Package
• $159/yr for the Basic Package

Installing Learndash on your WordPress site

After you purchase your Learndash license, you can now install it on your WordPress website. But first, you’ll need to download the .zip file which can be found in your account page under “Downloads.”

Next, log into your WordPress site and click on “Plugins” then “Add New”. At the top, there will be a button called “Upload Plugin,” click on it and a prompt box will appear:

Click on “Choose File” and select the .zip file you downloaded from Learndash. Finally, click on “Install Now” and follow the on-screen directions to finish.

If you still need help manually uploading a plugin, our friends at WPBeginner have an excellent article that’s a lot more in depth.

You’ll then be asked to add your Learndash license to the plugin. Simply click on the new “Learndash LMS” button on your left sidebar, then “Settings” and finally click on the “LMS Tab” at the top.

Enter in the email address you used to register with Learndash and copy and paste the license found on the same page as the plugin file download on Learndash.

Click “Update License” and you should see a green message that reads “Your license is valid.”

Now you are ready to get started building your first course.

Getting Started: Adding courses, lessons, and quizzes

In this section, we will cover how to add and customize courses, lessons, and quizzes within the Learndash plugin.

Step 1: Add your first course

Head over to your “Learndash LMS” dashboard and click on “Courses.” Here you’ll see the option to “Add New.”

Add a title to your new course and fill in any relevant introduction content in the body. This is the content that will go before the list of lessons so give your students an overview of what to expect in the course.

Next, there are a variety of settings below which might look confusing but we’ve broken them down here:

Step 2: Add Lessons to your course

Step 3: Add quizzes to your course

BONUS: How to create a simple checkout process

As robust as Learndash is, it does have one default: a poor checkout process.

By default, Learndash offers a simple way to connect your PayPal account and use them to process your customers’ payments. Even though this is a quick and simple solution for your e-learning website, often you’ll experience higher bounce rates from potential customers due to the lengthy checkout process with PayPal.

Instead, it’s possible to create a one-page simple checkout process that reduces your bounce rates and increases your revenue.

We’ll walk you through how we build custom checkouts for our clients using WooCommerce’s One Page Checkout extension.