Due to COVID-19, a large number of educational institutes around the world are shutting down. And educational processes have been hampered over the years due to the lockdown. While online courses are at their peak.

The online courses market has seen an upstream of educators and instructors providing paid/free education courses on LMS websites. Educators can spread their courses around the world by creating an LMS website in WordPress. And get the opportunity to interact with their students in real time.

With this ability to deliver education to the farthest reaches of the world. The schooling and education industry has made a major leap forward.

As the world moves towards an interconnected educational system online. It is getting easier to set up free WordPress courses online with LMS powered websites.

In this article, we’ll be going over how to configure the LearnPress WordPress online class plugin. And how to create an LMS website in WordPress. 

What Is the Best LMS for WordPress?

There are quite a few amazing WordPress LMS plugins out there right now. But only one takes the crown for being the best LMS for WordPress, and that is LearnPress. For its ease of use, adaptability, robust feature set, ability to create custom fields, etc.

If for some reason, you’re not willing to use LearnPress as your main LMS plugin. There are other excellent alternatives – Tutor LMS, LearnDash, Masteriyo, Lifter LMS, Sensei, etc.

Pre-requirements Before Setting up a WP Learning Management System (LMS) Website

Before getting started with the main LMS guide, we’ll need to shortlist a few key pre-requirements. In order to practically practice how to create an online course website with WordPress.

Such as domain registration, a WordPress web hosting solution, a fresh WordPress installation, and a WordPress LearnPress theme. An Elementor Add-ons WordPress customizer, and most important of all, the WordPress course management system plugin – LearnPress. 

Domain Registration & Web Hosting Solution

Just create an account on your preferred domain hosting platform for example NameCheap, Hostinger, GoDaddy, BlueHost, etc.,

We recommend going for a platform that offers a great web hosting solution and other web benefits. Such as domain name registration services, SSL certification, scalable platforms, etc. 

Certain Items to Consider While Choosing a Domain Name: 

• Keep the domain length short.
• It should be easy to type and remember.
• Use keywords industry-relevant organic keywords. 
• Do not include numbers, hyphens, or symbols.
• Make sure that the domain reflects your branding.

WordPress Installation

For setting up a functional LMS website, you’ll need to have the latest version of WordPress on your hosting platform.

You can either do it manually via the cPanel. Or you can follow the intuitive one-click WordPress installation process provided by many hosting service providers. 

LMS Theme Installation 

This is an important prerequisite. Installing an LMS WordPress theme will give you all the layouts and templates you need for your website. And demo content for a smoother customization experience. 

For this example, we’ll be using the Bisy Education WordPress theme. Excellent choice for hosting an online tutoring and online course WordPress website. 

To install Bisy, the best WordPress theme for online courses. Log into your WordPress website and head down to Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme. Which you will need to download from the ThemeForest WordPress marketplace. 

Now select the Bisy theme file and click “Install Now.” 

Wait until the installation process ends. And install some necessary plugins to make this theme run smoothly.

Just click Begin Installation. In addition to layouts, Bisy is also great for WordPress theme course management utilities. 

WordPress Website Customizer

For website customization and course showcase layouts, we’ll be using the Elementor page builder plugin. But it doesn’t come with dedicated tools and widgets for LearnPress page customization.

Using an LMS plugin WordPress Elementor addon that comes with all the necessary widgets and modules for LearnPress course page customization. Such as dedicated Learnpress category plugins. 

To install it, simply head over to WordPress Dashboard > Plugins > Add New and search for the ElementsReady – Elementor Addons plugin. Install and Activate the plugin.

Do the same for the Elementor page builder as well. 

Installing & Configuring LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin

When you’re done with all the pre-requirements, it’s time to install and configure the LearnPress WordPress plugin. You can follow the same plugin installation process as shown before to install and activate the WordPress LMS plugin free. 

You’ll be prompted with the LearnPress course plugin configuration wizard when you’re done. Click on the Quick Setup button from the WordPress plugin dashboard. To start configuring the LearnPress plugin to start selling courses. 

From the Pages tab, you’ll be able to configure all the pages. That you would like to showcase on your LMS WordPress website. This will also work as a great navigation resource for your students to find the right course for them. 

From here, you have the option to progress with the preset pages. Or you can create a new page for every category of course that you would like to host. 

Next, set up your LearnPress payment information. If you’re looking to monetize your online courses, you should fill up the required information with PayPal. 

And you’re done with your LearnPress plugin configuration process. Because of its easy setup wizard and configuration process. LearnPress is widely known as one of the best WordPress LMS plugins on the market.

Setting up Your First Online Course With LearnPress

Creating your first online course with LearnPress is free and intuitive. Just follow the simple steps mentioned below. 

Step 1: 

From the WordPress Dashboard > LearnPress > Course > Add New from here and give your course a title that describes you’re subject.
And follow it up with a description that details the course with accurate information regarding your course. 

Step 2: 

Now scroll down and create your curriculum for your LearnPress course. From the Learnpress Curriculum section, you’ll be able to add a neatly arranged section. 

Each curriculum item can be customized with a description, lesson list, quiz item, and more. 

Step 3: 

Now, from the Course Settings, you can set options such as the duration of the course, level, enrollment count, student count, pricing information, etc. 

Step 4: 

Add a Featured Image. You can add a featured image on the right-hand side of the screen. Just click on the menu and insert your course image. 

Step 5: 

Also from the same screen, you can add your course media, icons, enable/disable the comment section and so much more. When you’re confident that you’re done with your customization options. Make sure to hit the Publish button to make it go live. 

Customizing the LearnPress Course Website with Elementor 

Step 1:

First of all, you’ll need to enable the LearnPress LMS module from the ElementsReady Dashboard. To do so, simply head over to the ElementsReady Addon for Elementor Dashboard > Modules. Enable the LearnPress LMS module, and hit Save Change. 

Step 2: 

Head back to the courses page, where you would like to feature your LearnPress slider plugins, & hit Edit with Elementor. This will redirect you to the Elementor Editor screen.

From here, just simply search for the ElementsReady Elementor LearnPress Slider widget and drop it into the Elementor LearnPress page. 

Now, from the left-hand side of the screen, select the correct content to be displayed with the Elementor slider block.

Under the Content tab, select the correct course category. And the ER LearnPress Slider widget will automatically generate a functional slider block for your courses. 

You can also add further customization options using the Elementor Style tab. 

When you’re done, make sure to hit Publish/Update to make the changes go live. 

Step 3: 

To showcase all of your LMS courses in one place, use a grid layout as a course archive. For this particular purpose, you can use the ElementsReady Elementor LearnPress Grid plugins.

To create a course archive page, create a new page for your archive page from the WordPress dashboard. Give the page a title, and hit Edit with Elementor. 

From the Elementor Editor screen, search for the Elementor LearnPress Grid widget, and drop it into the page. And select the category of courses you would like to showcase on your Elementor grid block.

The ElementsReady LearnPress Grid widget will automatically generate a functional grid block for your LMS WordPress website. 

With the Elementor Style tab, you can also add additional customization options. Additionally, you can also customize the page with other Elementor widgets. Such as the Elementor Area Title, Elementor Download Button, Elementor Social Share, etc.

The possibilities are endless with Elementor and its contemporary ElementsReady Elementor Addons plugin. 

Conclusion

In the beginning, the LMS website creation process might have seemed like a daunting task. As this tutorial on how to create an LMS website in WordPress tutorial progressed we learned a lot.

We’ve learned that with the right set of WordPress tools and support, we can create multiple functional blocks for LearnPress LMS for WordPress. 

The core LearnPress plugin also provides an easy monetization system for LearnPress courses. And payment processing with the help of PayPal integration. Still not satisfied with this payment system? You can use any other third-party payment gateway system for WordPress.

And since WordPress is a free-to-use open-source platform. You’re free to mix and match any additional tools/plugins as you see fit. 

If you have any further questions regarding this subject, feel free to mention them in the comment section below.

Pro Tip: Make sure to go through your website for a WordPress Website Pre-Launch Checklist.