How to create an online course website with WordPress

Decide what a student should do from first visit to completion: view a course sales page, create an account, pay or enrol, work through lessons, take quizzes and receive a completion record or certificate.

Choose whether the course is free, paid once, subscription-based, cohort-based or drip-fed. Also decide which lessons can be previewed and whether students must complete lessons in order.

For a small free course, you can create a normal WordPress page for the overview and separate pages for each lesson. Add videos, text and downloads, then link the pages through a menu or a course index.

This route is acceptable for a private resource or a short email-led course, but WordPress pages do not provide a proper course builder, student progress tracking, quiz results or automatic enrolment. You would also have to manage access and completion manually, so it becomes difficult to maintain as soon as you have paying students.

Install an LMS plugin from Plugins > Add New, or upload its ZIP file from Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin, then activate it. WordPress recommends checking compatibility and the plugin documentation before installation.

Create the LMS pages it requests, then set the student dashboard, login, registration and course archive pages. Keep the LMS plugin active when changing themes: the theme should control presentation, while the LMS should own course data and access rules.

Open the LMS course area and create the course title, description, featured image and introduction. Add sections or topics, then place lessons and quizzes inside them. A typical structure is course > sections or topics > lessons and quizzes. Course builders commonly let you add and reorder these items visually.

Configure access deliberately. Use free or open access only for material you intend everyone to see; use a paid, closed or membership-controlled mode for protected content. Set prerequisites, linear progression, sample lessons, drip dates and certificates only where they match the student journey.

For paid courses, install WooCommerce and the LMS integration required by your chosen LMS. Create a virtual product, connect it to the course, and make sure the course uses the correct paid or closed access mode. The integration should enrol the customer after the relevant WooCommerce order status is reached.

Require account creation during checkout unless you have confirmed another enrolment method works. Without a WordPress user account, the site may take payment without knowing which learner should receive course access. Test successful payment, failed payment, refunds and subscription expiry before launch.

Set up the homepage, course catalogue, sales page, navigation, footer, contact page and legal pages. You can use an education-focused theme such as Acadia to speed up the visual work; it is intended for educational sites and includes course-management, event-calendar and WooCommerce-oriented features. You still need a compatible LMS plugin for the learning functions.

Test in a private browser window as a new student: register, purchase or enrol, open a sample lesson, complete a lesson, submit a quiz, check progress, log out and log back in. If course or lesson URLs return 404 errors after setup, revisit Settings > Permalinks and save the permalink settings again, then check LMS permalink settings and plugin conflicts. Permalink and rewrite problems are a recurring cause of WordPress 404 errors.