What makes an outstanding educational website (and why you need one)<\/h2>\n![\"example](\"https:\/\/mllj2j8xvfl0.i.optimole.com\/cb:c5QE.37290\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/des-moines-university-website.png\")
Many top universities, such as Des Moines<\/a>, use WordPress<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\nPretty much every educational institution needs a website of its own. An excellent educational site<\/a> will enable you to promote your organization’s education offerings to potential students, make sure critical information on courses and schedules is available, provide information on the qualifications of your faculty, and even open up alternative learning opportunities such as online courses.<\/p>\nThat last point is where things get tricky, though.\u00a0Setting up a platform for online learning is a little bit more complicated than creating a regular old website. But here’s why it’s still worth the effort:<\/p>\n
\n- Added publicity. <\/strong>Plenty of top schools<\/a> offer online courses, and they’re often a hit with the public.<\/li>\n
- Increased learning opportunities. <\/strong>Some people simply don’t have the time to attend regular classes, or they live too far away. Online courses enable you to target these individuals and help them further their education on their own terms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
With that in mind, let’s check out how WordPress can help you set up an educational website that hits all the above\u00a0targets. If you’re not planning to create online courses, you might not need every tool we feature. That’s totally fine! Pick and choose as needed to get the functionality that’s perfect for your site.<\/p>\n
How to set up a WordPress educational website<\/h2>\n
Before you create any type of WordPress website, there are two things you need to do:\u00a0choose a good web host<\/a> and install the WordPress software<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhen it comes to hosting, the solution that we always recommend is SiteGround<\/a>. It’s the top-rated hosting company according to our survey, and you can get a sensible hosting solution for $3.95 \/ month<\/a>. Plus, if you don’t want to have to install WordPress yourself, they can take care of that for you as well.<\/p>\nOnce that’s done, you’re ready to customize your site as you see fit. In this case, we’ll focus on finding the right theme for your educational website and locating\u00a0plugins that will enable you to build\u00a0online courses.<\/p>\n
Step 1: Find the perfect educational theme<\/h3>\n
The right\u00a0educational WordPress theme<\/a> should have key features that enable you to\u00a0set up complex websites with relative ease. When creating an educational site on WordPress, we recommend going with a theme designed with learning in mind, since it’ll be more likely to include the options your site requires.<\/p>\nTake a look at\u00a0Education<\/a>, for example. This theme offers you a powerful framework for building an educational website. It includes templates for all the pages you might need, and even has some advanced features:<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/mllj2j8xvfl0.i.optimole.com\/cb:c5QE.37290\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/education-theme.png\")
<\/p>\n
This aptly-named WordPress theme is a newcomer, but it packs a ton of useful features for educational sites that are focused on online courses, such as:<\/p>\n
\n- Individual pages for each teacher and course<\/li>\n
- Support for custom events<\/li>\n
- Integration with WooCommerce for easier course and payment management<\/li>\n
- Testimonial and gallery sections<\/li>\n
- Fully-functional contact forms<\/a><\/li>\n
- Contact information featured in your footer and a secondary navigation bar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Naturally, Education isn’t the only top-notch theme in the field of online learning, but it’s one of our favorite options. If you’re not sold on its features or design, however, check out a few more WordPress educational themes<\/a> and learn how to\u00a0spot the best ones yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\nStep 2: Pick the right plugin to set up online courses<\/h3>\n
As we mentioned earlier, you may want to offer online courses on your WordPress educational website. If that’s the case, any\u00a0roundup of educational plugins<\/a>\u00a0can provide you with inspiration. However, in this article, we want to focus down on two of the best plugin options \u2013 one free, and one premium.<\/p>\n1. CoursePress Pro\u00a0(Premium)<\/h4>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/mllj2j8xvfl0.i.optimole.com\/cb:c5QE.37290\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/coursepress-pro.png\")
<\/p>\n
CoursePress Pro<\/a> is part of the suite of plugins that comes with a\u00a0WPMU DEV<\/a>\u00a0membership. This powerful tool enables you to set up courses for your WordPress educational website and even charge for admission.<\/p>\nIn a nutshell, with CoursePress Pro you can:<\/p>\n
\n- Set up online courses<\/li>\n
- Charge for your courses using up to 17 different payment processors<\/li>\n
- Add interactive learning features, including quizzes<\/li>\n
- Enable students to submit coursework for review<\/li>\n
- Integrate\u00a0WooCommerce<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
To put it simply, CoursePress Pro is one of the best options around if you’re looking to set up paid online courses<\/a>. Furthermore, you get access to WPMU DEV’s reliable support team, which is well worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n2. LearnPress (Free)<\/h4>\n
Many top universities, such as Des Moines<\/a>, use WordPress<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n Pretty much every educational institution needs a website of its own. An excellent educational site<\/a> will enable you to promote your organization’s education offerings to potential students, make sure critical information on courses and schedules is available, provide information on the qualifications of your faculty, and even open up alternative learning opportunities such as online courses.<\/p>\n That last point is where things get tricky, though.\u00a0Setting up a platform for online learning is a little bit more complicated than creating a regular old website. But here’s why it’s still worth the effort:<\/p>\n With that in mind, let’s check out how WordPress can help you set up an educational website that hits all the above\u00a0targets. If you’re not planning to create online courses, you might not need every tool we feature. That’s totally fine! Pick and choose as needed to get the functionality that’s perfect for your site.<\/p>\n Before you create any type of WordPress website, there are two things you need to do:\u00a0choose a good web host<\/a> and install the WordPress software<\/a>.<\/p>\n When it comes to hosting, the solution that we always recommend is SiteGround<\/a>. It’s the top-rated hosting company according to our survey, and you can get a sensible hosting solution for $3.95 \/ month<\/a>. Plus, if you don’t want to have to install WordPress yourself, they can take care of that for you as well.<\/p>\n Once that’s done, you’re ready to customize your site as you see fit. In this case, we’ll focus on finding the right theme for your educational website and locating\u00a0plugins that will enable you to build\u00a0online courses.<\/p>\n The right\u00a0educational WordPress theme<\/a> should have key features that enable you to\u00a0set up complex websites with relative ease. When creating an educational site on WordPress, we recommend going with a theme designed with learning in mind, since it’ll be more likely to include the options your site requires.<\/p>\n Take a look at\u00a0Education<\/a>, for example. This theme offers you a powerful framework for building an educational website. It includes templates for all the pages you might need, and even has some advanced features:<\/p>\n This aptly-named WordPress theme is a newcomer, but it packs a ton of useful features for educational sites that are focused on online courses, such as:<\/p>\n Naturally, Education isn’t the only top-notch theme in the field of online learning, but it’s one of our favorite options. If you’re not sold on its features or design, however, check out a few more WordPress educational themes<\/a> and learn how to\u00a0spot the best ones yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\n As we mentioned earlier, you may want to offer online courses on your WordPress educational website. If that’s the case, any\u00a0roundup of educational plugins<\/a>\u00a0can provide you with inspiration. However, in this article, we want to focus down on two of the best plugin options \u2013 one free, and one premium.<\/p>\n CoursePress Pro<\/a> is part of the suite of plugins that comes with a\u00a0WPMU DEV<\/a>\u00a0membership. This powerful tool enables you to set up courses for your WordPress educational website and even charge for admission.<\/p>\n In a nutshell, with CoursePress Pro you can:<\/p>\n To put it simply, CoursePress Pro is one of the best options around if you’re looking to set up paid online courses<\/a>. Furthermore, you get access to WPMU DEV’s reliable support team, which is well worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n\n
How to set up a WordPress educational website<\/h2>\n
Step 1: Find the perfect educational theme<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n\n
Step 2: Pick the right plugin to set up online courses<\/h3>\n
1. CoursePress Pro\u00a0(Premium)<\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n\n
2. LearnPress (Free)<\/h4>\n
![\"LearnPress](\"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/learnpress\/assets\/banner-772x250.png?rev=3225881\")
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