Are you ready to start creating and selling online courses? Thinkific is the platform you need to make that dream a reality! Thinkific makes creating and managing your course website simple, allowing you to easily and effectively reach your customers.
But to get the most out of the platform, it’s essential to know how to use it effectively. This article will discuss using Thinkific effectively and making the most of its outstanding features and tools.
Getting Started with Thinkific
In this section, you’ll learn how to start setting up your Thinkific account. We will walk you through the process step-by-step so that you can easily sign up for a Thinkific account, set up your initial course site, and customize your site’s appearance and branding. Let’s get started!
Sign Up for a Thinkific Account
If you’re new to Thinkific, the first step is to sign up for an account. Luckily, it’s easy to do so – just head to the Thinkific website and sign up for a free account.
Getting started is a straightforward process that anyone can easily follow. And all it takes is simply navigating to Thinkific’s website (thinkific.com).
- On your web browser, search Thinkific or go to thinkific.com to enter the Thinkific homepage.
- As soon as you reach the page, click the ‘Get Started Free’ button at the screen’s top-right corner.
- Clicking the button will lead you to a section where you will enter details such as your first and last name, email address, and password.
- Next, you will be asked to select the type of account where you want to start – free or paid. You can always go to the Free plan if you don’t have enough money or want to test the waters in online course learning for the first time. However, if you have the budget to spend on its advanced features, you can choose from any of Thinkific’s four pricing plans (Basic, Start, Grow, and Thinkific Plus).
- Once you’ve created a Thinkific account, you’ll need to activate it. You’ll receive an email from Thinkific with a verification link, which you will need to click to activate your account.
- With your Thinkific account verified, you can log in immediately by clicking on the “Log in to your site” button. You can also go back to thinkific.com and log in using the email address and password you entered when creating your account.
- By logging in with your details, you can now access your account dashboard, where you can start setting up your initial course site, customizing its appearance, and more!
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Creating a Course in Thinkific
Creating a course with Thinkific is a straightforward process that allows you to customize your content and structure. By following these steps, you can create a high-quality online course with Thinkific that engages and educates your students.
Step 1: Log in to your Thinkific account
You can create a new course straight from your Thinkific dashboard. To do this, click “Manage Learning Products” > “Courses” > the “+ New Course” button.
Step 2: Create a new course
Select from any of the provided course templates where you want to start. Save for the blank template; each template contains pre-set chapters and lessons you can customize and arrange accordingly. Thinkific’s course templates list includes the following:
- Blank Course
- Pre-Sell Course
- Mini Course
- Flagship Course
- Webinar Replay
- Membership Resource Library
Step 3: Plan your course content and structure
You will now be ready to add your content to the Course Builder by clicking on any course templates. Before you start creating, take some time to plan out your course. Brainstorm how you want your outline to look, determine the length and format of your course, and identify the key topics you want to cover.
Step 4: Add course content to Thinkific
With your course plan in hand, it’s time to start adding your course content to Thinkific. The types of content can include videos, text, quizzes, assignments, and other interactive elements. To add the desired course content, click the “Add Chapter” and “Add Lesson” buttons within your course.
Step 5: Organize course content into modules and sections
To help students navigate through your course, organize your course content into modules and sections. To do this, simply drag and drop your content into the appropriate chapter.
Step 6: Add details for your course
Once you’re okay with what your course looks like, you will need to provide a name and additional details for your course in the “Settings” tab.
Step 7: Set pricing and enrollment options for your course
One of the most important steps in creating a course with Thinkific is setting your pricing and enrollment options. To do this, go to the “Pricing” tab within your course and set your price, currency, and pricing model. You can also set enrollment options, such as open enrollment or drip content, and create coupons and discounts to incentivize students to enroll in your course.
Step 8: Customize your course player
To make your course stand out, you can customize the appearance of your course player, where most students will see your course. This includes adding your logo, customizing the colors and fonts, incorporating icons and styles, and adding a course banner.
Step 9: Preview and publish your course
Once you’re all set, it’s time to preview and publish your course. To do this, click the “Preview” button within your course and review your course content. If everything looks good, click the “Publish” button to make your course live.
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Setting Up Your Thinkific Site and Landing Page
Once you’ve created your course, it’s time to set up a Thinkific website where you will showcase it to the rest of the world. Thinkific provides plenty of easily-accessible website-building tools at your disposal, and you can take advantage of it by creating a fully-functional site that houses what will become your courses and other forms of content.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up a course landing page in Thinkific:
- Log in to your Thinkific account and navigate to your course dashboard.
- Go to “Manage Learning Products” > “Courses” > your newly-created course.
- Click on the “Build Landing Page” option on the top right. Doing so will lead you to the Site Builder, where you will build a landing page from scratch.
- Choose a theme or customize your landing page with your branding.
- Customize the layout of your landing page by dragging and dropping different elements onto the page, such as text, images, video, and call-to-action buttons.
- Add your course description and images to your landing page to give your potential students a better idea of your course.
- Add a clear call-to-action button to your landing page, such as a “Sign Up Now” button, that links to your course enrollment page.
- Preview your landing page to make sure it looks good and functions properly.
- Publish your landing page by clicking the “Save” button at the top right of the Site Builder page.
You’re not just limited to creating landing pages for your courses. You can also create a full website in Thinkific, including a home page, blog section, and community page. You can also customize your site’s appearance with Thinkific’s intuitive design tools the way you do with the course player, ensuring that it looks professional and engaging. This step is essential for creating a cohesive online brand that stands out to potential students.
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Engaging with Your Students
Engaging with your students is an essential part of the course-creation process. Thinkific makes it easy to stay connected to your students with its built-in email marketing tools. You can customize emails with your branding, automate email sequences, and even trigger emails based on student actions.
In addition, you can use Thinkific’s discussion forums to foster student-to-student interaction, which helps to create a community within your course. Finally, Thinkific’s analytics and reporting tools make monitoring student progress and engagement easy.
With these tools, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your course, improve student engagement, and optimize the learning experience.
Advanced Thinkific Features
It’s not just about creating courses and a fully-functioning website. With Thinkific, you can enjoy many other advanced features to help create and manage a successful learning environment. In this section, we’ll review some of the advanced features of Thinkific.
- Automated Payment Processing: With Thinkific, you can quickly and easily accept customer payments. Automated payment processing allows you to securely accept customer payments and keep track of your sales.
- Drip Course Content: Thinkific allows you to schedule and release course content on a pre-determined timeline. This course delivery method helps you ensure that students are exposed to the material appropriately.
- Private Course Access: With Thinkific, you can set up a secure login page to restrict access to your courses and protect your content from malicious activities.
- Community Discussions: Thinkific offers an integrated community forum that enables students to interact with each other and ask questions related to the course. You can offer it as a standalone product or part of your site!
- Course Reviews: Thinkific allows you to collect and display reviews for your courses to help new students find the best course for their needs.
- Third-Party Integrations: Thinkific allows you to seamlessly integrate with other third-party apps through the Thinkific App Store, such as Google Calendar and Zapier, to get more out of your course.
- Bulk Import: Thinkific allows you to quickly and easily upload many different kinds of content in bulk to your course materials.
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Conclusion
With Thinkific, creating and selling your online courses has never been easier! By following the key steps outlined in this article, you now have all the tools you need to start this journey. From setting up your course to building your curriculum to customizing your website for your content, Thinkific will help you step by step, and you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful online course business.
Remember to plan your course content and structure, add course content to Thinkific, organize your course into modules and sections, and set pricing and enrollment options. Additionally, don’t forget to customize your landing page to showcase your course and attract potential students.
With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, Thinkific is the perfect platform for anyone who wants to create and sell their online courses. So what are you waiting for? Start using Thinkific today and turn your knowledge and expertise into a profitable online course business!