LifterLMS Review: An ultimate tool to create online courses?

LifterLMS – Best WordPress LMS plugin

A WordPress LMS plugin for your online learning website.

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Online learning is quickly becoming a norm after the pandemic. It’s an easy way to educate people across the world & monetize your skills or knowledge. All you have to do is create online courses and market them efficiently & you are good to go!

Many firms like edX, Udemy, & Lynda work exclusively on this model. These firms have built millions of dollars by creating & offering online courses. You, too, can do the same.

There are multiple WordPress LMS plugins available in the market that you can use to create online courses.

One such plugin is LifterLMS. A lot of ed-tech start-ups are using it with the best results. So is LifterLMS the best online course-building plugin ever? Is it the right choice for your online education program? This article will help you decide if LifterLMS is suitable for your needs.

Let’s find out!

What is LifterLMS?

LifterLMS is a comprehensive Learning Management System plugin for WordPress websites. It helps you create online courses efficiently. You can create courses, lectures, online-training websites, & much LMS plugin.

This plugin is very user-friendly, needs no technical know-how & offers a complete e-learning solution. It’s an open-source software & hence the core LifterLMS plugin is free.

The first step to using the platform is getting LifterLMS installed on your WordPress website. It’s extremely flexible & can be used to create a stand-alone online course website for multi-instructor e-learning programs.

The websites you build with LifterLMS are highly user-friendly & mobile-responsive. So your subscribers can easily access it through any device & can learn on the go.

Now, let’s take a quick look at the best features of LifterLMS.

What are the best features of LifterLMS?

Here is the list of LifterLMS’s best features:

• Automated notifications keep students informed about course progress, completions, and important updates.
• Extensive settings allow you to customize course appearance, plugin options, and overall functionality to fit your needs.
• Full control over course creation, content placement, and the learner experience, letting you manage every aspect of your online training.

Drag & Drop course builder

LifterLMS is equipped with its course builder. So you can easily create impactful courses without much hassle. Moreover, its drag & drop feature ensures you don’t have to be a coder to build courses. You can start by creating a course outline to organize your content and structure your curriculum effectively.

This feature is simple, easy to use & anyone with a basic knowledge of computers can create courses using it.

You can add various multimedia formats like audio, videos, texts & images to make your courses more interesting & appealing. You can also easily add a new lesson to your course structure, ensuring your content is well-organized.

Each lesson can include videos, text, and other media, making lessons the fundamental building blocks of your course. There is also an option to add downloadable content to each course, like pdf or videos.

In short, LifterLMS has everything you’ll ever need to create appealing online courses.

Monetize your knowledge

Creating an online course is not enough. You should be able to sell it efficiently & monetize your knowledge. And that’s where LifterLMS comes to your rescue.

By integrating the WooCommerce add on to your website, you can sell your courses online on this well-known e-commerce plugin.

You can also sell your membership plans & courses via Stripe & PayPal. You can add multiple payment options for your subscribers & buyers to maximize your sales. Whether a onetime purchase or recurring payment, you can do all that via the LifterLMS plugin.

You can accept payments from any country & in any currency. This can widen your consumer base, propelling your revenue. LifterLMS also helps you attract and manage customers, making it easier to grow your user base and increase your revenue.

Astra Integration

Astra is one of the most popular & top-notch WordPress themes. And LifterLMS offers seamless integration with Astra. The combination of Astra & LifterLMS will help you get the ultimate e-learning website that’s powerful & efficient.

Astra also offers custom templates that are specifically designed for LifterLMS. Although these templates will set you back $59 or more, they are worth the money. When you use these templates, your website will look more like a custom website instead of a template.

Better Student engagement

There are a plethora of courses available online & most of them are boring. This makes a lot of students ditch their course midway. But that’s not the case if you use LifterLMS.

The courses created using LifterLMS are highly engaging & entertaining. The learning will be fun for the students.

You can create achievement badges, offer them printable certificates, and also create, customize, and manage achievement certificates to motivate learners and track course completion. You can promote competition through various quiz competitions.

You can also send personalized emails to each student regarding their progress, sectors where they need to focus & private coaching for them.

You can also create an online social community where your past, present & potential students can discuss their learning experiences. Additionally, you can enable comments on lessons or courses to foster student interaction and discussion.

Students can leave a comment on course content, and comments are powered by WordPress, with privacy and visibility settings available.

Such discussions will promote your course’s online presence.

Better Security

The best feature of LifterLMS is its security. This plugin helps you create a system where you can secure your content.

Only your subscribers or paid members will be able to view your course content. Anyone else who is trying to access your content will be redirected to the payment gateway.

Users are unable to access restricted course content unless they have the appropriate permissions or have completed the necessary steps.

Moreover, you can enable security that allows you to let a specific user view certain content at the designated time. This ensures your content is not copied or duplicated by any user.

In short, LifterLMS provides ultimate security to your students & your courses from any unauthorized access.

Apart from these primary features, LifterLMS has multiple other features that make it probably one of the best LMS plugin for WordPress websites.

How to install & set up the LifterLMS plugin?

Step 1:

Open the dashboard of your WordPress website after logging in. Next, open the “Plugin” section visible in the drop-down menu. Here, click on the “Add new” button. Next, enter “LifterLMS” in the search bar & hit search. When the plugin is visible, click on the “Install Now” button.

Alternatively, if you have already downloaded the LifterLMS plugin ZIP file, you can upload the file directly through the WordPress admin dashboard by clicking the “Upload Plugin” button. After uploading the file, check for compatibility and then activate the plugin.

Once the download is complete, you will see the “Activate” button. Click on that your plugin will be activated automatically.

Step 2:

Once the plugin is activated, you will be redirected to the LifterLMS set wizard. Here you can configure your website. If you do not want to configure the pages, you can skip the whole step.

In case you don’t want to skip it, here is the list of some steps required to set up your e-learning website:

• Page Setup: Here, you can add all the necessary pages for your website. LifterLMS offers some standard pages, including Course Catalog, Member dashboard, & checkout pages. You can add others if you want.
• Payment Setup: Your ultimate goal is to monetize your courses, so this step is very important. In this step, you can add various payment options for your students. You can choose the country, currency & payment modes. Using LifterLMS, you can enable offline & online payment options for your courses. If you accept online payments, you will have to add a payment gateway.
• Coupon setup: LifterLMS offers various coupons if you share non-sensitive data that can help LifterLMS improve its services; you can either opt in or opt out of these services. But I’ll recommend you allow the sharing of this non-sensitive data. This data will help the creators improve the plugin & you’ll get LifterLMS coupons. So it’s a win-win deal for both.
• Add sample courses: This is the final step where the configuration of all the pages is almost done. In this final step, you can add sample courses or create courses from scratch. You have to click on the “Import Course” button, and the course will be added. If you do not want to import those courses, click on the “Start from Scratch” button. Select the relevant option & hit “Finish.”

How to create courses using Lifter?

After your setup is complete, it’s time to create your first online course using LifterLMS review. The process of building a course typically involves outlining your topics, structuring lessons, writing engaging content, and publishing the final product. Here is the step-by-step guide to doing it.

In this guide, you will follow a process that includes writing engaging course descriptions, lesson content, and other materials to provide a comprehensive learning experience.

Create Course

Go to the “Courses” section & click on the “Add Course” button. You will see a WordPress Editor, as shown below. Add the title & description on the page.

There is an option to add the information of the instructor & featured image if you want.

Choose Category

Adding a category to your course ensures that potential students can easily locate your course while searching. To add a Category, open the “Course Setting” Menu. Then, go to the “Categories” option & click on “Add New Course Category,” add the name of the Category & click on “Add.”

There is also an option to add the difficulty level to your course. For example, you can select whether your course will be difficult, moderate, or easy.

Setting Course options

In this section, you can set what your course will look like on the website, will there be any featured video, & what will be the restriction on each course.

There are 4 tabs that you can use to set up course options:

• Sales Page: This option lets you select what your sales page for the course will look like. You can select options like display default course content, show custom content, redirect to WordPress Page, or redirect to custom URL.
• General tab: You can configure how your course will look in this tab. You can add Featured video links, display featured videos on course tile, & add featured audio.
• Restriction Period: You can add various restrictions to your courses in this tab. E.g., what message do you want to display when someone accesses the restricted content, the course’s enrollment period, the course capacity, & course period?
• Reviews: In this step, you can choose whether you want to enable reviews, display reviews & prevent multiple reviews.
• Setting up the Access Plan: This section allows you to set up payment options & time for which the course will be accessible. You can set up the access plan for any course by visiting the “Access Plan” section. Here, click on the “Add New” button. Once you click the button, you will see a detailed form, as shown below. Here, you can add all the details like Plan Title, Price, Plan Description, Frequency, Enroll Text, Plan Availability, etc. If you want to offer your course for free, you can select the option “No Payment Required.” Save the changes & you are good to go!

• Student Enrollment & Management: Once your course is published, you can configure the options to enrol & manage your students. After a student pays subscription fees, you will have to click on the “Enroll Students” button. Then add all the necessary information like the student’s name, email id & contact information. Once you click the “Enroll Students” button, the student will be added to the Enrollment list. In the “Manage Existing Enrollments,” you can search, filter, cancel or grade the students already enrolled for your courses.

Once you do this, your course is ready & good to go!

LifterLMS Pricing

The core LifterLMS is free of cost. This free version has almost everything you will need to create a perfect online course. However, you will have to pay for add-on bundles for any additional features.

You can check out the detailed bundle pricing here.

Support and Resources

When it comes to building a successful online course business on your WordPress site, having access to reliable support and comprehensive resources is essential.

LifterLMS stands out by offering a robust support system and a wealth of learning materials to help users at every stage of their journey, from setting up their first course page to managing advanced features like payment plans and analytics.

One of the first places to turn for help is the extensive LifterLMS documentation. This resource covers everything from installing the free plugin on your WordPress website to creating engaging lessons, quizzes, and multiple choice assessments.

The step-by-step guides make it easy to set up your course content, schedule new lessons, and configure your sales page, even if you’re new to WordPress plugins or online course creation.

Beyond documentation, the LifterLMS blog is packed with actionable tips and best practices. Whether you’re looking to optimize your sales page, connect with email service providers, or improve the learning experience for your students, the blog offers insights that can help you grow your online business.

You’ll find advice on how to manage your site, create certificates for student achievements, and use analytics to track your course’s success.

For more interactive support, LifterLMS offers a vibrant community forum where users can connect, share experiences, and get advice from fellow course creators.

This is a great place to ask questions about specific features, troubleshoot issues, or simply get inspired by what others are building with LifterLMS. If you need more direct assistance, you can submit a support ticket to the LifterLMS team, who are known for their responsive and knowledgeable help.

LifterLMS also makes it easy to manage the business side of your online courses. With built-in support for payment gateways like PayPal, you can set up flexible payment plans and start selling your courses right from your WordPress site.

The plugin’s analytics tools help you monitor sales, track student progress, and make data-driven decisions to improve your offerings.

The free version of LifterLMS provides a generous set of features, allowing you to create and manage courses, lessons, and quizzes without any upfront investment.

This makes it an excellent choice for educators and entrepreneurs who want to test the waters before committing to a paid plan. As your needs grow, you can explore premium add-ons for advanced integrations and business features.

Finally, the LifterLMS community is a valuable asset in itself. By connecting with other users, you can exchange tips, stay updated on new features, and get feedback on your course ideas.

Whether you’re a solo instructor or part of a larger team, the support and resources available through LifterLMS can help you create a professional, engaging, and successful online course platform on your WordPress website.

In summary, LifterLMS not only equips you with powerful tools to create and sell online courses, but also backs you up with a strong support network and a wealth of resources.

Take advantage of the documentation, blog, community, and support ticket system to get the most out of your LifterLMS experience, and set your online course business up for lasting success.

Pros and Cons of LifterLMS

Pros of LifterLMS:

• Very user-friendly
• Core LifterLMS plugin is available for free
• Drag & Drop Builder is super effective
• Astra & Woocommerce integration available
• Supports all multimedia format lessons
• 30 days demo for $1 available

Cons of LifterLMS:

• No free add-ons to add extra features
• Add-ons are quite expensive, as compared to peers
• Limited marketing options available with MailChimp & ConvertKit
• You will have to pay for some basic add-ons

LifterLMS Alternatives

LifterLMS is a solid tool for creating, selling, and protecting engaging online courses. However, it’s always beneficial to explore alternatives to ensure you’re using the best tool for your needs.

Many WordPress LMS alternatives rely on plug ins to enhance functionality and customize the learning experience. Here are some of the top LifterLMS alternatives that you should consider:

• LearnDash: Renowned for its rich features and flexibility, LearnDash is a premium WordPress LMS plugin that’s beloved by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, and training organizations. It offers advanced quizzing, dynamic content, course prerequisites, and more. It also supports various monetization options, making it a great choice for commercial course providers.
• Teachable: This standalone platform doesn’t require a WordPress site to host your courses. It offers a user-friendly interface and an all-in-one suite for course creation, hosting, and selling. It also provides features such as quizzes, discussion forums, and certificates. With its robust marketing tools, you can reach out to more students and increase your sales.
• Thinkific: This platform provides a comprehensive solution for creating and selling online courses. It offers a drag-and-drop course builder, a range of content types, and in-depth student management tools. Thinkific is also known for its excellent customer support and extensive resources, helping you get the most out of your online course delivery.
• Moodle: A free, open-source LMS platform, Moodle is favored by educational institutions globally. It’s highly customizable and offers a wide range of plugins to extend its functionality. While it has a steeper learning curve compared to other platforms, it provides extensive features for assessment, grading, and feedback.
• Podia: An all-in-one platform that lets you create and sell online courses, memberships, and digital downloads. It stands out with its simple user interface, unlimited hosting for courses, and built-in email marketing tools. Podia also takes care of all the technical aspects, so you can focus more on creating content and less on troubleshooting.
• Kajabi: This is an all-in-one business platform that allows you to create, market, and sell online courses and memberships. It offers comprehensive features for course creation, website building, email marketing, and automation. While it’s on the pricier side, Kajabi is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs looking for an all-in-one solution to build their online education business.

While LifterLMS is an impressive LMS, there are other options out there that might better suit your unique needs or preferences. Take the time to explore these alternatives, consider your needs and resources, and choose the one that’s the best fit for you.

Final Verdict

LifterLMS is an exceptionally well-designed & simple WordPress plugin. Using it, you can build highly engaging & interactive courses & monetize your skills. Its free version has almost all the features, but you will have to buy bundles for some.

I am glad to share my experience with LifterLMS and how it can benefit course creators. One significant moment for me was when I first completed a course using LifterLMS and saw how seamless the process was.

So if you are a not-for-profit educator, these bundles might put a strain on your budget. But if you are looking to monetize your courses, the amount of money is well spent.

I hope this review helps you make an informed decision about LifterLMS. So, in my opinion, LifterLMS is a grab for course builders. For more such reviews, feel free to visit our website.

So, in my opinion, LifterLMS is a grab for course builders. For more such reviews, feel free to visit our website.

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