LearnDash Hosting - What You Need to Know

If you're using LearnDash and want to focus on creating content without worrying about hosting costs or technical maintenance, managed hosting is the perfect solution.

The learning management system (LMS) market is booming, projected to exceed $40 billion by 2029.

With more opportunities—and competition—than ever, it's crucial to stand out by focusing on content creation.

Meanwhile, a reliable hosting service can ensure your website's performance and scalability are optimized.

Here's everything you need to know about LearnDash, its standout features, and what to look for in a hosting package.

LearnDash is a WordPress plugin designed for creating and managing online courses.

It features a drag-and-drop course builder, allowing you to create multiple-choice tests, dynamic content delivery, results tracking, and video learning.

Widely used by corporations and universities, it's growing in popularity as more people continue working from home.

LearnDash Managed Hosting is a service that handles the technical aspects of hosting your LearnDash-powered website, such as server management, updates, and security.

Hosting your LearnDash platform with a managed service offers easy scalability and dedicated support to optimize your site, ensuring it runs efficiently as your user base grows.

Essentially, any organization that needs to distribute learning materials to a wide audience online, but doesn’t have the skills to develop its own platform will benefit.

It's also beneficial for organizations needing scalability, like businesses with growing training needs or educational platforms expecting more students.

The table below highlights different groups that stand to benefit from LearnDash hosting and what the platform can offer you.

• Focus mode - This feature removes distractions by eliminating navigation, footers and sidebars, helping users focus solely on the content without idle web browsing.

• The new course builder - You can build an unlimited number of courses here. Create lesson plans, add unique content, develop assessments, and reward users for progress

• Quizzing and assignments - Create multiple choice and free-form quizzes alongside leaderboards to encourage competition. Plus, give your users assignments to complete with automated reminders before the completion date

• Monetization options (PayPal integration) - Easily monetize the platform by charging for one-time course access or setting up recurring payments for long-term learning.

• Course forums - Allow your users to discuss your training materials and collect feedback via the member forums.

• User documentation - The LearnDash platform has dozens of guides and articles describing how to get the most out of the platform and advice on creating exceptional courses.

• Reporting and administration tools - You can easily track your user’s progress, test results, and monitor engagement with the platform. You can use the data to make tweaks and improvements.

• Automatic notifications - Set automatic notifications for both your platform administrators and your users. Get alerts when courses are complete or when feedback has been received.

• Group management - Divide your users into groups. Great for managing team progress or creating specific courses to target individual training needs.

• Use any WordPress theme - As a WordPress plug-in, LearnDash comes with built-in compatibility with all WordPress themes.

• Drip-Feed Content - Schedule course content to release gradually, helping users learn at a manageable pace and boosting retention.

• Certificates and Badges - Automatically award certificates and badges for course completion, quizzes, or milestones, adding a layer of gamification and motivation.

• Mobile Compatibility - LearnDash is optimized for mobile devices, ensuring that users can access courses, complete quizzes, and participate in discussions from anywhere, on any device.

• Advanced Integration Options - Easily integrates with tools like WooCommerce, Mailchimp, and Zapier to expand e-learning and automate tasks.allowing you to expand your e-learning capabilities and automate tasks.

• Content Protection - Protect your course materials with built-in content protection features, ensuring that only enrolled users have access to your valuable content.

• Tricky to learn - New users may find the platform overwhelming due to its many features.

  To create great content, it’s important to understand the options and settings at each stage. Fortunately, LearnDash offers extensive user documentation to guide you.

• Lack of reporting features on the entry-level plan - The entry-level plans are lacking in features when compared to upper tiers, particularly when it comes to reporting.

• Pricey - It can be expensive using LearnDash. As of August 2024, LearnDash offers several pricing plans for its Learning Management System (LMS) plugin:

  • Basic Plan: $199 per year for a single site license.

  • Plus Plan: $399 per year for up to 10 sites.

  • Pro Plan: $799 per year for an unlimited number of sites.

These plans come with updates and support. LearnDash also offers a cloud-hosted option starting at $24/month (billed annually) or $29/month (billed monthly).

Let’s quickly review key features you should be on the lookout for when choosing a managed hosting for your LearnDash platform.

1. Number of visits (or bandwidth) allowed per month

While LearnDash itself allows for unlimited users, you’ll need to make sure you choose a hosting package that has enough data allowance to handle your expected number of visitors

2. Server location

The closer your host’s servers are to your customer base, the faster your website and training programs will be.

Make sure to choose a package that has servers in your primary geographic region

3. Scalable infrastructure

If you expect your training platform to grow, or simply want some flexibility to cater for traffic fluctuations, you’ll need to consider scalability.

Managed cloud hosting could be a good option here as it can easily scale up to handle as many users as you’d like

4. Latest PHP version

PHP is the coding language that actually allows you to develop web apps for WordPress.

You’ll need to have the latest version compatible with LearnDash to be able to run your site effectively

5. PHP workers

PHP workers will allow you to handle simultaneous uncached requests.

This essentially determines how quickly your site can process user actions. The more workers you have the more site traffic you can handle

6. Memory (RAM) & processing power (CPU)

These are both factors that affect the processing power of your website.

If you have particularly resource-hungry plug-ins or large numbers of users, it’s best to increase your RAM and CPU power.

7. WordPress-specific security

We’d highly recommend opting for a hosting package for WordPress.

This gives you access to security experts who understand the platform's vulnerabilities and can help optimize LearnDash for security.

8. Routine, automated backups

Always opt for a package that has regular, automated backups.

No matter how secure your website is, everyone is at risk of cyber attack. With routine backups you’ll have a fallback solution should you lose your data.

9. Available, reliable, knowledgeable support

This needs to be 24/7, 365 days a year.

Websites are running constantly and you could run into issues at any time.

With a good managed service you can rely on a knowledgeable support team to fix problems within agreed timeframes.

10. Multi-user permissions

You’ll likely need developer support when building your LearnDash platform.

Choose a host that lets you grant admin privileges while restricting access to only the necessary systems and processes.

11. Server Analytics

Google Analytics is the most basic site analysis tool. While most data hosts are compatible, it's wise to explore other tools to monitor site traffic and user behavior.

12. Site uptime

As a minimum, you should expect a 99.99% uptime guarantee from a managed hosting service. Anything less and it could impact the experience of your LearnDash users.

13. Content Delivery Network (CDN) Integration

A CDN boosts your website's speed by distributing content across servers worldwide.

Make sure your hosting provider supports easy CDN integration to improve LearnDash course performance, especially for global users.

14. Staging Environment

A staging environment lets you test updates and changes without impacting your live site.

Choose a host that provides an easy-to-use staging environment for safely trying out new features on your LearnDash platform.

15. SSL Certificates

An SSL certificate secures data between your users and your website, ensuring safe transactions and protecting sensitive information.

Verify that your hosting plan includes free SSL certificates to safeguard your LearnDash courses and build user trust.

It’s incredibly simple to upload videos into your training courses. LearnDash allows you to embed videos from your YouTube channel as well as upload original content.

You can even use a 'video progression' feature that requires users to watch the entirety of a video before it can be marked as complete.

It’s a useful way to ensure your users aren’t skipping content.

To ensure your LearnDash courses reach a broader audience and rank well in search engines, it’s crucial to optimize your content for SEO.

Here are some actionable tips to help you maximize your course visibility:

Keyword Research

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to find keywords your audience is searching for. Include these in your course titles, descriptions, and content.

Optimized Titles and Descriptions

Make your course titles and descriptions engaging and keyword-rich. They should clearly explain what the course offers and appeal to both learners and search engines.

Structured Data

Use schema markup on your course pages to help search engines understand your content better and improve how your courses appear in search results.

High-Quality Content

Create valuable, informative, and unique content. Search engines prioritize well-researched and comprehensive content that provides real value.

Internal Linking

Link to your LearnDash courses from other content on your website. This helps with SEO and improves navigation and user experience.

Mobile Optimization

Ensure your LearnDash courses are mobile-friendly. Google favors mobile-optimized sites, so make sure your courses are easy to navigate on any device.

Meta Descriptions and Tags

Write compelling meta descriptions that include target keywords. These appear in search results and can influence click-through rates.

Optimized Images and Media

Use descriptive filenames and alt text for your images and videos. This helps search engines index them, potentially driving more traffic.

Regular Updates

Keep your courses fresh by regularly updating content. Search engines prefer sites with frequent and relevant updates.

Social Sharing

Encourage learners to share your courses on social media. Social signals can boost traffic and increase visibility.

iSpring Market

This tool is easier to use than LearnDash but has fewer features. It’s designed for both large training centers and small businesses.

Teachable

A slick platform that focuses on selling your courses to a wide audience. As such, you’ll find a range of marketing tools bundled with the platform

Podia

The target market of this platform is freelancers and solo entrepreneurs looking to sell their services to as wide an audience as possible.

Moodle

An open-source, highly customizable LMS that's free to use. Ideal for organizations needing flexibility and willing to invest in setup and maintenance.

Kajabi

An all-in-one platform combining course creation, marketing, and sales tools, perfect for entrepreneurs building an online course business.

TalentLMS

This is a cloud-based LMS focused on corporate training, offering features to create, manage, and deliver employee development programs.

LearnDash is a powerful platform, trusted by Fortune 500 companies and small businesses alike, for creating impressive online courses.

Though it can be pricey, its extensive features and seamless WordPress integration make it an excellent choice.

Consider managed hosting for LearnDash to ensure that your educational objectives are fully supported.

This in turn guarantees optimal speed, performance, and security, offering peace of mind and potentially a more cost-effective solution.