How to create a course in Squarespace // Squarespace Courses Tutorial for Beginners

[@coachellyn]

All of my favorite Squarespace trainers are all like "OMG Squarespace has Courses!" today! Super excited for this!

[@InsideTheSquare]

We Squarespacers get excited very easily 😂 LOLOL

[@coachellyn]

Honestly this is something you SHOULD get excited about! This is honestly going to save me so much money from hosting courses on other expensive, complicated platforms@@InsideTheSquare

[@Finewoodworkingofsc]

I figured this would be out after watching your collaboration with Kerstin Martin and Squarekicker last week, just reading between the lines. Thanks so much Becca for such a great tutorial. A lot of information packed into this one!

[@InsideTheSquare]

You're so welcome - it was SO hard not to spill the beans on that call!! 😅 Thanks for joining us live, and for subscribing to my KZbin channel 🥰

[@SoulWise-cl8ce]

Very helpful, and clearly explained. Thank you.

[@InsideTheSquare]

You're so welcome :)

[@chrisspowe]

Epic tutorial, Becca. Thank you.

[@InsideTheSquare]

You are so welcome - glad it was helpful. It was SO hard not to spill the beans on this one; I actually waited up until 3am so I could post it when it was officially live!! 😅

[@TomsVisuals]

Great job!

[@InsideTheSquare]

Thanks! ☺️

[@janelf.9442]

Thanks so much Becca for the tutorial 🙏

[@InsideTheSquare]

You’re welcome 😊

[@cartereducation1]

Great beginning from SQSP...but needs some work. I am M.Ed in curriculum design and been designing digital courses since 2005. (you may have some influence with them). 1) why??? is the lesson overview below the video? 2. Why???? is the complete button at the top of a lesson? 3. and most important - why??? is the no comment section (like a blog) ORRRR a community comment section? Food for thought!

[@InsideTheSquare]

Both great ideas!! I've got a code to hide that top button because I totally agree - whhhyyyyy is that even there?! I'll be sure to bring up these suggestions on the next Circle Leaders call. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! 😊

[@MirabelJ]

There is a 'Complete & Continue' button at the bottom of the lesson as well as the top. I agree about the overview though, it makes more sense to have it at the top or even better - have a choice top or bottom placing.

[@LornaKBailey]

Extremely helpful. Thank you so much!

[@InsideTheSquare]

You're so welcome - happy to help! 😊

[@naturalwitchery]

You are an excellent teacher 🎉

[@InsideTheSquare]

Thank you! 😃

[@stephaniekeffer2124]

Is there anyway to change the layout of the video itself? For example, to make the video smaller and add spacers to the left and right of the video?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Great question!! Technically we can do that with CSS, but the easier way is to not upload a video to the main lesson, but make a fluid engine page section with the video as the first section of the lesson. I’m covering some advanced codes & layout concepts like this in my workshop next week! You can learn more at insidethesquare.co/courseworkshop

[@rollieelle]

I love the layout of this video! Anyone know what platform was used for the recording/editing?

[@InsideTheSquare]

I do! I use a mix of Camtasia, Descript, Adobe Audio Enhance and Canva. Creating free content is quite a time consuming & expensive process 😅

[@rollieelle]

@@InsideTheSquare thank you for taking the time to reply 💗💗 I especially love the split screen layout of the beginning of the video. And I agree, I’m creating free content as well, and it’s super time-consuming!! Your split screen looks so much better than mine do 💕💕

[@valsivilli7341]

Thank you - so good.

[@InsideTheSquare]

You’re so welcome - happy to help! ☺️

[@roburbanhealer]

This is great thank you! x I haven't watched in full yet, but wondered if there's an option to change the currency from dollars to GPB?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Totally! You can do this in the site wide settings - Change your region and currency 👍👍

[@TiberiousGreene]

Been WAITING for something like this! How can we link it to open up to a member who purchases it from the store? And how will they be able to re access the course if it’s not in one sitting? I mean this whole setup works if it’s free for public use, but this is ideal to charge for courses

[@InsideTheSquare]

Great question! You can setup pricing on a course so people have to create an account to access the info. I'll definitely do another tutorial when I relaunch my member area as a course next month - stay tuned ;)

[@rollieelle]

The tutorial is well explained. However, as a teacher, there are a lot of features highlighted here that aren’t nearly as important to me as the ones that are missing. This course feature looks like it was designed for someone who is interested in design more than actual teaching. How do we assess course participants? (preferably more than just multiple choice quizzes, but even that seems to be missing.) Is there a way to set up video calls with them? Is there a way to attach PDFs to lessons? Is there a community board? Can we integrate with other platforms to assess the gamify the course? Etc

[@InsideTheSquare]

I would recommend reaching out to Squarespace with your questions & concerns! You can reach them directly at support.squarespace.com

[@naturalwitchery]

Yeah! Attaching PDFs and sound files are a must for me!

[@kamillerobertson5929]

I don't understand the custom Url. How does it work? How to you make a url?

[@InsideTheSquare]

A URL is the address you type into your browser to visit a site, like google.com. A URL slug is a page on that domain, like google.com/maps Here is a support article with more info: support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205814578-URL-slugs

[@vivyh3395]

Am I correct in assuming that you can only add one "main" video per lesson unless you add a video to any sections you may add to the lesson page? Awesome tutorial, btw. Thank you so much!

[@InsideTheSquare]

You are correct! What Ive been seeing is that the main benefit to adding a main video is the meta data that calculated the lesson time and puts that under the chapter info and the lesson on the overview page. Personally I plan to remove that meta data, and have way more fun with layouts using page sections! Hope that info helps with your project :)

[@cartereducation1]

PS: The only video 'time' the system registers are uploaded videos - NOT KZbin. (unless I have missed a setting???)

[@InsideTheSquare]

You are correct - it's only counting the time for a video added to the lesson settings. Personally I am not a fan of the meta data, so I'll be sharing a code to edit and remove it soon; stay tuned 😉

[@houmankhalaj]

Hi ! How can I have a two different text color on course overview page? I only want to change the "course name / course title" color and keep the chapter name text colour as it is.

[@InsideTheSquare]

I just double checked that this isn't an option in the color menu, and i think it's wild that it still isn't an option!! C'mon Squarspace 🫠 You can use this code to change it to any color you want; replace the word red with a color name or color code: .course-list .course-list__course-name{color:red}

[@houmankhalaj]

@@InsideTheSquare Thank you so much!

[@StephEdwardsNaturalTherapist]

would activating and creating a free course activate the login button the navigating. One has appeared on my website and I am not sure how. My members area under settings is turned off?

[@InsideTheSquare]

You should be able to turn this off manually. Hop into edit mode and select "edit site header". Click on elements and see if you can toggle off "account". If that doesn't do the trick, I'd recommend reaching out to Squarespace support for help!

[@tristanrushworth]

Great video thanks

[@InsideTheSquare]

You're welcome - glad you enjoyed it!

[@thehealprojectusa6565]

Excellent tutorial! Thank you so much for this very useful info. "Courses" is an exciting and powerful feature. I'm wondering if "Courses" will allow us to upload our courses as downloadable pdf files (We want to offer our lessons to teachers as downloads, get their basic information so we can follow up with them, so the "lessons" would be gated with a password, but provided free of charge). Do you have a tutorial or offer a course that shows us the download features of "Courses"? Please let me know. We are currently on Squarespace 7.0 so it looks like the hardest work will be in migrating to 7.1 to take advantage of "Courses." Thank you for your kind help. 🙂

[@InsideTheSquare]

Interesting question! To have downloadable course content, I recommend creating your own PDF files using a different program like Google Docs. This is what I do for my course guides and transcripts. I link to the content using a simple button in the lesson page sections. Hope that concept helps with your project, and best of luck with your course!

[@thehealprojectusa6565]

@@InsideTheSquare Thank you for replying and for your encouragement. It turns out we will create a "member site" -- because we are on v.7.0 - to house the pdfs we've created. We'd like to create a Google form to collect contact info from the visitor. Once we receive their info, we'd send the visitor a password so they can download the pdfs. Trying to find a way to automate that "info to password step..." If you can point us in any direction for that, we'd be most grateful. Thanks again for all your clear explanations.

[@ayurvedalearningcenterwith7968]

Hi Becky, I am looking how to offer my square space online courses as affilate program to massage schools and wondered if you know how to create an affiliate link to give to other schools? or do you have a course on it, or can you make one? Noone has this on youtube.

[@InsideTheSquare]

This is a great idea! I use the program Peachs (it is spelled without the second e) for my affiliates, and know a lot of folks who use thrivecart. I'll have to add this tutorial idea to my to do list; stay tuned 😉

[@streetphotostorytellers]

Very informative. Thanks! So did the old Member Areas organization structure go away? So now all memberships are hosted on some type of course page?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Nope! Courses is a collection page - member area is a gated folder. So you can have a course in a member area, or not, and you can have a member area with or without a course.

[@streetphotostorytellers]

Thank you!

[@streetphotostorytellers]

I really love what they did here, and would love to have all my content on SS, but not having a community function makes it hard to leave Kajabi now.

[@smcvirtualsolutions]

This is great ! How many courses can you create on a squarespace account?

[@InsideTheSquare]

What a great question! I can't say for sure, but I know the current site limit is 1,000 pages. Courses are a collection page, so it's unclear if a lesson counts as one page or not, but you can probably have a quite a few! Here is some more info on page limits: support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206543087-Page-limits

[@BigBangThinking]

Hi ! Is there a way to add automated certificates for students that finished a course?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Not that I know of, but hopefully there will be a feature like that in the future!

[@BigBangThinking]

Hi ! Is there a way to add subtitles/captions to the videos in a course?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Unfortunately there is not - which is terrible for accessibility! Personally, I host my course videos on Vimeo, and I pull the transcripts from there and add them to a PDF that I link to on the course. It’s a LOT of work, but so important to make sure that everyone has the info they need to succeed 🙌

[@IQU2Film]

Is there no space to upload a PDF or Word file for assignments?

[@InsideTheSquare]

There’s no way to embed the file directly into Squarespace without an I-frame, but you can always use a button to link directly to a file, including a PDF!

[@JamieHartMusic]

i'm struggling to make my title fonts pop and look like real headings and titles. What is the font you're using for the "New Course" text?

[@InsideTheSquare]

I use Poppins for everything - it's one of my favorites and it has a ton of weights from extra light to extra bold.

[@JamieHartMusic]

@@InsideTheSquarethanks!! Since it’s the heading title I want it underlined but I don’t seem to have that option. Am I missing something ?

[@jennifferwhyte4840]

If I don't have any more space to add videos, can I add links to videos where it will take people to possibly a Google drive?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Great question! Personally, I host my course content on Vimeo and embed the video in squarespace. Pro tip: make sure you set up the right end screen! I missed this for a full year before I realized. On the Interactions section of Vimeo, set the end screen to blank or thumbnail or anything other than more videos 😅

[@willarias]

Thanks for sharing all this SS knowledge. When it comes to online courses, apart from prices, what’s the main difference between Squarespace and Kajabi?

[@InsideTheSquare]

The main one: Kajabi was created for courses and Squarespace was created for websites. After that initial one, the list goes on and on and on 😅

[@naturalwitchery]

The marketing emails are so basic and lacking on Squarespace comped to Kajabi! I miss the ease of email marketing and drip content from Kajabi!

[@Sellingtheberkshires]

Is there a way I could add a quiz to a course?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Great question! Squarespace doesn't have a quiz feature, but I have heard good things about Interact quizes: www.tryinteract.com/

[@MirabelJ]

Edit lesson panel - it is not clear where the side bar is enabled. I don't see a toggle there.

[@InsideTheSquare]

Hey Mirabel! The sidebar is always enabled - we can jsut change the location from the left-hand side of the screen or the right. Check out the 15:35 minute mark on this tutorial to see what that option looks like.

[@MirabelJ]

@@InsideTheSquare Yes, thanks a lot!

[@BoostFutbol]

Amazing tutorial! Questions for you - do you know of any way to automatically keep that "Accordion" feature closed in the lessons shown under the chapters? If you have a lot of lessons under a chapter, it can be a lot.

[@InsideTheSquare]

Great question! I don't have a code for that yet, but I'll definitely add it to my tutorial to do list, so stay tuned :)

[@Whattheshityennefer]

@@InsideTheSquare has this been done yet / how can I find it once you do?

[@arqiab498]

since everythign got their own opened URL, can you share the course you've bought with just anyone?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Not if it's behind a paywall! My course is free, but when you set up a paywall, all the content behind it can only be access by someone who has a log in.

[@mimico5138]

i thought it is about how to create the course not the step-by-step design it, i wanted to see where to do the video and upload, our phone"? canvas?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Squarespace is a program that you add your course content to. How you create your course is up to you; what you want to teach and how you want to teach it! There are a ton of programs out there you can use and a variety of ways to teach. I use a combo of ecamm, canva, Notion, Google docs, and Adobe enhance. I’d recommend looking at Amy Porterfield’s resources for help creating your course content. And when your ready to add it to Squarespace, come back to this video. Check out the 11:18 minute mark for the store by step process of uploading it to Squarespace 😊

[@MichelleFarrismft]

What if I'm still on 7.0?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Unfortunately 7.0 won’t get any major updates like this one. But it has been years since 7.1 came out so if you’re ready to host an online course, it might be the perfect time for a site update! 🙌

[@madebydesignwithleanne6882]

crap my site is like almost 2 years old how do i switch to 7.1?

[@InsideTheSquare]

I was actually JUST recording a new video about this!! Editing takes me a day or two, so here is a recap of it if you don't want to wait 😉 I have three tips and two resources to share with you: The first is to think of it as a redesign. There are features and functions not found in 7.0 that you can use to make design changes, so spend some time exploring premade layouts and ideas in case they spark some innovative ideas for your content. The second is to create an element page. An element page is a page in the not linked section of your site that has an example of everything. All the heading text types, paragraph text with links and bold and italic font, forms, image blocks, button types, and anything else you might use like an accordion block or a quote. Set this up in a page section, and then duplicate it to apply a different color theme so you can see how all the elements interact with each other. My third tip is to create your own templates! Create a page - also in the not linked section - and on that page, build out the sections you'll likely use more than once. Once you have it close-enough-to-perfect, on desktop and mobile, you can save these sections and easily use them when building out pages. This saved me a TON of time. The two resources I want to mention are: - My getting started course: a 9 lesson $27 course that walks you through version 7.1. Some of this stuff you'll know already, but it has helpful things like a setup checklist, an overview of the new page types and page section types, and just a general "how to" for making a site in the latest version. You can learn more here: insidethesquare.co/start - The second resource is one of my favorites that I am using for my own blog redesign right now - my website workbook. It's a notion doc that I use to keep track of literally EVERYTHING about my site, from blog meta data to color theme settings and product listings. You can get a copy for $47 at insidethesquare.co/workbook I hope those tips & resources help you with your project! And if there is anything you wish 7.1 could do, that you cant seem to find a solution to, let me know. I'm always eager for more tutorial ideas.

[@Finewoodworkingofsc]

Becca, how are we charged for our courses? For example I have the basic commerce plan, but where can I find what the cost is for hosting courses on my site?

[@InsideTheSquare]

This is a great question! If you are charging people to access the course, then you'll need to pay a percentage fee. There are different tiers/options so check out the official pricing page for more info: squarespace.com/pricing

[@Finewoodworkingofsc]

@@InsideTheSquare When you say percentage fee, I'm assuming you are referring to the transaction fees for each tier plan?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Check out the official pricing page for more info: squarespace.com/pricing

[@chanahurwitz4989]

Is there an option for 2 step verification?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Yup! You can add a paywall - and set it to paid or free - and have users create a login.