Mastering Courses
Courses is the latest addition to Squarespace’s all-in-one platform. Built for the next generation of creators who want to develop their brand and monetize their passion, the fully integrated tool enables you and your clients to sell your expertise through multimedia online courses.
With Courses, you can now design and sell beautiful courses that include videos, sequential lessons, chapters, and progress tracking–all within Squarespace. As a web designer, you can create courses around skill building for fellow designers, or you can set up courses for your clients who are trainers, skill-building educators, and artists, to name a few.
Continue reading to learn more about Courses and how to add course setup to your web design services. Select a selection to begin.
Getting started with Courses
Courses supports creators by helping them earn money from their expertise. Check out the video series on getting started:
For more information, visit the Squarespace Help Center for details on the full suite of Courses features:
How Courses benefits businesses
Monetize expertise
Rich, multimedia online courses support video, written content, and more. Regardless of how someone wants to deliver their content, Courses makes it possible to monetize their expertise and grow their brand. Getting started is simple with beautifully designed and flexible course layouts with contextual editing.
Sell more
Integrated with Squarespace’s expansive platform and ecommerce engine, course creators can merchandise physical products or services from within their courses. Plus, flexible options support selling courses individually or in bundles.
Make content exclusive
With Squarespace, courses can be sold on their own, or packaged together with other paywalled content, such as video libraries or members-only resources. This means creators can truly round out their membership or subscription offerings. There is no limit to the number of Courses customers or members you can have.
Manage expectations
Course sales and overview pages give your audience a preview of your course content before they make a purchase. Once they purchase your course, customers will be able to track their progress through your lessons and chapters, making it easy for them to follow along and pick up where they left off.
Get paid seamlessly
Course creators have the option to charge their customers a one-time fee or recurring subscription fee to access their content. They can also offer courses for free (more on this below). Squarespace makes it easy to set the price and accept payments.
Offer time-saving integrations
You and your clients can create content, accept payments, monitor analytics, market your businesses, and more, all in one place with Squarespace.
Who uses Courses?
Courses benefit a wide range of businesses and individuals who sell their expertise. The following are some of the most popular client industries.
Fitness instructors
Fitness instructors can use Courses to engage and educate their clients. Courses empowers them to share workout routines targeted to various fitness levels, mindfulness and meditation sessions for mental well-being, and workshops on injury prevention and proper exercise techniques. If they offer nutrition and meal planning guidance, they can do so through the tool.
Chefs
Chefs can share their culinary knowledge and teach aspiring cooks through engaging content like video tutorials and downloadable recipes. With integrated ecommerce tools and appealing, user-friendly course pages, a chef can create a thriving online culinary school with Courses.
Personal development coaches
With the goal to inspire and empower clients on their self-improvement journeys, personal development coaches can share transformative courses through the Courses product. These courses may cover topics such as goal setting, time management, building self-confidence, effective communication, and stress management techniques.
Beauty gurus
Creators in the beauty industry can lean on Courses to share tips and tricks with followers behind a paywall. They can offer classes on makeup techniques, haircare, skincare, and more. Additionally, beauty gurus can offer courses on self-care, body positivity, and confidence-building to help students embrace their own beauty.
Music teachers
Whether they’re teaching a student to sing or play the guitar, music teachers can offer an array of courses. These include instrument-specific tutorials and lessons on music theory, sight-reading, ear training, and composition.
Photographers
Photographers can share a wide range of courses to help aspiring photographers refine their craft and expand their skills. These courses may cover photography fundamentals, like lighting, composition, and exposure, or focus on specialized genres like portrait, landscape, wildlife, or architectural photography. They can also dive into post-processing techniques and provide comprehensive guidance for students to improve their photography prowess.
Artists
Artists can nurture and inspire their students’ artistic abilities and creativity through online lessons. They may offer courses focused on art mediums, such as painting, drawing, sculpting, and digital art, providing step-by-step guidance on techniques and styles. They may also use Courses to explain art theory, color theory, and art history to deepen their students’ knowledge.
Web designers
Web designers can educate fellow designers in the practice of web design and development. They may offer courses on starting a web design business, or offer tutorials on using Squarespace. They may also discuss other elements of web design, such as responsive design, SEO best practices, copywriting tips, and more.
Learn more about how to create and sell web design classes on Squarespace.
Selling Courses to clients
When it comes to selling Courses setup as a service to clients, consider how your clients can benefit from using the tool.
Understand the value and know your talking points
Digital Products, such as Courses, are an avenue for monetizing content and enhancing a brand. Your client can generate passive income by selling access to classes, seminars, audio or visual media, and community pages. In doing so, they also increase the potential of growing their audience as they promote their expertise.
Courses also deliver a world-class user experience for visitors through consistent branding and user-friendly functionality. Additionally, you and your client don’t have to learn how to use a new platform in order to work with the tool.
Anticipate client questions
In addition to understanding the functionality and benefits of Courses, you’ll want to prepare to answer clients’ questions ahead of introducing them to the tool.
Who can sell courses?
Sell courses, memberships, and video-on-demand content with a Squarespace Business or Commerce website plan, or by attaching the Digital Products add-on to a Personal website plan. The Digital Products add-on can be attached to any website plan at any time to unlock lower transaction fees and additional video storage space.
How does Courses impact existing Member Areas?
Member Areas are now known as Member Sites. All Member Areas content has already been automatically migrated without any changes to your site or subscriptions.
What are pricing plans?
Pricing plans help you monetize Member Sites, Video Collections, and Courses. You can monetize individual products or create bundles of products sold together with a single pricing plan.
How much can I charge for courses?
When you add a course page, it’s hidden behind a paywall. To access the content, visitors must sign up for one of the following pricing plans:
Free: Visitors sign up by providing their email addresses and creating a customer account.
Fixed-amount: Visitors pay a single sum or installment payments to gain permanent access to digital products.
Subscription: Visitors make recurring payments to maintain access to content.
How much does Courses cost?
Digital Products tiers offer more video storage, lower transaction fees, and unlimited digital products. The Professional tier plan includes unlimited video storage and 0% transaction feeds. For more information on paying for and managing a Digital Products plan, visit the Help Center.
Client email template
Reach out to current and past clients to let them know that you offer courses setup services. The following example can be a guide for your emails:
Dear [Client Name],
As you continue to inspire and educate your audience through your expertise of [subject matter], I wanted to introduce an exciting opportunity that can enhance your online teaching journey and earning potential. I have been exploring ways to elevate [Business Name]’s online presence, and I think there’s another impactful way for you to connect with your audience (and create a new revenue stream) .
Squarespace’s Courses product is a powerful tool that helps you share your knowledge and skills through engaging online courses. With Courses, you can create dynamic online classes that incorporate video tutorials, written content, downloadable resources, and more. The intuitive interface is user-friendly for both you and your students.
A few benefits of Courses include:
Effortless content creation makes it possible to upload video lessons and organize them into structured lessons and chapters, ensuring a seamless learning experience for students.
Integrations with ecommerce tools means you can monetize your courses and manage payments and subscriptions directly on Squarespace.
Stunning design ensures your courses pages are visually appealing and customizable to match your brand, creating a cohesive learning environment.
I’m thrilled about the potential of Courses and taking your online teaching to the next level. As a Squarespace Circle member, I can even help you save 20% on a new annual Digital Products subscription.
Let’s schedule time to discuss how to integrate this solution into your website.
[Your Name]
[Your Phone Number]
[Your Email Address]
Save and earn on new Digital Products subscriptions with Circle
Squarespace Circle–the partner program for designers, developers, creators, and entrepreneurs–offers members and their clients 20% off new annual Digital Products subscriptions. Eligible members can also earn commissions on new Digital Products subscriptions through the Circle referral payment benefit.
Further reading
Want to stay in the know on all things Courses? We’ve got your back. Check out additional resources to expand your courses expertise.
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional designers. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from all across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
