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Fast Track Workbook
thinkific.com
In this workbook, you’ll find an easy step-by-step checklist to creating and publishing your online course and Thinkific website. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you’ll be on the fast track to launch day!
Welcome to your Thinkific Fast Track Workbook!
This workbook is separated into Milestones and Steps. Each Milestone is a major achievement for you in your course creation journey. Follow the steps under the milestone to reach each one. In each step, there will be a checklist for you to track your progress.
Throughout the workbook, there will be links for you to find additional how-to help and for other resources.
1. Follow the steps and click on the links to view relevant help articles
2. Check steps off when you’re done them 3. Save the workbook to track your progress
Fill in your name, email address, and Thinkific website URL and save this PDF to try it out!
This workbook belongs to:
Name
Thinkific Website
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Fast Track Workbook
Creating your online course
Pricing your online course
Designing your online course sales page
The final touches
Launch your Thinkific online course
MILESTONE 01
MILESTONE 02
MILESTONE 03
MILESTONE 04
MILESTONE 05
P4
P9
P14
P19
P23
Content overviewIf you ever need a helping hand, we’re here for you! Reach out to the Thinkific support team for help with using your Thinkific account to create, market, and sell your online courses.
THINKIFIC SUPPORT
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Set your Thinkific website’s name
Set your Thinkific website’s URL
Customize your Coming Soon Page
Share your Coming Soon Page
Step 1: Share Your Coming Soon PageWhen you sign up for Thinkific, you’ll get a Coming Soon Page. This page is the perfect way to build some buzz for your upcoming online course.
After reviewing the page and customizing it, share the page with your audience to build an email list of warm leads for launch day.
M I L E S T O N E 0 1
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
Use Unsplash or Pexels to find free stock photographyUse Canva to create images and other designs for free
Resources
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Create your online course
Add chapters and lessons to your course
Add learning supports like quizzes, surveys, or assignments
Publish your online course
Step 2: Create Your Online Course CurriculumCreating your online course can seem like a lot of work, but when you take care of the essentials first, you can get this done sooner than you think.
Thinkific courses are made up of chapters and lessons. You can create these manually, start with a course template, or bulk import your course content into the curriculum. Finish up by publishing your online course.
M I L E S T O N E 0 1
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
QUIZZES SURVEYS ASSIGNMENTS
SUPPORT ARTICLE
Use Camtasia, Screenflow, or Loom to record screencastsUse Canva to design and publish PDFs
Resources
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Course previewed as a student
Lesson content uploaded
Learning supports work
No unintentional draft lesson
Step 3: Testing Your Student Experience
M I L E S T O N E 0 1
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
Your student experience begins after the student purchases and enrolls in the course. In the Thinkific Course Player, they will interact with your online course content.
It’s important to make sure your student experience works as intended. At any time during the course creation process, it's easy for you to preview your course as a student.
Milestone 1 complete!
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Course Progress Options
Course Progress Options
Take it a step further
O P T I O N A L E X T R A
DRIP SCHEDULES
COMPLETION PAGE
PREREQUISITES
CERTIFICATES
QUIZ COMPLETION PERCENTAGE REQUIRED
VIDEO COMPLETION PERCENTAGE REQUIRED
We believe the only way to build a sustainable course business is by truly caring about the success of your students and focusing on ways to craft the best learning environment. We help you achieve this in Thinkific by developing features designed to make that easy.
Here are some optional features Thinkific includes that you might want to explore as you build your online course.
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Integrated with Stripe
Integrated with PayPal
Step 1: Integrate with a Payment Processor
M I L E S T O N E 0 2
Your Thinkific website can process payments for your online courses in the Thinkific checkout experience. But first, you’ll need to integrate with a third party payment processor.
Thinkific supports Stripe and PayPal. You can integrate with both to offer students two ways of paying for your online course.
LEARN MORE
LEARN MORE
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Primary course price set
Enrollment expiry set
Step 2: Price Your Course
M I L E S T O N E 0 2
Pricing your online course involves setting a primary price point and from there you can optionally provide more price points, depending on your Thinkific subscription plan.
A student’s enrollment status is tied to the price they pay for the course. You can automatically expire enrollments after a period of time or use subscription pricing to offer a pay-as-you-go experience.
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
Not sure what to price your course? Read our post on How to Price Your Online Course on the Thinkific blog.
Resources
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Student account sign up tested
Checkout experience tested
Step 3: Test Your Checkout Experience
M I L E S T O N E 0 2
Your Thinkific website’s checkout experience begins, typically, when your prospective customer clicks a buy button on your sales page. The Thinkific checkout is a 2-step process for new students:
• Sign up for a student account• Pay for the online course
You can test your checkout by getting the direct link to the checkout from your course’s pricing page.
SUPPORT ARTICLE
Milestone 2 complete!
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Resource linksTake it a step further
O P T I O N A L E X T R A
SET YOUR COURSE PRICING TO BE A RECURRING SUBSCRIPTION
SET YOUR COURSE PRICING TO BE A PAYMENT PLAN
ADD ADDITIONAL PRICING OPTIONS FOR YOUR COURSE
SET LESSONS TO BE A PART YOUR FREE PREVIEW
CREATE A COUPON TO DISCOUNT YOUR COURSE’S PRICE
If you’re looking for something beyond setting a course’s price to be free or a one-time fee, you can explore these optional pricing features to offer more:
• Set your course pricing to be a recurring subscription• Set your course pricing to be a payment plan• Add additional pricing options for your course• Set lessons to be a part your free preview• Create a coupon to discount your course’s price
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Milestone 3: Designing Your Online Course Sales Page
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Website Theme chosen
Theme Settings customized
Step 1: Choose a Thinkific Website Theme
M I L E S T O N E 0 3
Thinkific website themes are different styles that change the look and feel the entire Thinkific website. They give you a set of helpful design parameters to work in as you customize your site to match your branding.
Your Theme’s Settings are where you’ll add your brand colors, fonts, and more.
Alternatively, you can use your own website to sell your Thinkific courses, instead of the website you get with your Thinkific account.
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
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Header section customized
Sales page sections created and customized
Footer section customized
Sales page is linked to the course’s checkout
Step 2: Create Your Course Sales Page
M I L E S T O N E 0 3
Your Thinkific website has a sales page for each of the online courses you create. These pages are where you will want to send anyone evaluating whether or not they want to buy your online course.
Thinkific website pages are made up of a few common sections: a header, the page content sections, links to your checkout, and a footer. Use Thinkific’s Site Builder to create and customize these pages.
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
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Use Unsplash or Pexels to find free stock photographyUse Canva to create images and other designs for free
Resources
Header and footer sections tested
Sales page body sections tested
Site visitors can get to the checkout
Step 3: Test Your Website Experience
M I L E S T O N E 0 3
Your Thinkific website experience starts when someone visits your course site’s URL for the first time. If you navigate to your course site in a private browser window, you can see what this experience looks and feels like.
To test the experience, make your way into the checkout that you set up when you priced your online course from your Thinkific website’s home page (or wherever you redirected your home page to). Keep an eye out for broken links or missing content along the way.
Milestone 3 complete!
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Resource linksTake it a step further
O P T I O N A L E X T R A
ADD A CUSTOM DOMAIN FOR YOUR COURSE WEBSITE
REMOVE THINKIFIC BRANDING FROM YOUR SITE AND COURSE
ADD A HOME PAGE FOR YOUR COURSE WEBSITE
ADD CUSTOM PAGES FOR YOUR COURSE WEBSITE
Thinkific offers many optional features and functionality when it comes to designing a course website. You can create many additional pages, and increase the amount of customization available to you.Explore these features if you’re looking to create a more customized and branded experience for your students:
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Milestone 4: The Final Touches
(Optional milestone)
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Site Welcome Email customized and enabled
Course Welcome Email customized and enabled
Course Completion Email customized and enabled
Weekly Reminder Emails customized and enabled
Step 1: Set Up Email Notifications
M I L E S T O N E 0 4
Thinkific makes it easy to set up and automate personalized emails to your students to help you boost engagement and completion rates in your courses.
Use these automated emails to welcome and congratulate students, share important news and information, and to check in on students on a weekly basis.
These emails are optional if you’re using a third party email marketing system.
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
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Fast Track Workbook
Marketing tools integrated
Advertising tools integrated
Analytics tools integrated
Step 2: Set Up Integrations
M I L E S T O N E 0 4
Your Thinkific site takes care of delivering a premium online course experience to your students. But we know your business runs on many more tools to take care of other aspects of your business.
You can integrate your Thinkific site with your third party tools to save time by automating your workflows.
If you can’t find your tool in our list of supported integrations, explore using Zapier to connect your tools with Thinkific.
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Site Admin users set up
Course Admin users set up
Affiliate users set up
Revenue partner users set up
Step 3: Add Your Team Members
M I L E S T O N E 0 4
As you scale your course business, Thinkific’s tools make it easy for you to bring people aboard. Add more administrators or reward partners and affiliates with sales commissions.
Milestone 4 complete!
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
SUPPORT ARTICLE
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Milestone 5: Launch Your Thinkific Online Course
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Congratulations! M I L E S T O N E 0 5
If you’ve completed the essential steps to creating and publishing your online course with Thinkific listed in this workbook, you’re ready to launch your online course.
At this point you’re ready to share your Thinkific website with your audience. Use your Thinkific website’s URL to drive traffic to your course from blogs, emails, ads, etc.
As you go forward, if you have any questions at all, please let us know. We want you to find the success you set out to achieve with online courses. If you need any help contact Thinkific support.
THINKIFIC SUPPORT
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Check out our blog for great guides like:
M I L E S T O N E 0 5
Join our Facebook Group to chat with other course creators
How to Create a Sales Funnel to Sell Online Courses
How to Sell Online Courses Using Live Webinars
The Ultimate Facebook Advertising Strategy For Selling Online Courses
How To Build An Email List & Sell More Online Courses
How To Use Blogging To Build An Audience And Sell Online Courses
55 Ways To Market Your Online Course & Increase Sales
Reach out to a service provider in our Experts Marketplace
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Fast Track Workbook
Sign up for a free account on Thinkific today to start growing your online course business.
GET STARTED FREE
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