WordPress.com — the hosted version of the most popular online publishing platform — has launched WordPress.com Courses with two new subscription-based courses, Blogging for Beginners and Podcasting for Beginners, as they look to move into the customer education space.
Inspired by customer feedback launching free daily and in-depth topical webinars this past spring, WordPress.com saw high interest in content around blogging and podcasting, which prompted the creation of these courses.
Also, taking into account customer feedback on other features, each WordPress.com course offers weekly office hours with WordPress experts, a certificate of completion, access to a private community online, and virtual meetups.
“We are excited to venture into online education and help anyone, anywhere learn new skills. Our vision is to create a supportive community where you can meet new people, share ideas, and grow together,” said Monica Ohara, Chief Marketing Officer at WordPress.com. “Best of all, anyone can build a similar service with tools from Automattic. We actually used a combination of our own products to create these courses, including WooCommerce, Jetpack, Sensei LMS, and P2.
Podcasting for Beginners, launched this week, is a video-driven course with over six hours of original video content. Lessons include finding a niche, choosing a podcast format, recording and editing interviews, submitting to podcast directories, growing an audience, and making revenue from a podcast. An annual subscription for access to the Podcasting for Beginners course and community is $99.
Blogging for Beginners, soft-launched in October, provides on-demand, text-based foundational lessons to establish a successful blog. Lessons include building a blog, understanding audiences, design, writing for the internet, branding, and how to grow and make revenue from a blog. An annual subscription for access to the Blogging for Beginners course and community is $49.
WordPress.com will continue to grow its customer education offerings to provide anyone who wants to grow their web presence with resources to build a successful brand, blog, or community online. Additional courses will launch in 2021.
