Not sure which functionalities are necessary and which functionalities are optional?

In this blog post, I walk you through the most essential WordPress plugins for E-Learning course developers to choose from which will further help you develop a custom WordPress website at its best.

What are WordPress Plugins?

A WordPress plugin is a small add-on software to extend the functionalities and features of a WordPress platform. Apart from this, plugins enable adding all these functionalities without writing any code. The WordPress.org plugin directory has over 50,000 free plugins, many of which are by third-party developers.

For example, there are WordPress plugins to add a share button to your website or modify your contact form. To do so, plugins use access points, otherwise known as filter and hook actions. These are provided by the WordPress plugin API to ‘hook into’ the source code. At specific times, these methods and access points call the functions of the plugin to make modifications.

How to Install a WordPress Plugin

• Go to your WordPress dashboard and go to the ‘Plugins’ section. Search for the required plugin on the ‘Add Plugins’ page.
• Once selected, click ‘Install Now’
• Next, click ‘Activate’ to configure the installed WordPress plugin.

First I proceed with how you should evaluate your requirements in designing the course

Features of Learning Management System (LMS) plugins for E-Learning

The most significant features that an LMS must-have is for you to be able to:

• Give learner flexibility to pace their course as per their wish – a self-paced course
• What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get Interface, to put minimum effort into using the interface
• Making a complete course catalog, so that all the course information is collected at one location
• Automated User Enrolment and Status, of course, progress – completion status
• Course Reports for course creator to review how a course is progressing
• Learner feedback – Course Surveys and System Announcements – These are essential for the instructor to continually improve the learning experience
• Learner’s access to course transcript and course progress – Learners should have knowledge about their course progress as well
• Learner access to changing profile

Apart from these, there are a number of other features that you may wish for, which would include

• Creating multiple course levels – so that there may be content-lite and content-heavy memberships
• Creating certificates of completion for learners that complete their course – certificates are a strong motivation for learners, as they provide tangible proof of the skills learned
• Automating user access control – Restricting access to content and granting access to content depending on user level
• Generating course and user reports for course administrator
• Creating dripped content for controlling user progress in course – To control the rate at which learner accesses the course, create dripped content tool

Top 10 WordPress Plugins for eLearning

LifterLMS

LifterLMS is another lightweight E-Learning solution, that is very easy to use. Key features include:

• Integration with WooCommerce and BuddyPress support
• Support for certificates
• Supports both Stripe and PayPal
• Supports course scheduling and prerequisites

For a detailed review of Free LMS plugins for WordPress check out this blog on Free LMS Plugins

WooCommerce Sensei

Sensei comes from the stable of WooCommerce, who are experts in developing eCommerce WordPress Plugins. Sensei is priced at $129 for a single-site license. This WordPress plugin for E-Learning is a simple and effective interface for making courses, as the course, module, lesson and quiz sections can all be created with a lot of ease. The interface is essentially What-You-See-is-What-You-Get. Because of its compatibility with all WooCommerce plugins, and because of an interface that gets most things done easily and quickly, Sensei is our top-rated Learning Management System plugin.

LearnDash

Learndash specializes in E-Learning solutions, meaning that they have developed their WordPress LMS plugin for E-Learning keeping in mind any features that an education LMS must require.

SCORM is a collection of standards for E-Learning, which state how the LMS must package user learning content. SCORM standards ensure portability of learner information across different LMS. Tin Can API has now replaced SCORM as the new standard for educational content designed in a portable way. Learndash supports Tin Can API plugin.

Learndash have tried to make a complete marketing and product solution- they have their own membership solution, and have an integrated payment processing setup. The flip side of being an all-in-one solution is that this do not allow much scope for customization. On the other hand they have an active community support forum.

Essentially Learndash is optimal for developing detailed and academic-level E-Learning solutions, where little customization is required.

WP CourseWare

WP Courseware is a lightweight WordPress plugin to embed videos in WordPress for E-Learning, whose strong point is that it integrates fairly easily with other WP Plugins. Likewise with this WordPress plugin you get a large varieties of customization options. An important plugin that WP CourseWare can integrate with is Membership Pro, which is the most popular membership WordPress plugin.

LearnPress

LearnPress is offered as a free plugin and includes both free features and premium add-ons.

Premium add-ons apply for:

• Gamifying the course – adding points for learner activity
• Generating certificate
• For Integration with WooCommerce, PayPal and Stripe
• Integrating with Membership 2 Pro

Membership WordPress Plugins – These plugins help WordPress websites to manage and create subscription-paid content or courses with additional features. Some common features include user registration and login, content protection, membership management, analytics, and payment gateway integration.

Membership 2

Membership 2 is the most widely used membership WordPress plugin. This is a free software, but has a paid pro version that offers added features.

Membership 2 is designed for ease-of-use for the beginner. It has a how-to guide to get you started with creating the course. Also Content access control and protection is made very easy with this plugin – for each lesson/ course you create you can select which membership levels to grant access to. Also Dripped content management is made very easy, and can be done on the same interface as the content protection. This makes managing your course much less complicated.

The pro version of Membership 2 integrates with both PayPal and Stripe payment solutions

WP eMember

Where Membership Pro relies on an easy-to-use interface and a free introductory membership plugin, WP eMember offers a robust membership WordPress plugin that offers both content protection and a large number of additional features, making this a great option for anyone looking for a complete WordPress membership plugin.

Using this wordpress plugin, it is easy to create multiple membership levels, and to grant differential access for different membership levels. Also in-page partial protection is available via easy to use shortcodes. Additional options include options to limit user access to minimize password sharing – effectively minimizing content piracy. Also there is support for Drip Content, which limits access to users based on their drip learning schedule.

eCommerce WordPress Plugins

eCommerce plugins can come quite handy for you in managing your course inventory, if you are selling multiple courses. An eCommerce plugin is not necessary for the new E-Learning developer, but if you wish to manage multiple courses, an integrated eCommerce plugin can come in quite handy for managing inventory.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce wordpress plugin offers hundreds of extensions and themes, that make it quite easy to  available for WooCommerce, which makes it easy to add new features to your eLearning site. Besides eLearning, anyone can easily integrate WooCommerce with many top-rated platform for writing blogs or sell products, such as WooCommerce Amazon Integration which is considered as one the best integration for growing business. If you have worked on WordPress previously and are comfortable with the technical details of using WordPress, this WordPress Plugin is the best eCommerce solution for you.

Shopify

Shopify has a very easy interface, and is great for beginners who do not wish to go into technical details of using WP. It has a monthly subscription fees, but is worthwhile to use because of its hassle-free interface which allows you to get on with developing your course content without worrying about the technicalities. This WordPress plugin works with social networks such as Facebook Store, Buyable Pins and Twitter Buy buttons

VdoCipher – Best WordPress Video Plugin for Elearning videos

Content security and smooth streaming are two integral features that any WordPress video hosting plugin for eLearning must offer. VdoCipher offers an easy-to-use shortcode and is a complete video hosting solution. In VdoCipher one-time access is only granted to a fully encrypted stream after backend authentication from the host website, meaning that video security is maximized. VdoCipher has a 10 min install ready-to-go live plugin for all e-learning video WordPress sites. VdoCipher is your best bet for your WordPress video plugin.

We’ve written several other blogs on LMS, feel free to check them out if it piques your interest

• Video LMS
• Enterprise LMS
• Corporate LMS
• Top LMS Platform
• LMS Systems
• Learning Management Systems

FAQs

How to check if a plugin is compatible with my WordPress version?

When you search for the plugin on the WordPress repository and if it is compatible with your version, you will see, Compatible with your version of WordPress.

Is using WordPress plugins safe?

Yes until you download it from a trusted source, check its ratings and customer reviews, and keep it up-to-date.

What features to look for in a WordPress membership plugin?

Check for the features you require like security, membership levels, integrations, and payment gateways. It should be compatible with your version of WordPress and easy to use and install.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Top 10 WordPress Plugins For E-Learning appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

In this blog I present statistics about the popularity of freely available video download tools. These downloader tools enable piracy of your proprietary video content. These tools in the form of software, plugins, sites and extensions are available quite freely across the web. These tools work against non secure video streaming sites to encourage easy video downloads.

Number of users of video download piracy tools

I have included the link to sources from where I have obtained the relevant numbers for the video download tools. For sites, I have taken the estimated annual unique visits from Alexa. Details for the top 10  video downloader tools are given here. Total number of video pirates are calculated at end.

Obvious Need & Source for Secure Video Streaming

To prevent such a huge number of illegal video downloads, there is an obvious demand for highly secure video streaming. An encrypted streaming technology that can block all these downloaders and sites from accessing protected video content.

VdoCipher provides video hosting with piracy protection technology for education and media businesses to help them stream content on their site or app in a most secure and smooth manner. 

Key features include highest security from video piracy through DRM encryption and watermarking technologies, and smoothest streaming at slow connections due to optimised encoding at lower sizes. The complete package features include AWS cloud hosting, smart video player, dashboard and APIs to manage and integrate content and offline secure playback in mobile apps.

Check out all these cool features with a free 30-day trial just by signing up here. *No Card details required.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post How many use easy video download piracy tools? appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

What is TVOD (Transactional Video on Demand) ?

As the name suggests for TVOD, the user makes a payment for a particular choice of video or a small combination of videos. This can be in form of making payments for a movie or Series combination. Sometimes paying for a movie to watch in one go is usually known as “pay-per-view“. A famous example of a VOD platform with TVOD as the major model is Youtube paid videos. There is a cost for each movie. After looking into definitions, pros, and cons of these aspects, we also present some key stats and estimates on SVOD & TVOD implemented with Netflix, Youtube, Hotstar, and some of the VdoCipher customers. (Infographics are below)

Most customers are familiar with TVOD as pay-per-view when they buy access to a piece of content. Examples include movies, television programs, and sports events. TVOD transactions can occur as either a short-term rental or a long-term license. However, in most cases, the consumer does not own the content they purchase. It simply does not expire unless the consumer violates the terms and conditions of the service.

Vudu, Google Play, iTunes, and Redbox are examples of TVOD service suppliers.

What is SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) ?

Prominent famous VOD sites like Netflix, Hulu, Hotstar, Amazon Prime , Byjus etc have Thousands of hours of content.  They provide such unlimited stuff in an affordable price per month or year. This idea of providing an offering of bundled video content in one to all pricing is SVOD. The basic practical assumption for SVOD is that the user will only watch a certain amount of content (say 20 to 100 hours per month).  If the user is able to somehow watch all the content offered to him, the bandwidth costs for the business will lead to overall losses.

Now we enlist all the advantages and flaws in the two models. Thus, the reader can make an informed choice amongst the two. We also then look at some numbers using famous and medium sized companies operating on these two models. It will help you better understand and implement the economies for your business. Before that lets look at a stats full infographic on SVOD with Netflix.

SVOD employs a subscription-based model of monetization in which the customer is paid a fixed monthly or annual cost. SVOD often binds the user to a short-term contract or none like standard cable packages. It allows them the freedom to cancel whenever they like.

Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV+, and HBO Max are a few instances of SVOD service providers.

SVOD for Netflix: Key Stats, User Engagement, Monetization

What is AVOD?

Video on demand allows users to select and watch videos as per their choice on any screen. In simple language, AVOD or advertising video on demand is the monetization of video services where users can watch videos intermixed with commercial advertisements without buying subscriptions. The primary concept of this model is that the users must watch ads to view the content. Although there are many more, Hulu and  YouTube are the most well-known AVOD platforms.

AVOD is prevalent on television channel applications and user-generated video platforms. This sort of VOD service provides viewers with free content interrupted by commercials. Using the AVOD business model, the firm relies on this income stream to maintain the platform and fund new content.

YouTube, Facebook Watch, Peacock, IMDb TV, and Pluto TV are a few examples of AVOD providers.

How is SVOD, TVOD and AVOD are Different from other Models(SVOD vs. AVOD vs. TVOD)

Technological improvements cause content distribution systems to change so businesses may use various content monetization tactics. Before launching a product, it is essential to explore all choices. This is because some existing VOD providers have a more extensive, more committed user base than others.

SVOD vs TVOD vs AVOD

Technological improvements cause content distribution systems to change so businesses may use various monetization tactics. Before launching a product, it is essential to explore all choices. This is because some existing VOD providers have a more extensive, more committed user base than others.

Before comparing SVOD, AVOD, and TVOD, let’s define each word separately.

As conventional methods of seeing and engaging with content alter, media businesses must be innovative in their platform monetization strategies. How do they decide between SVOD vs AVOD vs TVOD? Generally, it relies on the platform and the content collection accessible to clients. Here are some instances of when to employ each sort of VOD service monetization approach.

SVOD is an appealing alternative for media firms since it provides a consistent cash stream. Media firms like recurring income, and SVOD was a popular model for cord-cutters in the early days. However, compared to AVOD vs TVOD vs SVOD models might suffer client retention since providers must continually attract users with content or price discounts to renew – for instance, many will offer a lower yearly charge to keep customers subscribing. 

Customers, who are more inclined than ever to exercise choice in a digital economy, are suspicious of recurring fees and efforts by media corporations to restrict access to multiple users or devices. To be successful with an SVOD strategy, media businesses must provide an extensive and constantly updated library of content to keep users engaged. SVOD may also be a viable alternative for organizations that cannot or do not want to collect ad income to maintain their platform regularly.

AVOD ensures a revenue stream for content that may not generate direct or recurrent client money. The AVOD business model is often used by companies that develop or gather a vast content library. However, free content sometimes comes with a catch. It may be difficult for media firms who employ the AVOD model to retain subscribers, either because the perceived quality of the content is poorer than that of SVOD or TVOD providers or because users get annoyed with the ad interruptions. Additionally, AVOD may provide significant technical obstacles to ensuring that advertisements are shown correctly and are interactive and personalized for the viewer.

Compared to SVOD vs AVOD, TVOD provides the most transparent expectations for providers and consumers. When you offer a rental or license, you know the specific operating costs and overhead for each piece of content, allowing for more precise pricing and profitability. Similarly, buyers know precisely what they are purchasing. Even if you give free content, there is no assurance that a client will utilize a TVOD platform more than once. TVOD providers must often match or beat competitors’ pricing to encourage client loyalty. 

Because a TVOD client may be occasional, it is difficult for the platform to accumulate sufficient data to provide content suggestions that would tempt them to return. TVOD providers must also be able to promptly and precisely identify the user’s location to process payment and serve content in the correct language.

SVOD, AVOD, and TVOD have advantages and disadvantages; hence, many media businesses use various techniques. Larger companies may even offer product-specific VOD service variations. For instance, YouTube offers free user-generated content (AVOD), as well as premium content for rent or buy (TVOD), and particular subscription-based entertainment services, including live TV (SVOD) (SVOD). Similarly, Hulu takes a hybrid approach with their platform, offering four price levels that include a mix of SVOD and AVOD, as well as the option to bundle with Disney+ and ESPN+. Apple and Disney+ both use mixed methods for VOD monetization. Amazon Prime Video allows users to add free trials of other streaming services, such as AMC+, as an additional means of attracting consumers.

Why Choose AVOD?

Increase Audience Engagement: 

Use advertisements to attract viewers’ attention and pique their interest in the content. It also encourages consumers to examine previews or short snippets before purchasing premium content.

Enhance Audience Reach:

AVOD services are versatile in terms of geography. Thus marketers may choose their intended audiences. Using AVOD, the targeted audience may see your advertisement and browse your website or shop while waiting for their subscription-based content.

Verified Users:

The ad-supported video streaming technology AVOD provides marketers with a more targeted approach. They may measure the ROI of their campaigns using data acquired from adverts on videos from verified users. In addition, marketers better understand where to put their advertisements to reach the most significant number of people.

Monetize With AVOD

Google will seek out advertisers or negotiate directly with businesses seeking to spend money on advertising. In most cases, AVOD is coupled with paid or free broadcast content to produce additional cash that enhances your company compared to competitors. For instance, PPC, or being paid per click, is an excellent method for monetizing a blog.

Except for fresh content, renowned blockbuster movies, and popular content featuring a celebrity, advertising-supported AVOD is an excellent alternative as a revenue source for anything else.

The AVOD business model is well suited for content producers or operators with a wide selection of youth-appealing content, such as TV content, catch-up content, and influencer content such as celebrity vlogs.

AVOD is advantageous for content aggregators that get a large volume of content from several sources and broadcasters with fresh and archived content.

AVOD is excellent for free-to-air television networks that can generate optimal income. Some types of content are more suited for AVOD, such as extended content and classic movies, since there is sufficient time to display advertisements as part of the package to make the price reasonable.

Why Choose TVOD?

One of its primary advantages is that TVOD caters to customers who simply wish to pay for the content they see.

This implies that with TVOD, you can: 

• Quickly provide more excellent value since each piece of content would have its pricing, enabling consumers to get precisely what they’re paying for;
• Provide cheaper content to set lower pricing, rather than charging a higher membership cost and losing prospective clients.
• Have more price flexibility and make content accessible for a short period or allow clients to retain it permanently.

Additionally, conducting one-time paid events, such as concerts or gaming matches, is an excellent option.

PROS

1. Accurate estimation of operational TVOD costs and lower risks:

   As the estimates for operational margins is being done quite accurately before the start of business; you never run into the risk of a single user or group of user exploiting the bandwidth. Operational costs in TVOD business are the costs of server + CDN to stream the video of a particular size + cost to acquire the single customer.

2. Easy revenue distribution model to video content creators:

   Unlike SVOD there is no confusion in what the user paid for. Thus the revenue share distribution for TVOD content is usually straightforward.

3. Better revenue opportunities for fresh release VOD content

   Generally the audience worldwide has an affinity for newly released movie and serial content. Thus charging a small amount for such piece of content leads to immediate payment from users and can reach a considerable scale.

4. TVOD can work on smaller scale then SVOD, Good option to launch business

   Since operational margins are fixed and revenue can be linked directly to content owner , it is a good option to start. SVOD generally kicks at a considerable scale.

CONS

1.   User retention is a problem in TVOD

   Since user has the tendency to pay for a particular content and then go off the platform, there is no motivation or push for him to buy new content. SVOD can just push to user to try some new unexperienced content.

2.  Content visibility controls content revenues: Challenge of recommendation

   Since the user is going to pay for the exact content and watch, whatever is presented to him in homepage or as a priority attracts his attention. There are greater chances that he will pay for it. There might be better compatible content for him in the inside pages, which by the time he discovers has no budget left to spend on it. Thus personal recommendations and presentation are a key aspect of the monetization in TVOD platform.

3. Limited Trial Opportunities, Restrictive for large content size. (E.g 2000+ hours)

   It is bad to expect the user to have an idea of all the content you have and be already decisive about the video to make payment for. He cant try without paying which limits the explorative nature of the platform.

   We will go to SVOD’s pros and cons after this infographic.

   
   TVOD for Youtube Movies, SVOD for Hotstar

Why Choose SVOD?

Numerous streaming services currently use the SVOD monetization model due to its multiple advantages for both the benefits and its subscribers.

This is because subscription services provide users with dependability, particularly when comparing SVOD to AVOD.

AVOD might provide uncertain income due to its reliance on advertisements alone. With SVOD, you know exactly how much you will get at the end of the month, and you may set the pricing of your content as you see fit.

Using SVOD, you can:

• Have a dependable source of revenue since your audience pays a monthly membership fee.
• Give clients greater flexibility by allowing them to decide when to terminate service.
• Cultivate a more exclusive and devoted client base that feels like a community; after all, they are paying for your content.

PROS

1. User Retention is high: New content trial is easy

   Since the user has paid for the whole platform in SVOD, though he has some favorite content there is also a lot of additional content he can try. Mail campaigns, ads, and homepage prompts can motivate the user to try additional content. Yes, it will lead to higher costs, but it also leads to higher retention, more content ingestion and thus better performance of the overall platform. Iterations over recommendations and costing are done for better monetization strategies.

2. SVOD allows recurring revenue streams: Better Predictability

   SVOD supports recurring charging models. Users can put in their credit card which renews the contract on monthly basis. This allows for the VOD platforms to better predict their upcoming revenues and thus grow their business.

3.  Best for large content portfolio

   SVOD works best if you have a large content portfolio, provides better retention, time per user, and trust to content providers that their content reaches the maximum audience. More details on SVOD is here.

   CONS

4. SVOD Only works at scale, Risky at a low user base

   Since SVOD does not inherently directly link operational costs of bandwidth to revenues, it works generally at a larger scale. The cost of delivery reduces at scale.  High pricing or Limitation on content hours can make it work at a lower audience number.

5.  Revenue distribution agreements are tricky in SVOD

   It is difficult to determine which movie or series actually prompted the user to buy the subscription. Though video views and engagement data are at the backend, the overall revenue distribution model becomes tricky. It is a combination of pre-paid license fees for content, revenue share on basis of the number of views, and retention rates, etc.

6.  Recommendations and Visibility for large content is a challenge

   Since VOD platforms with SVOD as a major revenue channel have 1000s of hours of content, which movies/serials to present at the front, to recommend is a challenge. Though at the same time, it is an opportunity to charge money from new content producers for advertisements and promotions on the platform.

Now we present some key stats and estimates on SVOD & TVOD  implemented with some of VdoCipher customers.

How To Find the Best VOD Model To Use as a Content Creator

AVOD business models rely on advertisements to generate money. Advertisers pay to have their ads or promos shown on a specific program or channel, while consumers may watch content for free. These three categories compose the conventional AVOD Business Model:

Content Creators/ Publishers:

Content developers produce high-quality works that entice viewers and marketers to pay for advertisements. When the content gets a large audience, the viewers become a source of money for the publishers via ad revenue. Similarly, marketers have grown increasingly interested in paying publishers for advertisements.

Advertisers:

In the AVOD business model, advertisers pay publishers to promote their goods or services in content to attract more viewers’ attention. Advertisers rely on content providers to ensure that they reach the appropriate audience. In addition, marketers pay for specific time slots or channels to reach their target audience and assess the return on investment of their campaign (ROI).

Audience/ Viewers:

Audiences are the primary consumers in the AVOD business model since they come to see content, and advertisers pay for their attention when they view advertisements. The audience is the link between publications and advertising.

AVOD Market Size and Its Growth

Advertisers and content providers or publishers want to capitalize on the vast scale of the AVOD industry. The market is anticipated to expand due to the technological advances that will let this business model evolve further. Listed below are the reasons why the AVOD market is increasing.

• Innovations in streaming technologies

• Boost the number of smartphone users

• Increase in the generation of internet content.

The business model for AVOD is anticipated to expand even further because of its enormous market size and exponential growth potential. Over the next decade, the AVOD market is projected to grow by 144 percent, hitting $66 billion in sales across 138 countries.

Since the introduction of cryptocurrencies, there has been a surge in online content production. Streaming technology will get more sophisticated, making streaming quicker and films crisper for users. This implies kids will watch videos for longer and more often. The number of smartphone users will rise as more individuals can now afford to own one. These reasons will result in a substantial AVOD market that will benefit all stakeholders.

When selecting the right video monetization platform, content creators need to take an informed decision and select the monetization model that best suits their needs.

To launch a VOD platform with the highest security from piracy + seamless experience, Start a free trial at VdoCipher.com.

This short video here explains how to upload, embed, and securely stream videos through VdoCipher.

Popular FAQs Around VODs

What are the main differences between TVOD and SVOD models?

TVOD, or Transactional Video On Demand, operates on a pay-per-view basis, where users pay for each video or series they want to watch. This model is ideal for newly released movies or exclusive content. SVOD, or Subscription Video On Demand, on the other hand, offers unlimited access to a library of content for a recurring subscription fee, making it suitable for users who prefer a wide range of content at a fixed price.

Which VOD model is more profitable, TVOD or SVOD?

Profitability can vary based on several factors including content type, target audience, and platform reach. TVOD can generate high immediate revenue from new or exclusive content, while SVOD provides a steady income stream and can be more profitable over time with a loyal subscriber base. The choice depends on the content provider’s strategy and resources.

How do content creators decide which VOD model to use?

Content creators consider the nature of their content, target audience, and market trends. For exclusive or premium content, such as new movie releases or special events, TVOD might be more appropriate. For a broader library aiming to attract a steady subscriber base, SVOD could be a better fit. Creators may also look at hybrid models or change strategies based on performance and user feedback.

Can a platform offer both TVOD and SVOD models?

Yes, a platform can offer a hybrid model that combines TVOD and SVOD, allowing users to choose between paying for specific content or subscribing for access to a broader library. Example, Amazon Prime. This approach can cater to a wider range of user preferences and maximize revenue by attracting both types of viewers.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post SVOD vs TVOD vs AVOD: Comparing the Three Video Monetization Model In Detail appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

This is a text + image guide, and soon we are going to release a video on the same steps, to get clear visual perspective of things. Here are the classification points –

1. Introduction
2. Local WordPress setup with MAMP & XAMPP
3. Installing Woocommerce (E-commerce plugin)
4. Installing Sensei (WordPress course plugin)
5. Alternate to Sensei (other WordPress LMS plugins)
6. LMS theme for Course template and homepage
7. Installing VdoCipher streaming plugin
8. Theme basics & extra plugins for installation
9. Editing Menus & Widgets
10. Edit page content & designs through LMS & wordpress editor 
11. Edit images, font, text in homepage template & other pages
12. Buddha Panel for more theme settings
13. Sensei hierarchy explained
14. Adding  courses & classes
15. How to add Videos & text to courses
16. How to manage learners, teachers
17. Integrating Sensei with Woocommerce for pricing & Detailed Sensei Settings
18. Integrating payment gateway like Paypal, Stripe
19. How it looks for a student
20. Support Links 
21. Free VdoCipher Trial
    

1. Introduction

Course website creation in WordPress is about choosing a combination of appropriate themes ,plugins and being able to modify their settings and customisation for best of your need. The blog aims to provide ready to go options for each of such settings of plugin and theme. A step by step approach ensures that you don’t miss any essential point from the workflow for teacher and student.

2. Local WordPress setup with MAMP

A finished website will be eventually live on servers/CDN. Based on scale of usage, the servers can be from dedicated hosting, shared hosting, international cloud providers like AWS, Google etc.  For this article, we provide some details to how to setup site on your computer’s localhost to be able to build the whole website once for yourself. Hosting can then be handled by the server tech guys.

The following article is a detailed guide on setting up MAMP on Mac computers for local wordpress setup. It has all the images and detailed steps to make it easier for you. While for windows user, the article by wpmudev will be useful.

Here are the two important links to download wordpress and download MAMP.

3. Installing Woocommerce (E-commerce Plugin)

Woocommerce is the most popular plugin for selling things. It includes variety of customisations around membership and payment to help you do so. WooCommerce also accepts to link WooCommerce to eBay, Etsy, Amazon or other different multiple channels. Woocommerce download

4. Installing Sensei (WordPress LMS Plugin)

Sensei is one of the popular wordpress LMS plugins which handles course, lesson creation. It works with woo-commerce at the backend.  It is a one time paid plugin and the value it provides in ease and detail of use, it is affordable.

5. Alternate to Sensei for WordPress LMS

Sensei is not the only good plugin for wordpress LMS. Some other good options are LearnDash, LifterLMS & LearnPress.

6. LMS wordpress theme for Homepage & design templates

A theme is necessary to ensure good aesthetics for the wordpress course website.  WPLMS is a popular on themeforest. Other good theme is LMS theme.  More themes can be looked at envanto markeplace. Please ensure that theme you are looking for is compatible with your LMS. The best thing about LMS theme is that support is very good. For most queries, there is already a support page for the relevant content, or you can post new. 

Common Missing style sheet error – A common error while installing themes with wordpress is missing style sheet. It can be solved by following the procedure explained here.  

Installing template homepage – Go to Theme settings > LMS option >, Importer > Demo > Requires extra plugins

7. Installing VdoCipher WordPress Plugin

Video courses are the major part of any online education business. VdoCipher encryption and viewer specific watermarking ensures that no downloader or hack can download/pirate your videos. The VdoCipher’s WordPress video hosting plugin includes server to player solution with DRM security solution. The VdoCipher plugin can be downloaded here. 

8. Theme Basics & Extra Plugins required

The LMS theme comes with a template homepage and pre-defined stock fonts , images and other detailed design. In the following steps, we will explain how to edit each of them.

Installing template homepage & Extra plugins- Go to Theme settings > LMS option >, Importer > Demo > Requires extra plugins

While you try to install the template homepage, it will ask you for allowing to download and install a set of other plugins. These extra plugins are basically to manage media and design elements. You can choose to proceed with all free such plugins that are required. If you are looking to do a homepage from scratch, then it is not needed.

9. Edit Menu & Widget

On the right side in wordpress panel, there is an option to customise appearance. Appearance has sections like ‘theme’ , ‘menu’, ‘widget’. Menus and widgets can be both edited from either the theme section or directly the menu/widget section. It is somewhat easier to visualise and edit after going through the theme section. So, select the theme section and edit the menu and widget from there. These sections look like screenshots attached here.

Step1.     Step2.     

Step3 

As you can see in menu, there are various options to add – You can add normal buttons with links to any relevant pages (e.g pricing), things from your LMS plugin (like courses, products, lessons, teachers etc). I have added ‘My courses’ and ‘All courses’ in menu as it should be relevant for all the students. You can add more things like Pricing, Contact us etc.

10.  Edit page content & design through LMS & WordPress editor

• Go to WordPress admin home panel. On left most widget, there is an option to add pages.
• Click on adding new page. If you have correctly installed LMS theme, it will show a custom LMS based editor.
• An option to switch to wordpress editor is always there. Editing in both editors simultaneously can mess up with design many times. It is good to use any single editor for most of the operations.
• You can click on add modules and start design & editing content. It is quite intuitive in nature, you should be able to quickly add text and other sections.
• Note – We have seen that sometimes these custom editors change the backend code making some short codes not to work. So , some testing and iteration is to be done for correct working of short code. Short codes can be either put in module section or wordpress editor. They should work in module section most of the times directly, if they dont you can try wordpress editor.
• There are visual and text editing section in editors, for things like short code or any other code, text editor is preferred. For other content like text, images, visual section is good to use.

Adding content to page

Design element in LMS editor panel

11. Edit Images, Font, Icon in Homepage/other pages

You can go to pages section to see the list of template pages already available. Text addition and editing is easy, you can directly add modules for text. Here , I explain how to identify & edit existing stuff – icon, images, font, text etc.

Search for home in the pages already available, you will be able to find a list of pages. A quick look at them will take you to the main home page. You can see that the page opens in LMS editor and various modules for each of design element like columns, images is already there. We need to edit these template modules according to our needs to quickly launch a beautiful new homepage.

The following support page from theme site explains icon editing in detail. To add custom icons as it says –

1.  Upload your custom icon in  media library.
2.  You can then upload that icon under the custom icon field.
3. You can also use fontawesome icon by putting their appropriate titles.

Step 1 Step2 

To add images, go to any module/add module, and add image by using add media option.

12. Buddha Panel for more theme settings

1. Go to left widget of appearance.
2. Select themes options.
3. Choose LMS theme.
4. Select ‘LMS options’, it will open Buddha Panel
5. Buddha Panel is a detailed editor for overall site design
6. There are lot of options ,main ones being Appearance, Sensei etc. You can go through each of them, and edit it for your convenience.

13. Sensei hierarchy explained

Sensie wordpress course plugin allows for creation of courses, lessons and questions which follow the hierachy as explained in above diagram. More can be read here. 

14. How to add courses, classes with Sensei

Once Sensei LMS plugin is installed, the left panel has options for Sensei settings, courses and classes. You can click on them to add courses and classes. Details, title , time period all are editable here. Module is a sub section of course which can be used to create lessons.

15. Adding videos to Sensei LMS courses

Video streaming is key part of any lecture content. Though there are options to add youtube embed for free hosting, but the videos can be easily downloaded and pirated. VdoCipher plugin enables encrypted and watermark playback to prevent any such downloads or leakages.

1. Use client secret key from Vdocipher dashboard config. (Free account register available).
2. Put the key in wordpress vdocipher plugin settings page.
3. Use annotation statement for user specific watermark.
4. Use short code like [vdo id="df12xwe321ssd"] in any course or lesson page to embed secure videos. Id here is the video id string for each video available from VdoCipher dashboard.
5. Theme can be customised to allow some buttons or change color of player.

16. Managing Learners, Teachers & Grading

Options to add and edit learners , their grading and teachers is available in left panel. Above screenshots explain how to find and edit them.

17. Sensei with Woo-commerce for pricing & Detailed Sensei settings

> Go to Sensei panel on left
> select settings option
> Select Woo-commerce Tab
> Select ‘Use WooCommerce to sell Courses by linking a Product to a Course.’
> Go to products section to set pricing and other selling parameters
> Add product details, then select the checkbox for the Virtual product to remove shipping information from checkout and Save.
> Go to Lessons
> All Courses and Edit the course you want to attach to your new product.
> Go to: WooCommerce Product in the right sidebar to attach the product.
> Select Update to save.

This would create your course as a product which can be then put a price and sold through woo-commerce. Screenshots for both the steps are included below. More details can be found in support page. 

18. Integrating payment gateway like Paypal , Stripe

• Go to Woocommerce option in left panel.
• Select Settings option. Multiple top tab options are visible.
• Select Checkout option. It enlists various options for payment gateway
• You can choose amongst what suits you, paypal & stripe the two most common international payment gateway are also there. Screenshot is attached for this.

19. How it looks for a student ?

You can go to a course and open it from an incognito window or after logging out of wp. You should be able to see a student perspective of course/lesson.

20. Support Links 

1. Theme installation support
2. Support for icon & more editing in pages
3. Woocommerce Sensei Support

21. VdoCipher Free Trial 

A free full version trial of Vdocipher upload and embed system to embed videos on WordPress via a plugin is available. Please register here for free 30 day trial

A demo video on how VdoCipher helps e-learning content creators to maximise their revenue is shown below.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post WordPress Plugin Sensei & LMS theme for Course Website Creation: Guide appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post AWS + CDN Infrastructure: Hosting, playback details explained in video appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.