WordPress can be challenging when you first get started. Therefore, you might be looking for educational material to help you master new skills. However, with so many options available, it can be tricky to choose the best free WordPress courses for your needs.
Fortunately, you can find various WordPress-based courses that won’t charge you a cent to learn. You can take advantage of free trials on e-learning platforms or explore introductory courses that help you ease in to new topic areas.
?? In this guide, we’ll explore seven of the best free WordPress courses for various levels and niches including the best options for the following categories:
Let’s get started!
If you’re looking for comprehensive free WordPress courses that start with the fundamentals and progress to intermediate skills, consider enrolling in Learn WordPress step by step. This full curriculum features more than eight hours of content and spans topics including:
WordPress Academy approaches this free WordPress course by breaking it into sub-topics and walking students through mini-projects. You’ll learn practical skills and how to apply them, while also being exposed to general advice and tips for using WordPress.
Students enjoy this course because of its clear instructions, helpful information, and practical projects. It’s also a beginner-friendly option since it assumes no base knowledge of WordPress.
Some of the more complex topics, such as PHP and WordPress development, will require some intermediate-level skills to complete. However, you can refer to the course’s troubleshooting forum if you run into any issues along the way.
You can access a one-month free trial with Skillshare. This means you can access the course for free as long as you complete all modules within 30 days. After the trial period ends, membership fees depend on your region.
WordPress development can be a lucrative career path. The average WordPress developer makes more than $58,000 per year in the United States [1]. Furthermore, if you develop and sell premium themes or plugins, you could create your own thriving business with these skills.
Fortunately, WordPress development doesn’t have to be tricky to learn. By offering you a strong foundation, Become a Junior WordPress Developer can help you gain a good grip on the basics of developing for WordPress.
This learning path comprises 12 individual courses totaling 20 hours. It covers topics such as:
This free WordPress course uses videos and written content to teach you about development topics. It also has instruction from seven distinct experts in the field, each with a unique perspective. At the end of the learning path, you’ll receive a certificate of completion that you can display on your LinkedIn profile.
You can access a LinkedIn Learning free trial for 30 days. Therefore, the course is free if you can complete it within that month. After the trial period ends, you’ll need to pay $19.99 per month for a year’s subscription if you want to stay enrolled in the LinkedIn Learning platform.
WordPress design skills are essential if you want to customize your site’s layout to match your branding and provide a good user experience (UX). Build a Full Website using WordPress can kickstart your WordPress journey by walking you through the website design process.
This course is a Coursera project, meaning that you’ll learn through practical skills. The platform provides an instructional video that plays in a split-screen. This setup enables you to follow along from your WordPress dashboard and learn each skill step-by-step.
This free WordPress course will teach you how to:
- Start a website from scratch
- Design home pages, landing pages, and blog pages
- Include links and social media sharing buttons
- Work with different themes and plugins
Build a Full Website Using WordPress lasts two hours if you follow the content continuously. By the end, you will have a fully functional website and the ability to apply your skills to different design projects.
This free guided course may be ideal if you prefer a hands-on approach. However, keep in mind that minimal support is available if you run into issues during your project.
This course assumes some basic to intermediate WordPress knowledge, so it might seem fast-paced if you’re a complete beginner. Note that this course is also optimized for North American learners.
Working knowledge of SEO is critical if you want to run a website. When you properly leverage SEO, you can boost your site’s visibility in Google and draw in more traffic.
Yoast SEO is one of the most popular freemium SEO plugins for WordPress. You can dive deeper into this tool with Yoast SEO plugin training by Yoast Academy.
This free WordPress course contains two hours of content spread across 41 videos. It will teach you:
- How to best use the Yoast SEO plugin
- SEO fundamentals and ranking criteria
- How to write SEO-optimized content
- Troubleshooting tips for SEO issues
- How to optimize your content for social media platforms
Even if you use a different SEO plugin, the Yoast course material can be helpful. It covers general SEO tips and can set you on the right path for optimizing your content. However, the curriculum will serve you best if you also use this plugin on your site.
Yoast SEO plugin training includes 14 quizzes to test your knowledge as you progress through the learning journey. You’ll also gain access to downloadable PDFs that contain the core course material, and extra tips for optimizing your website.
When you finish this course, you’ll receive a badge and certificate of completion. You can also opt for the premium plugin and associated training for $99 per year.
Once your WordPress website is up and running, you’ll need to continually protect it against spam, malware, and hackers. These security measures are even more crucial when considering that approximately 100,000 websites are hacked every day [2].
Fortunately, Learn Complete WordPress Security can teach you how to secure your site. This video-based free WordPress course has more than two hours of content that cover:
This course is pretty comprehensive despite its short content length. You’ll cover multiple topics, from basic security tips to intermediate and advanced content protection techniques. The curriculum can be suitable for WordPress beginners and experienced users alike.
This course is entirely free. However, it only contains video content and lacks quizzes, personalized guidance from instructors, or a certificate of completion. Therefore, while this curriculum can be a good jumping-off point for learning WordPress security, you might need to further supplement your learning down the line.
Starting an online store for your products and services is one of the best ways to monetize your WordPress website and launch a business. However, creating an eCommerce shop can feel overwhelming if you’re new to WordPress and online sales.
Learn How to Build an Ecommerce Website with WordPress is one of the more beginner-friendly free WordPress courses. It explains how to set up and run an online store, covering topics such as:
- Finding eCommerce hosting
- Creating store pages
- Using the WooCommerce platform and WooCommerce plugins
- Adding and configuring products
- Customizing your online store
- Adding navigation menus
The course is video-based and contains almost three hours of content. Moreover, it’s ideal for beginners because it assumes minimal knowledge. If you’ve never worked with WooCommerce before, you can likely benefit from this straightforward walkthrough approach.
Of course, this course might not be as helpful if you’d prefer to work with a different eCommerce platform, such as Easy Digital Downloads. While the general online store tips will still apply, the WooCommerce-specific content will not be as useful to you.
Learn How to Build an Ecommerce Website with WordPress is free, regardless of how long you take to complete the course. However, it is only video-based and doesn’t have interactive elements, a troubleshooting forum, or assessments. Therefore, it’s most suitable if you prefer more self-directed learning.
Performance optimization is essential if you want to provide the best possible UX and maximize your Core Web Vitals scores. If your website loads slowly or has bugs, this can easily deter your visitors and send them straight to your competitors.
WordPress: Speeding Up Your Site is a comprehensive performance optimization course from the LinkedIn Learning platform. This video-based curriculum has six different modules that cover:
This free WordPress course is led by Patrick Rauland, the brand manager for WooCommerce. He’s also an expert in developing plugins, designing commercial websites, and building applications. When you finish the course, you’ll receive a downloadable certificate of completion that you can add to your resume or display on your LinkedIn profile.
However, keep in mind that this course is designed more for intermediate users. It assumes fundamental WordPress knowledge and focuses specifically on optimization tips. If you’re completely new to WordPress, you might want to come back to this course after you’ve learned the basics.
As with other LinkedIn Learning courses, you can study this material for free if you take advantage of the 30-day free trial. After that period expires, you’ll need to pay for a subscription or buy the course. It costs approximately $30 if you want to purchase this course alone.
Try one of these courses today
There can be a steep learning curve when you start working with WordPress. As such, you might prefer guided learning with free WordPress courses, rather than spending unnecessary time trying to learn the ropes by yourself.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive curriculum for beginners, we recommend Learn WordPress step by step by WordPress Academy. This detailed course will walk you through the core elements of WordPress, covering everything from WordPress themes to development.
? For some other ways to level up your WordPress knowledge, you might be interested in one of these posts:
Do you have any questions about taking free WordPress courses? Let us know in the comments section below!
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Keep reading the article at ThemeIsle Blog. The article was originally written by John Hughes on 2022-02-24 05:44:09.
The article was hand-picked and curated for you by the Editorial Team of WP Archives.