Do I need a separate website or WordPress install for my courses or membership site?

LifterLMS is a WordPress plugin and can be installed on an existing WordPress website or on a brand new WordPress powered site.

In many cases most simply add LifterLMS to their existing website.

Some prefer a separate website for the courses, online school or membership site.

A separate website can be:

• a new URL (youracademy.com)
• a subdomain (academy.yourwebsite.com)
• a subdirectory (yourwebsite.com/academy)

A separate website is a unique WordPress install.

You can link separate websites together through the menus and in other places. If the branding is really similar and the user experience is well designed, the visitor may not realize they are bouncing across different websites.

Here are the reasons some people do a separate website for your LifterLMS powered online course, online school or membership site:

• The course site should stand alone and be separate from whatever is going on with the main website
• Your existing website design is outdated, not mobile friendly and full of problems. You’re not ready to fix the main site, but want to start on a clean slate for the course site
• The main website already has users, accounts or memberships that would conflict with LifterLMS.
• You’re selling through a complex marketing funnel on a different domain and want to use the separate LifterLMS site for just the LMS course experience.