You have an awesome idea for a course and you’re ready to finally release it into the world! But you’re stuck on the tech and not sure how to make this process as pain-free as possible...

Today, I’m sharing the exact steps I follow to set up courses and memberships in Kartra, in the most efficient way possible.

Before we dive in, there are a few pieces you’ll want to have handy: 

• Your logo on a graphic with dimensions of 250 px by 50 px (you can do this in Canva)

• Your course name and logo on a graphic with dimensions of 1440 px by 1080 px, centered.

• Your course welcome email (optional - you can also edit this later).

Get those 3 things ready and come right back to watch the tutorial!

In this tutorial, I’ll deep dive into the launch builder of your course. We’ll discuss terminology, the general layout, previewing your course, and more. I’ll go through all of the settings until the entire set-up is complete. 

Terminology

If you’re coming from another platform, some of the terms used inside of Kartra can be confusing. 

Let’s break them down. 

Memberships - You can also refer to this as a course even though you’re not hosting an actual membership. 

Categories - Each category represents a module in your course. You can also create sub-categories that act as lessons. 

Posts - This is a lesson or a part of a lesson. 

So, now that you have a general understanding of the terms that Kartra uses, we’ll pop back into the launch builder. 

Layout 

There are two main layouts in Kartra, the front-end (this is, what your customer sees) and the back-end builder. They are not necessarily identical and you can easily choose a template that will determine what the front end of your course will actually look like. 

Home Page or Welcome Page

I recommend having a welcome page so that you don’t jump into the first module right away. 

Sidebar

Feel free to place your sidebar on the left or the right hand side or even both. The sidebar is universal throughout your entire course or membership; you only have to place it once and it will automatically appear on all the modules or lessons. 

Post Content

There are various blocks and types of content that you can put in the main area of your lesson page. It’s very flexible and allows you to add not only text and videos but also download boxes, reminders, links, and more. 

Watch the tutorial above for details on these features as well as a full walk-through of how to set up your general course layout. 

Settings and Customizations

There are various customization options you’ll have when setting up your membership/course in Kartra. 

Comments

You can enable or disable comments on each individual Post. I recommend that you configure this later, after you’ve gone through the entire course setup and once your Posts have been created. 

Membership Levels

You can have multiple levels of memberships (eg. regular and VIP). For example, anyone who purchases the VIP option would get access to additional modules. You can simply toggle on and off which modules you want each level to have access to. 

Instant Access vs. Drip Content

Choose whether you’d like customers to have Instant access to any given Post, or if access should be delayed (aka released on a given date or a certain number of days after purchase). 

Completion Badge

Want to include a pop-up that congratulates your members each time they complete a certain lesson? Add a completion badge. 

Help Desk

If you set up a help desk in Kartra and then connect it right into the membership. Members will have the option to contact you directly from within the membership. 

Welcome Email

This is really important since it’s the only way that members can get their login details, especially if it’s a password protected membership. 

Once you open the email editor, it will automatically create a template email for you. This is handy because it shows you how to structure your email so you can share access with your members using dynamic variables and custom fields. 

Watch the full video for your step-by-step instructions on setting up your course/membership as smoothly as possible!

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New to Kartra and want to get things set up the easy way? I have two things to help you:

(1) Grab my free Kartra Kick-Start Checklist for a step-by-step guide to getting started on the platform in as little as 30 minutes!

(2) Explore our plug-n-play Funnel Templates, where we've done the leg-work for you so you can get your funnels up and running ASAP!