Can You Create a Blog on Thinkific?

A blog is a great way to promote a course and create content to attract ideal customers to your site.

Writing blog posts is free and relatively easy if you are an expert in your topic of interest: so it should be one of the main ways creators promote their online courses!

However, not all online course platforms let creators write blog posts. In today's article, we will see if and how you can create a blog on Thinkific, why it is important to run a blog and how you can start blogging at no additional costs!

Can you build a blog on Thinkific?

No, Thinkific doesn't include a blog feature, and creators using Thinkific cannot write blog posts.

If you are using Thinkific to host your online courses, you have to integrate a third-party tool or link to your blog website on your course page. This might seem like an "ok" solution, but here is why it can be cumbersome:

If you are using a WordPress blog or any other website to host your blog and you are simply linking it to your course pages - your courses will not be under the same domain as your blog. This can make it hard for Google or other search engines to understand that both websites belong to you and should receive the same importance.

On top of this, Thinkific course creators have to pay an extra subscription to host their blogs with a third-party tool or web hosting. This turns into another expense and tool to maintain.

How to Create a Blog: The Easy Solution for Online Course Creators

As a course creator, you may have a lot on your plate, and understandably, maintaining a blog may not be at the top of your to-do list.

The idea of finding another hosting platform or creating a blog from scratch can be overwhelming.

So is there any way that course creators can run a whole blog without paying an extra subscription?

Yes, you can use Heights Platform to create and sell online courses and host your blog at no additional cost.

The blog feature is available in all pricing plans, starting from the Basic plan ($39/month) - and it lets you create as many custom pages as you want!

With our blog feature, you can effortlessly publish blog articles from the same platform where you develop your online course. The best part is that there are no additional costs involved - all you need to do is focus on creating quality content for your blog!

With Heights Platform's built-in blog software, you can optimize your blog's search engine visibility using multiple SEO features.

You can create custom meta descriptions for your blog content, edit the page's URL, and even customize the HTML of every blog article, among other things.

Our blog also offers a wide range of customization options, allowing you to upload content, choose professional pictures from Unsplash's free library, customize headlines and titles, and more.

By using these features, you can create a professional-looking and SEO-friendly blog.

As a matter of fact, this article that you are currently reading is built using Heights Platform's blog feature!

Let's see in more detail how you can take advantage of the blog in Heights Platform.

#1: Enable the Blog in Heights Platform

To start writing blog posts using Heights Platform, all you need to do is enable the blog feature and start drafting your articles!

Head over to the blog area, under "Web Pages" (yes, we also have a full website builder in Heights Platform)!

Here you will see all of your blog posts and a few blog settings. Click on Enable blog, and you are ready to go!

#2: Create a Blog Post

Creating a new blog post is quite straightforward. Once you have enabled the blog, click on the "+ New Post" button in the middle of the screen.

This will send you to a blog editor page, similar to the Lesson Editor. Here, you can add a cover image for your blog post, create a title, and start writing in the editor.

Using the Editor bar, you can change the text style, size, alignment, create lists, add images from your desktop or browse Unsplash, add links to your text, and edit the HTML as per your requirements.

Don't forget to save your changes by clicking the "Save Post" button located at the top right of the page. You can preview your article by clicking "Preview Post" on the top left side of the screen, which will show you the saved changes only.

If you copy-paste content into the blog editor, the text style and formatting will automatically apply to the standard Heights style. However, if you want to apply a different style to the text in your blog post, you can modify it in the HTML area.

#3: Publish the Blog Post

When you are ready to publish your post, scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you can finalize the last details of your blog post before hitting the publish button.

You have two options when it comes to publishing articles:

1. If you want to publish the post immediately, simply click on the "Published?" option in the highlighted box.
2. If you prefer to schedule your post to be published on a specific date and time, you can insert the desired date and time under "Publish Date." Keep in mind that this section is set in the UTC time zone. Once you have selected a publish date in the future, the post will automatically be published at the set date and time.

Once your blog post is published, it is automatically optimized for all screen sizes, so it can look awesome on desktop and mobile alike!

Why You Should Start Your Blog Today

Many course creators tend to dismiss blogging, and they think that offering free content is not a good idea as they are trying to convince people to buy their paid products.

Creators often ask themselves, "If I give out my content for free, why would anyone buy my online course?" While this concern is understandable, it should not be an obstacle if you treat your blog only as a “preview” of your course.

By providing a small fraction of high-quality and valuable content for free, you can establish yourself as an expert in the field, entice your audience to learn more from you, and ultimately purchase your course.

Here we talk about this in more detail: Why Creating Free Content Won't Hurt Your Course Sales [Plus How to Do it]

Let's take a closer look at the key benefits of starting a blog to promote your online learning course.

Driving organic traffic to your website

By consistently posting new content on your blog, you create new web pages for your site.

The more indexed pages you have, the more chances you have to rank on search engines for certain keywords, making it easier for you to attract visitors.

Blogging is a simple way to generate more traffic for your website, as you are constantly updating, publishing, and promoting new content.

Learn more about SEO: All You Need to Know About SEO to Sell Online Courses

Establishing your credibility as an expert

By releasing free and valuable content related to your niche of interest, you showcase your expertise to new visitors.

As you blog about the topic you are most knowledgeable about, potential customers will start to recognize you as an authority in the niche.

This recognition will allow you to gain their trust and secure more students for your online course.

Related article: How to Position Yourself as an Expert to Sell Online Courses

Increasing your sales

A comprehensive blog can provide the resources necessary to turn visitors into customers by reassuring them about your expertise and giving them free, valuable information.

Every blog post you publish is an opportunity to gain new sales leads. The blog itself may not be the reason why someone purchases your online course, but it sure can help to get the process started.

Providing additional resources for your students

A blog can help you to retain students, increase their loyalty and trust towards your business and introduce them to other product offerings.

If they subscribe to your newsletter, make sure to notify them once one or a few articles are published in your blog.

Not only will it help you raise traffic, but it will also keep your customers engaged with your brand and create a sense of community.

It's free!

Starting a blog is free! It just takes time and patience to see results.

In order for your blog to bring the first results, it can take months of consistent posting (the higher amount of articles you publish, the better the results in terms of SEO).

Also, writing takes time, and search engines generally prefer longer articles (more than 1000 words is generally better).

Still, it is a pretty good deal considering the long-term benefits.

Related comparison: Heights Platform vs Thinkific

Check how Heights Platform compares to Thinkific in other aspects as well through the link above.

If you are using a Thinkific site to sell online courses, you do not have access to your own blog.

This means that you are missing out on all the benefits we explained above: higher website traffic, increased credibility, better student support... all of this possible with Heights Platform's built-in blogging feature, included in your subscription.

Now that you know that there is no built-in blog feature on Thinkific, start your Heights Platform account for free to test drive everything that Heights has to offer you!