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Laura Elizabeth

New portal template: For when your course needs somewhere to live

Published about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Hey Reader,

You may have seen Cheryl's case study a few weeks back - she runs a six-month coaching programme and uses Client Portal for its delivery.

Tucked into that email was a link to a free template for setting up the same kind of thing. It's actually becoming one of our more popular downloads, but plenty of you missed it the first time round.

So this email is just about the template.

If you're running something educational on the side (coaching, group programmes, light-touch courses) the teaching itself is usually fine. It's the scattered files and "where's that recording?" emails that get tedious. This template is for that.

What it does well

  • Holds session recordings (embed from YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, wherever)
  • Stores worksheets, templates, and PDFs in one place
  • Links out to your scheduling tool, Zoom calls, community forums
  • Lets students upload completed work back to you
  • Drips content as the programme progresses - just toggle modules active when you're ready

What it doesn't do

This isn't a learning management system. There's no progress tracking, no quizzes, no certificates, no built-in community. If those things are central to what you're running, something like Teachable or Thinkific will serve you better - they're built for that.

Client Portal is good for the bit where students need somewhere to find their stuff between sessions. That's it. If your course is small, fairly linear, and you're happy embedding video from elsewhere, it tends to fit rather nicely.

A quick note on what's inside the template: Four content modules (Clients, Systems, Pricing, Growth), a Getting Started section, and a Bonus Materials area. We've used a fictional coaching programme called "Foundations" to show how the pieces fit together. Swap in your own structure - the bones stay the same.

Where to find it

The template is free if you've got Client Portal. Download the .xml file, import it through WordPress, and you're up and running.

👉 Download the template - or have a click around the example portal first.

"Dedicated course platforms are too big and complicated for me. Client Portal is far easier to use. It's more intuitive and there is no room for error."​
​- Cheryl Porcelijn, Webdesign Mastery

-Laura

P.S. Next on the list is a brand identity portal - for designers handing over logos, guidelines, and the rest. If there's another template you'd like to see, hit reply and let me know.

Laura Elizabeth

Laura Elizabeth is a designer and the founder of 3 products: Client Portal (a super simple way to store your clients' deliverables), Design Academy (a design course for developers), and Project Pack (sets of templates and documents for freelancers and agencies).

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