Online course hosting decides where your course lives, who can get in, and what happens to their access when they stop paying or leave a client relationship. Get it wrong and you end up with shared passwords, former clients still watching paid material, and a learner list that does not match your CRM. On the levelpartner.ai platform the course, the login and the contact record sit in one place, so access follows the customer rather than a spreadsheet.
What hosting covers, and what it does not
Hosting is the infrastructure side of a course: the member area learners log in to, the domain it runs on, where video is stored, and the rules that grant or remove access. Building lessons is a separate job, covered in the guide to structuring modules and lessons in the course builder.
The distinction matters because most course problems in established companies are hosting problems. The content is fine. What breaks is access: the wrong people have it, the right people cannot find it, or nobody knows who is enrolled.
Before you start
Have these ready before you change anything:
- A domain or subdomain you control, such as learn.yourcompany.com, and access to its DNS settings.
- Your brand assets for the member area: logo, colours and a short welcome line.
- Video files in a standard format, uploaded to Media Storage or ready to upload.
- A clear rule for who gets access and when it ends: on payment, on contract signature, on start date, or on employment.
- At least one course product already created in Memberships.
How to set it up
- Open Memberships, then Client Portal, and select Settings.
- Go to Domain Setup.
- Select Custom domain and enter your domain name.
- Log in to your domain registrar and open DNS settings.
- Add the A or CNAME record the platform shows.
- Save the record and allow time for DNS to update.
- Return to Domain Setup and click Update Domain.
Branding sits in the same area: under Client Portal, the Branding settings hold the portal name, description, colours, logo and support email. Attach each course video to its lesson, and create an offer for each access level, for example clients, staff and paying customers. Then build one workflow that grants the right offer when a contact meets your access rule and a second that removes it when the rule ends, such as a cancelled subscription or a closed contract. Log in as a test contact on a phone and on a laptop to confirm the domain, branding and playback.
Why hosting on the platform matters for a growing firm
A 10 to 250 person company usually already has a course somewhere. It sits on a separate course tool, someone set it up two years ago, and nobody is sure who has access. Learners are a list that does not talk to the CRM. When a client churns, nobody remembers to remove them.
Hosting the course next to your CRM changes the unit of control. Access becomes a property of the contact. When the opportunity moves to closed lost, or the subscription fails, a workflow removes access in the same minute. When a new client signs, they are enrolled without anyone opening a second tool.
Imagine a brokerage with a short library for first-time buyers: how the process works, which documents to gather, what happens at completion. Access would be granted when a fact-find is booked and removed ninety days after completion. Compare that with a shared link that circulates for years. With roughly thirty new clients a month, each would get their own login, and the library would close for each of them on schedule.
What it replaces and the weekly effort
On-platform hosting replaces three things: a separate course subscription, a manual enrol and remove routine, and the spreadsheet someone keeps to reconcile the two. Once the workflows are live, weekly effort is small. Spend around half an hour checking that new learners were enrolled and leavers were removed, and answer any login questions.
The trade-off is control over the player and the member area design. A dedicated course tool may offer more layout options. You give some of that up in exchange for one contact record, one set of automations and one bill.
The usual mistake is building the grant workflow and forgetting the removal one. Access then only ever grows. Build both on the same day, and test removal with a test contact before launch.
When not to host it yourself
If the course must sit inside a client's own learning system for compliance reasons, host it there and keep only the enrolment record in your CRM. If you have a single public video with no access control, a page on your website is enough, and a member area adds friction for no gain.
If the material is open-catalogue learning you did not create, see the article comparing open course marketplaces with a private academy before deciding where it belongs.
Choosing a domain and protecting video
Use a subdomain of your main site. It keeps your brand in the address bar and avoids a learner wondering whether a strange link is safe. Keep the name short and obvious: learn, academy or clients.
Treat video as the asset that needs protecting. Store it in Media Storage and attach it to lessons, rather than pasting links to a public video site. Public links get forwarded, and a forwarded link cannot be revoked by your workflow.
Troubleshooting
The domain will not verify. DNS changes can take a while to spread. Check that the record type and value match exactly what the platform shows, with no extra spaces, then allow time before trying again.
Learners see the platform's default address instead of yours. The member area is still set to the default domain. Return to Domain Setup under Client Portal, confirm the custom domain and click Update Domain, then clear the browser cache on your test device.
Removed learners can still log in. Check that the removal workflow fired for that contact. Most often the trigger condition did not match, for example a status spelt differently from the value the workflow expects.
Video buffers on mobile. Large source files are the usual cause. Export at a sensible resolution and re-upload rather than relying on the original recording file.
Frequently asked questions
Can I host courses for clients and staff on the same domain?
Yes. Use separate offers so each group only sees its own courses. One member area with clear access levels is easier to run than several domains.
What happens to course access when a client cancels?
Whatever your removal workflow says. Tie it to the event you trust most, such as a failed or cancelled subscription, or an opportunity moved to a closed stage. If you need to charge for access, the guide to taking payment for a course on your own site shows how offers connect to checkout.
Do I need a separate video hosting account?
Not for most courses. Media Storage holds the files and lessons play them inside the member area. Keep source files backed up elsewhere, as you would with any important asset.
Is there a limit on learners?
Your licence includes unlimited contacts and users, so learner numbers do not change what you pay for the platform. Usage such as email and SMS sent by your workflows is billed as used.