There are many ways for learning the words pronunciation, particularly when various resources have been available online. You may stick to the way that is best suited to you. That is no problem.
Considering the different backgrounds people may be in, I am afraid for best efficiency, one should at first identify the best approach. Congratulations! you have found your own years ago. But it seems to me that you haven't yet:)) Because you still need to check your pronunciation against the online resource. It is obvious the phonetics training does not provide you with enough confidence as to go without any further work.
If you reverse your process by starting from the word pronunciation, things would be different, and the rest is history.
