free as WordPress plugins<\/a>, but Profile Builder has \u201cpro\u201d and \u201chobbyist\u201d options which you might want to explore later.<\/p>\nStep 2: User Roles<\/h2>\n
So after we\u2019ve downloaded and installed the above plugins, we need to get to work making the site functional.<\/p>\n
The next step is to upgrade the user roles. WordPress only offers limited user roles at base: Subscriber, Contributor, Author, Editor, Administrator. We\u2019re going to add more while focusing on the experience of front-end users with the members plugin.<\/p>\n
Log into the admin section of your site and go to Users | Roles<\/strong>, and click on add new. This will allow you to add new roles, such as member, premium member, etc. You\u2019ll also be able to select which capabilities these new roles can have. We only need them to be able to view and read content, not edit or anything else.<\/p>\nStep 3: Custom Registration<\/h2>\n
Next, we\u2019re going to create an easy to use registration and login for our new members. This is where we\u2019ll create a nice registration form for our members. This can be done either on the standard page editor for WordPress, or a custom editor like LeadPages or Thrive Architect.<\/p>\n
Just go to the Profile Builder and find the Manage Fields<\/strong> tab. This is where you\u2019ll be able to create your customer registration form with your required fields.<\/p>\nAfter we\u2019re done with the registration page, we have to put up the login form \u2014 either on one of the site\u2019s widget areas or on its own page. The Page builder plugin will have a \u201clogin\u201d widget that you can put in the widget area.<\/p>\n
Step 4: Enable Profile Editing<\/h2>\n
Remember, courses are JUST as much about the experience as they are about the content. At this stage, it might be good to give your clients and customers a way to customize their profile to suit their identity \u2014 it\u2019s just one of those small things that could make your course stand out. You can do this in WordPress under the Pages | Add New tab<\/strong>.<\/p>\nStep 5: Locking Your Content<\/h2>\n
This is the whole point of having a membership site \u2014 the ability to create \u201clocked\u201d content\u2026 content that is ONLY available to members. And remember, with different membership levels, you can also have content that is only available to certain members for a higher price or something similar.<\/p>\n
You can create a membership homepage in Pages | Add New<\/strong>. Go to the Content Permission box and select the settings you want. This will do for a basic level of membership content. You might later choose to customize this as much as you want.<\/p>\nStep 6: Custom Menus<\/h2>\n
Now, you\u2019ll have to create a custom menu that your members will see based on their subscription level. This menu will display certain links depending on the membership status of the person viewing them. Ordinarily, the WordPress base site wouldn\u2019t have this option but the plugin we downloaded earlier\u2026 Nav Menu Roles\u2026 will make this a possibility. Go to Appearance | Menus<\/strong>, customize your menu, and select the access settings you want to use.<\/p>\nStep 7: Custom Emails and Redirects<\/h2>\n
This is the final step and it is vital because it\u2019s about how you communicate with your members. Nobody likes to be \u201ckept in the dark\u201d while waiting for their membership to work, so we\u2019re going to need the Profile Builder plugin again.<\/p>\n
First, go to Profile Builder | Email Customizer<\/strong>, where you can customize your emails according to how your members signed up for the site in the first place. It will also provide you with the option to provide user approval notifications, password reset emails, and more.<\/p>\nYou\u2019ll also need to set up custom redirects in the profile builder section.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
WordPress is a great way to get your membership site off the ground without needing to use an all-in-one platform like Kajabi. You can simply follow the steps above, or contact us<\/a> directly for additional help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Membership sites are quickly becoming so important to coaches, consultants, and any other course creators, and for good reason. That\u2019s because membership sites offer a scalable way to give your clients the best of the best content while keeping it secure and password-restricted so that non-members can\u2019t access it. They allow you to offer 100 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[1639],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4946"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15771,"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4946\/revisions\/15771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}