There are many ways to give visitors to your blog something that is of added value to them. We think the best way to do this is to give them a free mini-tutorial, for example.
Instead of just putting the tutorial on and letting someone access it, you can use the option of get visitors to sign up for a blog mailing list.
To do this, for example, you have to put one of your tutorials at their disposal. The only condition that will have to be asked will be the presentation of their email address.
And that's what we'll do in this tutorial.
But before you start, take the time to take a look at How to install a WordPress theme, How many plugins to install on WordPress.
Then let's get to work!
Email services
Before we begin, let's first say a few words about e-mail services. There are so many courier services out there that we won't be able to cover them all. So, we will only talk about the part that you should be working on yourself.
Basically you have to look for a way integrate user registrations to your blog with your messaging service.
Again, as these are different, we will not go down this route.
However, if you use the MailChimp plugin from WPMU DEV, it automatically integrates new users into your blog and into your MailChimp list. It's super easy and works like a champ. In fact, this is what we use for our own mailing list here at BlogPasCher.
Action plan
OK, now more deeply,
There are basically two sections in this tutorial:
- The implementation of your content
- The implementation of a "paywall" to protect your content from non-subscribed members.
We'll start with setting up your content first. And then for the paywall section, we will use the plugin Membership, which is the free version of the plugin WPMU DEV.
According to Wikipedia (In computing, a toll is a mechanism used to block all or part of access to One blog using a payment system. In American English, such a mechanism is called " paywall » or " Pay wall » (which literally means "wall to TOLL "). The best known are maintained by periodical publications, such as magazines.[ The first known paywall would be the one set up by the Financial Times in 2002) [2]
Please note:: The version of the plugin used in this tutorial is an English version. It could happen that you have a French version; know that this does not detract from the quality of this tutorial and everything it mentions.
Implementation of content
Of course, there are several ways to organize your tutorial. We will call ours “Great Espresso”.
He owns 6 sections:
An Introduction page and 5 lesson pages.
We have designed 5 sub pages of the Introduction page (i.e. the Introduction page is the parent page).
We have also arranged them in order according to their positions. Because it can help us later.
Read also our article on How to use tabs in your web browser effectively
You can do this in the edit screen when setting up your pages. You can also change these settings on the screen showing all pages.
Navigation
There are several ways to use navigation. Here, it is simply a way that we have chosen just for a demonstrative purpose.
The Plugin List Page-
The first thing we'll do is install the plugin Page-list.
At the bottom of the Introduction page, we've put a shortcode that lists all of the subpages of that parent page.
[Subpages]
Since we set up all of the sub-pages earlier, and asked that they appear just the way we want:
Then, at the bottom of each lesson page, we'll link to my Introduction page and then automatically generate a link to all the other lessons. In our case, it looks like this.
Discover more How to create custom links on WordPress
(16 is the ID of my Introduction page. You will need to find your own ID.)
The Intro:
[Pagelist include = "16"]
Lesson:
[Siblings]
And this is what my Introduction page looks like.
(The appearance of your links will be determined by your WordPress theme. I use the WordPress theme default Twenty Twelve)
What's interesting about these shortcodes is that: if we want to insert a new lesson, we will just need to create a child page like the others, and it will automatically be included in our list of links.
Other navigation options
There are other navigation options available to you. You can use the ones that are available or in conjunction with the above solution.
We think it's important to have your navigation to the right of the page in this case, and therefore, personally, we will want something similar to the above.
You could also create a new sidebar for these pages with a plugin like Custom Sidebars. Or you can create a widget that will be displayed only to connected users. Or, you could display a certain menu only to registered users.
Establishment of the membership list:
OK, now to set up the paywall and protect our content;
Once again we will use the free plugin Membership of WPMU DEV here.
It may seem a little complicated, but we will try to proceed step by step; so if you follow them carefully everything should work fine.
The type of website
After the plugin has been installed and activated, go to the first link “Membership.”
From there we will make choices. In this example, we'll choose a Standard Membership Blog " Standard membership website.«
If you choose the option " Dripped Content “, Then you can configure your tutorial so that members can only access certain content after a certain time. For example, you could have 5 levels, first level available on day 1, the second level available on day 2, etc.
If you choose the advanced option " Advanced“, The Assistant will assume that you know what you are doing. After making your choice, click next.
The creation of levels.
In the free version of the Membership plugin, you are only allowed to create two levels. In the pro version of the pluginyou will have an unlimited number of levels. We will just use one level in this example, but we can create two levels.
See also our 9 WordPress plugins to restrict access to your content
If you want to place this tutorial on a blog that already has old content that you want to keep open to the public, then you need to make sure that the box that says “aussi create a level to control what non-members can see"Remains checked.
We will also choose "Free subscriptions gateway"In the drop-down menu.
What should you expect from payment gateways is to consult absolutely.
Consult your access levels
If this is done, click on the link "Access Levels" on the left and observe the levels you have just created.
In our case, we have the “Members” and “Administrator” levels that we have just created, then we also have the “Visitors” level which was created automatically for non-members.
Take a look at How to have advanced user control on WordPress
Configuration of options.
Let's go to the section Options (last from the list on the left).
There is a lot of manipulation that can be done here, but since we are just setting up a simple and free tutorial, we won't have to go through all of this setup.
Discover other advanced configurations by reading How To Master WordPress Visual Editor: The Tutorial
In the first tab, the tab general, we will define my parameters " Stranger Settings "Therefore affect" Visitor " at " Use Membership Level"
Do not forget the level " visitors »Which has been set up for non-subscribed visitors? That's what " Stranger Means here.
And then we will go to the " User registration "And we will assign the value" Members". So when people subscribe to our blog. They will automatically be placed at the level we will choose here (members).
Membership pages
The next section, the Membership Page, is pretty self-explanatory. This is where you need to configure your registration page, page to which visitors will be directed after registration.
Configure it as you wish.
One of the things that seemed to be practical for us was to fill in the value of “Protected page content" Sign up. This way, if a third party tries to access a protected page, they are simply redirected to the registration page.
At this point if you want to share your tutorial link, you will need to send them to the registration page which here is the " Register ”(generated by the plugin).
Another important thing to note here is that these pages are actual pages in your WordPress system. Then the important elements like the registration forms will be generated automatically for you, you will be able to access these pages in your administration area. (Pages> All Pages) and add more content if necessary.
Some notes:
- There is an option for a pop-up registration window, but you might be experiencing issues with mobile browsers here, so that's something to consider.
- In this simple tutorial, there will be no “subscription” so you don't need to worry about that.
Content protection
Read also our 10 WordPress plugins to protect the content of a website
Content protection basically allows you to hide parts of your pages while leaving other parts (for example, the first paragraph) open to the public.
You can decide to do it or not. But in our example, we'll keep it simple and hide all of the tutorials from people who haven't subscribed yet. So this section is less important for this tutorial.
Downloaders / Media
Here you can hide your media location.
The other tabs
The last three tabs in this area are things you probably won't need. Especially with a case similar to ours. But check and decide for yourself.
Subscription plans
The subscription plan can be a bit confusing if people are paying for one plan or another, or if you have multiple plans.
However, in this case, it's pretty straightforward because we only have one “plan”, and it's free.
If you go on « Membership > Subscription Plans“, You will see that your plan already exists.
If you hover over the title to edit it, you will see two basic areas that you should pay attention to.
First of all, there is a visual editor. Graphics or text inserted here will go to your registration page. And the registration form which is on the interface visible to the visitor.
Below is the membership level area. If you used the wizard at the start to define items like we did, then you should already see your access level " Members " or " Administrator Inserted.
How to extend the functionality of the WordPress visual editor is to be discovered.
In this area, you can define the validity period of " subscription". If someone took out a monthly subscription, for example, you would set this for 1 month in serial mode. This means that he will renew his subscription every month.
However, because this tutorial will be free we are going to configure it in such a way that it is easy to use. We just want to keep things simple. For this we will assign " indefinite "To" Mode ". So there will be no question of period here. The user will continue to have access to the tutorial without worrying about anything.
Protect your content
OK, now that everything is set up and ready, we're going to actually start protecting the content behind our " Paywall"
Of course that means you have to have content to protect. So, we assume that you have some content and want to protect it. If not, you must create at least a few blank pages for your content.
As mentioned, we have decided to put our content on the pages. Remember that we have an Introduction page and then 5 lessons.
Return to access level
Towards the start of this setup, we took a quick look at the access levels. We will therefore come back to it. (Membership> Access Levels).
We have three levels - Members, Administrators and Visitors. We will first start dealing with the " Visitors"
See also How to allow visitors to inform you of errors on your WordPress items
Set up negative rules
Move the pointer over the title of the visitor and click edit.
On the next screen, we have tabs with the following words: positive rules " positive rules", Negative rules" negative rules "And advanced (both) to" Advanced"
At this time the visitors are not yet members, we will use the negative rules here. Essentially, we are going to set up what visitors won't be able to see which is our mini-tutorial.
How to Add a Contextual Help Menu to WordPress is a must read
Because our tutorial is set up on Pages, we're going to drag the Pages section on the right into the negative rules area. And then, we'll just go and check all the Pages that don't belong to our tutorial.
do not forget to update.
Visitors (ie people who have not yet registered) will not be able to view these pages.
The establishment of positive rules
The configuration of positive rules for members is a bit more complicated. Or at least we will do a little more complicated at first, so that we do not encounter any problems in the future.
Take a look at How to simplify your web design with WordPress plugins
But if we want to do it simply as in the negative rules and in the opposite direction this would not work at all. At least not as you think.
When you use positive rules, you tell yourself that this group will be able to see certain pages, but you also tell yourself that this group will only be able to see only these Pages.
It's not a big deal. We just have to check all the Pages. But if we ever add another public type page in the future, then we would need to come back and make sure the Page has been set up in such a way that members can see it.
Read also How to display all your WordPress publications on a single page
It would be easy to forget, and it's probably something you don't want anyway.
Thinking about it from another angle, we basically want members to be able to see all of the blog content - this includes all of the public content, and all of the content in the mini-tutorial as well.
So if there was a way to open all blog content to members, that would do. And, of course, there is a way to do it.
Using URL Groups
We can allow a group of members to see all content using URL groups. So you will need the title of this article now.
When you get there you will need to create a new group called “All Site Access”Or something like that. URL groups can have a lot more complications, but what we're going to do is pretty straightforward.
In the box "page URLs", Put the root domain of your blog and then after the slash, put (. *), Like this: http://myblog.com/(.*)
Read also: How to disable link transformation of URLs on WordPress
This gives access to a URL that begins with your root domain name. (Of course, even if you're using a subdomain, you should take that into account.)
At the bottom of the page, be sure to skip the drop-down menu of "Regular Expression" at " Yes“, Then update this page.
Return to access level once more
OK, now that the URL group is set up, we'll just go back to access levels one last time to get the rules in place for members.
Go to the access level area, change the member level.
From the sidebar on the right, drag the “URL Groups”In the positive rules.
You should see your new URL group appear - Check this option “All Site Access. ” And update your page. Your members now have access to the entire blog, including your mini-tutorial.
Also pay attention to Why WordPress and your domain name must be separated
That's all !
Your mini-tutorial is now limited to only people who have previously registered. I hope your visitors find this necessary, and that you get something in return.
If you have problems with this, you can check the plugin page Membership.
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Recommended Resources
Find out about other recommended resources to help you build and manage your website.
- 10 WordPress plugins sharing on social networks
- 9 WordPress plugins to customize your homepage
- 5 WordPress plugins to integrate Facebook comments
- How to edit the "Reply" text of WordPress comments
Conclusion
Here ! That's it for this tutorial, hope it lets you set up a free mini-tutorial in WordPress. Do not hesitate to share with your friends on your favorite social networks.
However, you can also consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on WordPress blog creation.
If you have suggestions or remarks, leave them in our section Comments.
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