Getting Started With MemberPress

This document explains how to set up MemberPress on a new website with the onboarding wizard. The wizard activates the license, enables features, creates the first membership product, protects content, and connects payments.

After the wizard, the document explains where to continue: the Products menu, rules, and the optional shopping cart.

You’re reading the MemberPress Getting Started guide:

Getting Started With MemberPress
Activate Your MemberPress License
Enabling Features With MemberPress Add-ons
MemberPress Settings And Default Pages
MemberPress Memberships And Groups
Protect Content With MemberPress
MemberPress Payments
Building Directories And Communities With MemberPress

Onboarding Wizard

First, install and activate the MemberPress plugin. Then navigate to Dashboard > MemberPress to open the MemberPress onboarding wizard.

The wizard walks through the basic setup and protects the first piece of content. It covers the following steps:

• Activate License;
• Enable Features;
• Create or Select Content;
• Create Membership;
• Protect Content;
• Payment Options;
• Finish Setup;
• Complete.

Click the Get Started button to begin. From the first step onward, an indicator at the top of each screen shows where you are in the sequence.

Note: MemberPress installs with the shopping cart disabled. Each membership product sells through its own registration page. The MemberPress Cart Overview explains the cart and how to enable it later.

Activate License

MemberPress requires an active license to work. The first step of the wizard activates the license:

1. Click the Activate button.

2. The next page prompts you to log in to your MemberPress account. Fill in your MemberPress account credentials and continue with the login.
3. MemberPress checks for your license and activates the plugin on your site.

4. Click Continue to move to the next step.

Note: You can also activate your MemberPress license manually at Dashboard > MemberPress > Settings > License tab.

Enable Features

The second step activates additional MemberPress features. Additional features are called add-ons. Each add-on is a separate plugin installed on your site.

Note: Activating add-ons should not affect your site performance.

The step asks “What features do you want to enable?”. It lists the most commonly used features, each with a short description. Features are named by what they do rather than by add-on name. For example, Course Creator installs the Courses add-on, which lets you create courses with MemberPress.

Note: Not all features are available with all MemberPress plans. If a feature is not available with your plan, the wizard prompts you to upgrade before using it.

To enable a feature, mark the checkbox on its right. A green check mark means the feature is enabled. Some features are enabled by default. You can enable the rest now or at a later date.

After the wizard, the full list of add-ons is available at Dashboard > MemberPress > Add-ons. There, you can enable or disable any add-on available with your plan, including the ones selected in this step.

Click the Continue button to move to step 3. MemberPress installs and activates all selected add-ons.

Create or Select Content

The third step, together with the fourth and fifth steps, covers the basics of protecting content. The wizard protects one piece of content, such as a page.

MemberPress controls access to content with rules. A rule can limit content to members with an active subscription to a specific membership product. This step and the two that follow create that setup.

The step heading reads “Now let’s get some content to protect”. It offers the Create New Content button and the Choose Existing Content link.

To protect content that already exists on your site:

1. Click the Choose Existing Content link.
2. Select the content you want from the list.
3. Click Save.

To create new content instead:

1. Click the Create New Content button. The Create Content popup opens.
2. Choose the content type. The Specific Page card creates a single page. The Course card creates an online course, and appears only if you enabled Course Creator in the previous step.
3. Add the Page Title for the new content.

4. Click Save. MemberPress creates empty content with the title you added.

Click Continue to move to the next step. To protect content later, click Skip.

Create Membership

The step heading reads “Time to make your first membership”. A membership product shows people how they can access the content you protected.

A membership product is one of the MemberPress product types. This step creates your first one.

1. Click the Create Membership button. The Create Membership popup opens.

2. Add the Membership Name. This name appears in the backend and to your users on the frontend.
3. Under Billing, choose One-time, Recurring (Monthly), or Recurring (Annually).
4. Set the Price users pay when registering for this membership product. Set the price to zero to make it free. The currency comes from your MemberPress settings.

5. Click Save to create the membership product.

Note: The wizard creates a membership product with basic settings only. You can configure the membership product options at Dashboard > MemberPress > Products.

The wizard uses this membership product to create a rule. Click Continue to create the rule in the next step.

Protect Content

The step heading reads “Let’s create a Rule to protect your content”. MemberPress rules define the conditions a user must meet to access specific content.

Rules can protect pages, child pages, posts, custom post types, categories, and tags. This step creates one rule for the content you selected.

1. Click the Create Rule button.

2. The Create Rule popup opens. It shows the content you selected under Page and the new membership product under Membership Name. Neither field can be edited here.

3. Click Save to generate the rule.

Users must now register for this membership product to access the selected content.

Each membership product has its own registration page with a unique URL. MemberPress creates this page with the membership product. Users register by opening the page and submitting the registration form.

Click Continue to set up payment options.

Payment Options

Payment methods let you charge users for their registrations (subscriptions). The step heading reads “Get set up to accept payments”, and it offers the built-in Stripe integration:

1. Click the Add Stripe button and follow the instructions to configure the Stripe connection.

2. Once connected, the “Do you need to collect taxes?” popup opens. Mark the option to enable Stripe Tax for automatic tax rate lookups and calculations.

Important: Stripe charges for the Stripe Tax API per transaction. The popup links to the Stripe Tax pricing page for current rates.

3. Click Continue to finish the setup.

Important: MemberPress applies a transaction fee to all Stripe transactions on the Launch plan.

Note: If you’re subscribed to the MemberPress Launch plan, you must set up Stripe before progressing.

Tip: If you do not plan to use Stripe and have a Growth or Scale plan, click Skip. You can set up other payment methods afterward. The Growth and Scale plans add PayPal, Square, and offline payments, and the Scale plan adds Authorize.net.

Completing Setup

After the Payment Options step, the wizard finishes the setup. The final screen is headed “Congrats! You’re done.” and lists three URLs under “Check out what you set up…”:

• Membership registration: the registration page of the membership product you created;
• MemberPress login: the default member login page;
• Manage account: the member account page.

You can link these pages from your menus and anywhere on your site.

The screen also notes that ReadyLaunch™ templates are enabled. These control how the default pages look, and you can disable them at Dashboard > MemberPress > Settings > ReadyLaunch™.

Click Finish to leave the wizard.

You do not need to memorize these URLs. The registration page URL of every membership product is available at Dashboard > MemberPress > Products. The default pages use fixed slugs, such as /login for the login page (for example, yourdomain.com/login).

What’s Next?

The wizard covers the basics: one membership product, one piece of content, and one rule protecting it.

Most sites need several membership products and more complex content. Additional settings complete the setup after the wizard.

To create more membership products and configure their options, navigate to Dashboard > MemberPress > Products. Each one has its own registration page with a unique URL. You can link registration pages anywhere on your site. The MemberPress Memberships And Groups document explains how memberships, subscriptions, and groups work together.

Creating membership products does not protect your content. To protect any content, navigate to Dashboard > MemberPress > Rules and create a rule for it.

By default, users buy membership products one at a time through their registration pages. After the setup, an admin notice offers the MemberPress shopping cart as an option. The cart lets users buy several products in one purchase.

The cart adds a shop page, a multi-item cart, and a cart checkout. It also enables digital products, a product type sold only through the cart. Enable it at Dashboard > MemberPress > Settings > Cart.

The cart is off on every new install, and registration pages keep working whether you enable it or not. The Should I Switch to the MemberPress Cart? document helps you decide, and the MemberPress Cart Overview explains how the cart works.

Once done, your membership site is ready to register its first members.