WordPress & pay to post integration

Discussion in 'Pre-Sales Questions' started by shotoshi, Aug 2, 2012.

  1. shotoshi

    shotoshi Member

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2008
    Messages:
    38
    I'm convinced (or rather hopeful) that aMember might hold the key to solving our problem but I'm not sure how to approach it, so let me attempt to convey the idea...

    We run a WP site with 300 listings for niche accommodation but it is currently an entirely manual process, i.e. member pays via Paypal, gets email with the info we need, sends us the info and we input it into the WP backend.

    As you can see, we need to try and automate this process as soon as possible!

    I have been aware of aMember for a couple of years now but have taken the wrong approach in my thinking and besides, the new version of AM looks even better now.

    We don't plan on using AM to control access to premium content, rather we want to use it as a method of charging our members to list their accommodation via a custom post type:

    - Signing up members
    - Collecting payments and renewals
    - Allowing them to create a profile with photo (mapped to user profile fields in WP)
    - Allowing them to post content on our site as a contributor

    Essentially, much of what we are looking for in terms of pay to post is already available by AppThemes, but their Word Press themes are too generic and poorly conceived making it almost impossible to build the site we need.

    We have looked into using native WP membership plugins, of which there are many, but they all have the same approach, i.e. protecting content by placing it behind a paywall.

    The great thing about AM is that it is a solid product with many features we need such as: payments, built in invoicing, email notifications, login and password recovery etc.

    It doesn't seem a wise approach to try and reinvent the wheel and besides, what if we decide in the future to not use WP and instead build a custom site? Using AM will enable us to keep our members and accounts info separate and independent of publishing platform.

    So, the question is how can we achieve our goal of using AM as a method to control access for members to post and edit their listings in our WordPress site?

    The key lies in associating our products in AM with the correct role in WP, in this case that iscontributor.

    This allows them to create and edit posts but not publish them, which suits us fine as we plan to check each listing before publishing and perform some SEO duties and in-house tagging etc.

    Once members have successfully registered, signed up and created their profile they will then be able to create a listing (post).

    This is an essential process as we need to associate each member (user in WP) with their posts.


    We then need to associate a listing (i.e. post ID) with a product subscription.

    When a subscription product is purchased at checkout, keep a record of the post ID to which it relates.

    Then when the subscription status is changed, adjust the listing accordingly.

    For example, when a subscription is activated, the listing could be published after it has been reviewed by the admin, when the subscription expires or is cancelled, the listing can be disabled by changing the status to pending, or whatever custom status we decide.


    In the members' user dashboard in WP they will see their listings (posts) active if they are published, or pending renewal if they have renewed their listing within the product subscription's timescale.

    In this scenario they would see a renew button next to the listing in their WP dashboard which when clicked would take them to the renewal screen in AM.

    Once renewed, their listing would be marked as pending review which would encourage them to review their listing and make any changes before submitting it for admin approval.

    Another thing to bear in mind is that although the vast majority of our members only have one listing, we have a handful of agents with more than one listing.

    I envisage two scenarios here, either setting up a product in AM which is priced in bundles of posts, i.e. 3 listings for $x, 5 listings for $xx etc, or the ability for members to enter in a box how many listings they wish to buy and AM calculates a price.

    Then, this info is passed to their user account in WP to say: this member purchased 5 listings, so only allow them to create 5 posts.

    The multiple listings scenario is perhaps the most complex and there may be a better approach than the one I have described above.

    Of course, I totally realise that none of this can be achieved by AM out of the box and will require custom coding.

    However, I also realise that most of the custom coding required here will be on the WP end with minimum on the AM end, other than a custom integration plugin.

    I am finding it hard to find a WP developer willing to take this on as they have little appreciation of the merits of AM, let alone understanding how AM works.

    Ideally I am looking for some help from someone with the best of both worlds and who has very strong skills with WP.

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