WPBeginner

Beginner's Guide for WordPress

  • Blog
    • Beginners Guide
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Showcase
    • Themes
    • Tutorials
    • WordPress Plugins
  • Start Here
    • How to Start a Blog
    • Create a Website
    • Start an Online Store
    • Best Website Builder
    • Email Marketing
    • WordPress Hosting
    • Business Name Ideas
  • Deals
    • Bluehost Coupon
    • SiteGround Coupon
    • WP Engine Coupon
    • HostGator Coupon
    • Domain.com Coupon
    • Constant Contact
    • View All Deals »
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Products
X
☰
Beginner's Guide for WordPress / Start your WordPress Blog in minutes
Choosing the Best
WordPress Hosting
How to Easily
Install WordPress
Recommended
WordPress Plugins
View all Guides

WPBeginner» Blog» Plugins» How to Create a Pay-Per-View Site with WordPress

How to Create a Pay-Per-View Site with WordPress

Last updated on January 15th, 2018 by Editorial Staff
261 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Free WordPress Video Tutorials on YouTube by WPBeginner
How to Create a Pay-Per-View Site with WordPress

Do you want to create a pay-per-view site with WordPress? Building a pay-per-view site is a great way for content creators to make money online. In this article, we will show you how to create a pay-per-view site in WordPress and make money by selling content directly to your users.

Creating a pay-per-view site with WordPress

How Pay-Per-View Websites Work?

Pay per view model allows content publishers to directly sell content to users. Instead of relying on advertising revenue, affiliate links, or other ways to make money, they can just allow users to pay for the content.

There are many different ways to create a pay per view website. Depending on how you want users to access the content, you can choose a pricing and delivery model that works best for you. For example:

  • You can sell each item as individual digital product
  • You can create daily, weekly, or yearly passes for users to gain unrestricted access
  • You can create subscription plans that drip content slowly instead of giving it all at once

You will need to decide which option is best for your business.

After you have chosen the model, you need to follow our step by step guide on how to make a WordPress website. If you already have the website, then you can skip this step.

Once you have a WordPress website, let’s take a look at how you can turn it into a pay per view site where you can do all of the above and then some more.

Creating A Pay-Per-View Site in WordPress with MemberPress

For this tutorial, we will be using the MemberPress plugin. It is the best WordPress membership plugin in the market because it allows you to create robust membership websites with subscription plans and multiple ways to accept payments.

First, thing you need to do is install and activate the MemberPress plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the MemberPress » Options page to configure plugin settings.

MemberPress settings

The options page is divided into different tabs. For a pay-per-view site, the default options would work out of the box, but feel free to review and change them.

You will need to setup the payment gateway in order to accept payments on your site.

You can do this by clicking on the ‘Payments’ tab and selecting your payment gateway.

Setup payment gateway

MemberPress supports PayPal (Standard, Express, and Pro), Stripe, and Authorize.net out of the box. You need to select the payment method you want to set up and provide the required credentials.

You can also setup multiple payment methods. To do that, click on the add button again and add another payment method.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update Options’ button to save your settings.

Creating Membership Levels

The next step is to set up membership levels. This is where you will create different pricing plans that your users can purchase.

Head over to the MemberPress » Memberships page and then click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Add new membership

This will bring you to the edit membership page. First you need to provide a title for this particular membership plan and then provide the plan details in the post editor.

Next, you need to set the pricing and expiration for this plan under the membership terms section.

Editing a membership plan

In this example, we are creating a membership plan that expires in 24 hours. We have also checked the ‘Allow renewals’ option, so users can renew their membership and buy the day pass again if they want to.

Now, scroll down to the membership options meta box below the post editor. This is where you can setup different options for this particular membership plan.

Membership options

The default membership options will work for most sites. You need to click on the Price box tab and here you can provide the details you would want to show in the pricing box.

Price box settings

Once you are satisfied with the membership plan, click on the publish button to make it available.

Repeat the process to create other membership plans that you need such as weekly, monthly, or yearly plans.

Restricting Content to Membership Plans

MemberPress also makes it super easy to restrict content to paid members only by creating rules.

Visit MemberPress » Rules page and click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Add new rule

The rule edit page allows you to select conditions. If the content matches the condition, then you can select which membership plan gets access to it.

For example, you can select all content that matches a particular tag, category, a single post, a particular URL, and more.

Adding conditions to membership rules

You can create generic rules that apply to all content, or you can create very specific rules for individual items on your website.

Below the rules editor, you’ll see the content drip and expiration options.

Drip content allows you to gradually release content to users instead of giving it all away at once. If you are unsure about it at the moment, then you can leave it unchecked.

The expiration option makes the content unavailable after a defined period of time. Again, if you are not sure what to do, then you should leave it unchecked as well.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Rule’ button to save your rule settings.

Repeat the process to create new rules as needed.

In the example above, we have made all content tagged ‘paid’ available to all membership plans. Now, we just need to add the paid tag to all the content that we want to put behind the paywall.

Creating a Pricing Page

MemberPress makes it super easy to display pricing and plans that users can purchase on your website. Let’s create a pricing plan page that shows users different membership plans that they can buy.

Head over to MemberPress » Groups page and click on the Add New button.

Create a new group

First, you need to provide a title for the group plan page. This will also be the title for the plans page that your users will see.

After that, scroll down to ‘Group options’ meta box. Here you can add the memberships that you want to display on the page.

Group options

You can also select a theme for your pricing table. MemberPress comes with few ready-made designs to choose from.

Once you are finished, click on the ‘Publish’ button to make your plan public. If you click on the ‘View Group’ link after publishing it, then you will be able to see your pricing and plan page.

Pricing and plans page

Redirecting Users to Pricing and Plans Page

Now we want unauthorized users to be redirected to the pricing page when they try to access our restricted content.

First, you need to visit the MemberPress » Groups page and copy the URL of the group you created in the previous step.

Group URL

Next, head over to MemberPress » Options page and scroll down to the ‘Unauthorized Access’ section. You need to check the box next to ‘Redirect unauthorized visitors to a specific URL’ option and then paste the group URL you copied earlier.

Redirect unauthorized users

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update Options’ button to save your changes.

Now all users who try to access restricted content will be redirected to the pricing and plan page you created as a group.

Taking Your Pay-Per-View Website to the Next Level

MemberPress is a powerful plugin with tons of amazing features and lots of addons to further extend your pay per view site.

You can integrate it with LearnDash to sell courses online. Connect it to your email marketing service like AWeber or Constant Contact. You can even integrate it into an existing eCommerce store using the WooCommerce addon (see: best WooCommerce hosting comparison).

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a pay-per-view site with WordPress. You may also want to see our step by step WordPress SEO guide for beginners.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

261 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Popular on WPBeginner Right Now!
  • How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress

    How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress

  • Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

    Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

  • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org

  • Checklist

    Checklist: 15 Things You MUST DO Before Changing WordPress Themes

About the Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi. Trusted by over 1.3 million readers worldwide.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

2 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. alex magno says:
    Sep 7, 2018 at 11:59 am

    I tried the plugins but it is not possible to buy the single article, it is necessary to make a temporary subscription, how can this be done?

    Reply
  2. M.a. shurbaji says:
    Sep 5, 2017 at 5:55 pm

    Can you help with pay by click plugin tutorial for classified web site. Thank you

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

Over 1,320,000+ Readers

Get fresh content from WPBeginner

Featured WordPress Plugin
SeedProd Logo
SeedProd
Create beautiful custom landing pages - Drag & drop builder. Learn More »
How to Start a Blog How to Start a Blog
I need help with ...
Starting a
Blog
WordPress
Performance
WordPress
Security
WordPress
SEO
WordPress
Errors
Building an
Online Store
Useful WordPress Guides
    • 7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (Pros and Cons)
    • How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress
    • Why You Need a CDN for your WordPress Blog? [Infographic]
    • 30 Legit Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
    • Self Hosted WordPress.org vs. Free WordPress.com [Infograph]
    • Free Recording: WordPress Workshop for Beginners
    • 24 Must Have WordPress Plugins for Business Websites
    • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
    • 5 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress Compared
    • Which is the Best WordPress Popup Plugin? (Comparison)
    • Best WooCommerce Hosting in 2020 (Comparison)
    • How to Fix the Internal Server Error in WordPress
    • How to Install WordPress - Complete WordPress Installation Tutorial
    • Why You Should Start Building an Email List Right Away
    • How to Properly Move WordPress to a New Domain Without Losing SEO
    • How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting for Your Website
    • How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform (Comparison)
    • WordPress Tutorials - 200+ Step by Step WordPress Tutorials
    • 5 Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins Compared
    • 5 Best WordPress Membership Plugins (Compared)
    • 7 Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business (2020)
    • How to Choose the Best Domain Registrar (Compared)
    • The Truth About Shared WordPress Web Hosting
    • When Do You Really Need Managed WordPress Hosting?
    • 5 Best Drag and Drop WordPress Page Builders Compared
    • How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress without Losing Google Rankings
    • How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • How to Properly Move from Weebly to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • Do You Really Need a VPS? Best WordPress VPS Hosting Compared
    • How to Properly Move from Squarespace to WordPress
    • How to Register a Domain Name (+ tip to get it for FREE)
    • HostGator Review - An Honest Look at Speed & Uptime (2020)
    • SiteGround Reviews from 4196 Users & Our Experts (2020)
    • Bluehost Review from Real Users + Performance Stats (2020)
    • How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website?
    • How to Create an Email Newsletter the RIGHT WAY (Step by Step)
    • Free Business Name Generator (A.I Powered)
    • How to Create a Free Business Email Address in 5 Minutes (Step by Step)
    • How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners
    • How to Move WordPress to a New Host or Server With No Downtime
    • Why is WordPress Free? What are the Costs? What is the Catch?
    • How to Make a Website in 2020 – Step by Step Guide
Deals & Coupons (view all)
Churnly Coupon
Get 30% OFF on Churnly WordPress automated churn-busting plugin.
AccessPress Themes
AccessPress Themes Coupon
Get 15% off on AccessPress Themes collection of premium WordPress themes and plugins.
Featured In
About WPBeginner®

WPBeginner is a free WordPress resource site for Beginners. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. The main goal of this site is to provide quality tips, tricks, hacks, and other WordPress resources that allows WordPress beginners to improve their site(s).
Join our team: We are Hiring!

Site Links
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • FTC Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Free Blog Setup
  • Free Business Tools
Our Sites
  • OptinMonster
  • MonsterInsights
  • WPForms
  • SeedProd
  • Nameboy
  • RafflePress
  • Smash Balloon

Copyright © 2009 - 2021 WPBeginner LLC. All Rights Reserved. WPBeginner® is a registered trademark.

Managed by Awesome Motive | WordPress hosting by SiteGround | WordPress CDN by MaxCDN | WordPress Security by Sucuri.