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sccrwoohoo
Member
—
14th January 2012 (4 months ago)
So there is one area that I'm a little confused by and I am trying to figure it out. Basically here's my understanding of what I should be able to do, but I feel like I can't know that I have downloaded Pro Sites. After doing some digging I thought it would be best to just ask what I am missing. Here's the user flow that I want a person to follow....
1. General User comes to the public facing website.
2. Selects a site plan
3. Goes through the checkout process
4. Upon approval, they are sent an email confirming their signup.
5. User logs in and they have their new package and they are ready to roll.
So there is one area that I'm a little confused by and I am trying to figure it out. Basically here's my understanding of what I should be able to do, but I feel like I can't know that I have downloaded Pro Sites. After doing some digging I thought it would be best to just ask what I am missing. Here's the user flow that I want a person to follow....
1. General User comes to the public facing website.
2. Selects a site plan
3. Goes through the checkout process
4. Upon approval, they are sent an email confirming their signup.
5. User logs in and they have their new package and they are ready to roll.
Sorry for sound lame, but how? I've logged out and tried the process several times and I only get a registration screen? Is there a URL I should be sending someone to?
I guess where I'm confused is because I've gone through the process of registering a dummy user and I never get an option to pick a plan. Maybe its there but I just missed a step
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Support Kangaroo
—
14th January 2012 (4 months ago)
#
Greetings sccrwoohoo :-)
have you set the levels up?
here is our system at work and the related screens, first screen user registration where they choose from Just a User Name selection we custom removed or Gimme a site.
second site creation:
Where they select they are interested and are then sent to the payment page after they finish creating the site.
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Support Kangaroo
—
14th January 2012 (4 months ago)
#
Greetings :-)
GREAT question and now that we are this far you will understand the exact procedure is as follows:
1. User Account which consists of user name and password so WordPress knows which user to relate the next step to:
2. Blog/Web Site Creation so that WordPress knows which blog/website to apply the upgrade to in the next step:
3. Plan selection.
We have not tried to develop a way around this because WordPress has actually embedded the procedure or order in which things are done. In addition, customization may be lost and need to be re-worked every time an update is done :-(
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Support Chimp
—
16th January 2012 (4 months ago)
#
Hey guys.
I suppose something custom for this could be programmed, you could do what BuddyPress does by creating a custom signup page. Perhaps it could be done in steps then as you click confirm/pay it sets (traditionally the final accept button in the signup process) it could also send you to Paypal.
I think that e-mail confirmation signup would need turning off. I know if I had paid over Paypal I would expect that to be confirmation enough that I was human and not a spam bot. :-)
I'd love a more straight through process.
I suppose another option would be a plugin which could check if "First time logging in & with site" then direct you automatically to the upgrade page.
Interestingly enough - I went through the signup process at EduBlogs and its exactly what I would want. I definitely now understand why its done that way. Basically
1) create a username
2) create the site
3) redirected to the sign-up plan page
4) redirected into your blog
I like this process and it would work, the question is how did they do that?
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Support Chimp
—
16th January 2012 (4 months ago)
#
Hey again.
Sorry are you saying that EduBlogs allows you to select a plan?
I didn't think it did and so went through the signup myself.
When you are finished signing up you log into the admin, you still have to choose to upgrade manually.
It is the same process as WordPress except they have turned off e-mail confirmation requirement. If you want to turn off email confirmation then check out the following plugin:
So I walked through the process and took screenshots. Timothy, you are correct - it does take me to the login screen. However, I noticed something very interested, after the login page, I was hijacked and sent to the plans page (attached).
Then it reminded me of the EasyBlogging plugin and there was an option to Hijack the page for the first time visitors.
I'm no where at the level to code this, but how can I hijack the user for the first time and send them to the upgrades page to pick a plan?
I could always update the URL in the EASY Blogging plugin, but I know that's a bad idea.
Thoughts? I feel like I'm close to a good solution....
Fantastic refresher of the signup process. Thanks!
I think it's worth mentioning that WordPress is probably doing things for more behavioral than technical reasons. They and others have adopted the "freemium" model of getting new users hooked on a free and easy service, then offer paid upgrades upgrades. I believe that is why things work as they do.
Accordingly, a more aggressive sales approach will probably always be an uphill battle on this platform.
Sorry to sound lame but I looked at the Pro Sites setting page and also looked for more documentation but it is just not clear how to handle a redirect?
Responses (22)
Support Kangaroo — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Greeting sccrwoohoo :-)
this is what you are missing ..... lol
1. General User comes to the public facing website.
2. User Registers for a free site and has the option to get an upgraded site.
3. If they choose upgraded site, then selects a site plan
4. Goes through the checkout process
5. Upon Paypal IPN return positive for funds approval, the site is created and they are sent an email confirming their signup and login details.
6. User logs in and they have their new package and they are ready to roll.
Joe :-)
Member — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Hey Joe....
Sorry for sound lame, but how? I've logged out and tried the process several times and I only get a registration screen? Is there a URL I should be sending someone to?
Support Kangaroo — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Greetings sccrwoohoo :-)
excuse me I should have broken step 2 into two parts .... lol .... my bad :-S
First they register as a user then they are presented with the creating a site screen.
They must register as a user first before they start going through the site creation process.
Joe :-)
Member — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
I guess where I'm confused is because I've gone through the process of registering a dummy user and I never get an option to pick a plan. Maybe its there but I just missed a step
Support Kangaroo — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Greetings sccrwoohoo :-)
have you set the levels up?
here is our system at work and the related screens, first screen user registration where they choose from Just a User Name selection we custom removed or Gimme a site.
second site creation:
Where they select they are interested and are then sent to the payment page after they finish creating the site.
Joe :-)
Member — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Thank you --- I totally missed that. I appreciate the screenshots, it definitely helped.
Is there even a way to just allow the user to select with "plan" that they want. It seems kind of odd that you can't as most sites work that way.
cheers!
Support Kangaroo — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Greetings sccrwoohoo :-)
The reason it is this procedure is due to WordPress making it this way that a person must have an account before they can create a site :-(
Joe :-)
Member — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
That makes sense.
I guess what would be great then is if you could pass a query string in the wp-signup.php url
So you might do something like this:
http://www.domain.com/wp-signup.php?plan=awesome
Then the person can sign up and then ProSites know what package they are signing up for.
----
Either that, or once you create a username, then the next screen should let the user pick the package. Is that even possible?
Cheers!
Support Kangaroo — 14th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Greetings :-)
GREAT question and now that we are this far you will understand the exact procedure is as follows:
1. User Account which consists of user name and password so WordPress knows which user to relate the next step to:
2. Blog/Web Site Creation so that WordPress knows which blog/website to apply the upgrade to in the next step:
3. Plan selection.
We have not tried to develop a way around this because WordPress has actually embedded the procedure or order in which things are done. In addition, customization may be lost and need to be re-worked every time an update is done :-(
Joe :-)
Support Chimp — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Hey guys.
I suppose something custom for this could be programmed, you could do what BuddyPress does by creating a custom signup page. Perhaps it could be done in steps then as you click confirm/pay it sets (traditionally the final accept button in the signup process) it could also send you to Paypal.
I think that e-mail confirmation signup would need turning off. I know if I had paid over Paypal I would expect that to be confirmation enough that I was human and not a spam bot. :-)
I'd love a more straight through process.
I suppose another option would be a plugin which could check if "First time logging in & with site" then direct you automatically to the upgrade page.
Excellent ideas here!!
I'll pass this feedback on :-)
Member — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Interestingly enough - I went through the signup process at EduBlogs and its exactly what I would want. I definitely now understand why its done that way. Basically
1) create a username
2) create the site
3) redirected to the sign-up plan page
4) redirected into your blog
I like this process and it would work, the question is how did they do that?
Cheers,
b
Support Chimp — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Hey again.
Sorry are you saying that EduBlogs allows you to select a plan?
I didn't think it did and so went through the signup myself.
When you are finished signing up you log into the admin, you still have to choose to upgrade manually.
It is the same process as WordPress except they have turned off e-mail confirmation requirement. If you want to turn off email confirmation then check out the following plugin:
http://premium.wpmudev.org/project/remove-email-verification-from-signup
Hope this helps. :-)
Lead Developer — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Yes, the only thing special we do is that plugin. Email confirmation seemed to be pointless, didn't slow splogs at all.
Member — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Hello Aaron & Timothy
So I walked through the process and took screenshots. Timothy, you are correct - it does take me to the login screen. However, I noticed something very interested, after the login page, I was hijacked and sent to the plans page (attached).
Then it reminded me of the EasyBlogging plugin and there was an option to Hijack the page for the first time visitors.
I'm no where at the level to code this, but how can I hijack the user for the first time and send them to the upgrades page to pick a plan?
I could always update the URL in the EASY Blogging plugin, but I know that's a bad idea.
Thoughts? I feel like I'm close to a good solution....
Cheers,
b
Lead Developer — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Not sure what you mean but when you use the special signup url it forces the redirect on first login.
Member — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
How and where is that URL defined?
Lead Developer — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
In your pro sites settings page it gives the link and instructions. By default it's wp-singup.php?Pro=1 but changes to meet your branding.
Member — 16th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Fantastic refresher of the signup process. Thanks!
I think it's worth mentioning that WordPress is probably doing things for more behavioral than technical reasons. They and others have adopted the "freemium" model of getting new users hooked on a free and easy service, then offer paid upgrades upgrades. I believe that is why things work as they do.
Accordingly, a more aggressive sales approach will probably always be an uphill battle on this platform.
Member — 17th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Sorry to sound lame but I looked at the Pro Sites setting page and also looked for more documentation but it is just not clear how to handle a redirect?
Lead Developer — 17th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Here's a screenshot. Whether or not you want to give them the choice, entering the signup via the provided url will add the redirect.
Member — 17th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Awwwwwww....... that just didn't make sense by reading the instructions, but this is very helpful.
Can I change the Pro=1 to the different plan names?
Lead Developer — 17th January 2012 (4 months ago) #
Has nothing to do with the plan, it's just determined by your branding option.
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