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Mark
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Hi all,
I wanted to try my hand at screencasting and that led me to my first project: a tutorial on how to set up a simple Membership site. I don't have specialized screencasting software, just iMovie, so forgive me if comes off as amateur at times. Like I said, it's my first go at this, but I think it will serve as a decent walk-through for those who like video tutorials.
This is a member contribution.
(I'm working towards a Lifetime Membership)
Please give points if this video helps you!
Video Tutorial: How to set up Membership on a single site
The test site has 3 paid membership levels and 1 free visitor level. You'll learn the basics of how Membership works, including how to create access levels, protect content and add subscription plans. I don't cover every feature of Membership in this tutorial but I do try to provide you with a clear guide on how to set up a site and avoid some common mistakes.
Disclaimers and Notes
These videos may contain inaccuracies about WordPress, WPMU DEV, the Membership plugin and computing in general. There, I said it. Please address all Membership support requests to WPMU DEV staff and developers. They are the experts! My apologies in advance to @Barry and others for any confusion I may cause through this tutorial.
LOL, I only posted this 5 minutes ago! I'm guessing you are commenting on the first video (the intro). You're right, the whole tutorial may be a little slow ... though I guess I erred on the side of taking my time. The intended audience is beginners and intermediates, so hopefully taking more time will pay off.
21626 pointsCommunity rank #0Supreme DeityWPMU DEV StaffLifetime member
Support Kangaroo
(joined March 2011)
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Greetings Mark,
Great job on the videos and I believe the slow approach will be appreciated by the target audience :-)
Thank you for the great job!
Though I am clearly not in personal need of these videos, I do send you some points for being so thoughtful and helpful to junior skilled members!
In addition, I am going to move this to the plugins, Membership section and if it does not get a lot of views there I will move it to the beginners section.
Wherever you think is best, by all means put it there. I want it to remain a resource which people can find. If you think it's worthy enough, maybe it can be linked to elsewhere (a sticky or whatever).
I definitely had the beginner in mind, or at least someone who needs help in getting a complex plugin like Membership set up. (Basically, I tried to create something that would have helped me when I was going through the process.) I think sometimes we forget how tricky set ups can be, and that the manual assumes the user understands certain things they might not. Membership is a wonderful plugin but it is especially problematic because one misstep can freeze your progress and even derail you quite a bit.
Anyhow, I hope it helps people and cuts down on the number of redundant support requests.
@aecnu Hiya Joe, any chance of making this a sticky? Otherwise, I think it will just get lost in obscurity. I definitely put a good amount of time into making it and I really do think it will be a good resource for those who invest the time to watch it. Perhaps the topic title could be renamed to "Beginner's Video Tutorial: How to ..." (we just add the word Beginner's.
19019 pointsCommunity rank #1Supreme DeityWPMU DEV StaffLifetime member
Support Chimp
(joined March 2010)
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It is stuck now Joe, did you find the super glue!?! :)
@Mark Awesome contribution, really well done. Don't speed it up, its spot on for those needing this.
Mark, you are a real asset to this community always trying to help, being constructive, never rude (that I've seen) and going out of your way... Here in this thread for example.
1443 pointsCommunity rank #32Supreme DeityDEV ApprenticeLifetime member
Lifetime Member
(joined June 2009)
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What a great Resource Mark ;)
I am sure it will aid a number of folks to avoid the land mines born out of "the huge functionality" of this great plugin.
@Jonathan You're the guy who set me on the path of contributing to the forums by being a great model to follow, so I really appreciate your praise. Cheers :-) And thanks for points gift!
17 pointsCommunity rank #3433SophomoreJust Getting Started
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(joined July 2012)
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Hi Mark,
The beginner’s membership videos were great in helping to answer a lot of questions I had. That said I also have a number of questions. The first of which are:
• Are you the person for me to fire more questions at about set-up?
• How do I get an idea of how many points to award you?
• Can new members be tagged into various groups?
• Can members personal details (first, last name and email address) be exported out of membership so I can communicate with them via one of the email marketing softwares like iconact.com.?
19019 pointsCommunity rank #1Supreme DeityWPMU DEV StaffLifetime member
Support Chimp
(joined March 2010)
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• Are you the person for me to fire more questions at about set-up?
Best to start a new thread for any questions you have unless they relate directly to video (i.e. can you add this in there.. type thing).
• How do I get an idea of how many points to award you?
How many do you think this was worth?
You can only award what you own, currently I see you have 17 points.
• Can new members be tagged into various groups?
Do you mean BuddyPress groups?
That isn't currently possible, sorry.
Can members personal details (first, last name and email address) be exported out of membership so I can communicate with them via one of the email marketing softwares like iconact.com.?
If you take a look at our Membership manual there is an example on our ping feature. The example connects with MailChimp which is a similar thing. If iconact does the same thing with their API then it could be possible. You would need to ask them about their API support though.
27 pointsCommunity rank #2261VeteranJust Getting Started
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(joined June 2012)
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Great @Mark! Very much appreciate you doing the vids. Still working my way thro them, but one quick question.
I thought it was the case that pretty permalinks can be anything - as long as they are not the Default WordPress format, By that I mean url?action=xxxxx and specifically called Default in the Permalinks Settings screen.
However you refer in the vid to the 'default' as being month and name and say not to use that. Does Membership really only work with Post Name as you mention in vid 1A?
"MarketPress uses pretty URLs so rewrites and pretty permalinks must be enabled. Your permalinks can be anything but the default permalinks." By 'default' they mean the the setting labelled as such.
I imagine Membership would also work with any pretty permalink settings, but not the Default setting - which is not pretty.
(I could not find mention of permalinks in the Membership plugin docs hence quoting from another plugin install procedure.)
Thanks in advance to Mark or anyone who can shine some light on this.
19019 pointsCommunity rank #1Supreme DeityWPMU DEV StaffLifetime member
Support Chimp
(joined March 2010)
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However you refer in the vid to the 'default' as being month and name and say not to use that. Does Membership really only work with Post Name as you mention in vid 1A?
I just tested to make sure and couldn't see an issue with using "Month and name".
So you should be fine with that. If there is an issue then please let me know.
61 pointsCommunity rank #927El PresidenteJust Getting Started
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(joined October 2011)
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Ok, learned a ton more than trying the plugin myself in the first 2 minutes of the video. As far as all the comments of "I personally don't need this.." Why'd ya click the link? It's labelled correctly. Ego points lost! XD LOL Herp Derp! I bookmarked and will be viewing ALL of these before I start to use the plugin for the first time. Excellent work so far! (points given) and a "Thank You."
Thanks to all for the praise and points - I'm glad you are finding the videos useful. Sorry for the delayed response, I have been on a vacation.
@Timothy Thanks for your forum support. @rcarey and @william_martin I hope that Timothy answered your questions. I was under the impression that pretty permalinks would prevent certain problems from occurring. I thought I had seen a support response from the developer indicating that pretty permalinks were recommended, but I can't recall what post that was. Perhaps @Barry can confirm?
15 pointsCommunity rank #3827SophomoreJust Getting Started
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(joined November 2011)
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I just noticed these videos today and I can tell already that they will be a big help to me! Thanks for posting them!! No worries about the pace of the videos! That's a good thing! =)
Responses (30)
Member (joined November 2009) Likes (0)
Looks pretty good - could be sped up some though :)
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (0)
LOL, I only posted this 5 minutes ago! I'm guessing you are commenting on the first video (the intro). You're right, the whole tutorial may be a little slow ... though I guess I erred on the side of taking my time. The intended audience is beginners and intermediates, so hopefully taking more time will pay off.
Cheers and thanks for the feedback.
Support Kangaroo (joined March 2011) Likes (0)
Greetings Mark,
Great job on the videos and I believe the slow approach will be appreciated by the target audience :-)
Thank you for the great job!
Though I am clearly not in personal need of these videos, I do send you some points for being so thoughtful and helpful to junior skilled members!
In addition, I am going to move this to the plugins, Membership section and if it does not get a lot of views there I will move it to the beginners section.
Cheers, Joe
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (0)
Cheers, thanks Joe.
Wherever you think is best, by all means put it there. I want it to remain a resource which people can find. If you think it's worthy enough, maybe it can be linked to elsewhere (a sticky or whatever).
I definitely had the beginner in mind, or at least someone who needs help in getting a complex plugin like Membership set up. (Basically, I tried to create something that would have helped me when I was going through the process.) I think sometimes we forget how tricky set ups can be, and that the manual assumes the user understands certain things they might not. Membership is a wonderful plugin but it is especially problematic because one misstep can freeze your progress and even derail you quite a bit.
Anyhow, I hope it helps people and cuts down on the number of redundant support requests.
Support Kangaroo (joined March 2011) Likes (0)
Greetings Mark,
You are spot on in many ways and to highlight one for sure:
Bravo! Well said!
Cheers, Joe
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (2)Liked by: 
@aecnu Hiya Joe, any chance of making this a sticky? Otherwise, I think it will just get lost in obscurity. I definitely put a good amount of time into making it and I really do think it will be a good resource for those who invest the time to watch it. Perhaps the topic title could be renamed to "Beginner's Video Tutorial: How to ..." (we just add the word Beginner's.
Give it some thought. Thanks.
Support Kangaroo (joined March 2011) Likes (0)
Greetings Mark,
I thought I had already done this, but where I have no idea when I tried to find it after reading your post above.
So I unstickied it and then told it to sticky to the front.
It appears that has stuck .... lol
Cheers, Joe
Support Chimp (joined March 2010) Likes (1)Liked by: 
It is stuck now Joe, did you find the super glue!?! :)
@Mark Awesome contribution, really well done. Don't speed it up, its spot on for those needing this.
Mark, you are a real asset to this community always trying to help, being constructive, never rude (that I've seen) and going out of your way... Here in this thread for example.
Thanks buddy, excellent work!
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (0)
@Timothy Thanks a bunch. Much appreciated!
WPMUDEV-ian (joined November 2011) Likes (0)
@Mark, nice share dude !
Bookmarked it and sending the royalty your way ;)
Cheers
PC
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (1)Liked by: 
Thanks for the royalties, PC and Joe! (I like that term, PC. Good one.)
And a warm thanks to @Alan too for the big royalty check he sent. Cheers Alan!
Lifetime Member (joined June 2009) Likes (2)Liked by: 
What a great Resource Mark ;)
I am sure it will aid a number of folks to avoid the land mines born out of "the huge functionality" of this great plugin.
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (2)Liked by: 
@Jonathan You're the guy who set me on the path of contributing to the forums by being a great model to follow, so I really appreciate your praise. Cheers :-) And thanks for points gift!
Code Monkey (joined June 2011) Likes (0)
Hi @Mark
Great job! Just sent some points your way :)
Kind Regards
Jack (Coding-Monkey).
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (0)
@coding-monkey
Thanks Jack! Much obliged :-)
Member (joined February 2012) Likes (0)
Mark
Just wanted to pop by and say a massive thankyou what a great piece of work - top man !
Alan
Member (joined October 2010) Likes (0)
Pretty cool. I didn't know you could screen capture with IMovie.
Andrew
Member (joined July 2012) Likes (0)
Hi Mark,
The beginner’s membership videos were great in helping to answer a lot of questions I had. That said I also have a number of questions. The first of which are:
• Are you the person for me to fire more questions at about set-up?
• How do I get an idea of how many points to award you?
• Can new members be tagged into various groups?
• Can members personal details (first, last name and email address) be exported out of membership so I can communicate with them via one of the email marketing softwares like iconact.com.?
Regards
Robert
Support Chimp (joined March 2010) Likes (0)
Best to start a new thread for any questions you have unless they relate directly to video (i.e. can you add this in there.. type thing).
How many do you think this was worth?
You can only award what you own, currently I see you have 17 points.
Do you mean BuddyPress groups?
That isn't currently possible, sorry.
If you take a look at our Membership manual there is an example on our ping feature. The example connects with MailChimp which is a similar thing. If iconact does the same thing with their API then it could be possible. You would need to ask them about their API support though.
You can download the manual here:
http://premium.wpmudev.org/project/membership/#usage
Thanks.
DEV Diva (joined February 2012) Likes (1)Liked by: 
Thank you @Mark for this great contribution. Also sent some blue balloons to reward you for your efforts!
Hope to see more of this :)
Gina
Member (joined June 2012) Likes (1)Liked by: 
Great @Mark! Very much appreciate you doing the vids. Still working my way thro them, but one quick question.
I thought it was the case that pretty permalinks can be anything - as long as they are not the Default WordPress format, By that I mean url?action=xxxxx and specifically called Default in the Permalinks Settings screen.
However you refer in the vid to the 'default' as being month and name and say not to use that. Does Membership really only work with Post Name as you mention in vid 1A?
The following is taken from the MarketPress help page (the url to which is an example of a non-pretty permalink):
http://premium.wpmudev.org/wdp-un.php?action=help&id=144
"MarketPress uses pretty URLs so rewrites and pretty permalinks must be enabled. Your permalinks can be anything but the default permalinks." By 'default' they mean the the setting labelled as such.
I imagine Membership would also work with any pretty permalink settings, but not the Default setting - which is not pretty.
(I could not find mention of permalinks in the Membership plugin docs hence quoting from another plugin install procedure.)
Thanks in advance to Mark or anyone who can shine some light on this.
William
Support Chimp (joined March 2010) Likes (1)Liked by: 
I just tested to make sure and couldn't see an issue with using "Month and name".
So you should be fine with that. If there is an issue then please let me know.
Take care.
Member (joined February 2012) Likes (1)Liked by: 
This is solid-- thanks for sharing!
Member (joined October 2011) Likes (0)
Ok, learned a ton more than trying the plugin myself in the first 2 minutes of the video. As far as all the comments of "I personally don't need this.." Why'd ya click the link? It's labelled correctly. Ego points lost! XD LOL Herp Derp! I bookmarked and will be viewing ALL of these before I start to use the plugin for the first time. Excellent work so far! (points given) and a "Thank You."
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (0)
Thanks to all for the praise and points - I'm glad you are finding the videos useful. Sorry for the delayed response, I have been on a vacation.
@Timothy Thanks for your forum support. @rcarey and @william_martin I hope that Timothy answered your questions. I was under the impression that pretty permalinks would prevent certain problems from occurring. I thought I had seen a support response from the developer indicating that pretty permalinks were recommended, but I can't recall what post that was. Perhaps @Barry can confirm?
Support Chimp (joined March 2010) Likes (0)
Hey Mark.
Anything other than /?p=123 I believe should be fine. :)
Thanks.
Member (joined February 2012) Likes (0)
@mark
Just wanted to say massive thanks ur tips helped me big time !
Member (joined July 2011) Likes (1)Liked by: 
@Alan Awesome, Alan! Glad to hear it helped you out. Thanks so much for the rep points :-D
Member (joined February 2012) Likes (0)
@timothy think my points been chopped off again
Member (joined November 2011) Likes (0)
I just noticed these videos today and I can tell already that they will be a big help to me! Thanks for posting them!! No worries about the pace of the videos! That's a good thing! =)
Thanks again!
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