Introduction to Restrict Content Pro: Installation and Settings
Adding a membership plugin allows you to set up different levels for your customers. Restrict Content Pro is a powerful plugin that allows you to lock away your exclusive content and give access to valued members. It provides many options for how to show or hide your content and also manages payment and access to your content in a one-time or recurring purchase.
Recently, Nathan Ingram led an iThemes webinar to provide a full overview of Restrict Content Pro. Nathan has been using loyal Restrict Content Pro for several years and excitedly shared his experiences.
“There are so many settings for Restrict Content Pro. It is a full-featured, deeply detailed plugin that lets you set aside content for different levels and handles the e-commerce, emails, and renewals.”
Nathan Ingram
In this series, we’ll dig into the tips and steps shared during that event.
6 Steps to Get Started
- Install, and license to set up automatic updates
- Configure RCP settings
- Set Up Payment Gateway
- Define Membership Levels
- Restrict Site Content
- Test in Sandbox Mode
It only takes six steps to upgrade your website to a membership/subscription site.
It begins at the beginning. In part one of the Intro to Restrict Content Pro, we will focus on the fundamentals of setting up the plugin – from installation to custom settings.
Read the Restrict Content Pro Quick Start Guide Here1. Install and License RCP
You will need to download Restrict Content Pro from your iThemes Member area.
Purchase Restrict Content Pro with the iThemes Agency Bundle or just the Restrict Content Pro to get started.
Once you download the zipped files onto your computer, you can install the plugin through your WordPress website. After the installation is complete, you will need to activate the plugin.
Now that you activated the plugin file you loaded, you will notice several new pages have been added. You’ll also find the Restrict menu items in the left sidebar.
- Make sure your site URL is correct (note, if you migrate a site to a new domain you will need to relicense the site and ensure that the licensed domain is correct).
2. Configure RCP Settings
One of the best things about Restrict Content Pro is the level of customization you can achieve with the base plugin’s settings. But it’s also easy to get overwhelmed with the settings. So let’s go through some of the most important settings to configure.
RCP General Settings
Page Locations
You get to define where your Restrict Content Pro pages live. They can be anywhere you want, just make sure the appropriate shortcode appears on that page to activate your Restrict Content Pro content.
When you edit a page, you’ll notice the only thing on the page is the shortcode.
This gives you the freedom to add content above the shortcode or below the shortcode. You can make your layout anything you want it to be either with the block editor or with your page builder of choice.
Multiple Memberships
The next decision you will need to make is whether or not you want to sell multiple memberships – are you going to allow individuals to purchase multiple memberships for courses or separate services and such? If so, you’ll want to check the Multiple Memberships box.
If you have a telescopic membership structure – such as bronze/silver/gold – you’ll want to leave this box unchecked. You would not want a member to be able to purchase both a bronze and a gold membership.
By default, the multiple memberships box is left unchecked. Only change this if you want members to be able to purchase more than one membership. Restrict Content Pro will handle the upgrades and will charge the difference in levels in the background.
“The Multiple Membership box is a small box, but it is a very important decision.” – Nathan Ingram
Auto-Renew
The default for
There is a menu for Auto Renew. You have three choices. The default choice is to let the customer choose whether to auto-renew the membership.
“My default is ALWAYS AUTO RENEW because that gets you recurring revenue coming in and that’s something you always want.” – Nathan Ingram
“Unless you have a really compelling reason to use another payment platform, use Stripe. Stripe is your friend and it makes your life easier.” – Nathan Ingram
Restrict Content Message
This is the message that will display to people that don’t have permission to view the content. You will want to write something in here to direct visitors to the next step. Otherwise, they may assume the missing content isn’t intentional but an error on your end.
You can change this message in each spot later, and you also have the option of providing a different message in different locations if you choose.
Watch the Webinar: Intro to Restrict Content Pro
Learn how to customize your membership website to create new (and recurring) income opportunities for your business.
Are You Ready to Grow Your Business?
Restrict Content Pro is a powerful membership solution for WordPress that allows you to lock away content from visitors and offer those exclusively to your membership levels.