Free
Membership Sites:
The
following tutorial is designed to show
you how to set up a free membership
site using DLGuard.
Go
back to Common Questions Answered
The
goal of this tutorial:
Create
a membership site that a person can
join for free.
Project
overview:
To
set up a free membership we need to
create a free product in DLGuard, create
a membership group in DLGuard, and then
link them together.
By
doing this, anyone who signs up to our
free product will then have access to
the membership area.
We'll
split this project into two steps -
setting up the free product, and setting
up the member group.
Step
1: Setting up the Free Product
Firstly
we need to set your free product. To
do this, login to DLGuard.
On
the home page of DLGuard (the first
one you see when logging in), you'll
see a button near the top of the screen
that says "Add". Click on
this.
You'll
be taken to the Add Product screen.
Enter the following into the options
displayed:
Product
Name: We'll call it "My
Membership".
Product
Logo URL: You can leave this
blank, we won't be using it.
URL
of Product File: Type in "--Membership"
Hours
to Download: This is how long
your customer will be able to see their
login details on your download page.
Set this to 8 hours (or whatever you
like).
Download
Attempt Limit: Leave this blank.
Type
of Product: Select "Free".
Bonus
Product Downloads: Leave this
blank.
Auto
Responder Email Address: If
your auto responder software allows
your customers to signup to your mailing
list by sending an email to you, type
the signup email address in this box.
This is optional.
Custom
Script URL: Leave this blank.
Extra
Text/HTML Code: Leave this
blank.
Custom
Download Area Template: Type
in "members.html"
Click
"Save Changes".
With
Free products we are required to set
up a page where the customer can signup.
The next step will cover this.
Step
2: Setting up your Signup page
We
now need to create a page where your
customer can signup to join your free
membership.
Please
keep in mind that the signup page needs
to be saved as a PHP file. This is simply
a filename change. PHP pages are basically
the same as HTML pages.
In
the software you use to make your web
pages with for your website, create
a new page and call it "signup.php".
This file should be in the main folder
of your website, not in a sub directory
(for the purpose of this tutorial).
You
can put whatever HTML code you like
into this page, and make it look nice
and pretty.
Once
your signup page looks like you want
it to, it's time to add DLGuard's special
code that will display the signup form.
In
DLGuard, go to the Home screen. This
will list your "My Membership"
product. Click the Get Code link next
to this product.
On
the Get Code page, scroll down the bottom
and you'll see a box for the Signup
Page Code. Type your full signup page
URL into the box (Eg. http://www.example.com/signup.php),
and then click the Generate button.
Keep
in mind that your thankyou page must
be on the same website as DLGuard is
on.
You
will see a snippet of code displayed
in the box below the Generate button.
Select this, and press Ctrl-C to copy
it (or Cmd-C for Mac users).
Go
back to your signup page. You will
need to view the source code of your
signup page. This is the view where
you can see all the HTML tags like <html>
and <body>, etc.
Scroll
to the section where you want the DLGuard
customer signup box to appear (the box
that will ask your customer for their
name and email address). Paste the code
snippet into this position by pressing
Ctrl-V (or Cmd-V for Mac users).
Save
your page and upload it to your website
into the main folder of your site.
If
you go directly to this URL in your
browser (http://www.example.com/signup.php)
then you should see a box that displays
a form asking for your customers name
and email address.
Next
we will customise the screen that will
display your customer's login information
after they signup to your group.
Step
3: Setting up your thankyou page template
The
thankyou page is the page that your
member will see after they signup to
your membership group. This page will
display their membership information.
If
you have DLGuard version 3.0.2 or earlier,
you will need to download the members
template.
Versions
3.1 and newer have the members template
included.
This
members template is the page template
that will be displayed after your customer
buys your membership and enters their
name and email address into your thankyou
page.
This
template is designed specifically for
memberships as it doesn't display any
download information, instead it displays
your member's login details.
This
template is found in DLGuard folder:
dlg/templates/singleproducts/members.html
If
you don't have it, you may download
it from here:
Download
Members Template
Unzip
it on your computer.
You
will need to edit this template file
to list your membership login URL. Open
it up in the software you use to edit
your web pages.
Near
the bottom of the screen you'll see
text that says "[Enter your membership
URL here]". Delete this text and
type in your membership login URL. For
this tutorial we'll use "http://www.example.com/members/index.php".
I'd
recommend hyper-linking this URL so
that your member can just click on it
and it opens the membership login page
into a new browser window.
Save
your template, and upload it onto your
website into the DLGuard folder: dlg/templates/singleproducts/
Step
4: Setting up your custom email template
Since
we are setting up a members area, the
standard download email that is sent
to your customers won't match. We'll
need to create a membership specific
one.
In
DLGuard, click on the Home link. This
will take you to the Overview screen
and you'll see "My Membership"
listed on this page. Click on the "Edit"
link next to it.
On
the Edit screen, click the "Customise
Email" button near the top of the
screen.
On
the Customise Email page you'll see
three radio buttons. Select the one
marked "Send the custom email below".
In
the Subject Line box, type "Welcome
to [product]". The keyword [product]
will be replaced with "My Membership"
(the name of your free product) when
the email is sent.
In
the Email Body, type the following:
Hi
[name],
Welcome
to [product].
Your
login URL is:
http://www.example.com/members/
Username:
[email]
Password: [receipt]
Thank
you for your support!
Your Name
Click
the "Save Email Settings"
button.
Now
when someone buys your product they
will be sent the email above, which
will list all their login details.
Step
5: Testing your Single Item Sale
Before
we go on it's a good idea to test what
we've already done.
Open
your browser window to your signup page
that you created and uploaded in Step
3. This will display your signup form.
Enter
your name and email address into this
form and submit them.
You
will be taken to the download area which
will list your sales details.
Your
membership link won't yet work because
we haven't set that part up yet, but
if this page is displayed correctly,
then the first part is complete.
Also,
check your email account for the custom
email we set above.
If
there seems to be something wrong with
this process, re-read the tutorial section
that deals with that particular step
of the process that you're having problems
with.
Once
it's all working, we'll move on to setting
up a membership area.
Step
6: Setting up a membership group
It
is now time to create the membership
group that we'll link to the Free product.
In
DLGuard, on the Home screen, take note
of the Product Number of "My Membership".
You'll need this in a minute.
Click
on the Memberships tab near the top
of the page. You will be taken to the
Memberships Overview page.
To
create a new membership group we'll
click on the "Add Group" button
near the top of the page.
On
the Add Group page, fill out the following
details:
Group
Name: We'll call it "My
Group".
Products
Members Have Access To: Leave
this blank.
Download
Attempt Limit: Leave this blank.
Membership
Type: Select "Member area
for single product purchases".
Folder
Where Extra Download Files Are Kept:
Leave this blank.
File
Extensions Allowed For Extra Download
Files: Leave this blank.
Product
Numbers: Type in the product
number of "My Membership"
Free product.
Save
the group, and you'll be taken back
to the Memberships Overview page.
Step
7: Creating your membership area
Membership
areas are simply your own web pages
that you've made, but with a small snippet
of code that DLGuard will give you pasted
at the very top of them. This code enabled
the protection and turns your pages
into a membership area.
You
can create your member pages from scratch,
but for this tutorial we will use the
example ones included with DLGuard,
and customise them.
Firstly,
create a folder called "members"
in the main folder of your website folder
on your computer. This is all to be
edited on your computer - we'll upload
it to your actual website soon.
Next,
on your computer, navigate to the "dlg/members/examples/"
folder. Select all the files in this
folder and copy them into the "members"
folder you just created in the last
paragraph.
Go
back to DLGuard, you should still be
on the Memberships Overview page. If
not, click on the Memberships tab at
the top of the page. You'll see "My
Group" listed on the Memberships
Overview page.
Click
on the Get Code link next to My Group.
On
the Get Code page, scroll to the bottom
of the screen, to the Membership Page
Code box.
The
first text box will ask for the full
URL of your membership area. Type in
the full URL, including "index.php"
at the end of the URL. For example,
http://www.example.com/members/index.php
Leave
the Extra Groups box blank, and click
the Generate button.
A
code snippet will be displayed in the
box below your Generate button. Select
this code and press Ctrl-C to copy it
(Cmd-C for Mac users).
Go
back to the "members" folder
you just created on your computer. Open
up the "index.php" file, that
you copied there, with your website
editing software.
You
will need to view this file in the View
Source mode where you can see all the
HTML code. Scroll to the top of the
page and you'll see some code that looks
similar to the code you just created.
This is an example of where to paste
the code.
Delete
the existing code, and then paste the
code you just generated in the same
spot, at the very top of the page. Make
sure there is no text and no spaces
before the code you paste.
Save
this file, and repeat the process for
the rest of the files in your members
folder.
On
your website, create a "members"
folder. Upload the files from the "members"
folder on your computer into the "members"
folder on your website.
Step
8: Testing your members area
The
next step is to test your members area
to make sure it's all working. To do
this, you'll need your email address
and password from the free product signup
you made earlier. If you can't remember
what it is, check your email account
as you should have an email listing
your details.
Go
to your membership page in your browser
window.
Eg.
http://www.example.com/members
You
should be shown a members login page.
Enter your login details and you'll
be taken into the members area.Try out
the links!
Step
9: Testing everything
Lastly,
we need to test the whole process. Go
to the signup page you created and enter
your details.
You
will be taken to the page that displays
your membership information. Use this
to log into your new account.
If
there is an issue with the system, check
back in this tutorial and re-read the
instructions for that particular stage
of the process.
By
following this tutorial correctly, you'll
now have a complete and working Free
Membership area.
A
few last thoughts:
Keep
in mind that you can use any of the
payment processors that DLGuard supports
to create a members area, similar to
the way you have just done with this
Free one.
There
are more advanced features that can
be used in the membership areas that
can be found in DLGuard under the Help
menu then select Memberships.
--
Sam Stephens
