How to set up premium memberships

[Alvin63]

Ok. I've given up on google adsense. One forum is active and a few years old and the nature of it is that members would appreciate a private area where posts don't show up on google. Members had suggested "donations" which I have been doing but that's a bit ad hoc. It was mentioned to me before to set up something like premium membership where they pay an annual fee for a private section of the forum.

Could do with some tips on how to go about that please. I already have paypal set up for the donations. I prefer the idea of donations as don't like charging a fee or having a two tier system - but - need to cover running costs annually. I also suspect some members wouldn't bother to renew if it was an annual charge and that could put off long standing regular members who support the forum. Also, if posts don't show up on google, then will this affect the SEO of the site? Presumably yes. So then it won't be found easily?

So open to ideas.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

Every node has a setting at the bottom in advanced settings for search.
The rest involves setting up a payment profile ACP > Setup > Payment profile.
Then a user upgrade ACP > Users > User upgrade
A paid user group ACP > User groups and per.. > User groups add.

The rest is setting permissions for the nodes that only paid users can see.

 

[Alvin63]

Thank you. Can't see any settings at the bottom of advanced settings. I'm aware private nodes can be set up. Just wondering if that could get confusing for the upgrade members to see nodes in both private and non private sections. Eg they can't link a thread from a private section to someone in the non private section.

So do you set up a kind of payment page as well?

 

[Seeker-Smith]

Can't see any settings at the bottom of advanced settings

You have to open advanced options. You'll need to read the manual about permissions, node etc https://xenforo.com/docs/xf2/

 

[Alvin63]

Thanks - yes I saw that bit. Wasn't sure how any of the tick boxes related. I know how to set up a private node though.

So is it a case of setting up private nodes - permissions - and user upgrade? Can you set up a payments page?

 

[Mr Lucky]

Just wondering if that could get confusing for the upgrade members to see nodes in both private and non private sections

No it doesn’t get confusing unless they are extremely easily confused.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

Thanks - yes I saw that bit. Wasn't sure how any of the tick boxes related. I know how to set up a private node though.

So is it a case of setting up private nodes - permissions - and user upgrade? Can you set up a payments page?

I'd stay away from Private nodes. You simply want to set the permissions of your VIP nodes for admins, mods, and paid members. The payment page is setup automatically when you do the member upgrades. There are ways to make it more visible.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

Wasn't sure how any of the tick boxes related.

It doesn't let spiders like google see the pages with no index.

 

[Alvin63]

That is what I was thinking. I suspect, with the type of forum it is (some legal things), virtually all members would be happy to pay a small annual fee to be on a private forum. Then nothing would show up on google presumably so it would be harder for people to find the forum ?

So what you're saying is don't have private nodes, have VIP nodes? Isn't that the same thing? Sorry if I've misunderstood.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

That is what I was thinking. I suspect, with the type of forum it is (some legal things), virtually all members would be happy to pay a small annual fee to be on a private forum. Then nothing would show up on google presumably so it would be harder for people to find the forum ?

So what you're saying is don't have private nodes, have VIP nodes? Isn't that the same thing? Sorry if I've misunderstood.

Generally forums have a common area for guests and registered members, then a second area (category) for premium content. In my scenario my forums are open but I charge a premium for access to our Media Gallery. With the permission system within Xenforo almost anything is possible. You just need to decide on a hierarchy. You seem to have many categories which will make it a bit of a challenge. Generally you can set the category permissions and everything within that category will obey them.

 

[Alvin63]

Thanks.