Restrict access to a single post or page

After you integrate the Memberful WordPress plugin, a metabox will appear below the post and page editor in your WordPress dashboard. This feature allows you to easily generate a paywall, control access, and specify which membership plans will grant the member access to the content of the page or post. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to restrict access to a single post or page, choose who has access, add marketing content and members-only content, and display teaser text for non-members.

​

Review your options for restricting content

When it comes to restricting access to content with the Memberful WordPress plugin, you have several options. You can:

• Restrict access to a single WordPress post or page.
• Restrict access by category or tag.
• Restrict access using our shortcodes.
• Restrict access using our WordPress functions (developer feature).
• Bulk restrict access to posts and pages (one-time setting).

In this doc, we will describe how to restrict access to a single post or page.

​

Choose who has access

Once you’ve installed the Memberful WordPress plugin on your site, you’ll see a Memberful: Restrict Access box below the post and page editor. Choose who should have access to your page or post by checking the appropriate box(es):

• All members—active, inactive, or free (works well for a “freemium” tier)
• Members with an active subscription to any plan
• Members with an active subscription to a specific plan
• Anybody who owns a specific download

​

Restrict access to custom post types

You can restrict access to custom post types in the same way you would restrict access to standard posts and pages. First, make sure the custom post type has been registered in WordPress. Here’s an article showing a couple of ways to create custom post types. To finish the registration process, navigate to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to re-sync your permalink settings. Once your custom post type is registered and you’ve created a new page with that post type, you’ll see the Memberful: Restrict Access box at the bottom of the page, just like you would on a standard post or page.

​

Review your options for adding marketing content

When you protect a page or post with the Memberful WordPress plugin, you have the opportunity to show marketing content or teaser text to non-members or members who aren’t signed into your site. For example, you might want to share a preview of the content behind the paywall along with a link to your sales pages and a sign-in link for existing members. Check out these customer examples for inspiration:

• Mythical Society’s members-only videos
• Food Fix’s paywall for members-only articles

There are several ways to add marketing content. Read on to learn more.

​

Add marketing content to a single page or post

To add marketing content to a single page or post, scroll down to the Memberful: Restrict Access box below the page or post editor, add your content to the meta box, and then update your post.

​

Create default marketing content

To create default marketing content for all pages and posts, navigate to Settings → Memberful → Global marketing content in your WordPress dashboard. Check the setting Turn on global marketing content, and select one of the two options:

• Override all marketing content: Marketing content in Memberful’s meta boxes will be replaced in all protected pages and posts.
• Only use the global marketing content when other content doesn’t exist: The global marketing content will only be displayed on protected pages or posts that have an empty Memberful meta box.

Add your marketing content in the meta box and click Save changes.

​

Fade out teaser text

To display a short excerpt from the beginning of your posts and then fade out to the marketing content, navigate to Settings → Memberful → Global marketing content in your WordPress dashboard. Check the settings Turn on global marketing content and Automatically pull an excerpt from each post. Choose one of the two options:

• Override all marketing content
• Only use the global marketing content when other content doesn’t exist

Add any additional marketing content in the meta box and click Save changes. Memberful will pull the first two paragraphs from your protected posts to be displayed before the marketing content for logged out visitors. This feature looks for <p> tags in your posts to detect the first few paragraphs to use as teaser content, so make sure your content is properly formatted in paragraphs.

​

Add members-only content

Add your members-only text, images, and video embed codes in the editor above the marketing content. Save your page or post. If a member is logged in to your site and has the correct access, they’ll be able to see the protected content on your page or post. If they don’t have the right access or are logged out of your site—they’ll see the marketing content. If you need to include marketing material in your unprotected (free) content, but want it to be hidden to customers who’ve already paid, use our shortcodes to manually protect WordPress content. Related help docs:

• Restrict access to multiple posts in bulk.
• Restrict access to entire categories or tags.
• Restrict access to video content.