DISCLAIMER: The following is not a paid review and completely my own honest opinion regarding the product.

Some of you might remember WP Member as one of the sponsors of my recent Christmas Giveaway and provided the licenses for the WP Member WordPress plugin as prizes. A couple months before the Christmas Giveaway, Dave of WP Member contacted me and asked me to do a review of WP-Member WordPress Plugin.

What exactly is WP-Member?

WP-Member is an advanced membership, subscription & content management plugin for wordpress. It is highly configurable, but yet so easy to use that you will never have to know any code. Unlike other membership plugins that lock down your entire site, wp-Member provides you with a multi layered membership system within your blog. However, WP-Member also provides you with the option to lock down your site and only allow access to members.

Features:

• Hide content from unregistered members
• Protect entire posts, pages & categories
• Setup unlimited user access levels
• Setup unlimited subscriptions for each user access level
• Select which posts, pages & categories can be seen by each user access level
• All user subscriptions are automatically managed & renewed via Paypal IPN
• Charge users a recurring subscription or one off payment for access

Screenshots:
General Settings

Simple Newsletter

Messages

Registration Customization

Prices
1 Site License: €19.99 per year (Approx: £15.75 / $31.32)
5 Site License: €32.99 per year (Approx: £25.99 / $51.70)
10 Site License: €49.99 per year (Approx: £39.40 / $78.34)

My Take:
First of all, WP Member is not for everyone. This premium WordPress plugin was designed basically for blogs that have registered members or subscribers like forums, blogs that provide premium content on a subscription basis or any blog that wishes to keep some of its content private to the public and only available for registered users or members.

The WP Member section in the WordPress dashboard is divided into 7 sections. First is the Members section which shows the list of registered users or members and their account details. Next is the Simple Newsletter which lets the administrator/blog owner send newsletters or any message to subscribers. In General Settings, the administrator can specify the main email address, mailer, SMTP server, username and password. In this section, the blog can also be configured to be available to registered users or to the public. Next section is the Subscription Settings where the membership levels can be created and customized. The Messages section is where the welcome message and terms & conditions are generated. Gateways is where the PayPal options are configured. The last section, Registration Customization is where the registration fields are created, edited and organized.

Although WP Member is an advance membership, subscription & content management plugin, it doesn’t require HTML, CSS or PHP coding skills/knowledge. With WP Member you can hide/protect posts, pages and categories and make them available only to your members or registered users. If you have several levels of membership or subscription, you can also select which level of membership can view certain content. With the use of a simple code, you can even hide portions of a post and make it as a teaser for unregistered users. WP-Member was created to work closely with WordPress code to ensure maximum compatibility with other WordPress plugins that the blog may use.

Overall, WP Member is a very good membership,subscription and content management plugin. The user interface is user friendly and straight forward, its also integrated into the WordPress dashboard so WordPress users won’t have much of an issue with it. However, there’s one thing that can be an issue for most users and that is the installation. Installing WP Member is a little bit complicated because it requires IonCube, a PHP extension used to decode encrypted PHP files. Its not that difficult to install but most users aren’t familiar with it and I’m not sure if all hosting providers support it. So make sure to check with your hosting provider first before purchasing WP Member. You can also ask your hosting provider if IonCube is available in your hosting package or ask them to install it for you.

If you decide to use/purchase WP Member, the people from Smart Media Pro (company behind WP Member) will be more than willing to help you with the installation or any issues you might have with setting up and configuration of the WP Member plugin.

To learn more about WP Member Plugin, you can visit the WP Member website or their interactive FAQ page.

*THIS CONTEST IS NOW OFFICIALLY CLOSED as of 12/30/08*

Last time I held a contest here on JaypeeOnline, I gave away 2,000 Entrecard credits. I know some of you remember that contest because you joined it. This time it won’t be Entrecard credits but a whole lot of BETTER stuff! I’m giving away $900 $1,000+ worth of prizes.

I decided to come up with this contest as a way of thanking my readers. Think of it as my Christmas gift to you guys for all your support. I don’t wanna keep you waiting, here’s how you can join.

CONTEST MECHANICS:
1. Subscribe to JaypeeOnline’s RSS feed via email. (required)

*Email subscription is required for confirmation/validation purposes. If you have already subscribed via email, please proceed to steps 2 and 3.

2. Blog about this contest. (required)

First, you’ll need to write about the contest and then specify which of the prizes you would want to win and why? Be creative. Don’t forget to include a link/trackback to this contest, prizes at stake and the list of sponsors. If you want, you can use the Christmas Giveaway graphic in your blog post. No hotlinking please, instead save the image and upload it to your own web server.

3. Leave a comment. (required)

After you have subscribed to the RSS feed via email and posted the blog entry about this contest, leave a comment on this post using the same email address you used to subscribe and include the URL to your blog post. In case you decide to avail of bonus points, make sure you also include the username/email address you used for those sites (Bloglines, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Twitter).

Total of 10 points

BONUS POINTS
You can earn bonus points by doing any or all of the following:
1. If you have a Bloglines account, subcribe to JaypeeOnline – 5 points
2. Stumble this post – 2 points
3. Technorati Fave JaypeeOnline – 2 points
4. Follow me on Twitter – 1 points

Total of 10 points

CONTEST RULES:
1. Contestants are required to do all three steps under CONTEST MECHANICS.
2. No multiple entries. 1 person = 1 entry (1 person can get as much as 20 points)
3. You can win only once. In case your name/email address gets picked twice, you’ll get the higher valued prize.

PRIZES AT STAKE:
3 Revolution Two Pro Plus Memberships (each worth $149.95) – courtesy of Brian Gardner.
2 Mimbo Pro Single-License Copies (each worth $89.99) – courtesy of Darren Hoyt
2 FlexxTheme Single-Use Copies (each worth $79.95) – courtesy of Cory Miller
1 WP-Member Plugin Ten-Site License (worth $67.87) – courtesy of WP-Member.com
3 WP-Member Plugin Five-Site Licenses (each worth $44.78) – courtesy of WP-Member.com
5 WP-Member Plugin Single-Site Licenses (each worth $27.13) – courtesy of WP-Member.com
2 Elegant Themes Membership Licenses (each worth $19.95) – courtesy of Nick Roach

*1 winner per prize (license/membership)

SPONSORS:
1. Revolution Two WordPress Themes
2. Pro Theme Design
3. iThemes Premium WordPress Themes
4. WP Member – Advanced WordPress Membership Plugin
5. Elegant Themes – Premium WordPress Themes

Contest starts as soon as this post is published and ends on December 30, 2008. All entries should be in by midnight (US Pacific Time). Each point is equivalent to one entry that will be put into the list of entries (more points, more entries). Winners will be chosen using Random.org’s List Randomizer and will be announced the following day, December 31st.

What are you waiting for? Join now! You can be the winner of one of these cool prizes. Remember, the more points you have, the more your chances of winning! If you have any questions regarding the contest, feel free to contact me.