Integrate a New WordPress Site

About Integrating a New WordPress Site

Applies to: ONTRAPORT Plus and above.

There are two methods available to integrate a brand new WordPress site with your ONTRAPORT account., using an external host or setting up a free WordPress site on the ONTRAPORT servers. There are important differences between the two methods.

This external host method is best for:

Ecommerce sites
Sites requiring SSL certificates for secure member logins
High traffic sites
Sites expected to grow in the future
Utilizing FTP access for custom development, backup or migration
Using email through the same domain

We encourage you to use the external host method described in this document for your membership site.

Choosing an External Host

Nearly every web host supports WordPress, as it powers more than a third of all new web sites. In addition to large shared web hosts such as GoDaddy, there are many smaller web hosts that might provide a higher level of customer service or additional features. These web hosting accounts offer "shared hosting" from about $8 per month, and often provide a "one click" installation of WordPress on your account.

A step up from the inexpensive accounts are dedicated WordPress hosts offering managed WordPress hosting such as KnownHost, Siteground, and WPEngine. A managed service typically automates updating your software including plugins, provides backups, has faster page load times for up to 100,000 visits and may provide free or low cost SSL certificates. If you expect rapid growth from your membership site ask your potential hosts how quickly you can upgrade to a new plan that provides more resources.

Also consider the following features:

PHP 7.0 or above
SSL certificate for secure member logins and sales (from $0 to $99 per year)
In-place upgrade if your site gets busy
Support availability and hours
Location of their servers (US, EU, Asia, etc.)

Note that a host offering "unlimited" resources on shared hosting accounts usually has limits elsewhere that are stated in the Terms of Service. Search for terms such as "server resources", "inodes", "number of files", "excessive", etc.

ONTRAPORT does not recommend any individual web host, and the links provided above are simply for reference and do not constitute an endorsement. None of the links we use in this article are affiliate links.

Integrating an Externally Hosted WordPress Site

After your WordPress site is installed and ready to be configured follow the steps below to integrate it with your ONTRAPORT account.

Log into ONTRAPORT
Navigate to Administration > Advanced Features > Wordpress and toggle the feature on.
Now that the feature is on, go to Administration > Integrations > Wordpress Website
Click New WordPress Site
Click Create New under Existing WordPress Site
Enter the URL of your website in the Website URL field. Do not include a trailing slash after the domain name.
Create membership levels to your WordPress site (optional). You can return here at any time to add new membership levels. Simply type a name for the membership level and click the Add button.
Click Pilot Press Download in the WordPress Plug-in/API Code section, download the PilotPress Plugin, or add it from your WordPress Administration section (search for PilotPress in your Plugins area).
Copy the App ID and API Key into a text document using Notepad (PC) or Text Editor (Mac) for later use.
Click Save.

Configure Your Externally Hosted WordPress Site

Log into your WordPress site's Administration section.
Navigate to Plugins and select Add New
Upload the plugin if you downloaded it from ONTRAPORT or the WordPress respository by clicking Upload and choosing the file from your computer.
Click Install Now
Open Settings > PilotPress
Paste in the App ID and API Key from ONTRAPORT in PilotPress General Settings
Select to enable the Customer Center and or the Partner Center if desired. The Customer Center provides a place for all members to change their password, see their ONTRAPORT invoices, update their credit cards, etc. The Partner Center provides reporting and promo tools for members of any Partner Program you have set up in ONTRAPORT. If the member logging in is both a customer and a partner set the center to display under Which center has priority when redirecting? We recommend leaving it at Customer Center in most cases; the partner will also be able to see any navigation menu links you enable for the Partner Center.
If enabled by selecting the Customer Center or Partner Center above, set the Post Login Redirect Settings. These settings will redirect the person to the page you specify here. The page can be the auto-generated Customer or Partner Center, or any page you have created on your WordPress site. You can also include any ONTRApage you have hosted on your WordPress site using the ONTRApages Plugin.
Remember to save the PilotPress changes at the bottom of Settings > PilotPress page.