This article is for those building a membership site using WordPress and PilotPress. If you're using Ontraport Membership Sites, click here. If you're getting started and don't know which to choose, this article will help.

If you’re creating a membership site and don’t yet have a WordPress site, you can create a free WordPress site through Ontraport, and it will be automatically integrated with our membership site plugin, PilotPress. You’ll be able to use Ontraport’s WordPress domain or your own domain.

Sites created through Ontraport have some limitations that regular WordPress sites don’t have. Ontraport does not apply an SSL certificate to these sites. You also cannot change the domain of these sites. Additionally, Ontraport’s servers do not run the most current version of PHP to be backward compatible. This means that you can’t install some themes and plugins.

We recommend you only use these sites for testing.

If you want to create a new WordPress site without these limitations, follow these steps provided by WordPress. Then integrate your site using these instructions.

Create a new WordPress site

You can make a new WordPress membership site for free through Ontraport, and it will be automatically integrated with PilotPress, our membership site plugin.

You’ll be able to use Ontraport’s WordPress domain or your own domain.

1. Go to → Administration → Membership → WordPress Website.
2. Click New WordPress Site.
3. Click New WordPress Site.
   • You will have the option to either create a new WordPress site using Ontraport’s .affcntr.com domain or create a site for a domain you already own.

Set up an .affcntr.com WordPress site

1. Name your site.
2. Enter the subdomain you would like for the URL of your new site. For example, if your subdomain is “mynewsite,” the URL of your site will be “mynewsite.affcntr.com.”
3. Add membership levels by clicking Add.
4. Click Save.
5. A pop-up will appear with the admin login credentials for your new site. Be sure to copy down the username and password so you can log in as the admin to your new site.

Set up a WordPress site on your own domain

Before you begin your setup in Ontraport, point your domain’s A Record to 54.209.88.19 .

1. Name your site.
2. Select “use your own domain.”
3. Enter your domain into Website URL (example.com). Do not include a trailing slash after the domain name.
4. Continue from step 3 above.