The App Marketplace is full of ready-made apps that help your business reach a specific goal, like running a blog, publishing a course, or managing your sales pipeline. It only takes a few clicks to add one to your account, and you can customize everything it adds. Here's what's in the Marketplace, how to turn an app on, and what to know before you turn one off.
Apps use Ontraport's dynamic content features, so first you need a Dynamic CMS package on your account. Only the account owner can add it. Click your profile icon, then Account. Next to "Add Dynamic CMS to your account," click Add plan or Start trial. The package you need depends on how many custom objects an app includes. If an app needs more than your package allows, Ontraport prompts you to upgrade. Current plans and pricing are on the Ontraport pricing page.
Here's what's in the Marketplace. Blogs, for publishing posts without building a new page for each one. Courses and Lessons, a built-in learning management system. Forums, for password-protected discussions with moderation. Knowledge Base, so customers can find answers on their own. Surveys, to collect demographics, preferences and product feedback. Virtual Events, for sign-ups and reminders for webinars and online events. Companies and Deals, to organize the businesses you work with and your sales pipeline. My Account, where members see their purchase history and manage their subscriptions. My Profile, where leads and customers update their own information. And Partner Center, a central hub for your affiliates.
To turn on an app, click your profile icon, then Apps. Find the app you want and toggle it on. That's it.
Most apps add one or more objects, like Courses, Lessons or Deals. Each object shows up in your navigation bar, with its own collection of records. My Profile and Partner Center don't add any objects.
Once you have objects besides Contacts, the Automations item leaves the navigation bar. You'll find automation maps, forms and messages by hovering over each object, usually Contacts.
Let's look at Courses and Lessons. When you install it, you choose a domain, and that domain sets the URLs of all the app's published pages.
The app comes with pages, templates, emails and automations: a course home page, course overview and lesson templates, a My Courses page, a sign-up sales page, and a course management automation. Your course pages are protected with Ontraport Membership Sites. It also includes sample courses, lessons and comments so you can preview everything. Delete or unpublish them before you launch.
To make it yours, add your logo to the global header block, fill in the SEO and social settings for each page, and remove any default content you don't need. Then add your own course and lesson records. You don't build a page for each lesson. Pick a lesson template, turn on the published toggle, and each lesson record is published with that template.
To turn an app off, click your profile icon, then Apps, and toggle it off. Be careful: this removes all of the app's assets and related records from your account. If you want to keep that data, export those records first. If you turn the app back on later, you can import them again.
Ontraport occasionally releases updates to apps, but an app you've already turned on won't update by itself. To get the latest version, export your records, turn the app off, then turn it back on. Then check the app's system notes to see what's new.
So: add a Dynamic CMS package, turn on the apps you need from your profile icon, then Apps, and make them your own. Each app has its own Support Center article with full setup steps. Next up: an overview of custom objects, for when you want to build objects of your own.