Restricting media library on wordpress.com
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Dear WordPress.com, I am using self-hosted wordpress for a site dedicated to my consulting practice. On that site, a type of membership site, I give clients access to specific pages with attachments etc stored in the media library. Previously, I used Skyverge’s membership plug in, but it does not protect the media library – those URLs could be accessed by anyone who knew them.
Overall, I’m tired of self-hosting – and I see that WordPress.com has a lot of great capabilities it did not have 5 years ago.
Questions:
1. Can I use my domain for WordPress.com? And can I set up subdomains?
2. Can I import my existing self-hosted site to WordPress.com?
3. I use WishList Member to restrict client access to specific pages and, most importantly, to media library assets. Will I be able to achieve this on WordPress.com?
4. I use ContentAware Sidebars to display different sidebars for different pages – is this possible on WordPress.com?
5. I use Say What? plugin to change certain text strings in WooCommerce – is this possible on WordPress.com?
6. I use NestedPages to organize pages into hierarchies, with Content Aware (above) this means I can make courses or knowledgebases very easily
7. If I ever want to return to self-hosted, can I export my WordPress.com database and site and re-import them to a self-hosted arrangement?Thank you for creating WordPress.com, I’m especially interested to see it works with JetPack CRM as a CRM is my next frontier for enhancing my WordPress usage.
The site I need help with is [visible only to staff] help@pre sale question for wordpress.com. It is not hosted by WordPress.com or connected with Jetpack. This site is not linked to my WordPress.com account.
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Hi there,
1. Can I use my domain for WordPress.com? And can I set up subdomains?
You can use your own domain, yes – you can either leave it registered at your current provider and just map it here, or you can transfer your registration to us entirely (provided you’re using a TLD we support).
https://wordpress.com/support/domain-mapping-vs-domain-transfer/
Can you give some details on how exactly you’d like to use subdomains? Then I can confirm whether that’s possible here.
2. Can I import my existing self-hosted site to WordPress.com?
Yes. On our Business Plan (which you’ll need to use plugins), we have a full-site migration option using the Jetpack plugin. That will move all your content, your theme and existing plugins over to a new site on our servers:
https://wordpress.com/support/moving-from-self-hosted-wordpress-to-wordpress-com/
3. I use WishList Member to restrict client access to specific pages and, most importantly, to media library assets. Will I be able to achieve this on WordPress.com?
I don’t have any experience with that specific plugin, but if it works on a standard WordPress installation it should work here on WordPress.com as well.
4. I use ContentAware Sidebars to display different sidebars for different pages – is this possible on WordPress.com?
5. I use Say What? plugin to change certain text strings in WooCommerce – is this possible on WordPress.com?
6. I use NestedPages to organize pages into hierarchies, with Content Aware (above) this means I can make courses or knowledgebases very easilyAs above, if it works on a standard WordPress installation, it should work here. You should be able to use any WordPress plugin, as long as it doesn’t have a known conflict with Jetpack (which is required on all WordPress.com sites), or is otherwise incompatible with our hosting setup:
https://wordpress.com/support/incompatible-plugins/
7. If I ever want to return to self-hosted, can I export my WordPress.com database and site and re-import them to a self-hosted arrangement?
Yes. You’ll be able to export your content using the standard WordPress exporter, or you’ll be able to do a full-site migration using a migration plugin or a built-in migration option at your new host. You can also download a Jetpack backup of your sit at any time.
I’m especially interested to see it works with JetPack CRM as a CRM is my next frontier for enhancing my WordPress usage.
WordPress.com belongs to the same company that makes both Jetpack and Jetpack CRM, so you’ll not only be able to use those here, but the live chat and email support included in the Business Plan also includes support for those plugins.
Let me know if you have any other questions :)
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P.S. Just a small disclaimer regarding plugins: There are tens of thousands of WordPress plugins out there, and we can’t test every one for compatibility with our setup. That’s why I say those plugins should work.
But we do offer a 14-day refund on our annual plans, and a 7-day refund on our monthly plans, so you can always upgrade, migrate your content and test out the plugins you want, while still keeping your current site online at your existing hosting (we provide a staging domain when you set up the site with us, so no need to point your domain to us right away).
If you then find our setup does not work for you, you can cancel the plan again for a full refund.
Regarding Wishlist Member specifically, that plugin is installed on a number of sites hosted with us, and I couldn’t find any support requests from other site owners indicating that the plugin doesn’t work as expected.
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Thank you @kokieh! It’s always a good sign to a newcomer when the pre-sale support is so strong!
I had not appreciated that WordPress.com is now open to so many plugins on the business plan. That’s great.
You asked, “Can you give some details on how exactly you’d like to use subdomains? Then I can confirm whether that’s possible here.”
– I have several follow up questions in this area. Right now, my consulting clients each get access to pages on my main membersite/domain (more.jeffbelkora.com). I can isolate client assets and intellectual property from each other through member access controls – but they are “mingled” in the sense of being in the same database and media library. So I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons of instead, creating a subdomain for each client, e.g. client1.jeffbelkora.com, client.jeffbelkora.com, etc. One advantage of this would be that if/when the client project ends, I would give them, as a final deliverable/archive, the database and media library for this subdomain (while taking it down off my site), and these elements would not have any other client assets mingled in. Plus, while the sites are online, they are not commingled either. However, the downside would be to have to set up each subdomain, likely using the exact same plugins, which involves rework. (Would I also have to pay extra for additional subdomains on WordPress.com?) To address the setup issues, I have heard of WordPress multisite, but have not explored that. Do you think multi-site would address my need to efficiently configure/deploy identical “plugin stacks” for multiple domains? Does multi-site work on WordPress.com? Is the WordPress ecosystem business convention to make users pay for each plug-in use for each subdomain or multi-site? Do you see any other pros and cons of multi-site for my use case? -
Okay. We only support mapping subdomains to sites, not to individual pages. So to use subdomains in that way on WordPress.com, you’d need to use separate sites, which also means you’d need the Business Plan on every site if you also want to use plugins on that site.
It sounds like we’re speaking of multiple pages per client, correct? Almost like a mini-site inside your main site? If so, then a Multisite network will likely suit you better. We don’t support multisite installations on WordPress.com, though, as all of WordPress.com is already one giant multisite network. So in that case you’d be better off with a traditional host like Bluehost or Pressable:
https://wordpress.com/support/php-environment/#is-multisite-supported-on-word-press-com
Do you think multi-site would address my need to efficiently configure/deploy identical “plugin stacks” for multiple domains?
I don’t have any direct experience running multisite networks myself, but as I understand it that’s exactly what that feature is designed for. For any questions about setting up and running a Multisite network, you can ask the WordPress.org community who make the WordPress software at https://wordpress.org/support/forums/
You can find the support documentation for multisite networks here:
https://wordpress.org/support/article/create-a-network/
Is the WordPress ecosystem business convention to make users pay for each plug-in use for each subdomain or multi-site?
That’s really up to individual plugin developers, so you’ll need to contact support for the specific plugins directly to find out what licensing and payment options they offer in this regard.
Do you see any other pros and cons of multi-site for my use case?
I don’t really have the experience needed to answer this. The biggest con, I’d say, is that you won’t have access to our support if you go this route :D
But the two hosts I mentioned above are specifically the hosting providers we recommend, and we know you’ll be in good hands with them.
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Thanks. You are making me think of having separate deployments.
I’m still interested in WordPress.com for a main site that would include my JetPack CRM and membership site with courses and other publications. What’s appealing about what you all are doing is that there is a whole martech stack that is entirely Automattic-supported (WordPress, WooCommerce, SkyVerge WC Memberships, JetPack CRM). I like having a single locus of accountability when possible. But what’s unusual is that unlike most single-support systems, this one has no lock-in – I can always port everything to a self-hosted WordPress instance. Right?
And then for consulting clients I can learn the multi-site setup in a self-hosted environment. Or use subdomains as I am doing now without multi-site.
Thanks, I think I have what I need to move forward, please feel free to close this ticket.
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