Web Site Assistance Needed

Paula:
You'll need to use some kind of email marketing tool to get an autoresponder.  I use Constant Contact, which is really simple to use and offers a lot of professional looking templates.  It's a subscription-based service and it's pretty inexpensive. 

To set up a shopping cart with PayPal is also pretty simple.  First create a business account on Paypal, then go to the Merchant Services section.  There are several different options, some are more complex and some are simpler.  You can add buttons to your website that will automatically link to Paypal for payment processing (with or without a shopping cart, depending on your needs).

Let me know if you need more help.

Cherie Tieppo

Cherie:  Thanks.  I'll check out Constant Contact.  Do you know anything about allowing customers to download ebooks?

No, sorry.  What kind of file is it?  Is it an MP3 or something like that?

Paula - if you'll give me your email address, I'll send you an email on Constant Contact that will give us both a $30 discount if you end up using it.

You can email it to me if you'd rather not post it - my email is ctieppo@comcast.net

Hi Paula,

I'd be happy to help, unless someone else out there has better ideas that will help you. I don't know if you are looking for someone to install and execute, to customize your WP site, or if you are looking for advice on how to do it yourself.

Here are a few suggestions:

For WordPress, there is a Plug-in called G-Lock Double Opt-in Manager that allows you to accept subscriptions with email confirmation to send onnline newsletters, etc. (You have to have PHP 5 on your server.)

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/g-lock-double-opt-in-manager/

http://www.glockeasymail.com/wordpress-email-newsletter-plugin-for-double-opt-in-subscription/

There is also a plugin for PHP list if you have PHP List for free email marketing on your website.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/phplist-form-integration/

http://www.phplist.com/

For e-Commerce, search "shopping cart" in the WordPress plug-ins to find a long list of options. One of them that sounds like a possibility for you is WP e-Commerce:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-e-commerce

I am fairly new to WordPress development, having an HTML and CSS background and now venturing into PHP and customizing WordPress to meet my cusomer's needs. I have been trying each of these options on some new sites that I have developed for my customers. I am still waiting for them to use them more frequently so that they can offer feedback on how they are working for them.

You can search the WordPress plugins for other options to see if there are any others that offer the features you are looking for. some of the plugins only work with newer versions of WordPress and some only work with older versions.

If you need more help doing this, message me and I can visit your site and see what you have so far.

Best of luck,

Carol Restovic