The administrator settings area is the main "control panel" of iGrOOps where any administrator can access.  This area can be entered ONLY by members who are setup as administrators for the iGrOOp.

To access the administrator settings, click the  icon in the main header of your iGrOOp.

If you place your cursor over any of the icons on the top menu for about 2 seconds, you will see a description of what the icon is for.

Navigating

Once inside the administrator settings, you can go from screen to screen by scrolling to the bottom and clicking the "Save and Next" button.  This will save the changes you made on that page, and take you to the next page, where you can choose to continue or just leave the page.  Alternatively, you can "jump" to any page in the administrator settings by using the pull down menu at the very top of the form, where the name of the page is listed (see figure 1). 

If you use the pull down feature, realize that it will NOT save any updates on the page you are leaving.  So if you are making changes on a page in the administrator settings, be sure to click the "Save and Next" button.

figure 1 - administrator settings quick jump

Only one administrator can be in the administrator settings at a time.  If more than one try to enter, or if an admin attempts to enter from two computers a the same time, the first session will be terminated.

The basic information page is where you enter, you guessed it, basic information about your iGrOOp.  Most of this information is for your iGrOOps listing in the iGrOOp directory, which can be found at http://www.igroops.com/browse .  Even if you have a private iGrOOp, you should still complete all this information, as it is used in several places.

If you do not want to be listed in the iGrOOps public directory, select "DO NOT LIST - private listing" from the category pulldown menu in your basic settings.

Deleting your iGrOOp.  If you are the main administrator of the iGrOOp and you are no longer using your iGrOOp and want it removed, use the link to send a private message to the administration team of iGrOOp to request that your account be deleted.  These removal requests are handled manually as well as verified by an iGrOOps staff member.

iGrOOp Name is case sensitive. This should be no more than a few words -- limit 25 alphanumeric characters.  Example: "Joel Barlow Class of 1990" or "Marketing 101".  This name appears 1) at the top of every page in the iGrOOp, 2) in the page title (if title tag is not used), 3) in e-mail notifications from the group, 4) in the iGrOOps directory (if listed), and in a few other misc areas.

Title Tag is used as the title for your main iGrOOp pages. This should be no more than a 12 words -- limit 150 alphanumeric characters.  Example: "Joel Barlow Class of 1990 - Virtual Reunion for Redding, CT" or "Marketing 101 - Your Ultimate Guide to Marketing Your Business".

Description should describe your iGrOOp.  This appears in most of the same places the iGrOOp name appears.

Keywords are used for the header tags in your iGrOOp pages -- this helps with search engine placement. Separate keywords with space and/or comma.

Custom Domain Name is the domain that you want to attach to this iGrOOp.  Use the "www" if that is how you want to call your site, or choose another subdomain, but do enter your domain in this format: subdomain.maindomain.extension.  For more details, check out method #2.

URL Mapping is a feature that you can only use if you are using your own domain name.  It is actually two great features in one: 1) it can be used as a "URL aliasing" feature to assign shorter and easier to remember URLs to some of your existing longer URLs and 2) it can be used as a redirect for domains that have moved from another server.

When you move your server or change your URLs around, your SEO rankings usually suffer due to URLs that are no longer valid.  With this feature, you can maintain your SEO rankings by forwarding your old URLs to the same content on your iGrOOp!

The URL you are aliasing/redirecting MUST end with an extension (e.g., .html) in order for this feature to work.

Example #1.  On membershipsitebuilding.com, we have a podcast about launching multiple membership sites.  The URL for this is http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/igroops/msb/blog/VIEW/00000008/00000027/Launching-Multiple-Membership-Sites.html#00000027 .  This is a URL that the search engines like, but not a great one to read to your friends.  Using URL Mapping, we have created the URL alias: http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/multiplegroups.html - much easier!  The entry in the MAP textbox looks like this:

/multiplegroups.html http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/igroops/msb/blog/VIEW/00000008/00000027/Launching-Multiple-Membership-Sites.html#00000027

(this is all on one line)

Note that the first part of this entry is just the path starting with a "/" and NOT a full URL, but the second part is a FULL URL.  The entry will not be accepted unless this format is followed.

Example #2. I am in the process of moving my non-igroops website over to an iGrOOp.  I have had it online for 4 years and I have many articles linked in many places.  I do not want to lose all this traffic!  So I will set up a MAP for each article and point the old URL to the location of the article within my iGrOOp.

Detailed Description should describe and sell your iGrOOp in great detail. In about 500 words or fewer, describe what this iGrOOp is all about -- "sell it". Only bold and italic HTML tags are allowed.  This is for your listing in the iGrOOps directory as well as your invite e-mail.

In large textareas where text is limited, you will see a counter that reads, "you have [  ] characters left".  This is a read only box that should let you know when you have reached the character limit.  There is nothing you need to enter in this box.

iGrOOp image is the "logo" or image for your group that will appear only on the iGrOOps directory.  You can use .jpg and .gif files, ideal size 250px wide by 250px tall, others will be resized automatically.

General category is the category listed under in the iGrOOps directory.  If any of the general categories do not fit your iGrOOp, select "Other" and within 30 days, upon review, a category will be manually created for you based on your description.

You can always notify us if you would like us to create a category for you.

Who can join this iGrOOp? If your iGrOOp is "open to all", this suggests that anyone can apply for membership and be accepted into your group (assuming they can pay, if a paid group).  Eligibility required means that there is some criteria that must be met, for example, "must be a member of xyz organization".  This is what you would enter in the membership requirements field.  This will show in the iGrOOps directory.

Security Settings

It is possible that one of your member's accounts may be compromised.  The username and password can show up on a public webpage and all of sudden can be accessed by thousands of people from all over the world.  This is not a good thing if you have valuable information you are trying to protect through membership requirements.  The solution: monitor the numbering the logins from multiple IP addresses.

By default, settings are set to notify any admins of the group if a member's account is accessed from three or more different IP addresses in a 24 hour period, and suspend a user's account if the member's account is accessed from ten or more IP addresses in a 24 hour period.

iGrOOps suggests the default settings for most accounts, but you can adjust this.  If you want to essentially shut off this feature, set both numbers to "99".

The main administrator's account cannot be suspended, but the admin will get notices for multiple IP logins for that account.

iGrOOps has many top-quality applications you can use within your iGrOOp.  Each application can be customized to allow certain members certain access rights.  This allows you to create an more open and public iGrOOp, or create a very private, closed iGrOOp.  The choice is yours.

For an introduction on access rights and permissions, see the getting started manual's page on access rights

It is suggested that you select only the applications you plan to use.  This will make your group more streamlined and less confusing for your members.  The checkbox next to the application name is the check for using the application or not.

Access Level. Depending the application or tool, it can have up to six access levels (three levels of membership times two permissions -- read and write). Guests are users who are not members of your iGrOOp or are not logged in. Limited Access Members are those who are registered at the first level in your iGrOOp. You can set a lower price point for this level of membership, or even make it free. Full Access Members are those who are registered at the higher level of membership in your iGrOOp.

You can choose to allow both or just one level of membership to your iGrOOp. By default, just the "Full Access" membership is available. You will still be charged the same for your limited access members as your full access members, but you can use the limited access membership as a marketing tool to convert/upgrade members to your full access membership.

Access / Permissions Explained

Let's explain this in detail using the above image as an example.  This is for the Audio / Video Postcards application.  Notice that there is the check to the left of the application name.  This means that we are using this application in our iGrOOp and will will appear in the applications listing.

Let's assume that we are using both limited and full access memberships.  The limited members we are not charging, and the full membership we are charging a fee.  Therefore, we want to give our paying members more features and functionality.

For this application, like most, we have a view and create option.  The view option allows others to view and listen to the message (postcards).  We have chosen to use these postcards as a marketing tool, so we want everyone to see them -- even non-members.  Because we checked "guests", both limited and full members automatically have access, since they are higher permissions than guests.  These checkboxes are greyed out because you cannot take away access from a higher level members when you give access to a lower level member.

"Guests" can also be referred to as "visitors" or the "world".  These are people who do not have a membership to your iGrOOp.

We have chosen to only allow full members the right to create postcards, this the checked box.  Notice that the limited members do NOT have a check in the "create" row.  This means they do not have the ability to create postcards.  Also notice that for guests, there is an "n/a" in the create row.  This means that iGrOOps does not allow guests the ability to create postcards.

In most places where there is an "n/a", it is because the tool requires a valid login to associate the item created for posted with the creator.  This also provides a significant layer of protection for the group.

The benefit feature of iGrOOps was designed to help the administrator add value to their memberships by working with vendors to offer members discounts, or even free products and/or services.  Benefits can be seen by prospective members when clicking on the benefits icon within the iGrOOp, or the benefits icon that appears in the main iGrOOps directory listing.

If you are charging a membership fee for your iGrOOp, it is a great idea to work with vendors who offer products or services that would interest your members and ask the vendors for special promotions that you can offer your members.  It is a win-win deal!

Accessing the Benefits

Both limited and full members have access to the benefits -- not just full members.  Once logged in to your iGrOOp, they will see a  icon in the header.  By clicking on this icon, members will see a listing of all the benefits you have entered for your iGrOOp, along with the coupon code and expiration date (if entered - see figure 1). You can also give your members the option to print "coupon", if the benefit is more like a coupon then just a link to a website with a special offer (see figure 2).

When prospects access the benefits, they can see the benefit title, image, and the description, but NOT the coupon code. Be sure you do not put any information in the description that should be for members only.

figure 1 - an example benefit entered as seen by the member

figure 2 - the same benefit after the member clicked "print coupon"  -- this would open in a new window

Adding and Editing Benefits

Benefit title should be short and descriptive -- it is limited to 60 characters.  Use only numbers, letters, spaces, % and or $. 

Benefit description is a detailed description of the benefit, including instructions to redeem the benefit.

Benefit image can be a vendor logo or image of product. Use only JPG or GIF files, no larger than 100px wide and 100px tall, others will be resized automatically.

Coupon code is a vendor provided code used to track promotions.  This will only be seen by members.

Expiration date should be used only if the benefit expires, at which time it should be removed from your benefits.

Editing your existing benefits is done by clicking on the pencil icon where your benefits are listed.  This will open up your benefits page again with all the benefit information already entered.  From there you can make changes and/or delete the benefit.

If you do not have any group benefits entered, the benefits icon will not show to members or prospects.

Want benefits???  The Internet is full of coupons and offers that you can use for your iGrOOp.  Be sure you copy the correct coupon code and expiration date when copying on your site.  Check the vendor's coupon/website to make sure they have no rules against duplicating their coupons (most don't).

iGrOOps uses shared profiles for member registration.  This makes it simple and attractive for members of one group to browse other groups and join.  The shared profile contains standard information like nickname, name, address, contact info, etc.   But there are times when groups will want to collect more information from members.  This is where the additional member information comes in handy.

Additional member information can be collected in many formats such as input area, textarea, multiple choice and select fields.

There are three types of additional member information.  They are private (default), public, and adminonly.  Each serves a different purpose.

Adding Additional Member Information Fields

What you are doing is basically creating an online form using HTML form elements.  The good news is, you do not need to know HTML coding.  These additional information fields are set up in your administrator settings. Just follow the simple steps.

1. Enter Question / Information You Are Seeking.  This is what you are prompting the user for.  For example, "Where were you born?" or "How did you hear about us?"
2. Select what Type of answer required.  "Type" refers to the format of the answer.  Your choices are 1) short answer, which would give the users a text box to enter their answer, b) long answer, which would give uses a text area (multiple line box for free typing), or c) multiple choice, where you would enter the multiple choice answers below, one choice per line.  If there are many possible answers for your multiple choice question a pulldown menu is used in place or radio or checkboxes.
3. Enter and optional Explanation.  This will explain the info you are requesting on the right side of the form in the notes column.  For example, if you are asking for the member's birthplace, it is a good idea to explain if you are looking for city, state, country, or all three, and perhaps why you need this info.
4. Information Type.  Is it private, public, or adminonly? (see below for details)
5. Click either the "Add Another" or "Save and Next" button at the bottom of the page.

To edit or delete a field, click on the pencil icon next to the information you want to edit or delete.  The screen will refresh with the details filled in. You can then edit or delete the information.

The "order" area lists each of your questions in the order they appear on the forms.  You can select the question and use the up or down arrow to adjust the order of the questions.

"Private" Information Type 

The additional member info allows the administrator to prompt the prospective member for information in the application process that would be of interest for the admin.  This information can be used in the decision making process to accept or reject the member, for marketing purposes, or for anything else.  This information is "private" and only seen by the admin.

When members apply for membership to your iGrOOp, they go through a step by step process.  This process can be as simple as one step for groups with no additional applicant information, no membership options, and no payment needed.  When you use the administrator's settings option to request additional information from users, it adds another step in the membership application process.

Many studies have shown that people are more likely for complete simple forms versus longer, complex ones.  To increase membership, keep your additional requested information as short as possible.

Do NOT ask for credit card numbers or other information that must be secured! The information you ask for is sent to you by unsecured e-mail.

This information collected is stored on the server and available in the member's profile.  This information can also been seen in the "Pending Members" area where you go to approve or decline the member.

Example:  For one of our house groups, we collect the following information from new applicants:

This is what the applicant sees when completing the group's membership application.  This information is not required, that is, it will let the member proceed with the application without completing the fields -- it is up to the admin to approve of decline the application based on the information given.

When an administrator goes to approve the application by visiting the "pending membership" section, he or she will see this information as well.

In addition, group administrators will have access to this information (both viewing and editing) in the member's group profile:

"Public" Information Type

Questions you check off as "public" will be seen by the member in the member's profile withing your group only.  There the member can enter the answers to the questions or enter the information you prompt them for.  Other members can see the answers to these questions when viewing the member's profile.  Admins can edit this information on behalf of the member.

Example: We want to know where our affiliates are using displaying their banners. We cannot ask them this at the time they join (because they just joined!).  This is also information we want affiliates to share with other affiliates -- to give others ideas how to best promote iGrOOps.  So we created a question that appears in the member's profile for this group only.  This is where they edit their profile by clicking the edit icon in the main header:

Like the private information, administrators can see and edit this information in the member's profile.  Unlike the private information, other members who view this member's profile will see this information, thus being "public".

"Adminonly" Information Type

You can enter questions that only admins can see and access when viewing the member profile.  The member cannot see this information.  This is like the "for office use only" section you see on many paper forms.

Example: We call our affiliates and speak with them.  We want to make notes in their profile based on our conversation.  These notes we want only administrators of our group to see -- not the members.  "adminonly" information type is perfect for this:

Your Own Terms and Conditions

All members of any iGrOOp are bound by the standard iGrOOps terms and conditions which covers just about all legal issues.  However, if you want to implement your own set of "rules and guidelines" here is the place to do it.  Simply enter the text here and your prospective members will have to agree to them before continuing with the application.

iGrOOps was designed to allow the administrator to blend in their iGrOOp with an existing website or any color theme. iGrOOps allows you to set the color theme by choosing one of the many default color themes, or creating your own theme.

You can also set the background image within your iGrOOp, but this is done within your home page designer.

Selecting / Creating a Theme

Selecting a theme is very straightforward -- just select the theme you want to use and click the "Save and Next" button. Your new theme will be immediately implemented.

You MAY need to refresh your browser to make sure your are getting the lasted version of the page. This is the "F5" key on most browsers.

To create a custom theme, select the last option in the list for the custom theme. Then you need to enter the hexadecimal values of the colors you want to use. You can find these values in several charts on the Internet.

Make sure you choose very light colors for the light colors and very dark colors for the dark colors. If you don't, the text will be hard to read and you will see white dots surrounding the icons.

Before you make your iGrOOp live (by announcing it), be sure to complete this section.

Membership Approval

You can select if you will be approving your members or not. If you do choose to approve your members, you (or all the administrators and the director or membership/membership committee if specified) will get an e-mail notice when a prospective member is awaiting your approval. The link in the e-mail will take you to the Pending Members admin area where you can see the member details and choose to approve or decline membership.

Membership approval is an important part of any on-line community to improve the quality of the membership. It may be tempting to have your members be auto approved, but consider the benefits of approving each member.

The new member e-mail will be sent to all members upon your approval. The default e-mail has all the vital information needed by a new member and should be fine, but this area allows you to customize your message. The "from e-mail address" can be changed to any valid e-mail address.

Membership Fees

With a professional iGrOOp, you can set your membership fees or keep them at $0 (free to join).

For an introduction to the way membership fees and payments work, see the section on membership fees in the Getting Started Manual.

Full access yearly fee is the amount (in USD) you can choose to charge your full access customers for one year of membership. This membership begins on the day you approve the membership and ends one year from that date. Any "free" trial period used will be in addition to the one year. For example, if you offer a 1 month free trial and you approve your member on Jan 1, 2008, the membership will expire Feb 1, 2009. Members who pay yearly must renew their membership on a yearly basis.

Full access monthly fee is the amount (in USD) you can choose to charge your full access customers each month of membership. This membership begins on the day you approve the membership and does not end until either party cancels the membership.

The terms of both memberships are the same -- one year. However, monthly payments can be more marketable for higher priced memberships. You can also choose not to hold your members to a full year commitment if paying monthly. This choice (refunds, commitment terms) is YOURS.

Full access new member fee (one time) is an optional amount (in USD) that you can choose to charge your full access members upon registration. If you are using a free trial, they will not be charged this fee until after their free trial period expires.

Use limited access memberships as well must be specified if you choose to use this level. Why? Because the limited access amounts can be set to $0, thus providing a free limited access option.

You cannot choose just to use limited access and not full access. You need to use full access if you are also using limited access.

Limited access yearly fee is the amount (in USD) you can choose to charge your limited access customers for one year of membership. This membership begins on the day you approve the membership and ends one year from that date. Any "free" trial period used will be in addition to the one year. For example, if you offer a 1 month free trial and you approve your member on Jan 1, 2008, the membership will expire Feb 1, 2009. Members who pay yearly must renew their membership on a yearly basis.

Limited access monthly fee is the amount (in USD) you can choose to charge your limited access customers each month of membership. This membership begins on the day you approve the membership and does not end until either party cancels the membership.

Limited access new member fee (one time) is an optional amount (in USD) that you can choose to charge your limited access members upon registration. If you are using a free trial, they will not be charged this fee until after their free trial period expires.

The promotion code is a code that you choose. With this code, users can enter the code as a form of payment when registering. The promotion code will give any member who uses it the free one year full access option.

If you have a free iGrOOp, or if you set all dollar amounts to zero, the payment part of the registration form will be skipped and users will be registered as full access users with a one year membership.

Trial Periods

You can give your prospective members a trial period from 1 day to 6 months. This would mean that the member still needs to enter payment information, they just will not be charged until after the trail period has ended. If the member cancels before the end of the trial period, you as the admin must cancel the subscription in PayPal or Authorizenet. 

Free Trial Periods vs. RISK Free Trial Periods. iGrOOps offers admins two options when it comes to offering members trial periods. The difference only affects members who choose to pay YEARLY. If you offer a 1 month "free" trial period, this means yearly members who sign up on Jan 1, 2008, for example, will have free membership from Jan 1 - Jan 31, 2008, then start paying Feb 1, 2008 and have service until Feb 1, 2009. If you offer a 1 month "risk free" trial period, this means yearly members who sign up on Jan 1, 2008, for example, will just start paying Feb 1, 2008 and have service until Jan 1, 2009.

There is NO difference between a "free" and a "risk free" trial period when using monthly memberships. This is because monthly members do not have a membership expiration date -- they pay each month until they cancel or are canceled.

Payment Gateways

iGrOOps does not collect money for you -- we simply provide the membership and payment forms that connect with your on-line processor (assuming AuthorizeNet or PayPal). If you are collecting membership payments, you need either a) a business PayPal account, b) an AuthorizeNet account or c) a way to collect money from your members outside the iGrOOps forms.

Collecting Payment Yourself. If you check the box, "Do not collect payment with application. Upon approving the application I will contact the member for payment myself." The member will not be prompted for payment. Here are some examples where you may choose to use this option:

• If your iGrOOp will be used for existing customers that you are already billing, and you will just add this to their bills that you are already sending them
• If you choose not to use PayPal or AuthNet, but you do have another credit card merchant account where you can run the cards through manually

Using PayPal. If you have a PayPal account (and you probably do) you can do a quick upgrade for no charge to their premier or business account, then you start accepting credit cards as a form of payment. Simply enter your PayPal address and you are ready to go!

PayPal has in-depth documentation on using their system to accept payments. iGrOOps has done all the technical work for you. You just need to read up on how to see payments within PayPal.

Using AuthorizeNet. AuthorizeNet is a more costly solution to credit card processing (since PayPal is free), but it provides a better interface for the customer and more control for the merchant. You may find that you can get better processing rates as using AuthorizeNet as well.

AuthorizeNet's system has a subscription, or ARB (automated recurring billing) option for $10 per month. This is needed if you wish to offer monthly memberships and payment through AuthorizeNet in your iGrOOp. Otherwise, stick with yearly payments or use PayPal instead.

To use AuthorizeNet, you need to enter your AuthorizeNet API Login ID and your AuthorizeNet Transaction Key, both of which can be obtained through your AuthorizeNet merchant interface. Consult the AuthorizeNet documents with details on how to do this.

New to collecting fees on the Internet? No sweat! We suggest starting with PayPal since it is free and easy. When you start to build up some revenue, look into getting a real merchant account and using AuthorizeNet.

Add / Edit Admin Team Role

Here is where you setup roles for your admin team. For a complete description of the roles and what they are all about, please see http://www.igroops.com/igroops/ids/docs/adminman/adminteam .

Adding, editing and removing members from the admin team is as simple as selecting the admin team member, the role, and the percentage share you wish to give them for the role. To edit a role, click the pencil icon by the name of the person in the role and make your changes.

As of now, the percentage share is for your records. Soon iGrOOps will incorporate statistics that show the admin's shares based on those percentages.

iGrOOps has a growing list of state of the art web-based applications and tools utilizing web 2.0 technology.  In this section you will find the iGrOOps administrator's guide to these amazing tools.

iGrOOps applications are easy to use.  They were created to be intuitive -- where no documentation is needed.  The right-hand column of each application will tell you what you need to know to use the applications.  These docs are for administrators who want a detailed understanding of these applications and want to get the most out of these tools.

This page covers the common settings that appear in most of the applications.  For details on the custom settings that appear in some of the applications, see the right side notes section in the configuration area for a complete explanation. 

Just about every application within iGrOOps allows for some sort of customization.  This customization can be in the form of user preferences and/or administrator's settings or configurations.  Only an administrator can see and access the configurations for each application.

Not all applications have configurations and user preferences, although most do.

The difference between user preferences and admin configurations for each application is that user preferences effect the user only who sets them, and the admin configurations effect all users of the application.

How To Access the Admin Configurations

figure 1 - an application in the "Available Applications" section

When you click the "available applications" icon, you will see a listing of all the applications.  If the application has the configuration icon (  ) then you just need to click on it to access the configurations.  Alternatively, if you are in the application, you may see this icon in the menu.  This is another way to access these settings.

You MUST be logged in ad administrator to see this icon.  members cannot see this icon nor access this configuration.

Entering the Data

Most of the applications have the same configurations fields, however, some are unique.  Here is an explanation of all the fields and what they mean.

• Introduction.  The introduction is a brief but detailed description of this application and how your members can use this application.  This appears at the top of each application, like the header for the application.  You can use this to upload custom image headers and graphics for your applications.  It allows for full HTML so be creative!
• Default View.  Some applications, like the postcards, allow you to choose what the members will see when they access your application.
• Admin Team w/ Admin Access.  One of the benefits of assigning admin team members, is that you can give admin access to an application to the entire team easily.  If you do not have any admin team members assigned, you will not see any appear in this list.  If there are roles listed in the list, check the checkbox associated with the role and the entire team will have admin access.
• Members with Admin Access.  List the nicknames of the members you would like to have admin access to the application.  They will only have admin access to the application you give them access to, not global admin access.
• Do NOT allow trial members "member access" to this application.  if you are using trial membership, you may choose not to allow trial members access to a certain application.  Let's say you have a audio file that people would usually pay $50 for... you would not want a non-paying member to download this, then never sign up.
• Hide the nickname of the creator/uploader in the search/browse listing.  Most listings will display the nickname of the uploader/creator next to it.  However, this is pointless if one or two admins are doing all the uploading, and may look better without the nickname next to it.
• Allow the Administrator(s) to e-mail the entire group.  In some applications, like the postcards, the administrator can e-mail the entire group the postcard directly from within the application.

There is no option to allow members to e-mail the entire group because there is no approval process for these kinds of direct e-mails to the group from within the application.

• Time Zone.  Enter your local time zone so that comments and posts that use date/time stamps are coded with your local time zone.  Time zones can be different for each application.
• Expand all category folders by default.  If you do not have that many entries, you may want to select this option.  It means one fewer click from the member and a better user experience.  However, with many categories and entries in each category, it could be too much text.
• E-mail Notifications When.   You define when you want to be notified depending on actions taken by your members.
• E-mail Notifications to Whom.  You choose who should receive these notifications.

Administrators will see a paint pallet  icon in the header (if using standard icons) of their iGrOOp, or "HOMEPAGE EDITOR" in the footer if using custom full-size header.  These link to the homepage editor, which contain the tools that dictate the overall look and feel of the iGrOOp.

Much of the design aspects are explained in detail on the site design page.

You can use this tool to make changes "on the fly", meaning updates take effect immediately.  However, you may need to press the "F5" key to refresh your browser to see the changes due to your "cache" on your local PC.

There are many options in this area, most of which are explained briefly in the right hand column of the page.  This document does go into greater detail.

Some of the options mentioned in this document appear in the pro option only, not the free option.

A note on the expanding menus: the majority of the content is hidden to keep the look clean and simple.  Make sure when you click the menu to expand the sections, you allow enough time for your browser to download the content and redraw the screen.

Pro Package Features

These are some of the features that are exclusive to the PRO package users.

Header / Footer / Navigation

This section allows iGrOOp administrators to "hide" iGrOOps from the members, or at least make it more difficult for them to realize that their group is part of iGrOOps, and create a look and feel that is unique.

Due to technical reasons, you cannot completely hide iGrOOps from your members -- unless you choose a dedicated server, custom label solution.  This is due to the fact that parts of iGrOOps must run on our secure URL, and some software such as the chat clients are licensed to the "igroops.com" domain only.  Dedicated solutions start at $750 per month.  Ask us for more details if you are interested in this option.

Small Left Header Image.  If you choose the "classic" style iGrOOp look, the one where the icons are used across the top, you have some space on the left top for a small logo or group name.  This can be no taller than 50 pixels and should be no wider than about 350 pixels.  This is the easiest customization option since only one small logo is needed.

Make the background color of your image the same exact color as the background color of the top header.  This will give your logo a nice "blended" look.

example of a header image mixed in with the icons -- notice background of image is same color as background of the header -- cool!

Full Header Image and Full Footer Image.  This is the option you would use to really customize the look and feel of your group.  This is explained in great detail on the site design page.

Favicon.  The "favicon" is the tiny image that appears to the left the URL in the address bar.  Using a custom image is a great way for even more band recognition.  Creating a favicon cannot easily be done with standard image software, rather special online tools can be use.  Here is a great free online tool that does a wonderful job creating these icons.

Site Icons / Links.  Unlike a custom website, your iGrOOp has several important links that are necessary for smooth navigation.  Some of these links can be hidden and some cannot.  You can choose to hide some of these links/icons from members and/or non-members or those who are not logged in.

Some links that you choose to hide will hide those links that may appear elsewhere.  For example, if you choose to hide the "applications" link, the link to applications that would normally appear at the top of the page when viewing an application will no longer be there.

The online documentation creator is a tool used to create on-line documentation much like the help files used by desktop applications.  This tool makes creating documentation easy while automatically creating expanding menus and searchable documents.

Features & Benefits

• You can choose to allow members to comment on each page in your documentation.  This will allow you to use your member's comments to make more complete documentation... very "web 2.0 ish"!
• Add supporting documentation links using other iGrOOps applications like audio, video, a/v, FAQs, or use any other outside supporting source.
• Set the access rights on a per documentation basis.  This will allow you to create documents for the public, members only, or even just administrators if you wish.
• Enter complete description and keyword tags for each page to increase search engine exposure and placement.
• Expandable menus just like most desktop software.  This gives users a familiar and comfortable environment.
• An easy-to-use menu creator that allows you to shuffle the order of pages and create hassle-free expandable menus.
• WYSIWYG page creator.  No need to know HTML!
• Choose from several pre-defined note boxes to spice up your documentation and bring attention to important or interesting information.
• The search feature provides users with an simple way to search the documentation.
• The print feature makes it easy for users to print the entire documentation in a printer-friendly format.

Add value to your iGrOOp by allowing your members to create their own documentation.

Activating this Feature

Like all iGrOOps applications, you must activate this in your administrator settings.

1. Make sure you are logged on to iGrOOps and you are an administrator of the iGrOOps in which you are logged in.
2. Click the administrator settings icon on the top menu (the icon with the two checks)
3. Select "Edit iGrOOps: Applications / Permissions" from the pull down menu at the top of the page.
4. Scroll down until you see "Documentation Creator" - make sure that application is checked (selected).
5. Choose the permissions you would like for this application.
6. Click the "Save and Next" button at the bottom of the page.

This application will now show as an available application in your iGrOOp.

What are "permissions"?  Permissions are what allow certain users access to an application.  For the documentation creator, permissions can be set to allow users to READ documentation created, and permissions to allow users to CREATE documentation.

The "world" is anyone who is not a registered member of iGrOOps.  "Visitor" is a member of another iGrOOp besides yours.  "Member" is a registered member of your iGrOOp.

Documentation Architecture

The iGrOOps documentation, or "docs" for short, is made of two parts: the document and the pages.  An iGrOOp can have unlimited docs and each doc can have unlimited pages.

Each doc can be accessed by a direct URL which looks like this:

http://www.igroops.com/igroops/[your_igroop]/docs/[docname]

Now each page within the document can also be accessed by a direct URL:

http://www.igroops.com/igroops/[your_igroop]/docs/[docname]/[pagename]

You choose your own [docname] and [pagename].  These must be simple names consisting of only letters and/or numbers.

Creating a New Document

A "document" can be anything that contains information with one or more pages.  The document has a menu which appears on the left hand side of the page and allows for easy navigation between pages within the document.

To create a new document:

1. Visit your documentation creator.  You can browse to it by clicking the applications icon within your iGrOOp, or access the URL directly
   
   http://www.igroops.com/igroops/[your_igroop]/docs/
   
2. Click the "Create / Edit Documentation" link.
3. Under "Create New Documentation" click the "Create New" link.
4. Complete on-line instructions or follow detailed instructions below.

Start with the Global Settings.  These global settings are for the entire document and only need to be set once -- prior to the creation of the first page.

• Access to documentation.  You can choose to deny guests (world), visitors, trial members, or members, to this documentation.  Keep in mind that the global permissions take precedence over these permissions.  So if you have already denied the world read permissions/access, leaving that box unchecked will not do anything.
• Documentation Name. This will be the human-readable name of the documentation that is shown in the documentation list, and at the top of each page of the documentation.  This can be up to 100 characters and can contain just about any character.  This should be a descriptive name that identifies what your document is all about.
• Documentation Name in URL.  This will be the filename for the document that appears in the URL.  You can use only letters and numbers.  This should be descriptive and short (50 characters max). For example, for this document, the Admin Manual, the filename is “adminman”.
• Allow members to comment on each page in this documentation.  Check this option if you want to allow members to comment on each page of the documentation.  The comments will be shown publicly on each page and you as the creator of the document can remove any comments if you wish.
• Notify me by e-mail when a member adds or modifies a comment to any page in this documentation.  Just what it sounds like.  “Me” in this sentence is the creator of the documents. The creator does not have to be an administrator (can be regular member).
• Change Owner.  The administrator(s) only have the option to change the owner of the docs by entering the nickname of the new owner.  Remember that nicknames are case sensitive.
• Delete Entire Documentation.  If you are editing a page, you will see this option available under the global options.  By checking this box, and confirming this action via the pop-up window, you will delete all pages within the document as well as all comments for the page.  This action cannot be undone so use with caution.

The change owner option will only show for administrators of the iGrOOp, not to members.  The Delete Entire Documentation option will only show when you are editing an existing page within the document – not when creating a new page.

People like to get information in many different ways.  Some people like familiar formats such as written documents ( like this one ), where others prefer seeing examples, trying demos, watching videos, etc.  As a creator of a document, you can link other supporting material to your documents by entering the complete URL under the “resource links” option.  These URLs are specific for the page which they are on. Some options such as the resource links are hidden by default to save space.  If you wish to enter any resource links for a page, you must click on the green plus icon to the left of the words “Resource Links”. The resource links will appear at the top of the page in a consistent, organized format.  Only the icons/links will show where you have entered a URL.  The following link options are available: 

• Audio Link – use the MP3/Video library or any external audio file URL
• A/V Presentation Link – use the A/V Creator
• Demo Link – use a URL to a working demo of the product you are describing
• Example Link – a URL to an example       
• FAQ Link – use the FAQ creator and link to the specific category
• Images Link – create a photo gallery or screen captures or other image
• Video Link – use the MP3/Video library or any external video file URL

Local page setting apply to the page being created only, not the entire document.

• Page Title. This will be the human-readable name of the page that is shown in the left menu, and at the top of each page of the documentation.  This can be up to 100 characters and can contain just about any character.  This should be a descriptive name that identifies what the page is all about.
• Page Name in URL.  This will be the filename for the page that appears in the URL.  You can use only letters and numbers.  This should be descriptive and short (50 characters max). For example, for this document, the page name is “doccreator”.
• Page Description.  This is the description that is coded in the description meta tag viewable within search engines and by search engines.
• Keywords. Words that help describe what the page is about.  This is coded in the keywords meta tag viewable within search engines and by search engines.
• Documentation Menu Order.  Use this javascript-based tool to define how your left menu will look and in what order your documents will appear.  Use the up arrows to move a selected document up in the order, the down arrow to move a document down, the right arrow to indent a selected document, and the left arrow to take an indent away.

Your menu must begin with a document that is NOT INDENTED.  Otherwise, the menu will not function correctly.  If you are deleting the first page of a document, make sure you adjust the indents of the other documents, or add a “splash page” in its place.

• Page Content.  This is a HTML editor that uses familiar buttons and icons to define how your page will look.  One tool that may be unfamiliar is the “styles” pull down menu which contains several pre defined “notes” that you can use to spice up your documentation and call attention to certain points.  These styles are all shown below.  To create a special note using one of these styles, start by hitting the enter key to create a new paragraph, select a style from the list, then type your note.  You will see the text appear in your note.  DO NOT HIT THE ENTER KEY WITHOUT HOLDING THE SHIFT KEY WITHIN THE NOTE.  If you do, it will look ok, but when it saves the formatting will be gone.  To create a new line within the note, hold the shift key then hit the enter key.

Use these neat styles to enhance the look and readability of your documents.

If you use another editor, like Word, to create your doc pages, then cut and paste, these styles can get messed up.

This is a really great feature -- this entire page took me just minutes to create (longer to write)

These tips will help you to sell more product (in a very indirect way)

These tips use CSS with embedded background images inserted by the WYSIWYG text editor.

Remember not to forget things you once knew but no longer don't.

If these tips look distorted in your final page, it most likely has something to do with spaces.  Remove the tip, make sure there are spaces before the tip, then add it back in.

• Delete Page.  If you are editing an existing page, you will see the option to delete the page.  By deleting the page you will be also deleting any and all comments associated with the page.
• Edit Member Comments.  Any comments left by members will be in this section (remember to click on the plus icon to expand the section to view all the reviews.  You can delete any comments – you cannot actually edit them, unless you were the one who left the comment.

The document creator uses a single comment system, meaning each member can leave only one comment per page.  Anytime the member returns to the page, their comment will be in the text field where they can edit or update it, but it will still be just one comment.  This single comment system prevents members from using comments as a personal support system and prevents members from carrying on conversations within the document comments.

Don’t forget to click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page to save your work. It is suggested that you save your page often during the creation phase.  Since you are using an online tool, you will not have a local copy.  Save often!

Editing a Page

Once a page is created, you can make changes to it by following steps 1 - ? above for creating a new document, then selecting the page you wish to edit in the “Page To Edit” pull down menu.  When you select the page from the menu, you will automatically be taken to the page for editing.

Make sure you allow enough time for the page to load or you will not see the content in the editor.

Deleting the Entire Document

To delete an entire document, you must first edit or start to create a new page within that document.  Click on the global settings link to expand that link, and you will then see the checkbox for deleting the entire document.  Check that box, click "yes" on the confirm box, and save/edit the document.  This will delete the entire document with all pages and comments so be sure this is what you want -- there is no "undo" for this option!

So you want to communicate with your members.  You want it to be in real time, and you want members to hear you and/or see you.  The teleconferencing might work, but you know some people will not call a long distance number, plus, you really want your members to give you live feedback via real-time chat.  The video chat might work, but with each participant broadcasting audio and or video, it could be a mess for a one-to-many "webinar" type event.  Solution? The iGrOOps Live Broadcaster!

The live broadcaster was developed out of the growing need for an administrator of a group to communicate and audio/video message to his or her members in real-time, while allowing the members to offer real-time feedback, using an incredibly simple interface.  It is a flash-based application that loads in seconds and allows for hundreds of participants.

The live broadcaster is the ideal compliment to any Pocaster!  Imagine doing live podcasts and having participants ask questions and leave comments as you podcast.  Welcome to the next phase of podcasting evolution.

Activating Your Live Broadcaster

All members have access to this new application.  Like all applications, in order to activate for your group, you must go into your "administrator settings", then select the second tab at the top of the screen - "Applications / Permissions".  Scroll down and look for the "Live Broadcaster".  Make sure it is checked, and choose the permissions.

The live broadcaster now supports integration with Ustream.tv or Justin.tv as well.  Use the iGrOOps brodcaster if you want members only to participate, or use the Ustream.tv/Justin.tv option if you want it open to the world and want to use many advanced options that those other services have to offer.  But keep in mind those services will show advertising on your video stream.

Only the administrator is allowed to control who can broadcast with the iGrOOps broadcaster.  You can choose to allow limited members and/or full access members to participate or not.  If you ever wanted to allow a member to broadcast, you can give that member admin access to the application, or be on the boradcast with the member and choose to make the member the broadcaster.

Once your broadcaster is activated, you need to link the application somewhere within your iGrOOp.  Most people will choose to just add this application to the list of "featured applications" on the left column.  This is done in the homepage editor, under the "left column" section.

Setting Up Your Admin Options

Just as you begin to introduce any application, you should setup the admin options by clicking the "admin options" link within the application.

• Introduction - the text at the top of the broadcaster application.  Suggestion: use your calendar to schedule live events and provide a link to your calendar within the introduction.
• USTREAM URL - If you enter a USTREAM.TV URL, USTREAM will be used as your broadcasting application IN PLACE OF the member's only broadcaster. Remember, ustream is a public broadcasting service.
• USTREAM Video Embed - Embed code provided by USTREAM in the "share" tab of their interface.  No need to modify it.
• USTREAM Chat Embed - Embed code provided by USTREAM in the "share" tab of their interface.  No need to modify it.
• Twitter Message - This will only be seen if using the public USTREAM option. This is the message that will make up the first part of the Tweet... no need to enter the URL -- this will be appended. Example, "Live Event: Join us for a discussion about XYZ". 100 characters max.
• Whiteboard message - leave a message for those about to enter the live broadcast.  Use this for welcoming members, last minute details, instructions, or next broadcast time.
• Private lock code - You can require a private code for any given session (does not work with USTREAM option).  This way, before the member can enter the broadcast, they must provide the code.  Using this feature you can invite only certain members to participate.

Broadcasting Using the iGrOOps Broadcaster

As an administrator, when entering the application you will see TWO links: "Start Broadcasting" and "Launch Live Broadcast Console".

note: the text above the "start broadcasting" link is the whiteboard message.

Assuming you want to broadcast, click the "start broadcasting" link.  The flash broadcaster will launch in a new window with administrator (brodcaster) permissions.

Once the window opens, find yourself in the "participants" window and click on your name/nickname.

The option you want as broadcaster is "Set Speaker".  This will activate your webcam and microphone, and allow you to start broadcasting.  You will see two windows, one is your local video and the larger one is the main video that all participants see.  You can close your local video by clicking the webcam icon at the top of the screen.

Other Options:

• "Set Inquirer" will allow another participant to also broadcast audio and video at the same time.  This is great for two way video conversations and/or question and answer sessions.  There can be only one inquirer at a time.
• "Kick" will disconnect someone from the server.  They can get back on unless you block them from your iGrOOp and cancel their membership.
• "Watch Privately" will allow only you, the administrator, to see another participant.
• "Private Chat" will start a private chat session.
• "Block" and "Unblock" will stop the allow uses from chatting.

You can broadcast audio and video OR audio only.  To broadcast audio only, right click anywhere on the screen, and go to settings.  In the settings, de-select your valid webcam.

Once complete with the dialog, you will be broadcasting!

Participating

Participating could not be easier.  As a participant, just click the "launch live broadcast console" link.  There is no dialog box, and you will immediately start hearing/seeing the broadcaster.

Only the administrator sees the choice to broadcast.  The member does not see this link.

Some Podcasting Tips

This application currently does NOT record, but using your favorite desktop podcaster/audio recorder, you can have that software running while you are broadcasting.  Also, if you want to record the video for podcasts, use the USTREAM option.

Looking for podcasting software?  On the PC we suggest Castblaster or Audacity, and on the MAC you can use Garageband.

For more on podcasting see http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/members/msb/blog/VIEW/00000008/00000015/Episode1-Podcasting-for-Your-Online-Group.html#00000015

Miscellaneous Notes

• Security is set so the member must be logged in, and accepting cookies by a third party
• Participants can arrive before the broadcaster
• There can only be one broadcaster at a time
• the broadcaster and participants should be on a high speed connection for best results
• broadcasting with audio only will produce better results for most participants due to the lower bandwidth needed
• USTREAM is a free service, thus is ad supported.  If you or your members will be offended by ads, do not use USTREAM

Live Broadcasting with USTREAM.tv

If you plan to have more than 50 or so people watching your broadcast, or if you want non-members to participate, it is advisable that you use the USTREAM.tv option for broadcasting.  This requires that you get a free USTREAM.tv account, and that you subject your viewers to a few ads, but the features and functionality make it well worth it.

Here is a step by step outline that will show you how to:

• create a USTREAM.TV account
• Setup your iGrOOps broadcaster so that it is using the USTREAM.tv option
• Broadcast your video
• moderate the chat
• record your video
• embed your latest episode and/or live stream in your iGrOOp

Create your USTREAM.tv account. Visit http://www.ustream.tv and click on the "sign up" link at the top right of the page.  Follow the online instructions to complete the setup of your account.

Setup your iGrOOps broadcaster so that it is using the USTREAM.tv option.  Look for a link that says "Go to show URL" and click that link.  This is the URL that you want to copy from your address bar and paste into your iGrOOps admin options, within the Live Broadcast application:

Now embed your video and chat into your admin options.  To get these URLs, visit the USTREAM.tv page, "Your Shows" >> "Share".  You will see the embed code for the video and the chat.  Copy and paste these into your admin options in iGrOOps.

As of USTREAM.tv's latest update (April 26, 2009), the embedded chat is not working.  Users of USTREAM.tv are reporting many issues with the chat, so it is suggested that you use a Meebo chat room instead.  You can create your chat room at http://www.meebo.com, and use the embed code to enter into your iGrOOps admin options for the embed chat.

(this is in USTREAM.tv)

(this is where you paste in iGrOOps)

Broadcast your video.  Broadcasting is actually quite easy.  Just click the "broadcast now" button and away you go.  There are many options within the broadcast console window, but they are all optional.  See ustream.tv docs for details.

When broadcasting, expand the chat section from the broadcasting section.  Do NOT leave your iGrOOps live broadcast screen open, or you will hear a massive echo!

Moderate the chat.  When you are logged into ustream.tv, you are the moderator.  There are commands you can use and buttons to delete chat comments and more.  Again, see ustream.tv for complete docs on this if needed, but it is pretty straight forward.

Record your video.  The great part about ustream.tv versus the iGrOOps chat is that you can record your videos and archive them. Within iGrOOps, you can then embed the lastest recorded video on your homepage.  When broadcasting, look for the "record" tab. Click to start recording.  When you are done, be sure to save the recording.

Embed your recorded video.  Click on the "Your Videos" tab/link at ustream.tv.  Select your video that you want to embed.  Click on the "menu" and press the play to activate the video.  You will see the embed code that you need to copy.

Once you copy this code, paste it in your admin options section that asks for homepage.

The teleconference "application" can be used in place of or in addition to the chat applications.  There are still many "old school" people out there that prefer the simplicity and familiarness of phone-based conferences. Web access is NOT required to have teleconferences.

Why not hold both teleconferences and online chats?  Reach two different audiences!

iGrOOps teleconferencing is a reservationless, on-demand telephone conferencing service that can be used instantly, reliably and securely. All you have to do is click the "Generate New Conference Codes" button to get your dial-in number and codes. You do not need to provide us with any information regarding your conference, including the date and time or estimated number of participants. Everyone who calls the assigned number and enters the unique access code will be connected instantly.

Only administrators can generate conference codes and only administrators can see the subscriber PIN which is used to record the conference calls.

Service Details

Maximum conference size: 150 callers
Maximum time: 6 hours
Conference Number: Assigned to you once you click the generate button
Access Codes: Assigned to you once you click the generate button
Subscriber PIN: Assigned with access codes
Begins: When first caller enters the conference
Ends: When last caller exits the conference

Service Features

• Instant access from any land line or mobile device
• Crystal clear all-digital connections
• Secure and private
• Available on demand, 24/7
• No website visits or computer required for audio conferencing once number/codes are obtained
• Number / conference code never expires!

You do NOT need to generate a new conference code for each call!  You can simply generate it once and use it over and over, or, if you wish, you can generate new codes as needed.

Recording Your Conference

The administrator (or organizer of the call) can record the conference call once on the call by following these simple steps:

1. press the "9" key
2. enter the subscriber PIN followed by the pound (#) key

The conference will be recorded and within a couple of hours of the end of the conference call, the recording will be converted into an MP3 file and an e-mail notification will be sent to the administrator with download instructions.

iGrOOps will also copy this recording file to your iGrOOps Video/MP3 area where you (the admin who generated the conference call codes) can simply selected it from the pull down menu and add it to your online library!

Conference Touch-Tone Quick Reference

This touch-tone guide is for use while on a conference call.

Note: Keys 5,7,8 are only available to the conference organizer.
† Conference Muting Modes: conversation mode, Q&A mode, presentation mode
‡ Chimes settings: Entry on/Exit on, Entry on/Exit off, Entry off/Exit on, Entry off/Exit off
* Used with the subscriber pin

Use of the "change conference muting modes" (key 7)

Conversation Mode – This mode provides an open conference in which all Participants can speak freely and be heard by all in the conference. This mode works best for small groups of conferees. For large conferences, the presentation mode may be more effective. At any time during a conference, conference organizers can switch between conversation mode, Q&A mode and presentation mode by toggling the seven (7) key.

Q&A Mode – This mode allows participants to un-mute themselves, permitting a "question and answer" or interactive session to be held during a conference call that was set to presentation mode. This mode is accessible to those who provide the organizer code when entering a conference. At any time during a conference, conference organizers can switch between Q&A mode, presentation mode and conversation mode by toggling the seven (7) key.

Presentation Mode – This mode automatically mutes every member of the conference, except those who have entered the organizer code, enabling conference participants to listen without being able to speak to others on the conference. This mode works best with large groups of conferees for reducing background noise, and is accessible to those who use the organizer code when entering a conference. At any time during a conference, conference organizers can switch between presentation mode, conversation mode and Q&A mode by toggling the seven (7) key.

Use of "one-on-one private chat" (1&2 keys)

To have a separate, private two party chat during your main conference, simply press the two (2) key to access your "caller code." Exchange caller codes with the person whom you wish to consult with, then press the one (1) key plus the caller code. Since only two people can be in a private chat, it is still secure, even if you announce your codes to each other out loud in the conference. When you both enter the other person's code, you will automatically be placed in your secure private room. Press any key on the pad to return to the full conference.

A few people were using it, then a few more, than many more, then Oprah, now everyone (well, tens of millions at least) is using it.  We are talking about Twitter.  Twitter can play a very important role in building your membership as well as the quality of your relationship with your members.  iGrOOps has just made this process a whole lot easier, more effective, and more enjoyable with the introduction of Twitter Tools.

What is Twitter? According to Twitter.com, "Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"  But it has evolved into so much more.  Twitter is a new way to communicate and manage a significant number of quality relationships.  It has become one of the greatest tools yet for finding new members and building quality relationships with your members.

To master Twitter, listen to Twooting, the daily podcast all about Twitter hosted by yours truly, Bo Bennett and Ryan Levesque.  You can find the podcast at http://www.twooting.com.

Feature List.

• send tweets
• send direct messages
• reply to tweets
• reply to direct messages
• one click favorites
• one click retweets
• include FAQs in tweets
• direct message notification by e-mail (within 5 minutes)
• automatic URL shortening in long tweets
• schedule tweets (accurate as 5 min intervals)
• recurring tweets (day, week, weekdays, month, 3 month)
• keyword notify via e-mail - up to 5 queries
• keyword auto follow - up to 5 queries
• auto unfollow based on time following and follow back status
• automated direct message for new followers
• @mentions notification via e-mail

Twitter Tools.  Twitter tools is the new application from iGrOOps that was created to automate and manage your Twittering, allowing you to maximize your member growth and streamline your Twitter account.  These tools are available to the administrators only and linked at the bottom of your membership site.

You must be logged in as the administrator to see the menu items in your footer -- the bottom of your iGrOOp.

Getting Started with Admin Options

Before you can use Twitter tools, you need to make sure you have a Twitter account.  Get this at http://www.Twitter.com.  Be sure your Twitter account is a reflection of your membership site and pick a good name to match.

Once you have your Twitter userid and password, you must pass this information to your iGrOOp.  Do this by clicking the "Admin Options" tab in Twitter Tools.

There you will see many options with explanations of the options in the right hand column.  You must at least enter your Time Zone, Twitter UserID, and Twitter Password.  This is required for these tools to function correctly.  Once you enter and save this information, you can begin using these tools.

Twitter requires an UNencrypted password to be sent across the network.  This is commonly accepted for the Twitter API, and there is very little security risk associated.  We strongly recommend that your Twitter passoword is NOT the same as any of your other passwords.

Receiving Direct Messages via E-mail. In your admin options, you will see that you have the option to receive direct messages via e-mail.  You should use this option over the option Twitter gives you in your profile.  Why?  Here are the reasons:

1) The e-mails we send are prettier and include more detail.

2) Links in the email will use your iGrOOps interface instead of Twitter.  This will give you more options when replying, as well allow you to handle multiple Twitter accounts without logging in.

3) Multiple direct messages are combined.  If you receive a LOT of direct messages, all the messages you receive in a 5 minute period will be combined into one e-mail.  This will significantly reduce your inbox clutter.

4) Ignore spam DMs!  Using the spam words tool, you can enter any of the words and phrases that usually appear in spam direct messages, and these direct messages will never be sent to you via e-mail.  The will appear in your Twitter account under your direct messages tab, but you never have to see them if you don't want to.  This is a wonderful feature considering that over 95% of all direct message is total spam*.

Sending a Tweet / Replying

When you visit the app, it will default to sending a new tweet.  The interface is very simple and straight forward.  You have 140 characters to post your tweet.  If you go over the 140 characters, the counter will show a negative number.  If you try to post a tweet that is over 140 characters your tweet will be scanned for any long URLs and if found, they will be automatically replaced with short URLs.  You will then have the option to edit more, or send the tweet. No edits will ever be done without giving you the option of approving first.

You can send direct messages from this interface as well.  To initiate a direct message, enter "d + username + message" where "d" is just the letter, "username" is the Twitter userid of the user who is following you that you want to message, and "message" is your message. Do not include the "+" or the "@" before the username.

You also have the option of including an FAQ from your FAQ application.  This is done by the hand pull down under the textarea where you enter your tweets.

Just selecting your FAQ will automatically insert the question and a link to the answer in your tweet.  Some things to consider:

• really long questions will use up your 140 chars and will have to be manually shortened once inserted
• if you keep your answers short enough, the full answer will be included in the tweet, not a link to the answer
• this tool automatically generates a short URL for a link to the answer of your FAQ
• make sure your FAQ application is open for reading by guests (L0)

When you reply to links in your email from direct messages or other notifcations sent by iGrOOps, the links take you back to this screen.  The system will automatically know if you are replying to a direct message or public tweet and setup the message accordingly.

Launching Your Twitter Tools

You will notice a tab that reads "Twitter Tools".  This is where you can access all of the really powerful features.  This will bring you to a pull down menu where you can select the tools.  We have created this feature where we can easily add more tools in the future.

Scheduled Tweets

Those who succeed online do so in no small part due to automation.  Those who can take advantage of automation have a signifcant advantage over those who must interact with computers manually.  Many of the tools here are built on this principle, specifically the schedueled tweets.

Some user use Twitter exclusively for answering the question "What are you doing?". These users streams will often read, "washing my hair now", "eating a taco.  Beef.  Yum", and other extremely exciting announcements.  Good for them.  These users will scoff at the idea of scheduled tweets because rarely do we know exactly what we are doing well before we are doing it.  General idea, yes, but the kind of detail usually tweeted about, no.  But users, especially users in business know that Twitter has so many more uses and is very powerful as a business tool.  It is in these uses the scheduled tweets come in very handy.

Here are some examples for using this tool.

1. Recurring event.  Say you have a weekly podcast that you do live every Wednesday at 1:00pm.  Create your tweet that announces this podcast, then pick the date and time of the first occurrence of this tweet.  Then in the "recurrence" area, choose "weekly".  Your first tweet will be sent exactly on the date and time you specified, then instead of being deleted, the send date will be changed to + 1 week.  This will continue until you delete the tweet.
2. Planned tweeting.  Say you are tied up for the day but you still want to get information to those following you.  You can setup several tweets to be sent throuout the day as one time tweets, that is, after they are sent the scheduled tweet is removed.  This is ideal for times when it is inconvienvent or not send a tweet.
3. Sending tips.  If you use your account as a way to send useful (not necessarily timely) information to your followers, you can schedule 3 months worth of daily tips in advance.  You can set this to reccur every 3 months, and never have to make another Tweet again!

Managing Your Scheduled Tweets.  All of your existing tweets are clearly listed at the bottom of your scheduled tweets page.  This makes it very easy to find them, edit, or remove them.

* that number is an estimation by me in dealing with my many Twitter accounts.  Your spam percentage may vary.

Keyword Notify

One of the most powerful features of Twitter is the search.  Search is great for many reasons, including finding interesting people to follow and interesting conversations to jump into. 

The keyword notifcation tool allows you to setup searches that will e-mail you the results on a specified schedule.  The searching is powerful since it uses the search features of search.twitter.com.  To create a search:

1) Build your search for keywords at http://search.twitter.com/advanced and click the "Search" button.  Follow the instructions on that page and play around with the data.  When you get the results you are looking for, proceed to the next step.

2) Look for the "Feed for this query" link on the left side of the search page and click the link.

3) Copy the search URL in the address bar and paste it in the search field. This should begin with "http://search.twitter.com/search.atom".

That is it!  You can have up to 5 of these searches.  Then just select the frequency in which you want to be notified of matches and enter your e-mail address where you want these notifications to be sent.

You can actually have multiple keywords and phrases per search giving you far more than five.  You just need to construct your searches the right way.  If your search string is too long however, it may fail. If you find this happening, shorten your search string.

Keyword Auto Follow

Just like the keyword notify, keyword follow uses the advanced search to identify those users who are posting terms and phrases that might be a good user for you to follow.  The script will automatically follow the user who posted the tweet that contanined the match of the search you created.  To create a search, see the instructions in the above section.

Once you start autofollowing others, you will be able to see how many users you have followed in the current and previous days on that screen.

Twitter limits the number of users you can follow.  For current limit rules (they keep changing), see twitter.com's help section.

Auto UNFollow Rules

Not too long ago Twitter allowed you to follow as many people as you wanted to.  This opened up the system to abuse and "excessive following".  With their current limits, it forces users to be more selective about whom they follow.  No longer can you follow anybody and everybody.  In order to follow more of the users you think might be interesting, you need to unfollow users whom you think are not.

Twitter users can get nasty when you unfollow them.  Some take it personally and will ask you why you unfollowed or even publicly accuse you of being a "spammer" because you followed then unfollowed them.  Fortunately, there are not many of these users, but they are around.

Unfollow after.  This is a pull down menu with the number of days in which you want to automatically unfollow those you are currently following.  It can be as little as 7 days, and as long as 30 days.  If enough time has passed, you will see in the pull down menu the total number of users that you can potentially unfollow by selecting that day.  We say "potentially" because the options you select on this screen can affect that number.

Who to unfollow.  You can choose to unfollow all users after the number of days you have selected or just those that unfollow you.

There are many Twitter users who strongly believe that you show follow those who follow you, and just as many who strongly beleive that you should never follow someone just because they are following you.  You can choose your own position on this one.  Our software allows for both.

Excluding users from unfollow.  This is where the system can become extremely useful.  So far, just following and unfollowing using the options above will not increase the quality of your Twitter experience, just the quantity of those you follow and those who follow you.  By entering in users you do not want to unfollow you really start increasing the quality. 

The system will NEVER unfollow those users that you followed manually, using another software platform, or that you had before you started using iGrOOps Twitter Tools.  This unfollow works only with users you followed automatically with the auto follow.

You can of course enter users manually in this section.  Just enter their Twitter ID (case sensitive) one per line.  These users will not be automatically unfollowed as long as they are in this list.

You can also automate the creation of this "safe list" by choosing one or both of the following options:

• Automatically add users who @mention you to exclude list.  The system will scan all new tweets for any mentions of your Twitter ID.  This can appear anywhere in the message.  Those users who mention you will be added to your safe list.
• Automatically add users that you @mention to exclude list.  Anytime you mention a user (as in a mention or a reply) they are added to this safe list.

The combination of both these options will lead to a growing list of followers who are real users and are most likley to communicate with you.

Like the follow list, you can also see how many users you have unfollowed the day before and in the current day.

Before using the auto follow / unfollow, you might want to purge your account of all those you are following... or at least all those you don't care about following from this point on.  Start fresh!

Auto Direct Message

Automated direct messages can be very effective if used properly.  These are automated in the sense that they are sent to your new followers -- never sent to the same followers after they are already following you.  Consider this more an "automated welcome message".

Before you create your automated direct message, have a look at the article I wrote on this at http://www.twooting.com/members/twooting/blog/VIEW/00000003/00000038/Automated-Direct-Messages-Useful-or-Evil.html

Like the follow list, you can also see how many users you have sent automated direct messages to the day before and in the current day.

@Mentions Notify

This simple tool will send you an e-mail any time your Twitter ID is mentioned in the public timeline.  It is great to know when people are talking about you and what they are saying!

You may not need this tool if you have a unique Twitter ID -- you would be better off using the Keyword Notify tool.  For example, one of our accounts "@EVcast" is a unique enough name where if anyone mentions the "EVcast" (without the @) we can be pretty sure they are talking about us, so we search for the keyword "EVcast" and o not use the @mention notify.

This section contains some detailed "how to's" to help administrators get the most from their iGrOOps.

Listen to the audio commentaries for these pages!  These are casual discussions between the creator and president of iGrOOps.  They provide a detailed insight.

An iGrOOp without members is like a webpage without visitors -- pointless.  Just by creating an iGrOOp and adding content, you will get some exposure with the search engines.  But to really build membership, you will need to do some "work".

Traditional offline and online marketing techniques will work just fine in marketing your iGrOOp and building membership.  Obviously, marketing is a very general subject in which countless books exist.  Offline and online marketing techniques are beyond the scope of this document.  This document was created to get in to specifics on how iGrOOp administrators can use some of the tools and features specific to iGrOOps to increase membership.

Here are some ideas on how you can increase membership to your iGrOOp:

• Activate trial memberships.  Have a solid plan to convert trial members into paying members. 
• Seed your groop with active members by using prepaid memberships.  Give people you know will be active free memberships in exchange for their services.  Have them enter content and be active in the communications.
• Send people to your homepage.  Use your message of the day to give clear instructions on how to join and restate the benefits of joining.
• Forward a custom domain name to your iGrOOp homepage.  Most domain registrars will allow you to forward your domains to any URL.  Your own domain will be beneficial in your online and offline marketing.
• Open your apps for guest/world viewing.  Allow everyone to read certain content, but have them join if they would like to add content and communicate with other members.  The more content the search engines can pick up, the more exposure your iGrOOp will have.
• Use Meebo™ for sales.  Activate the Meebo client in your homepage settings for sales and be there to answer any questions from guests. 
• Use RSS feeds on your home page.  In the homepage settings, you can include one or more RSS feeds.  This will add dynamic content to your homepage that is updated every hour.  These feeds will stimulate conversation and activity, thus increasing membership.
• Use the "benefits" feature of your iGrOOps in your "administrator settings" to "sweeten the deal" for potential members.
• Use your iGrOOp tools and applications to promote your iGrOOp.
  • Create A/V presentations on the benefits of your iGrOOp, similar to the one we created for iGrOOps on the iGrOOps homepage.
  • Create a world-readable blog.  Blogs will get picked up and drive traffic to your iGrOOp.
  • Create a world-readable calendar.  Any events you can make public?
  • Create FAQs.  Again the point is to create content that will drive traffic to your iGrOOp.
  • Reviews.  Allow guests to read reviews related to your groop topic.  If guests wish to add comments or add a rating, they will need to become a member :)
  • Share video.  You can simply find an amusing or interesting video from any video website and add it to your iGrOOp using the "embed code" feature.  Then, using the video share feature send out this video to prospects.
• Allow and encourage members to create their own webpage.  Activate this application and promote it .  When your members create their own webpages, they are driving traffic to your iGrOOp.
• Use the invite feature to invite prospects to your iGrOOp, and encourage your members to use this feature as well.
• Make sure you enter good keywords in your "basic configurations" for your iGrOOp.  These keywords are used in the HTML coding of your iGrOOp.

Hopefully this is enough to get you started.  Once you have an active group of members who are passionate about your iGrOOp, membership will start to grow on its own.  But until that time, you need to take action to make it happen.

Don't be surprised if you have dozens of members and little to no activity.  This is NOT uncommon.  Most people get the benefit of an iGrOOp by following along on other's conversations, reading posts and reviews, watching uploaded videos, etc.  In other words, most people are readers and not writers.  The good news is, through a few techniques, you can unlock the creative genius in your members and get a flurry of activity.

There is something called the 1% rule in web 2.0... basically it means for every 100 members, only one will be active in contributing content.  We have found with iGrOOps this is actually closer to 5-10% since it is a pay per membership environment.

Here are some techniques you can try to stimulate activity within your iGrOOp.  Some may work better than others for you.  The more you try, the more activity you will see.

• Send each member a private message with a question.
• Create a "Getting Started" document (custom web page)
• Create a new members custom web page and form a "welcoming committee"
• Seed your forums with controversial topics and/or questions that stimulate responses
• Include an RSS feed on your homepage
• Send regular e-mails to your group members
• Create a blog and post regularly with member notification option selected
• Host live chat events
• Send members humorous and/or interesting videos and ask them to rate/comment them.
• Invite members to become part of your iGrOOp administration team.
• Customized welcome e-mail.
• Introduce yourself category on forum
• Follow up with inactive members according to stats
• Use Meebo™ to make yourself accessible to members.
• Give members specific ideas on how to use the applications (intro).
• Update the homepage welcome message regularly.
• Praise members when they participate, comment on their posts and entries.
• Contest
• Reward your most active members with free memberships (you give them prepaid memberships)

Do you have any other ideas? Add your comments below!

If you are a) using the professional iGrOOp option and b) using both levels of membership (full access and limited access), then ultimately you will have members who want to upgrade from the limited access membership to the full access membership.

The free option does not allow for multiple membership levels -- all members are full access members who are not charged.

Scenario #1: Offering No Cost Limited Access

If you are offering your members no cost limited access, then the upgrade path for these members is easy, instant, and automated.  Your limited members will see an option to upgrade on the header of every page in your iGrOOp (see figure 1).

Once the limited access member clicks on that link, they will be taken to your membership registration form.  They will skip the custom fields screen and the approval process -- since you have already approved the member and requested custom information from them.  They will be taken directly to the payment options form where the limited access option will be removed.  Once they make payment (or enter a valid promotion code), they will immediately be given full access and you (the system administrators) will be notified of the transaction.

The approval process is for new members only, not member upgrades.  Members who you have already approved are instantly upgraded upon successful payment.

Scenario #2: Offering Limited Access for a Fee

The upgrading process is less automated when you have charged your member already for membership -- assuming a lower rate.  This requires manual intervention on your part to ensure your member is charged the correct fee based on your terms and conditions.

You should consider this manual upgrade process when determining your price points when setting up your group.

Here are the steps you will want to follow for upgrading limited access members who have paid a fee.

1. Create an icon or links on your iGrOOp encouraging limited access members to upgrade.  These links should go to an e-mail address or better yet the private message link for the iGrOOp administrator.
2. Determine how much money the member has already paid you, and apply a credit if needed.  This information can be found in member directory.  For example, if they signed up and paid $100 for a year six months ago, give them $50 credit.  You would need to do this manually through your merchant account.
3. Delete their profile from your iGrOOp.  You will need to remove them from your iGrOOp so they can register again.  Do not worry -- all their posts, comments, pages, etc. will be intact, as will their iGrOOps profile.  you are simply disassociating them from your iGrOOp.
4. Instruct the member to sign up (register) again, this time selecting the full access option.  A new transaction / subscription will be created.

This is seen as a new registration, so the member will be prompted to enter any custom information if you have that setup, and they will require approval (if that option is set).

iGrOOps provides users with two choices to use a URL: 1) http://[groupname].igroops.com or 2) http://www.igroops.com/igroops/[groupname].  But all users of iGrOOps can choose to use their own domain with their iGrOOp, providing a more brandable, descriptive, URL.

If you see mentions on our site or hear something in our podcast about free users NOT being allowed to use a domain, IGNORE.  This was referring to our old free package from a couple years ago.

Your own domain is a good investment.  It will make it easier for people to remember your URL, assuming you have picked a good domain name.

You cannot use domain masking with iGrOOps.  Most domain registrars offer a service called domain masking.  This is where your domain is showed on every page and the true URL is hidden.  You will not be able to login if you try to use masking.

Method #1: Domain Forwarding

Domain forwarding is simple.  Almost all domain registrars offer this service.  Domain forwarding is when you simply point your domain to any URL on the web.  Then, when users click on or type your URL, they are forwarded to your iGrOOp.  The URL in the browser window will remain as http://www.igroops.com/igroops/[groupname] , not your domain.

Method #2: Attaching the Domain Directly to Your iGrOOp

A more complex, but more "professional" solution is to attach your domain directly to your iGrOOp -- just like you would do with your own custom website.  The major difference is that your domain name will always appear in the URL everywhere in your iGrOOp.

You must use your registrar's "DNS service" , your own DNS service, or a 3rd parties DNS service.  Some registrar's do not provide this service -- you need to find one who does!

Which method is right for you?  Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages.

How to Attach Your Domain to Your iGrOOp

You will need to follow these steps to activate your own domain on your iGrOOp.

If you do not already have a domain, consider purchasing your domain at http://www.igroopsdomains.com .   iGrOOps is a reseller for a registrar that provides all the services needed to forward and attach your domain to iGrOOps.

1. Register / move your domain.  Whomever controls your domains DNS record has to specify the iGrOOps IP address in the record.  Many times, you (the owner of the domain) will have direct control over this information.  Point your domain to "209.59.13.26".  Allow up to 72 hours for the change to take place (this is the usual time DNS providers will give, although it is usually just a few hours).  (See section moving your domain below)
2. Log into your iGrOOp as administrator. You must had admin access to attach a domain to your iGrOOp.
3. Click the administrator settings link / icon.
4. In the first page (the Basic Settings), enter your domain name.  Be sure to include your subdomain.  In most cases you will use www.yourdomain.com ("www" being your subdomain).  Click the "save and next" button when done.

Do NOT attach your domain until you are sure that your domain is pointing to the iGrOOps IP address.  Test this by simply entering your domain name in your browser.  If the iGrOOps homepage pulls up, your domain is pointing to the iGrOOps IP and you can proceed with the above steps.  But keep in mind that it may NOT be moved for everyone in the world yet -- it CAN take up to 3 days.

Moving Your Domain

All domain registrars are different, but here is a step by step example using igroopsdomains.com (GoDaddy).

1. Log on to your domain account.

   

2. Select "Manage Domains"
   
   
   
3. Click on your domain
   
   
   
4. Click on the "Total DNS..." link
   
   
5. Look for the "A Host" record
   
   
6. Click the edit icon to the right of the record
   
   
7. Enter the iGrOOps IP address where is asks for the IP
   
   

Make sure you have chosen to use the default name servers -- only then will you have the option of using "Total DNS".

How would you like to have an audio or video file embedded on your iGrOOp homepage?  How about any custom admin webpage you create? With iGrOOps, this is very easy and assuming you already have your audio or video file loaded in your Video/MP3 library, or on YouTube or another online service that has an "embed" option, it takes just seconds.

With iGrOOps, you can have an MP3 file automatically play in the background when users visit your iGrOOp.  You can have a video play seamlessly without any control bars.. making it appear that the web page is alive with sound and video.  There are many configurations to give your iGrOOps homepage a third dimension!

How to Embed Sound or Video on Your iGrOOps Homepage - In the "Main Content" Areas

You can embed your own media file that you upload, or you can embed a third party media file -- like a YouTube™ video.  The first step is to add the media file to your Video/MP3 library.  Once this is done, you need to edit the entry -- only then will the administrator options be available to you for adding the file to your homepage.

You cannot embed a multimedia file on your homepage in the upload/convert process.  Only after a file has been converted and saved, then you can edit the entry and have access to the admin options.

1. Click the "Administrator Only Options" link to expand the admin options.  This link is at the bottom of the screen when you are editing a media file entry.
2. Check the 'Use this as the main media file" checkbox.  Note: only one file can play on the homepage at a time.  If you set this option for multiple files, your last file you set the option for will be used.
3. Set your preferences for the file display.  The preferences shown depend on the type of file you are embedding -- third party files have no options, video have full options, and audio have some options.
4. Save

The video will automatically appear at the very top of your home page.

You control where you want the media file to display by using the anchor button (the little anchor icon in the HTML editor).  Put your cursor where you want your video/audio medial player to appear, and click the anchor button.  When it asks you for an anchor name, enter "MEDIA" (without the quotes -- ALL CAPS).

Embedding YouTube or Other Video from Another Site

Another way to do this is to use the HTML button in the editor and simply paste the embed code provided by one of the video sites.  After that, click the yellow "flash" square in the editor (which acts as a placeholder for your video), then click the media icon in the HTML editor.  When the window pops up for the flash settings, you can adjust the size.  You want the size to be 406 px wide and be sure to check the constrain button, so your height is the correct size.

How to Embed Sound or Video on Your Custom Admin Webpage

You can also put any audio or video content on any of your custom admin webpages.  This is a slightly different process since you can have more than one custom admin webpage, but only one homepage.  The first step is to add the media file to your Video/MP3 library.  Once this is done, you need to edit the entry -- only then will the administrator options be available to you for adding the file to a custom admin webpage.

Before you begin this process, make sure your custom admin webpage is created -- or at least, named and saved.  Otherwise, it will not show up in the select menu in the steps below.

1. Click the "Administrator Only Options" link to expand the admin options.  This link is at the bottom of the screen when you are editing a media file entry.
2. Do NOT choose "Use this as the main media file" -- instead, select your custom webpage(s) where you would want this file to appear.  Use the control/shift keys for selecting multiple pages.
3. Complete the options for display.
4. Go back to your custom admin webpage and edit the page.  You control where you want the media file to display by using the anchor button (the little anchor icon in the HTML editor).  Put your cursor where you want your video/audio medial player to appear, and click the anchor button.  When it asks you for an anchor name, enter "MEDIA" (without the quotes -- all caps).

You need at least some other text on the page or the media file will not be added in.

Preferences

• Hide control bar - this is the black bar with the timeline, play/pause, and full screen controls on it.  You may want to hide the bar for background music or a seamless video
• Auto repeat - once the file is done playing, it will repeat indefinitely
• Video Background Color - the color of the video display area that will display if the video size does not fill up the width and height of the total area
• Video Width - default is 320px - use numbers only
• Video Height - default is 240px - use numbers only
• Video in TV - a neat way to display videos
• Auto Play - have the audio or video start without need to click on the play button
• Video Alignment - center is default.  If you have text, it can wrap on the left or the right of the video.
• Hide This Media File From - if you have a message that is mainly for prospects, you can set this so it will not play for members.  Or, if you have a video specifically for members, you can choose to hide it from guests.

These preferences are available for videos that you upload.  If you add videos from other sites using the embed code option, the video will play according to the preferences in the embed code -- you cannot control this through iGrOOps.

A Meebo chat room is a flash based text chat, third party script that can be used on your iGrOOps homepage.  It would appear right under your custom content (message of the day):

non-working screen capture of a Meebo chat room on an iGrOOp homepage

iGrOOps already offers audio and video chat, both of which can also be used as a text chat, so why use a Meebo Chat Room?

• It would automatically appear on your homepage, which means it would be used more
• Members login or registration is not needed -- it is more of a public chat
• It is very simple to use and easy for anyone to figure out
• It can help you attract new members to your group
• It is quite simple to activate for your group

But before you activate this feature, please be aware of the potential pitfalls:

• This is NOT an iGrOOps application -- it is a third party "widget" by Meebo.  We have no control over potential future advertising on the widget.
• It is public.  This is not like the other iGrOOps chat tools where you can limit members only.  Even if you were to place this in your members only area, the room is still available in the Meebo network that means anyone can join in
• As of this writing, there is no way to clear the history.  So if people say bad things, they will be in the chat history.

Ok, now that you know the pros and cons, if you choose to activate this, follow these steps.

1) Login to Meebo.com (get an account if you already do not have one there)

2) At the bottom of the screen, you should see "create new room" - click on that

3) Enter in the information they ask for.  Do NOT make your room private -- it will not work properly as a widget.

4) When you are done with creating the widget it should appear on your screen after a moment. When it does, click on the "Embed on your Site" button.

5) Don't bother with any of the settings -- iGrOOps will set this for you on the display.  Copy the code to a text editor and copy the ID:

The ID appears in the meebo URL, after the "id=" string.

6) Enter your iGrOOps homepage editor, and you will see the Meebo Chat Room option.  Enter this ID there and save.

The Meebo Chat Room widget will NOT include the video feature -- you DON'T want this!  They run constant commercials!

If you are spending either your time or your money promoting your iGrOOp, you will want to keep track of where your members are coming from.  iGrOOps provides a way of doing this by allowing you to pass tracking variables through in the URL.

Tracking will allow you to pinpoint where your hard earned advertising dollars are paying off and where they are not.

The Tracking Code (Tracking ID)

The tracking ID is a string that is appended to your iGrOOps URL.  This tracking ID will be set as a cookie, then saved in the member database profile when the member joins.  The cookie is saved for 3 years or is deleted if the member deletes his or her cookies. 

If you are using your own domain with your iGrOOp, use the following URL for tracking:

http://[YOUR-DOMAIN]/?[AFFILIATE_ID]+[TRACKING_CODE]

Breakdown: "YOUR-DOMAIN" would be the domain your have pointing to your iGrOOp -- include the "www" or if you are using another subdomain in place of "www" use that.  After your domain comes a forward slash, then a question mark -- this is how arguments are passed to the script.  If you are not using the affiliate module, you can leave this blank.  If you are using the affiliate module, this where where the member's nickname would go who is using this URL.  Then add a plus sign, then the tracking code. 

The tracking code cannot contain any spaces or odd characters.  Only letters, numbers, the dash ( - ) and/or the underline ( _ ) are allowed.

If you are using the iGrOOps domain, use the following URL for tracking:

http://www.igroops.com/[FOLDER_NAME]/igroops+ID+[AFFILIATE_ID]+[TRACKING_CODE]

Instead of using an affiliate ID, you can use another tracking code.  For example, use "GOOGLE", then the tracking code can be the keyword.  'GOOGLE" would show up as the affiliate ID, but you would know that it was a search engine.  To be 100% sure you are not using an actual member nickname, include a dash or underline in the affiliate ID since those characters are not allowed in nicknames.

Testing Your Tracking Codes

For a sanity check, log off your iGrOOp.  Now click on the URL you create with the affiliate/tracking information appended.  This should set both the affiliate ID and the tracking code.  Now click on your join now icon.  On the first page of the registration, view the source using your browser's "view source" command.  About half way down you should see the variables.  In the below example, we used "GOOGLE" as the affiliate code and "your_own_membership_website-E" as the tracking code:

Monitoring Your Tracking Codes

Once a member signs up to your group the tracking code will be saved in the member database.  This field is available to administrators when looking up members in the member database.  It is also searchable under advance options.

If you are using the Affiliate Module, your affiliates can use the tracking code as well.

If you are running the Affiliate Module on your iGrOOp, and purchased the iGrOOps banner package (or have otherwise created banners/buttons for your affiliates to use), you can include a box with HTML code below each image, so your affiliates can add the code to other websites, linking the banner to your site, using their specific affiliate ID. Sound complicated? Don’t worry—you can do this! Just follow the simple steps below. 

Before we start, if you have Firefox installed as a browser on your computer, you may wish to use it for this process, as it makes the set-up a little simpler than Internet Explorer. If you are using Internet Explorer, no worries-- instructions are below.

Customizing the code

There are two options for customizing the code depending on whether you are using a custom domain name, or an iGrOOps URL.

Custom Domain Name (www.yourdomain.com)
If you are using a custom domain name, edit your custom webpage containing the banners/buttons, and enter the the code below in the text editor, directly below your first banner/button.

iGrOOps Subdomain (yourfoldername.igroops.com)
If you are not using a custom domain, edit your custom webpage containing the banners/buttons, and enter the code in the text editor, directly below your first banner/button.

If not using a custom domain, follow the instructions below, but substitute yourfoldername.igroops.com when you see www.yourdomain.com in the instructions.

Now we are ready to do the actual editing of the code, so it will work as desired specifically on your site. The only areas in the code above that you will need to edit, are those in red. Simply replace www.yourdomain.com in the code with your actual domain name, and yourfolder with your folder name.

Be careful to leave all of the spacing exactly as is, and do not delete any other characters.

Once you’ve edited the code as described, you can copy it, and paste it underneath each banner/button on your page. The code will stay the same for each banner/button, with the exception of yourimage.gif, which we will now learn how to adjust.

Finding the file names of your banners and buttons

Firefox:

If you are using Firefox as your browser, the image name should appear next to your mouse pointer if you simply float your mouse over the image. If that does not work for you, then right click the image, and view the selection source. You should see a string of text that begins similar to this:

The "g1" can be replaced with "l1" (el - one)

The only parts of that code we need to edit are those highlighted in red. Add the specific name of the image (yourimagename.jpg or .gif) in the placeholders in your code.

Follow this same process for each of the banner/buttons until you have found and replaced the image names in the code for each, then scroll to the bottom and click the Save Changes button.

Internet Explorer:

If you do not have Firefox installed on your computer, no problem, just follow these steps.
Click on the "insert image" icon  in the text editor. It is the last icon, all the way to the right, in the first row. Find the image that matches the first banner on your page. Float your mouse over the image, and you will notice in the bottom left hand side of the window, a string of text will appear, starting with “javascript:”. Start following the string of text to the right until you come across the image name (you may need to make the window larger in order to see entire string). Now replace “yourimage.gif” in the code to the name of the image, as found in the string of text.

Follow this same process for each of the banner/buttons until you have found and replaced the image names in the code for each, then scroll to the bottom and click the Save Changes button.

Testing Your Code

If you followed these instructions carefully, your page should be ready to go. Double checking, however, is never a bad idea. First, go to your banners and buttons custom webpage, and copy the text in the box under one of the images. Next, create a brand new custom webpage (be sure to give it a title and file name) then click on the “HTML” button in the text editor. Paste affiliate code for your banners in the HTML area and click “Update”. Save changes to your custom webpage. Now view the webpage you just created. Do you see the banner? When you float your mouse over it and look in the lower left corner of your browser window, do you see the URL for your site, followed by + and your nickname? Click the image. Does it go to your site, showing the nickname at the end of the URL? If all is good so far, you can try this for each of the banners/buttons, and if they all work…congratulations! Your banner / buttons page is now optimized for your affiliates.

You will want to announce the cool page you just updated to your group members, so they can start driving traffic to your site, bringing you more revenue, and earning them some affiliate cash!

So you have scripts, forms, and widgets you want to use with your iGrOOp, but you have heard that due to iGrOOps security, you cannot put scripts, forms, and widgets in the HTML code in your iGrOOp.  Have no fear, iFrames are here!

iGrOOps allows admins to insert iFrames, or invisible windows to other webpages, in just about any area of the iGrOOp.  iFrames can pull in data from other webpages and appear that it is running on the iGrOOp.  To the member, an iFrame is invisible.

So what can you do with iFrames?

• include custom HTML pages that do not require the use of the online editor
• include custom forms
• include scripts
• include javascript
• include third party widgets

If using iFrames, you MUST HAVE access to web space on another server.  You can use free hosting accounts, or very low cost hosting like the kind offered through GoDaddy.com.

IFrames Explained

If you really want to know the technical info behind iFrames, this is a great page that explains them.  However, iGrOOps does all the technical work for you.  You do not need to know how to create custom iFrames to use iFrames within iGrOOps.

Using iFrames with iGrOOps simply requires that you either a) know the URL that you want to include in your iGrOOp or b) have the code of the page, form, script, or widget and create a new HTML page on your other server with the code.  You THEN enter the URL of the page into your iFrame field within iGrOOps.

Step by Step Example

Let's say you want to add a javascript-based widget to your iGrOOp.  You have been given the javascript you need to include in your HTML.  However, iGrOOps does not allow scripting directly to be put in custom HTML areas, so you will use the iFrame feature.

1. On your OTHER web hosting account, create a custom HTML document with the code for the widget.  This is done by just pasting the code in a text editor, and saving it with a ".html" extension.
2. Upload your new HTML file to your other web server (NOT your iGrOOp).  Get the URL.
3. In iGrOOps, use the home page editor or the custom admin web pages to insert the URL for the iFrame.  Look for the section that allows you to enter "iFrame URL".  Your URL must be a valid URL.
4. Adjust the size of the iFrame to meet your needs.  Remember, the iFrame is like a window into another webpage.  You control the size of that window.

Do not try to paste the code of the widget in the iFrames section within iGrOOps!  This will not work and can mess up the look of your iGrOOp.

This "how to" builds on the business membership type document.  Please review that doc at http://www.igroops.com/members/ids/docs/adminman/PvsB

Now with the business membership type you can allow your business members to be searched publicly, you can separate your business and personal members for searching, and you can have attractive icons with predefined categories and subcategories.  But what if you wanted to create a comprehensive business directory, not just one with your business members?  iGrOOps has a solution for that!

This new use for the reviews application creates a whole new way to monetize your group!  Businesses want exposure, and premium listings in local directories that people use is great exposure.

Using a combination of the business membership type and the Reviews application, you can

• create a comprehensive business directory which includes both member and non-member listings
• allow members and/or non-members the ability to comment on and rate businesses in your directory
• easily import basic listing information into your reviews application
• have your business members show up in search results with a "premium" listing
• use the predefined categories with icons

This is ideal for local community websites and/or any social website where only certain businesses should be listed.

We created a custom image for the homepage.  This is linked to the reviews application.

The users are taken to the screen where they can search or browse the listing.  If browsing, all data instantly appears - there is no refreshing.  Data is hidden on the screen since the number of listings are relatively small (usually under 1000).

Once the category is opened, the business member listings will show first as sponsored listings, then the rest of the listings in the reviews database.

Creating Your Directory 

Here is a step by step guide on how to this working on your site. We make the following assumptions:

• you already have your reviews app activated (ADMIN SETTINGS)
• you are using a business membership type for at least one of your membership levels (certainly NOT required, but is needed for the sponsored listings)
• you do not have any existing listings or you removed the existing listings you did have in the reviews app

If you are already using the reviews app, you will need to either remove your existing listings or incorporate them into your new directory.  Once you switch over to the predefined categories, your existing listings will all appear in the "Other" category.

1) In your reviews app, click on the "Admin Options" tab

2) Select the option to use the predefined categories

3) If you are using Business membership type(s) and you want those members to show as sponsored listings for the categories for which they are registered, check that option.

A big advantage for being a business member is that your listing can show up in up to three categories whereas other listings in the reviews app have only one category associated with them.  Be sure to use that as a selling point for potential sponsors!

4) Now just start entering listings in your reviews app!

Importing Listings

You may find that entering in hundreds of basic listings can get pretty monotonous.  There is a better way... importing!  In the admin options area, you will see a textarea box where you can paste your data you want to import.  The format is one entry per line and each field is separated by a bar "|". Not all fields can be imported - only the basics that do not require formatting or line wrapping.  To upload images, format HTML, and enter details, just edit the entry after import.  This import feature is meant for basic phonebook entries.

Categories must match the correct category titles exactly.  You can get a complete listing of the categories used by the system at this URL: http://www.igroops.com/categories.txt  Or you can just import one category at a time using the category drop down.  if you choose the latter method, do not add the category in your import list, instead start with title.

Format: category|title|address|contact|short description OR title|address|contact|short description (if using category drop down)

Example:

Arts & Entertainment/Movies|Crazy Multiplex|123 Main, Mytown, CA|555-123-4567|48 theaters
Arts & Entertainment/Movies|Town Theatre|321 Main, Mytown, CA|555-234-5678|lousy 2 theaters
...

Tips, Tricks, and Notes

• You can link directly to any category or subcategory.  When you expand a category, you will see that the category name where the listings appear under is linked.  Click that link and you will see the direct URL.
• The subtitle shows in the listing when the user chooses to see all listings in the general category
• If using the predefined categories, you cannot modify the categories
• The main difference between this application and the member directory with business listings is that with the member directory ONLY member listings appear and there is no easy way of adding general listings without making all listings members of your group.
• Some categories are not a perfect fit.  Simply use the "short description" field to tell exactly what the listing is.  This will then show in the listing summary.

Perhaps the most famous example of forced continuity is the CD of the month club.  I always see those ads: "Join now for just 1 penny and get 6 CDs! (...then, we will send you a crappy CD each month for the rest of your life and charge you full retail price and then some).  Granted, this is not the most respectable example, but it is a popular one.  Forced continuity is a marketing strategy where you charge the customer/member a small initial fee, then after a certain defined time frame, beginning a larger, regular monthly charge.

Just like a knife can be used to both heal and kill, forced continuity can be used to help the customer get what they want, or it can be used to deceive customer.  Using this strategy in a deceptive way can ruin your business and credibility.  Make sure your members know what they are signing up for.

Why Use Forced Continuity?

For many years, this has been proven a very effective membership-building strategy.  Together with a trial period, it allows the customer/member to get something of value with a very nominal investment.  Unlike a free trial period alone, the member makes a very nominal financial commitment up front. This fee can cover initial expense associated with the membership, and, if using AuthorizeNet, is charged in real-time so you can be confident the credit card is good.

Only AuthorizeNet will charge the card in real-time and deny membership if the card is declined for the initial payment.  PayPal cannot be used with the forced continuty option.

How To Implement Forced Continuity On Your iGrOOps Membership Site

You can use this technique with AuthorizeNet only.  The requirements are

• you must charge a membership fee for your membership site
• you must charge a one-time new member fee
• you must use a trial period

Implementing:

1. As the administrator for the site, click on the "ADMINISTRATOR SETTINGS" link a the bottom of your page (if using full-length header) or click on the admin settings icon in the top header (if using the traditional header).
2. Select "Membership Info / Admin Team" from the pull-down menu at the top of the page.
3. Under the section "Membership Fees", be sure to enter in a one-time new member fee.  This will be the initial fee that the member is immediately charge.
4. Under "Trial Periods", select a time frame that must pass before the full monthly or yearly fee will be charged.
5. Check the box "Charge the one-time fee right away (forced continuity)".
6. Save the information by clicking the "Next" button at the bottom of the page.

Some Technical Stuff

• AuthorizeNet will create two transactions: one will be in the regular section of your AuthorizeNet where you search transactions, and the other will be as a subscription in the ARB section.
• If a customer cancels right away, or you choose to refund their initial fee, up must void/refund the initial free transaction AND cancel the membership subscription (in AuthNet)

With iGrOOps and Google Analytics™, advanced analytics can be done quickly, easily, and without spending a penny more than you are currently spending.

This is not meant to be a detailed document on how to use Google Analytics -- Google has great documentation on that.  This is how to implement Analytics with your iGrOOp.

What is Google Analytics™?

From Google's website:

Google Analytics shows you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance their visitor experience. Improve your website return on investment, increase conversions, and make more money on the web.

With over 80 reports, your free Google Analytics account will track visitors through your site, and will keep track of the performance of your marketing campaigns - whether they're AdWords campaigns, email campaigns, or any other advertising program. With this information, you'll know which keywords are really working, which ad text is the most effective, and where your visitors are dropping off during the conversion process. Don't be fooled by the fact that this functionality is available to you for free - Google Analytics is a full-featured, powerful analytics package.

AdWords advertisers can find all of these benefits from within their AdWords account - Google Analytics has been fully integrated with AdWords. All of your reports and settings are available from the Analytics tab.

To get started with Google Analytics, simply visit click the Analytics tab in your AdWords account. You'll be guided through a simple sign-up process, which will require the addition of a code snippet. Once that's done, you'll start gathering data immediately, on track for improved ROI!

Using Google Analytics with iGrOOps

Here is the step by step process to start tracking detailed statistics for your group.

1. Visit http://www.google.com/analytics and open a free account or sign in if you already have an account with Google.
2. In the main menu, click on "add a website profile"
3. Add your iGrOOp domain name or your full iGrOOps URL
4. Copy the code Google gives you.  Use the new code (old code will work as well)
5. In your iGrOOps homepage editor, expand the Miscellaneous Settings section and look for the Google® Analytics section
6. Paste in the code EXACTLY as copied from Google
7. Click the save button at the very bottom of the screen

That is it!  Now that tracking code will appear on EVERY page in your group.

Allow Google 24 hours to recognize tracking code.  Refreshing will not help. 

Setting Up Conversion Goals and Funnel

These can come in handy when doing advertising campaigns.  Here is a step by step:

1. Go to Analytics Settings in your Google account
2. Click the "Edit" link under the "Settings" column for the profile you want to set up conversion goals for
3. Google allows you to set up to 4 goals.  You may choose to track limited memberships, full access memberships, and/or newsletter subscribers.  Set the header type to "exact" and depending on the goals you want to set up, enter the URLs below:
   
   TO TRACK LIMITED MEMBERS:
   http://www.igroops.com/members/[your_folder]/info/limited_membership.html
   
   TO TRACK FULL MEMBERS:
   http://www.igroops.com/members/[your_folder]/info/full_membership.html
   
   TO TRACK NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS:
   http://www.igroops.com/members/[your_folder]/info/nl_subscriber.html

Some Notes:

• even if you have your own domain, use the iGrOOps.com domain in the above URLs otherwise it will not work
• keep in mind that Google Tracking is not instant... it updates every 4 hours or so (see Google docs for exact details)
• This conversion tracks successful membership registrations and newsletter registrations only

iGrOOps is jam-packed with features.  This section is a work in progress of the features that iGrOOps has to offer.

Check this documentation often for the many features added on a regular basis.

An e-mail "newsletter" is one of the oldest, most basic, and most effective ways to communicate with prospects (online, that is).  In the online group world, a newsletter can be used to keep prospect up to date on what is happening with your online group, and provide reasons for them, on a regular basis, to join your group.  It is simple, and it works.

With iGrOOps, you can have the newsletter feature setup with a few clicks (literally!)  Once setup, the newsletter signup box will appear on the right or left column of your home page (see figure 1) and can be inserted any another website (a non-iGrOOp) if you have one.

figure 1

Prospects can quickly and easily sign up for your newsletter, thus maximizing your prospect list.  You can then send mailings to this list using your communication system, where each mailing you sent is archived in a category you setup in your forum.  If they want to unsubscribe, they can do so in one simple click -- by clicking the unsubscribe link that is attached to every e-mail sent out.

"Double Opt-in"

The iGrOOps newsletter is considered a "double opt-in" newsletter.  This protects everybody involved and ensures good net-business practices.  This means that the subscription process is a multi-step process that goes like this:

1. The subscriber enters his or her name and e-mail address in your subscribe form.
2. They are immediately sent an e-mail to their address they entered, asking them to click on a link to verify and complete their subscription.
3. Once they click on the link, they type an easy to read word they see on the screen and click the button.

Why a Newsletter?  The Funnel Method

In marketing there is something called the sales funnel.  This is a cycle that the average prospect will take before they become a buyer.  The newsletter is the ideal tool to "feed your funnel", since you are most likely to get many more prospects sign up for a newsletter than join your group as a paid member.  Once they are in your newsletter list, you can work on getting them to become limited members, then finally paid members.

Web surfers are generally lazy.  If they are not motivated enough to fill out your registration form for a free limited membership, they may be motivated enough to simply give their name and e-mail.  As a rule of thumb, the less you require a prospect to do, the more prospects you will have.

The Difference Between Newsletter Subscribers and Members

In iGrOOps, you may have limited access members, full access members, and exclusive access members. All of whom are considered "members" of your group.  Newsletter subscribers are not members of your group.  They have the same access as guests (or visitors).  They are more than just guests, however, because they have given you their name and e-mail, so you can choose to include them in any post you make on your discussion forum (and for the Standard iGrOOps package and above, you can send them autoresponder messages).

Another difference is that the newsletter is a one way communication vehicle between an administrator of the iGrOOp (members cannot see or send to this list) and the subscribers.   With members, you have the option of making your communication system (forums, mail list) two way, meaning members can post on the forums and communicate with each other.  Newsletter subscribers can not post on your forum and they cannot communicate with other newsletter subscribers.  If they respond to your newsletter post, their responses are sent directly to your e-mail address as listed in your iGrOOps profile.

You can only send e-mail to your newsletter subscribers from the communication system web interface or the smart autoresponder.  You cannot e-mail to them directly (there is no e-mail address attached to your group of newsletter subscribers).  Your group list address will NOT include newsletter subscribers.

Activating the Newsletter Feature

You can activate this feature and begin building your newsletter subscriber base right away.

1. As administrator, click on the homepage editor in the footer of your homepage.
2. Click on the "Newsletter Options" link to expand the section of options.
3. Check the box that reads "Use the Newsletter Subscription Feature" on either the right or left column
4. [optional] Enter a custom message asking prospects to subscribe.
5. At the bottom of the page, click the "Save Settings" button.

Now if you visit your home page, you will see the subscribe box on the right or left column (if you do not, reload your homepage by clicking the "F5" button).

Mailing To Your Newsletter Subscribers

As an administrator, or someone with administration rights to your communication system, you can send a copy of any post you make on any of your forums (excluding subgroops, which ONLY send to members of the subgroop) to your newsletter subscribers.

You must have the list serve feature of your communication system active to mail to your newsletter subscribers.  This feature is turned on or off in the administrator's settings within the communication system application.

When you post a message, you have the option to also send the message by email (see figure 2).  Uncheck the box that reads "Post on forum only - do not e-mail to the iGrOOp".  A menu will expand giving you the choice to send the message to full, limited, trail members, and/or newsletter subscribers.  Be sure to check the newsletter subscribers box.  Then click the "Post New Message" button.

figure 2

If you are sending messages to newsletter subscribers through the forum, create a category specifically for your newsletters.  This way, all postings can be well organized and your members can choose to read them or not.If you want to keep your newsletter postings private from your members, simply delete the post immediately after you post it.  The content will be e-mailed to your newsletter members even if your post on the forum does not exist!

The Smart Autoresponder is a more elegant method for sending newsletters, and affords you the ability to send HTML messages. For more information on the Smart Autoresponder, please see view our Admin Manual. If your package does not include the Smart Autoresponder, you can add it by upgrading to the Standard package or above, by clicking the [Change Service] link in the header of your iGrOOp.

Managing Your Newsletter Subscriptions

You can manage your subscriptions through your "Search Membership List" tool -- click the See Group Members link in your header (if you deactivated this link, you will see it in your footer).  As an administrator, you will see the administrator options below the search bar.  The option you want to click is the "show newsletter subscribers" option.

Regular members do not see these admin options.  They cannot see or search your newsletter subscribers.

Your newsletter subscribers will be listed in a table with the following headers:

• Select: a checkbox to mass delete selected subscribers or resend verification notices. 
• Status: if a red x icon is shown, that means the address has bounced.  If a person icon is shown, it means that this subscriber is also a member of the group.  The info icon will tell you the IP address and confirmation status of the subscriber if you put your mouse over it.
• Subscribe / Verify Date: the date the member subscribed or the date the member verified their subscription (if verified).  No date will show if the member was imported and not confirmed.
• Name: the name of the subscriber
• E-mail: the email address of the subscriber

Importing Your Existing List

While you cannot import members into your iGrOOp, you CAN import subscribers into your newsletter list.  Use the import feature below the listing of subscribers.  Use the space provided to import names / e-mail addresses into your list. Format: one entry per line. Separate the fields with a *: NAME * E-MAIL * [optional IP address] Ex. "Fred Subscriber * fred@subscriber.com" or "Fred Subscriber * fred@subscriber.com * 123.123.123.123".

Importing is only the first step.  Once imported, the subscribers MUST verify their subscription -- you cannot do this for them.  This ensures a 100% opt-in list, protects iGrOOps from getting blocked by ISPs for spam, and gives you an opportunity to purge you list of invalid addresses or uninterested parties.

Some How To's

How to managed bounced e-mail.  Every time you send a message to your list, all bounced e-mail is returned to the server and collected.  You can then see which subscribers have bounced e-mail (indicated by red x icon) when you display your subscribers.  This keeps a running count of all bounced e-mail.  Once a subscriber address has bounced 3 times, the checkbox associated with the address is checked by default, suggesting that you should (not must) delete this address from your list. You can adjust this "bounce threshold" in the advanced newsletter options.

Bad e-mail messages not only clutter your lists, but make it so it takes longer for your valid members to receive their messages.  Keep your lists clean for your subscribers, the server, and your country.

How to search through your list.  When your full list is displayed, use your browser's "find" feature to find the matching text on the page.

How to deal with subscribers who become members.  When this happens, you sill see a person icon in the status field of their listing.  You may consider removing them from your list if you also have members lists with similar content.  This is not done automatically.

How to correct / modify subscriber information.  Simply delete them and resubscribe them.  They will have to re-confirm their address.

How to add your newsletter sign up box to an outside website.  Once you activate your newsletter box, go to your iGrOOps homepage and click "view source" for the page.  Copy the newsletter widget code that looks something like this:

<!--iGrOOps Newsletter Widget Code BEGIN -->
<table border=0 cellpadding=1 cellspacing=1 width=190 align=center>
<tr>
<td>
<form method=post action="/members/[FOLDER]">
<input type=hidden name=redirecturl value="">

<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>Want Even More Success? Sign up for my&nbsp;Success Newsletter and receive a FREE gift -- my short story,&nbsp;<em>The Journey</em></strong></span></p></p>
<p><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td>Name:</td><td><input type=text name=name size=14></td></tr><tr><td><nobr>E-mail</nobr>:</td><td><input type=text name=email size=14></td></tr></table>
<br><center><input type=submit value="Subscribe" name="newsletter_subscribe"></center>
</form>
</tr>
</td>
</table>
<!--iGrOOps Newsletter Widget Code END -->

If you want your subscribers to be redirected to another URL after signup, enter the FULL URL as the "redirecturl" variable.

Did you ever want to send a message to a select group of people within your iGrOOp?  The communication system sends/displays messages for all members of the iGrOOp, and the private message system is ideal for one-on-one private communication, but what about a groop inside your groop?  Enter the subgroops.

A subgroop is a member created group within an iGrOOp.  This groop has their own web forum category where posts can be sent by e-mail to ONLY the members of the subgroop.  In addition, only members of the subgroop (and the iGrOOp's administrators) can see the subgroop listing and read the posts.  Subgroops are a great tool for private group communication.

Creating a Subgroop

Any member of an iGrOOp can create an unlimited number of subgroops within an iGrOOp.  Subgroops are created through the user preferences in the Communication System.

To create a subgroop:

1. Click on the user preferences link (wrench icon) inside your communication system.
2. Scroll down to the section labeled "Your SubGrOOps"
3. Here you enter one subgroop per line with the following format:
   
   [optional "*"]Subgroop name::description::MemberNickname1,MemberNick2
4. Scroll to the bottom and click "Save User Preferences"

Note: The iGrOOp administrators will be able to see all subgroops and access content, unlike the private messages.

The format explained.

• If you enter a "*" (without the quotes) before the subgroop name, you are setting the subgroop as a one-way communication subgroop.  This means that only you, the subgroop starter, will have the option of sending messages via e-mail to the group members.  Other members in the group will still be able to post to the web forum, but will not be able to send their posts to the e-mail list.
• The subgroop name is a simple name containing only letters, spaces, and/or numbers that represents what your subgroop is about.
• The description is a detailed description of your subgroop.  Remember that only members of your subgroop will read this description.
• The member list is a coma separated list of iGrOOps nicknames (case sensitive) that are part of your list.  Make sure you have the nicknames spelled correctly using the correct case. 

To send a message to your subgroop:

1. Within your iGrOOp communication system, click on the "show forum categories" link.
2. At the end of the listings, all of the subgroops that you have started and that you are a member of will be listed.  Click on the subgroop name where you want to post a message.
3. Post a message just like you would any other forum or private message post.
4. Depending on how the subgroop is setup, you may be able leave the "post on forum only" box unchecked -- this will send an e-mail with your message to all the members of the subgroop (NOT the entire iGrOOp).

Some extra points to consider:

• Subgroops can be abused if members use them to send unwanted messages to other group members.  Spamming can be grounds for having a membership canceled.
• Administrators will not be notified for each post made within a subgroop, just like private messages.  Unless the administrator is part of the subgroop.
• By default, posts will be e-mailed out to all members of the subgroop.  Check the "post on forum only" box to NOT have the message sent via e-mail.  If you do not see this option, the starter of the subgroop has made this a one-way list and you do not have the option to have your posts e-mailed to the subgroop.
• If you change the name of the subgroop after posts have been made, you need to notify your iGrOOp administrator and ask him/her to move the posts to the new name FIRST.

Until recently, all video and audio needed to be recorded locally (on your own PC), saved, then uploaded to a website/server in order to be shared with others. This process was not only time consuming, but required extra software and a decent understanding of the software required and Internet protocols. But thanks to Flash, Java, and streaming server technology, any user with a reasonable Internet connection and an updated computer, can record video or audio directly from a webpage. iGrOOps has this feature build in to several of its applications.

iGrOOps uses the latest technology to allow users to record video and audio directly from a webpage that can be immediately saved on the server and shared with others.

Requirements

As mentioned, not everyone can take advantage of this feature -- like all software, there are some basic requirements that need to be met.

iGrOOps uses two different plugins -- one for audio and video, and another for just audio. The one for just audio is a Java-based plugin and is used only in the AV Presentation application. The other is a Flash-based plugin and is used in the Audio / Video postcards and the Blogs.

• A recent web-browser. So far, no users reported having an outdated web browser. Anything downloaded/updated within the last few years seems to work just fine. If you are using anything before IE 6.0, you may want to update your browser for other reasons as well. IE, Firefox, Safari, all work just fine.
• The ability to record sound. Your local computer must have a input jack for audio in or microphone, or at least a built in mic. If you bought your computer within the last 6 years or so, it most likely has this. If you are using an external mic jack, you need an external microphone.
• The ability to record video (optional). If you are using the audio/video recorder for video, you will need some kind of webcam, whether it be built in or external.
• An updated version of the Flash plugin (for postcards and blogs). Automatic updated to your browser will assure you the latest Flash plugin. However, it can't hurt to manually update this. It literally takes less than a minute to install (see below).
• An updated version of the Java plugin (for AV presentations).

If you are using an outdated version of the Flash plugin, you will see the audio / video recording plugin loaded on the webpage, but it will be missing several controls like volume, record, settings, save, etc. This means you need to update your Flash plugin. Make sure it looks like figure 1 below.

Updating Your Flash Plugin

This is very simple and takes just under a minute. You should not have to reboot your computer but you do need to close all other browser windows (besides the one you are using to install).

1. Visit the Flash plugin URL
2. Follow the instructions on that page

Updating Your Java Plugin

This too is simple and takes about a minute. You should not have to reboot your computer but you do need to close all other browser windows (besides the one you are using to install).

1. Visit the Java plugin URL
2. Follow the instructions on that page

Hardware Suggestions

We are often asked what is the best webcam / microphone to get. We do not know the "best" because we have not tried them all -- or even enough to make a confident statement. However, many users have reported their findings on this issue, and here are the general suggestions:

• Get a microphone / headset combo rather than just a microphone. If you plan on doing any online video/audio chats, you will need this.
• Don't skimp on price. You can get a headset mic for less than $10 USD these days, but you will be sorry. I have paid $40 for mine and I love it. Quality does make a difference.
• As for webcam, you should find one with an included microphone headset under $100 that will do the job. In the USA, check Staples or Best Buy for some good deals.

Do you have any good hardware suggestions that we missed? Any specific products you suggest? Anything that you would suggest people avoid? Please post in the comments below!

Using the Flash Online Recorder (postcards and blogs)

Now that you are setup and ready to go with the proper updates and hardware, let's record an audio and video message. Currently, the postcard and blog iGrOOps applications use the Flash audio/video recorder (see figure 1). When you are about to create a postcard or blog post, the recorder will load in the webpage.

If this is your first time allowing this plugin to load, it will take a moment, and it will ask for your permission to allow this plugin access to your camera and mic. Make sure you allow it by confirming "yes" (or "allow").

Figure 1 - the Flash-based audio/video plugin (image only)

Recording Your Message.

1. Begin by selecting either "Audio Only" or "Audio & Video". If you choose the latter, you should see the image your webcam has picked up where you now see the blue to white fade in the image above. If you are using video, adjust your camera so it captures the image you desire.
2. Click the "Record" button and begin your recording.
3. When you are done, click the "Stop" button.
4. Click "Save". You MUST save this using this save button on the control. If you forget to save the video and try to click the update/save button on the bottom of the page, your video will be lost. Get into the habit of saving your recordings. Like preparing your outgoing voice mail message, each saved message will overwrite the previous on, and only the last saved message will be saved/used.
5. You can use the play button/icon (forward triangle) to play back your message if you like.

Most webcam software will allow you to adjust the contrast, brightness, and more. This is best done on your PC's webcam software. Beware: if your software has a "low lighting" option you should disable it -- otherwise your video will appear very choppy when that feature is being used.

If using IE, you will have to click on the plugin to "activate it". This means the first time you click any of the buttons, like record, it will not start recording -- that first click only activated the control. This is not a problem, just an IE annoyance that you can easily work around.

Using the Audio Recorder (AV presentations)

The audio recorder uses Java technology to record sound only from your local PC to the server. It has a simplified interface (see figure 2) and is very easy to use.

• Button #1 - the red circle: use this to start recording your message.
• Button #2 - the green arrow: use this to play a message you have just recorded.
• Button #3 - the blue/grey lines: use this button to pause the playback or recording of your message.
• Button #4 - the red square: use this button to stop the recording or playback of your message.
• Button #5 - the grey disk: use this button to play a saved audio file on the server. This is when you are editing an existing slide for which you already have a recorded message.
• The grey status bar: if you do not see this bar on your iGrOOp, you do not have an updated java version installed. Otherwise, you will see this bar and see a real-time volume status appear as you record your message.

Like the Flash Audio / Video recorder, you must click the "Save Slide Audio on Server" button before saving the slide data.

"Alone, we can only move buckets. But if we work together, we can drain rivers."
- Mike Brady, The Brady Bunch Movie

When you created your iGrOOp, you were the one and only administrator.  Only you have access to all the areas and can do many things other users cannot do.  This sounds great, but the fact is most groups that have teams sharing the responsibilities are more productive, grow faster, and have better membership satisfaction.  With iGrOOps, you can build your own administration team.

The administration team consists of the following roles.  You can fill, none, some, or all of these roles.  The choice is yours:

• Co-Administrator
• Director of Benefits
• Benefits Committee
• Director of Communications
• Communications Committee
• Director of Content
• Content Committee
• Director of Marketing
• Marketing Committee
• Director of Membership
• Membership Committee
• Director of Member Support
• Support Committee
• Director of Public Relations
• Public Relations Committee

There is no NEED to fill any of these roles.  The main administrator for the iGrOOp has full access.

Each admin role has certain access rights that regular members or other admin team members do not have.  Here is a list of those access rights.  You can have as many admin team members as you like and use the titles as many times as you like.  For example, you can have none or 10 Co-Administrators.

• Co-Administrator: The co-administrator has ALL the access rights of the main administrator.
• Director of Benefits / Benefits Committee: Members with these titles will see an extra shopping cart icon in their header.  If they click this icon, they will have access to the benefits editor where they can modify the benefits.
• Director of Communications / Communications Committee: By Default, members with these titles will be moderators for the discussion boards - able to approve or decline messages.
• Director of Content / Content Committee: These members will see will have access to the Homepage Editor and Custom Admin Webpages. 
• Director of Marketing / Marketing Committee: no special access
• Director of Membership / Membership Committee: These members can approve / decline new members.  They will have access to the Pending Members link in the footer, as well as See Group Members, even if the membership list is turned off to members.
• Director of Member Support / Support Committee: These members will see the See Group Members link in their header, or footer, if the membership list is turned off to members.
• Director of Public Relations / Public Relations Committee: no special access.

Assigning Administration Team Roles to Your Members

This can be done only by an administrator (main admin or co-admin) of the iGrOOp.

1. In your iGrOOp, click on the "administrator settings" icon
2. Select "Edit iGrOOp: Membership Info / Admin Team" from the drop down menu
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page where you see "Add / Edit Admin Team Role"
4. Select the admin role
5. Select the member's nickname
6. Select the percent share you will be giving them for this role
7. Click either the "Add Another / Edit Team Member" or the "Next" button

Repeat as many times as needed.  To edit a members admin team status, click on the pencil icon near the member in the list at the bottom of the page and follow the above instructions starting at step 3.

Application Access for Your Admin Team

In addition to the special access right listed above, you, as the administrator, can grant administrator access to each of the positions for each application.  This is done in the configuration area for the application.  For example, you may want the Director of Marketing to have the ability to create video postcards, or the members of the Communications committee to have full rights to the communication system.

If you have not already assigned a member an administration role, you will not have the option of granting that role administration access to any application.  The member must first be given the administrator team title in the administrator's settings.

The main administrator, or simply "administrator", is the person with the highest level of access within the iGrOOp.  This is the person who has registered the iGrOOp and was its first member.

The main administrator can be switched, but this has to be done by the administrator team for iGrOOps.  Send a private message from the "ids" iGrOOp with your request.

When you are the administrator, the welcome message in the header will show you as having the status of the administrator (see figure 1).

figure 1 - status showing as administrator

What You Can Do With Admin Access

• Approve or decline pending members
• Assign each member a special title within the group
• Change membership type
• Change payment cycle
• Suspend the member from your group
• Delete the member from your group
• See member and application statistics
• Access the administrator settings
• Access the configuration area for each application
• Edit the homepage
• Create custom webpages within the group (not just one personal page)
• Invite people to join using a promotion code (free membership)
• and more

In addition to the above, with each application there are rights and responsibilities set in the configuration area.  All of the above duties are described in detail throughout this document.

Perhaps the most important duty of the administrator, is to put together the administration team so that these duties can be shared.

A module is an "add on" for your professional iGrOOp that extends the functionality.  Modules are not part of the pro iGrOOps package, but must be ordered separately.  The modules are created by iGrOOps and fully integrated within iGrOOps, but due to the complexity and/or functionality of the modules, they are offered only to the customers who want them at an additional cost.

Be sure to activate your affiliate module in the admin settings / applications.

Setting Up Your Affiliate Program

Getting this program going is easy, but you are not there yet.  Now it's time to setup the specifics of the program like payments, details, etc.  We do this in the administrator options area of the affiliate program.

1. To access the admin options for this application, either enter the application by clicking on the "Check Your Affiliate Commissions" link, then click the icon to the right at the top of the application, or view the application list (application & tools icon in the header) and click the admin options icon for the affiliate program application.
2. Here you enter information about your program that will be shared with the affiliates.  Details and explanations are on this page.

Be sure to setup your affiliate program soon after activating it -- especially if you have an active group.  The "Check Your Affiliate Commissions" link will display soon as the group is activated.

You will notice two columns to input commissions for each action. The column on the left is the first tier, and the column on the right is the second tier.  You can choose to make this a one or two tier affiliate program.  If you choose two tier, enter values in the second column.  This would mean that you are compensating affiliates for the sales of the affiliates that they signed up.  A standard second tier commission percentage is between 5-25%.

A Detailed Overview of How the Affiliate Program Works

So far we have activated and setup our affiliate program.  We are officially ready to go!  Let's go through the process as an affiliate of referring a new member, then we will go through the process as an administrator of paying the affiliate(s).

1. Only your members can be affiliates of your group.  If you don't want to charge affiliates for membership, your best bet is to offer free limited membership.  As a member who is logged in, the affiliate will see the "Check Your Affiliate Commissions" link at the top of every page in your iGrOOp.  They get started by clicking on that link.
2. Here they will see all the details of the program that were automatically inserted when you entered your setup information.  Most importantly, they will see their affiliate URL.  The affiliate uses this URL to share with others and use as a link on their website(s).
3. Once a prospective member clicks on the affiliate link, a cookie is set on their computer that will stay there for over a year or until manually cleared.  This cookie will ensure that if that prospect signs up for membership, the affiliate will get credit.
4. Once the prospect signs up for membership, the affiliate gets a notice by e-mail.  Until the membership is approved by the admin, and showing as active, no commission is awarded, but the order will immediately show in the affiliate's commissions.  Only when active will the commission have a value (if the membership sold was a commissionable action as defined in the admin setup).
5. As the site administrator, you can check your affiliate's commissions by entering the affiliate program area, then clicking the "Admin Area" link.  This area will show you all of your affiliates who have referred members and any money due to them.
6. When you are ready to pay the affiliates, click the "download PayPal masspay file" link and save the file locally.  This is the file that you upload in the PayPal masspay section (at PayPal.com) to automatically pay all of your affiliates.

The affiliate can click on the user preferences icon in the affiliate program application to set custom contact information for their affiliate URL. 

That is it!  The program is very simple from the affiliate's point of view as well as the admin.  This simplicity results in more participation.  For more details on this program and some advanced ideas, see the supporting material links at the top of this page.

Some Technical Notes:

• Affiliates will NOT get paid (or show a $0 amount) if 
  • their "membership status" is not set at "approved"
  • the "payment type" is a promotion code
  • the "Payment type" does not have value
  • their nickname is the same as their referral code (ie they are trying to get commission for their own account)
  • the "amount paid" is $0
• This program is designed to pay affiliates once a month.  We strongly suggest not altering that pay cycle.
• There is no renewal commissions for yearly memberships, due to the many options for an admin to modify the yearly memberships (extending, shortening date, etc)
• If you are using a free trial period, the "effective date" is the registration date PLUS the free trial.  This ensures that commissions are not due until after the member has paid.
• If you change the freetrail date, all existing memberships will reflect the new freetrial date.

Create banners and buttons for your affiliates!  The more choices you have available, the more likely the affiliates will be to market your services.  iGrOOps has a banner design package that you should check out.

Advanced Use: Using an Outside Website as Your Main Page

Let's say you have an outside (non iGrOOps) page where you want to send prospects first - and you do NOT want to send prospects to your main iGrOOps site or ecommerce product page.  You can do this and retain the "cookie" by making a slight change to your main website.

This "hack" assumes you have PERL on your server, and appropriate permissions and access rights to make this change.  If you do not, contact your webmaster and show him or her this section, ask what they can do.  This code can easily be rewritten in other languages.

1. Make sure your website will see an index.cgi file before other index types.  You can do this by adding an ".htaccess" file to your website's main HTML directory and making sure it has this line: DirectoryIndex index.cgi index.html index.php index.htm
2. Place an "index.cgi" file in your main HTML folder.  The default file is shown below.  Note the changes you will need to make to the file before uploading.
3. Change the mode of the index.cgi to 755.  This is executable.
4. Test! Now enter your main domain name with a "?affilateid" appended to it.  For example, if your main website is http://www.mysite.com, and the affiliate id is "myid", then http://www.mysite.com?myid should take you to your main page AND write the cookies to your iGrOOp as well.  So if this affiliate signed up for membership to your iGrOOp, the referring id would be "myid".

Here is the code for the index.cgi file (note: no lines should wrap):

#!/usr/local/bin/perl

# is affiliate code attached?
if ($ENV{'QUERY_STRING'}) {
   ($aff,$page)=split(/\+/,$ENV{'QUERY_STRING'});
   print "Set-Cookie: refcode=$aff; expires=Mon, 20-Sep-2010 12:00:00 GMT; path=\/\r\n";
   print "Location: http://www.myigroop.com/?$aff+SENDBACK_www_mysite_com+$page\n\n";
   exit;

} else {
   print "Location: http://www.mysite.com/index.html\n\n";
   exit;
}

Substitutions in RED:

• be sure to change to your server's location of PERL
• http://www.myigroop.com should be the URL for your iGrOOp's home page (just the domain)
• SENDBACK_www_mysite_com is the domain our scripts will send the user back to.  Notice the "."'s in the URL are replaced with "_" (underscores)
• http://www.mysite.com/index.html is your main site's homepage file.  You cannot just use your master domain name here, you need to append your index file.

OPTION: The script can handle an optional "page" argument.  This means you do not have to use your main website's homepage for this, but any page within the main HTML folder on that server by including the page name as an argument to the original call.  For example: http://www.mysite.com?myid could be  http://www.mysite.com?myid+promo.html.

How many times have you signed up for a newsletter, or membership site, and began receiving regular, quality information? Did you ever think, "How can someone keep coming up with this stuff on a regular basis?" The chances are, there was not someone creating and sending out the messages on a daily basis. The messages were probably created a while ago, and just sent to you on a schedule based on your membership date or the day of the year. These are what we call, "Smart Autoresponders".

Smart, or scheduled autoresponders are perhaps a marketer's favorite tool. It is way to ensure that each member gets all the information the marketer wants to give them, on the schedule the marketer wants to give it to the member. Best of all, it is all automated!

Features and Benefits

• Create and send unlimited autoresponders for one monthly fee
• Send messages in plain text or HTML
• Use the online editor to compose your HTML messages -- without needing to know HTML
• Enter a custom "from" address for each responder
• Choose to include full access members, limited access members, and/or newsletter subscribers in each message
• Use the optional "offset days" feature to hold off sending automated messages to members/subscribers until they have been registered for a set number of days
• Newsletter subscribers can opt out of messages at any time.
• Full or Limited access members can opt out of mailings without cancelling membership
• "Important message" option will send your message to members even if they opted out of non urgent messages
• A complete delivery report can be sent on a per autoresponder basis
• Set up autoresponders to be sent based on the number of days subscribed, number of weeks, number of months, a given calendar date, and even on a member's birthday
• Choose what time of day you want your autoresponders to be sent out
• Advanced sorting options for easy autoresponder management
• Insert messages into any series and send immediately to members/subscribers who should get it
• Use Smart Autoresponders to send membership expiration notices to members based on their expiration date!

Some Examples of The Smart Autoresponders

Think of the smart autoresponders as an extension of your communication system. You can use these ONLY to send messages to your full or limited group members, and/or your newsletter subscribers. They cannot be used to send to any other lists. There are many circumstances where these would be very useful. Here are some examples:

Example #1: You want to send regular mailings to your newsletter subscribers. You do not want to have to keep writing messages every few days, and you want to make sure that each subscriber get all your message -- you may even want them to get the messages in order. This is where smart autoresponders come in. You create and upload your autoresponders in advance, associate each responder with a membership day. So for example, Bill who signed up today (day 1) will get the responder associated with day 1. Phil, who signed up last week, is on day 7 and will get day 7's message -- even though Bill got day 1's message. And you can sit back and let automation sell for you!

When messages are being sent to your newsletter subscribers, the custom and standard footers are appended to the messages being sent. This will always give the subscribers the opportunity to unsubscribe and give you the opportunity to up sell with your custom footer!

Example #2: You want to send regular mailings to your members. Let's say you run a group where you want your members to receive the same messages all at the same time, no matter when they joined. You can use the communication system and manually send your members a new message each day, or you can use the smart autoresponders and create all 365 messages in advance, and schedule them to go out one day at a time throughout the year, while you sit back and focus on other parts of your business!

Example #3: You want to let your members know before their membership expires.  You want to send them a persuasive sales letter giving them many reasons to renew their membership.  You create a series of autoresponders based on 30,15,7,3, and 1 day from the member's expiration.  You can even create a set for limited members, and a set for full members with different messages.  Now you can sit back and not worry about members not being given plenty of notice.

Only members that have signed up for YEARLY membership have memberships that expire.  Other members, monthly members, have an ongoing subscription that only "expires" when the member cancels.  So these monthly members are never sent expiration notices.

Example #4:  You want to create an agressive marketing campaign for those with yearly memberships that let their membership expire.  You create a series of autoresponders based on -1, -30, -60 and -90 days from the member's expiration. You can even create a set for limited members, and a set for full members with different messages.

The possibilities are endless. Smart autoresponders keep your name and website in the eyes and minds of your subscribers/members.

Activating the Smart Autoresponder Module

As mentioned, this is available for pro iGrOOp users only and is not part of the standard pro package. It can be ordered when the group is ordered, or it can be added at any time by clicking the "Add Services and Modules" link in the header of your iGrOOp.

Only the administrator can see this link and only the administrator of the group is authorized to add modules or services to an account. This module can also be added by calling the iGrOOps office directly during business hours at 978-461-5917.

Setting Up the Smart Autoresponders

Once you have activated the module by ordering it, it will immediately be available for you to use in your iGrOOp. Like any new application, visit your "administration settings" and jump to "applications / permissions". Look for the "Smart Autoresponders" and check the checkbox associated with the application. Hit the next and save button at the bottom of the page button and you are ready to go! To get to the application, select the application link and you will see the application listed.

This is an admin only application, that means that it is hidden to non-administrators and will not appear in feature lists to members.

Working with Autoresponders

Like all other iGrOOps applications, the tool is designed to be easy to use and intuitive. If you need help, the directions on the right hand side of the application should answer your questions. Also, check the FAQ and other documentation linked at the top of this page for details.

Holy Shnikies!  It is finally here.. the long awaited e-commerce module!  We have incorporated about 95% of all the features you've asked for, plus added more.  We have created what we believe to be the ideal membership site e-commerce solution that is fully integrated with iGrOOps, and works wonderfully with the affiliate and autoresponder modules.

Existing PRO customers as of December 20th, 2007, have had this module automatically installed for them as a free trial.  If you are one of these customers, you have 30 days to test "try before you buy".  if you do not use the "add modules / services" link to order this module within that time, it will be automatically removed from your group on Jan 20, 2008.

E-commerce Quick Start

If you are using this application for the first time, begin by visiting your e-commerce application's "Administration Area" and doing the following

1. click the admin options and enter in the required information
2. set up your shipping schedules
3. set up your tax schedules
4. start adding your products
5. use the shopping cart icon in the editors within iGrOOps to add products to custom webpages, autoresponders, and/or on the homepage

Each step is explained in detail in this documentation.

In addition, you can link directly to the product pages using the links in the product database. If you call the products with an “.htm” extension, no headers or left menus will be used.

Features & Benefits List

• special pricing for products sold for limited and/or full members
• accept offline payment / checks
• integrated with PayPal / PayPal Subscriptions
• integrated with AuthorizeNet / AuthNet ARB (automatic recurring billing)
• link products to related products
• sell products with one time price or recurring price
• assign admin access to groups or individual members
• unlimited number of products / services
• easy to use shipping schedules that do not require complex weight/size calculations
• option to charge tax or not per product
• custom thank you message per product sold - ideal for redirecting customers or selling electronic products with immediate downloads
• integrated with the iGrOOps reviews application
• full inventory control
• product pages SEO friendly
• add options to products that add to or subtract from the price
• optional sale price
• affiliate commission per product - two tier
• recurring charge option with optional customer set trail period ideal for forced continuity
• the ability for members to be "assigned" to products, ideal for selling products on consignment and giving your members a portion of the sale
• shipping schedules that can be setup to specifically charge customers shipping to a specific state a different price
• tax schedules that allow for multiple taxes, either country or state based
• use iGrOOps custom web pages, homepage editors and autoresponders to instantly insert products into pages or emails using product teasers or full products
• simple navigation to maximize the number of completed orders
• easy reorder / returning customer system
• integration with autoresponder module
• integration with affiliate module
• uses the secure domain https://www.safeonlinepayments.com for secure ordering -- a generic URL with no easy traceback to iGrOOps
• quick e-commerce system - single page product system fully integrated with sales letters
• option to use group headers or not use group headers, to maximize people staying in the order system
• full shopping cart mode to sell multiple products / services in one transaction
• gift certificates!

Examples

There are many ways you can incorporate the e-commerce system into your iGrOOp.  Here are some ideas with some examples:

1. Product Teasers.  You can place product teasers in the right and left columns in your group, on the homepage, in any custom member or admin webpage, and even in HTML autoresponder messages.  This is done with 2 clicks -- first click the new shopping cart icon that appears on the HTML editors for these areas then click the product and format you want to include in your HTML.  You can see and example of the product teaser in the right hand column here:
   
   http://www.yeartosuccess.com/members/y2s
2. Sales Letters.  Using the custom admin webpages, you can create sales letters used for online marketing campaigns that incorporate audio/video and the selling of a single product.  Our e-commerce system was designed for selling a single product or service at a time to maximize the conversion of prospects to customers by making the process as simple as possible.  You can choose to not use your iGrOOp headers and left column for the entire checkout process as demonstrated here:
   
   http://www.igroops.com/igroops/y2s/adminpages/YearToSuccess
3. Individual Product Pages / Direct Links.  Upon creation of a product, an individual sales page is already created you for the product... on that you can use with or without headers.  This is the most simple and basic way to start selling right away.  The first link is and example with headers, the second is an example without headers:
   
   (Link coming soon)
4. Searchable Product List.  A searchable product list is automatically created for your for all of your products.  Members can browse through all available products and choose the items to put in their "cart" until such time when they are ready to check out.
   
   http://www.yeartosuccess.com/igroops/y2s/ecommerce/

Setting Up Your Admin Options

Step 1 in selling products using your e-commerce system is setting up your admin options.  Each option is explained in the right hand column of this page, but below are some more details.

PayPal vs AuthroizeNet?  Bottom line, if your total sales volume is not that high, perhaps $100 or so per month, then PayPal would be the most economic option.  PayPal is free and their credit card rates are reasonable.  The downside is that customers are taken to PayPal's interface which some people see as less professional.  It also takes members away from your site.  It has been proven that an integrated solution such as AuthorizeNet converts more sales.

AuthorizeNet is the standard in online payment gateways which most online processors use.  Monthly rates generally run from 15-25 dollars depending on your processor.  Automatic recurring billing is and addl fee with AuthorizeNet but included in PayPal's free service.

If using AuthorizeNet, be sure to add to your response/relay URLs: https://www.safeonlinepayments.com

Understanding Shipping Schedules

In the admin options, you defined shipping methods.  In the shipping schedule area, you define schedules that use the methods, then entries for each method.

Examples:

Shipping Method: UPS Ground

• Schedule Name: Books
  • Entry: 1-1 items shipped anywhere in US will be $5.00
  • Entry: 2-10 items shipped anywhere in US will be $10.00
  • Entry: 11-100 items shipped anywhere in US will be $20.00
  • Entry: 1-1 items shipped to anywhere in Maine, US will be $10.00
  • Entry: 2-10 items shipped to anywhere in Maine, US will be $20.00
  • Entry: 11-100 items shipped to anywhere in Maine, US will be $40.00
  • Entry: 1-1 items shipped to anywhere will be $15.00
• Schedule Name: CDs
  • Entry: 1-1 items shipped anywhere in US will be $1.00
  • Entry: 2-10 items shipped anywhere in US will be $5.00
  • Entry: 11-100 items shipped anywhere in US will be $10.00
  • Entry: 1-1 items shipped to anywhere in Maine, US will be $5.00
  • Entry: 2-10 items shipped to anywhere in Maine, US will be $10.00
  • Entry: 11-100 items shipped to anywhere in Maine, US will be $20.00
  • Entry: 1-1 items shipped to anywhere will be $5.00

Using the above as an example, the following would be true:

• If a customer orders 1 book and has it shipped to California, the schedule that would apply is Entry: 1-1 items shipped anywhere in US will be $5.00.
• If a customer orders 1 book and has it shipped to Maine, the schedule that would apply is Entry: 1-1 items shipped anywhere in Maine, US will be $10.00. This is because schedules attempt to match the most relevant entry.
• If a customer orders 1 book and has it shipped to Italy, the schedule that would apply is Entry: 1-1 items shipped anywhere will be $15.00.
• If a customer orders 10 books and has it shipped to Italy, they would NOT be able to order online, because a shipping schedule does not exist for those criteria.

If you use a state or province, only shipping schedules with that state or province will be used when someone is shipping to that state or province.  If you use a country, only shipping schedule with that country selected will be used when shipping to people within that country.

Tax Schedules

The tax schedules are fairly straightforward.  Select the country and optional state where the tax will be charged.  The customer's shipping state will be used to match any and all appropriate taxes.  When you create each product, you can choose to exclude the product from taxes, if your are selling both taxable and non-taxable items.

Adding Products

Now you are ready to start adding your products.  To do this, go to the product database in the admin area.  You will see the link to add your product:

Once clicked, the section will expand.  The details of the fields are posted on the right column of the page.  Below are some more detailed specifics.

The Custom Thank You Message. This can be a simple message or a full HTML document created with the online editor.  Because customers order just one product at a time, this message is specifically for customer who just purchased this product.  This means you can return a very specific and detailed message.  This is a good place to include links to downloads they just purchases, "free gifts", or other electronic products.

Pricing. This is a powerful system that allows for many options and works seamlessly with the affiliate module to pay commissions to affiliates who are responsible for the customer's sale. 

If you are using affiliate commissions, you need to have the affiliate module.  This is a separate module offered by iGrOOps.

Promoting Your Products

In the examples section above we showed you some ways to promote your products.  Here are the specifics utilizing the insertion of a vertical teaser on the left column.

1) go to your homepage editor and expand the left/right column sections

2) go to the HTML editor and click on the shopping cart icon to launch the window with your existing products

3) click on the link that describes what product and format you want to insert.  For left and right columns you want to use the vertical summary

Note that you can choose an option without headers.  This will NOT take away the headers on the page where you insert the product, but rather on all the other pages through the checkout process.  This feature is ideal for sales letter applications.

4) Once you insert the product, it will show as a shopping cart icon place holder.  But when you view the page, it will show as the product format you selected.

You cannot insert a horizontal format in the right or left column.  Nor can you insert a full product form in an autoresponder.

Order Management

Here is an illustration of the order process:

1. The prospect visits your product page (see above for examples on how to display your products)
2. The prospect completes the online order.
3. The order is either accepted or rejected, based on the payment success or failure.  if the payment fails (declined), user is notified and can correct the error right away.  If payment is a success (or if chooses snail mail option) process continues.
4. The administrator(s) of the group are sent an email notification with a link to the order in the admin area.  At the same time, the customer receives an email notification with a link to the online receipt/invoice.
5. The administrator visits the order database, looks over the order, and delivers the product based on the success of the order.  Once the order is complete, the admin changes the status from "pending" to "complete".

Any changes can be made in the customer database by the administrator.

Selling an Electronic Product for Instant Download

People want things NOW, not within 3-5 business days.  If you can offer your product or service immediately in the form of an instant download, all the better.  iGrOOps e-commerce application is designed to meet this growing need.

An electronic product can be in any format -- exe, pdf, zip, mov, ... you name it.

Two applications are needed for this to work: the e-commerce module and the file sharing application.  Assuming your have your electronic product already created, take the following steps:

1) Visit your file sharing application.  You will notice a default folder "ecommerce" in the main directory.  This is a special folder with special access permissions.  Whatever you upload in this folder your members will NOT be able to see or access -- at least not without the special download code generated by the ecommerce system (more later).

2) Upload your files for instant download.  Click on the ecommerce folder (you may have to click twice) then use the "add files" button to add the file(s), the the "upload" button to upload them.

Once you upload the files into this special folder, you will NOT be able to see them.... at least not in the flash uploader.  You will be able to see them listed below listed under "E-commerce Folder for Paid Downloads"

Either copy this download URL(s) now or come back to this page later when you are ready to create the product entry for your instant download.  It is this URL that you will want to link to in the "thank you" message.

You will NOT be able to open this link if entered directly in the browser.  The word "DOWNLOADCODE" will be substituted for the actual download code when the "thank you" message is displayed, or in the order database after the order has been made.

3) Set the expiration for your download codes.  In your admin options for the e-commerce application (leaving the file sharing application now), you will see a select for when you want your download codes to expire.  You have the following choices:

• within 24 hours - 24 hours from the time the order is completed and the customer gets the "thank you" message.
• within 3 days - 3 days from the time the order is completed and the customer gets the "thank you" message.
• within 7 days - 7 days from the time the order is completed and the customer gets the "thank you" message.
• when the order status is "complete" - this option allows you to manually set when a customer can no longer download a product, since the default option for orders when they come in is "pending".
• never - the customer will always be able to download the product using their special download code.

4) Link to the special download link in your "thank you" message.  Using the link(s) you created in step 2, link them to your message like you would any other URL (using the link button in the editor).  Now the customer will be ready to download the product upon successful completion of the order!

Here is how it works: the text "DOWNLOADCODE" in the initial URL is substituted for the actual download code when the "thank you" page is generated.  The download code is made up of the order number and the timestamp of the order, which is unique for each order.  When the file is attempted to be downloaded, the system does a check against the order to ensure the code is good.  If not, the file will not be made available.

What if someone loses their download and asks for the URL again?  No problem, open up their order in your order database.  Providing the "thank you" message still has the link to the download in it, any instant download URLs will show up in an "purchased downloads" section.  You can just give your customers that/those URL(s).  OR, the customer can get the URL(s) herself by clicking the receipt/invoice link for the order sent via e-mail.

E-commerce and Affiliates / Ad Tracking

The e-commerce module/system is designed to be nicely integrated with the affiliate module.  This means, with both modules, your members (affiliates) can be compensated for the products they are responsible for selling.  This is quite easy to implement.  First of all, all members are automatically affiliates, so there is no additional sign up process.  Members just send traffic to any product link and append their Nickname to the product URL using "+" then nickname.

Example:

http://www.igroops.com/igroops/y2s/ecommerce/00000011/Year-To-Success-E-Book.html+NicknameHere

Or, if you or your affiliates are sending traffic to a sales letter page (custom webpage with a product inserted in), add the affiliate code to the URL of the webpage:

http://www.igroops.com/igroops/y2s/adminpages/YearToSuccess+NicknameHere

Even if you are not using the affiliate program, you can use this to track advertising results of your webpages.  For example, in place of the affiliate nickname you can use a campaign name and assign a different campaign name to each version of your webpage (sales letter) to track the results.  This affiliate ID or tracking code is saved with each order.

If you are including the newsletter on a custom webpage, make the redirect the same page (URL) so the user does not get lost.  If you are using an affiliate ID for that page, then add a "+AFFILIATEID" to the redirect URL.  The word "AFFILIATEID" will be replaced with the actual affiliate ID.

Commission Reporting.  The affiliates commissions are reported in the affiliate commission area, right under the affiliate commissions for membership sales.  Sold products are kept separate from memberships for accounting purposes and organization.

Here are some important commission rules that the system follows:

• commissions are only paid if the paystatus is "accepted" or "received" on the order
• if a recurring sale, commission are only paid if the subscription status is "active"
• recurring commissions will show up each and every month until the order subscription status is anything other than "active"
• if members do not have valid e-mail addresses on file, they will not be in the PayPal mass pay file
• if the member to be paid commission is not a current member of your group, they will not get commission

Selling Your Member's Products and Services

The iGrOOps e-commerce solution comes with a unique feature that allows you to sell your member's products and services on consignment.  This means, you come to an agreement with your members as to what percent of the revenue they will get, and what percent you will keep.  You sell the items with your merchant account and send the member their cut via PayPal.

Here are the fields in the product database for this feature

Not only is this a great way to increase your revenues for your group, but it is also a great way to attract new members.  Who wouldn't want to sell more products?  Especially when it is no cost to the member!

A Couple of Examples.  Say for instance you have a member who sells a physical book (you remember the kind with paper and ink).  You would ask the member to send you a few copies of the book.  You would then enter the product in your database, enter the members nickname in the "product owner" field, then the "member cut" which could be expressed as a percentage of the entire order (less tax and shipping) or a fixed dollar amount.  Once the product is ordered via your e-commerce page, the customer pays you, the admin, then the member's cut will appear in the affiliate commissions area.  This way, you can pay the member once per month.  This will protect you quite a bit from refunds.

You may be tempted to work out an arrangement with your members so that when an order is placed you notify them and they ship the order directly.  Keep in mind that the customer is paying YOU, not your member.  This can get you in quite a bit of trouble if your members do not deliver in a timely manner.

Now let's say you have a member who sells an e-book.  You can upload the product in your ecommerce folder in your file sharing app, then there is no need for the member to ship any product to you, or you to ship product to the customer.

If you are offering commissions on products where members are getting a cut, understand that out of the full amount, the members get their cut first, then commissions are paid, then you get what is left over.  For example:

$100 - total of products
$10 - tax
$15 - shipping

$50 - member cut is 50% of the total order
$10 - affiliate commission is 10% of the total order
$5 - second tier affiliate commission is 5% of the total order

YOU GET $60 - here is the breakdown

$10 - full tax amount
$15 - full shipping amount
$35 - total of products less member cut and affiliate commissions

Member management refers to the cancellation, suspension, and payment information updating of members within your group.  These processes refer to use of both PayPal and AuthorizeNet, yearly and monthly members, customer, admin, or payment gateway initiated transactions.

We have tried to make this as clear and painless as possible to understand.  Likewise, we have tried to make these procedures as automated and simple as possible so you can focus on getting more members and less on member management.

First, let's define some terms:

AuthorizeNet. This is one of the two choices for payment gateways you can use with iGrOOps.  It is by far the world's most popular gateway (next to PayPal) and compatible with just about every merchant account.

PayPal.  This is a free payment gateway that is simple to use.  it is not as integrated as AuthorizeNet, meaning, your members will have to leave your site and go into PayPal to pay, plus some people do not understand that they can use credit card with PayPal, so they are turned away from joining.

Cancellation.  The permanent termination of a membership.  All member's information is removed from your member database, but all posts and content previously uploaded by member will remain.

Suspension.  The temporary denial of access of a member to your membership site.  When a member is suspended, they do not have access to the site as a member, only a guest.  It is easy to restore member access.

CC Update.  This is "credit card update".  if the credit card is about to expire, the payment gateway will notify the script that an update by the member is required.  Or, if the member wants to change the CC on file, the member can notify the payment gateway directly of such change.

Yearly Membership.  A membership that is paid in advance for one year.  This membership has a start and a finish date.  At the end of the one year, the member will be denied access to the site as a member unless he or she renews.

Monthly Membership.  A membership that is paid on a monthly basis.  These memberships are ongoing with a start date but NO end date.  It is up to the member to cancel the membership.  Monthly memberships with AuuthorizeNet require the ARB (automatic recurring billing) service.

Member Initiated.  When the member takes the initial action to suspend membership, cancel membership, or update their credit card information.

Admin Initiated.  When the admin takes the initial action to suspend or cancel a member's membership.

Payment Gateway Initiated.  When the member's credit card is declined or the expiration date is coming up, the gateway will notify the script to take action based on the notification.

We will explain each of the following possibilities in detail.  Click on the link to be taken to the area with the process described in detail.

These procedures below are a work in progress.  If no procedure exists, it is a manual process.  We are working on 100% automation and should have this section complete shortly!

• AuthorizeNet > Cancellation > Yearly Membership > Member Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Cancellation > Yearly Membership > Admin Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Admin Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Suspension > Yearly Membership > Member Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Suspension > Yearly Membership > Admin Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Admin Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > CC Update > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated
• AuthorizeNet > CC Update > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated
• PayPal > Cancellation > Yearly Membership > Member Initiated
• PayPal > Cancellation > Yearly Membership > Admin Initiated
• PayPal > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated
• PayPal > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Admin Initiated
• PayPal > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated
• PayPal > Suspension > Yearly Membership > Member Initiated
• PayPal > Suspension > Yearly Membership > Admin Initiated
• PayPal > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated
• PayPal > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Admin Initiated
• PayPal > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated
• PayPal > CC Update > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated
• PayPal > CC Update > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated

Cancellations 

There will, unfortunately, be members who no longer want to continue with membership -- it is part of the business.

Members can either cancel their own membership online, or you, as the administrator, can cancel membership for them.

There are two general ways all members can cancel their own membership to your iGrOOp.

1. Click the cancel membership icon in the "my iGrOOps" listing of all their iGrOOps.  This will return a "are you sure you want to cancel membership to this iGrOOp?" message.  When the member confirms "yes", they are immediately removed from your group, and a notice is sent to all administrators with the members information.
2. Click the link to cancel membership that appears under the "Group Specific" information while a member is editing their profile.  This will return a "are you sure you want to cancel membership to this iGrOOp?" message.  When the member confirms "yes", they are immediately removed from your group, and a notice is sent to all administrators with the members information.

To cancel a membership on behalf of a member

1. use the "see group members" tool
2. select the member you wish to cancel and open up his/her profile
3. select "Delete this member from your iGrOOp (permanent)"
4. click the "update member info" button

When a member is cancelled or cancels, although their profile is removed from the group, all of the contributions such as postings, blogs, galleries, etc. will remain.  These are NOT deleted.

If you are using the affiliate module, and a member cancels or is cancelled who is the result of an affiliate, that affiliate will automatically no longer get commission for that account.

Member Suspensions

You can suspend a membership for many reasons.

Quick Guide to Integrating Your iGrOOp With Authorize.Net:

If you have an Authorize.Net account, here's how to quickly get it integrated with your iGrOOp. You will need to make updates to both your iGrOOp and your Authorize.net account.

Updating Your iGrOOp:

1) Obtain both your API Login ID and Transaction Key from Authorize.Net. (In Authorize.Net, go to Account > Settings > Security Settings > API Login ID and Transaction Key). Then go to your iGrOOp > Admin Settings > Membership Information > Payment Gateways, and and add both the API Login ID and Transaction Key to the appropriate fields.

Note: if you wish to use Authorize.Net with the Online Store, you will also need to add the API Login ID and Transaction key to that application. Go to the Online Store within your iGrOOp, click on the Admin Options tab > Payment Gateways/Methods > and add both the API Login ID and Transaction Key to the appropriate fields.

Updating Your Authorize.Net Account:

1) Login to Authorize.Net, and go to Settings > Transaction Format Settings > Silent Post URL > enter and submit the following URL: https://www.igroops.com/cgi-bin/SilentPostURL.pl

2) Still in Authorize.Net, go to Settings > Transaction Format Settings >  Relay Response > enter and submit this URL: https://www.safeonlinepayments.com  Then click the link to add additional values, and add this URL:  https://www.igroops.com

******

Authorize.Net > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated

If you are using Authorize.Net for monthly memberships, by default, if there is a problem with a monthly subscription charge of one of your members you will get an e-mail from Authorize.Net (providing you have this setting activated in Authorize.Net).  You can then take action based on the e-mail and your policy.  But, if you want automation, keep on reading.

When Authorize.Net attempts to charge a members card, a failed transaction can be for one of several reasons:

• declined (usually not enough funds in account)
• has expired (expiration date passed)
• invalid card (reported lost or stolen - canceled)
• system error occurred (misc reasons -- usually problem with card, not Authorize.Net)

This means the monthly membership fee is skipped and not transferred to your bank account.  If it is the first payment, Authorize.Net will cancel the subscription automatically and not try the card next month.  If it is a payment in a series, it will just try again next month.  Bottom line, you need to get paid for service.

This process has changed since November 11, 2010 to be much more simple and reliable.  If you followed our previous instructions for integrating your Authorize.Net account with iGrOOps, it is suggested you remove the authorizenet_notify@igroops.com e-mail address in your Authorize.Net profile.

Automation.  iGrOOps has automated this process for you.  You just need to make one change to your Authorize.Net profile to activate this automation. In your Authorize.Net Settings, click the "Silent Post URL" link and enter the following URL: https://www.igroops.com/cgi-bin/SilentPostURL.pl    

That's it!

A Declined Payment: an Example

You sign up a new member who pays by Authorize.Net (credit card) via a monthly subscription.  Several months into his membership, his card is declined.

1. Authorize.Net sends notification.  Authorize.Net will send an email notification to you, the admin on the Authorize.Net account and they will now send information about the declined payment to the iGrOOps system via Silent Post.
2. iGrOOps matches subscription ID with account.  iGrOOps will search all paid members and look for the subscription ID that matches the ID specified in the e-mail and the Silent Post notification.  Once it finds a match, it will proceed.
3. iGrOOps changes member status to "payment failed".  This is a new status of membership which denies the member access to members-only content on your group.  It is just like suspending the member, but without the harsh "suspended" status.
4. iGrOOps sends a notification email to the member.  This email tells the member he/she needs to login to your group and click the message in the header to make the payment and update the card.  The main administrator of the group will be CC'd on the notification.
   
   Here is what the e-mail would look like (with the correct group info inserted of course)
   
   

   Hello Bo Bennett,

   For your membership to "Membership Site Building", the following payment did not go through:

   Attempted Charge Date: Mon Feb 25 13:15:29 EST 2008
   Description: monthly membership
   Response: This transaction has been declined.
   Amount: $29.00 (USD)

   To correct this, please log in to http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/members/msb

   as the user ("MrMember"). You will see a notice displayed in the header -- just follow the instructions on the notice.

   Thank you in advance for your prompt attention!

   -------------------------------
   Membership Site Building Administration
   http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/members/msb

5. The member will then login to group.  Once logged in, they will see in the header a notice that requires action:
   
   

6. The member will go through the form and update their card info.  Upon a successful  update, their status will immediately be changed to "active".  The old subscription will be canceled and a new one will be created.

Some Important Notes:

• The member is actually going though a "reactivation" process.  This is similar to a new registration with the following differences:
  1. no setup fees are charges
  2. no free trial periods are given
  3. their existing account and data remains intact
• Authorize.Net actually captures the card and checks the validity right away, but does not attempt to charge the card until the end of the batch day (usually 4 am Eastern)
• The "From" email address used in the notification defaults to "team at igroops dot com", but you can  specify a custom "From" email address for this notification by going to Homepage Editor > Miscellaneous Settings > Email Notification Address > Custom "From" Address.

Quality Control / Monthly Reconciliation: In the event that the iGrOOps server is down (highly unlikely), or if Authorize.Net cannot communicate with our server for any reason, failed payment invoices will not auto generate. While not necessary, we recommend a monthly reconciliation of your members and active subscriptions in Authorize.Net. If you go to Admin Settings > Member Information > Payment Gateway, you will see a link to "Download Active Authorize.Net Subscriptions". This file is updated daily. It will show you the Authorize.Net Subscription ID number, member's nickname, and member's first and last name according to your member database. You can review this list to confirm any cancellation request from the past month are no longer active in Authorize.Net. If you see an active subscription that should have been canceled, you can login to Authorize.Net, search for the Subscription ID (member's name may not match cardholder in Authorize.Net), and cancel the recurring payment. You will then need to delete the member from your member database.

Authorize.Net > Cancellation > Yearly Membership > Member Initiated

Yearly members pay in advance for the whole year.  If the member chooses to cancel their membership, they can do so.  It is your call as the administrator if you will provide a refund or partial refund.  Most admins will not -- not for yearly memberships that extend past the trial period.  If you choose to, this would be a manual process within Authorize.Net.

If the member cancels themselves by clicking the cancel link within their edit profile, they are automatically removed from your group and you are notified.  Since it is a yearly payment, there is nothing you need to do.

Authorize.Net > Cancellation > Yearly Membership > Admin Initiated

If you choose to cancel a yearly member, you simply call up their profile in the search member tool, and delete the profile.  Since they are already paid for the year, it is your choice to issue a full or partial refund.  This part must be done exclusively in Authorize.Net.

Authorize.Net > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated

Unlike PayPal, a member cannot go into an online merchant account and cancel a subscription.  So they must use the cancellation tools we provide them to do this. A member can cancel by viewing "your igroops", if you have that link enabled, or if they choose the update their profile, they will see the option under "group specific".

New as of Nov 11, 2010, the member's subscription will now automatically be removed from Authorize.Net.  There is no need for you to do anything!

AuthorizeNet > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Admin Initiated

When you cancel a member, you must enter their profile as Admin, and check the option to remove the member from the group.  The member will automatically be removed from your iGrOOp, but you must manually remove the subscription from Authorize.Net.

Authorize.Net > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated

The payment gateway technically does not cancel members, but it can terminate billing subscriptions. If the initial payment does not go through, Authorize.Net will suspend the subscription. Authorize.Net will send an email to the Authorize.Net account admin notifying of the subscription suspension. If the administrator does not login to Authorize.Net and update/reactivate the subscription before the 2nd scheduled payment, Authorize.Net will automatically terminate the subscription before running the 2nd scheduled payment. As long as the member pays the invoice online before the 2nd scheduled payment, you do not need to do anything.

Authorize.Net > Suspension > Yearly Membership > Member Initiated

Members cannot suspend themselves.

Authorize.Net > Suspension > Yearly Membership > Admin Initiated

In the member's profile, you change the member status to "suspend".  The member is already paid for the year so there is nothing to do within Authorize.Net  and it has no affect on the transaction already made.

Authorize.Net > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated

Members cannot suspend themselves.

Authorize.Net > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Admin Initiated

In the member's profile, you change the member status to "suspend", which will not allow the member to login to the site and access members-only content. However, Authorize.Net does not offer the ability to suspend a subscription; subscription suspensions are always automated (see above, Authorize.Net > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated).

AuthorizeNet > CC Update > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated

The member would have to contact you with new credit card information, and you would need to make that change within Authorize.Net .  Remember, the CC is not stored anywhere on our servers, so there is no place to change within iGrOOps.

We are working on 100% automation for all member / payment gateway procedures.  Look for the that shows which procedures are fully automated.  Check back often to see our progress.  As of now, there are some manual steps involed for some procedures.  "100% automation"  refers to you, the administrator, not having to get involved in the process, so any admin initiated / assisted process cannot be 100% automated.

PayPal > Cancellation > Yearly Membership > Member Initiated

If a yearly membership customer cancells their own membership, nothing is done on the financial end, because the membership has been paid in full in advance for the entire year.  The member would cancel their membership.

Just because the payment was paid in full does not mean you cannot manually provide a partial or full refund.  This would all depend on your policy and the circumstances of the cancellation.  For information on refunds, consult the PayPal documentation.

PayPal > Cancellation > Yearly Membership > Admin Initiated

If a yearly membership customer is cancelled by the admin, nothing is done on the financial end, because the membership has been paid in full in advance for the entire year.  The admin would cancel their membership.

Just because the payment was paid in full does not mean you cannot manually provide a partial or full refund.  This would all depend on your policy and the circumstances of the cancellation.  For information on refunds, consult the PayPal documentation.

PayPal > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated  

There are three ways a PayPal member can initiate a cancellation of a monthly membership.

1. Through PayPal.  A PayPal member can go into his or her PayPal account and cancel the scubscription from that end.  This action would automatically send a notice to your membership site and cancel the membership (remove the member from your profile permenatly).  In addition, PayPal would send you an e-mail of this cancellation, and iGrOOps would send you and all admins a confirmation of this cancellation. 
2. Through Your Membership Site.  A member can cancel their membership through your membership. Once you get the notice, you need to go into PayPal and cancel their membership.
3. Admin Notification. A member can notify you, the admin, buy any means and ask you to cancel his or her membership.  See the "admin initiated" section right below.

PayPal > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Admin Initiated  

1. use your membership database to search for the member you wish to cancel and cancel their membership
2. In PayPal, delete the subscription.

PayPal > Cancellation > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated

PayPal > Suspension > Yearly Membership > Member Initiated

PayPal > Suspension > Yearly Membership > Admin Initiated

PayPal > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated

PayPal > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Admin Initiated

PayPal > Suspension > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated

PayPal > CC Update > Monthly Membership > Member Initiated

PayPal > CC Update > Monthly Membership > Payment Gateway Initiated

There will, unfortunately, be members who no longer want to continue with membership -- it is part of the business.

Members can either cancel their own membership online, or you, as the administrator, can cancel membership for them.

Members Cancelling Their Own Membership

There are three ways members can cancel their own membership to your iGrOOp.

1. Click the cancel membership icon in the "my iGrOOps" listing of all their iGrOOps.  This will return a "are you sure you want to cancel membership to this iGrOOp?" message.  When the member confirms "yes", they are immediately removed from your group, and a notice is sent to all administrators with the members information.
2. Click the link to cancel membership that appears under the "Group Specific" information while a member is editing their profile.  This will return a "are you sure you want to cancel membership to this iGrOOp?" message.  When the member confirms "yes", they are immediately removed from your group, and a notice is sent to all administrators with the members information.
3. If the member paid by PayPal, and cancels their subscription within PayPal only, PayPal sends an email to the owner of the PayPal account, and notifies your iGrOOp script, which will cancel the member automatically and send notice to all admins.

When a member is cancelled or cancels, although their profile is removed from the group, all of the contributions such as postings, blogs, galleries, etc. will remain.  These are NOT deleted.

If you are using the affiliate module, and a member cancels who is the result of an affiliate, that affiliate will automatically no longer get commission for that account.

iGrOOps has many very flexible and powerful design elements that allows administrators to get the look and feel they are going after while staying within an easy to use templated system.  If you choose not to use our design package and design your own iGrOOp, here is all you need to know to create a spectacular and effective iGrOOp -- assuming of course you have a good sense of design :).

iGrOOps is a template-based system, meaning you do NOT need to know coding or HTML to setup or manage your group.  Within seconds you can change your template design in your admin settings > your igroops theme to a stock theme.

Choices

You want 'em, you got 'em!  Here are some of the decisions you will need to make when designing your group site:

• standard width or wide layout
• page border or no page border
• 2 or 3 column home page
• use single wide right column
• transparent columns
• large fonts
• what color scheme you want to use
• icon package
• font face
• use background image?
• dark or light background
• favicon
• page peel ad
• join ad

Once you have a good idea of what you want your group to look like, it is time to get to work.  The basic design of an iGrOOp take take anywhere from 1-5 hours on average.

Much of the following is advice based on opinion from the lead designer at iGrOOps who has over 13 years experience designing websites for attractiveness, professionalism, and effectiveness.  Feel free to take the advice you agree with and leave the rest behind.

Wide Layout or Standard?

In your ADMIN SETTING, Basic Settings, you will see an option for using the "wide layout".  This will expand the width of your site by 90px, still within non-scrolling range of almost all displays in use today.  There is really no disadvantage for using the wide layout, so we do suggest it. Once you know what layout width you will use, you can proceed to design your other elements. The standard layout is about 885px wide and the wide layout is about 975px wide.

Examples:

Wide Layout: http://ids.igroops.com
Standard Layout: http://www.twooting.com

The wide option is fairly new.  We are in the process of making new header images for our existing groups to take advantage of the extra space.  Moving from standard layout to wide layout is as simple as selecting the option in your admin area, then uploading a header image that is 90px wider (and changing the width of any center column images/widgets if used).

Border or No Border?

The examples above have a border enclosing all the content.  This creates a very attractive, organized look and feel that works very well for most sites.  However, some sites might want to break out of the constricting border, especially those with header images that work well being fully extended left and right. Choosing to use the border or not does not alter the width requirements for any of your images. 

To choose NOT to use the border, enter your HOME PAGE EDITOR and expand the "Headers / Footers / Background" section.  There you will see the following options:

If you choose the "using dark background" option, the text and links will switch from dark to light, so they show up better on your background.

Examples:

Just because there are no borders, the images, menu items, and columns are still restricted to the maximum width allowed by the layout option chosen.  Removing the borders allows the background to show through and the header image and menu to appear to continue all the way to the left and right.

Do you already have a logo?  Do you already have a website or organization colors/style that you are matching?  If so, much of the "design" element is already done for you; it is just a matter of organization and layout.  However, if you are starting from scratch, begin with the main image.

Two or Three Columns: Sizing Your Center Column Images

The main image (or main photo).  This is the image that is the center of your iGrOOps homepage, under your main menu -- the focal point.  The image should convey the look and feel of your group and when possible, include real people for the "human" touch, but be careful with overuse of stock photo people.  Some people choose to skip the main image if the site is more content focused.  The main image does, after all, take up some valuable real estate.

figure 1: main image using left and right columns.

The sizing for this image, or any image, widget, video, iFrame, or element you place in the center column, has no maximum or minimum height, but different maximum widths, depending on the layout you choose.  This part could get a little confusing, so I will do my best to carefully illustrate.

Layout A: Standard Width using Right Column: 405px wide

Example:

Layout B: Standard Width NOT using Right Column: 627px wide

Example:

Layout C: Wide Layout using Right Column: 496px wide

Example:

Layout D: Wide Layout NOT using Right Column: 717px wide

Example:

Layout E: Wide Layout using Right Column Only: 648px wide

Example:

Choosing Your Color Theme

In the administrator settings (link/icon that only admin can see) you will find the option for "Your iGrOOp Color Theme".  Here is where you choose which font and icon package you want to use, and you can either choose one of the pre-designed color themes or create your own custom color theme that matches your image colors.

The names of the sections where you choose the colors should be self explanatory.  However, if you are unsure just choose a color and look at your site.  You may need to reload your browser to ensure your site is using the latest CSS file.

I use a desktop app called "Color Schemer" ( http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html ) to pick colors from my logo/main image and get the hexadecimal value to plug in as the custom color theme. 

Some advice when creating a custom color theme:

• use colors that work well together.  If you are not an artist, take advantage of tools like the color schemer to choose complimentary colors for you
• make sure your dark colors are dark otherwise the text will be difficult to read
• make sure your light colors are light otherwise any text or icons will look really bad on the "light" background

Backgrounds!

When it comes to choosing the perfect background look for your site, you have almost too many options!  Return to your HOME PAGE EDITOR and expand the "Headers / Footers / Background" section.  You will see the following options for the background:

By playing around with these options, you should almost certainly get the exact look and feel you are after.

The Top Menu Design

The top menu has some design options as well.  By default, it uses a standard font size and face, has a border and no background image - it uses a light background color from your theme.  You can change this.

Here are some of the options in your HOME PAGE EDITOR, "Top Menus and Submenus" section.

By using an image for the background menu, you can see how you can really spice up the design.  Have a look at the toastmasters podcast website image above for an example.

Other Design Elements and Sizes

Here are some other design specs for elements that are not effected by your choices above.

• Favicon: uploaded in the HOME PAGE EDITOR, "Header / Footer / Backgrounds" section. You can replace the iGrOOps favicon with your own. It MUST be exactly 16x16px, if not, it will not be accepted. We only accept .ico files. Here is a great site to create your own favicon.
• Page Peel Ad: uploaded in the HOME PAGE EDITOR, "Ads / Sponsorship" section. This consists of two images: The small corner image must be 75px x 75px, if not, it will automatically be resized. We only accept .jpg and .gif files.  The larger image must be 490px wide x 492px tall, if not, it will automatically be resized. We only accept .jpg and .gif files.  When designing these images, only use the upper right half of the image.
• Join Now Ad: uploaded in the HOME PAGE EDITOR, "Join Ad" section.  This ad should be no wider than 485px.  This is what non-members see when trying to access member content.

the small corner of the page peel ad showing

the larger page peel ad being revealed with the mouse over the small image.

the join now ad displays when a non-member tries to access member content

There is no question that iGrOOps provides many tools for storing and displaying data.  But all these areas could make information difficult to find.  Not a problem!  The new site search feature will point your users right to the content they are looking for.

The site search can be added to your membership site with a single click.  This is a very sophisticated search tool designed especially for iGrOOps content.  It is extremely easy for users to find just what they are searching for.

Activating the Site Search On Your Membership Site

If you have ordered your iGrOOp after April 22, 2008, the site search is enabled by default.  Otherwise, you will need to manually enable it in your Homepage Editor under the "Left Column" section.  There you will find the "Site Search" sub-section.  Check the box to use the site search and scroll to the bottom of the page and click the save button.

Advanced Options.  You have the option to hide the search feature from guests, limited members, and/or full access members.  Select which groups you would like to hide the search from (if any) then click the save button at the bottom of the page.

If you choose to hide the search from full members only, limited members and guests will still be able to see and use the search.  You must select all three if you wish to hide from all three groups.

How the Site Search Works

Point-Based System. The site search searches all your content and uses a point based system to display search results in a certain order.  Points are given based on where the keywords are found in the content.  For example, the keyword as the title of the document is worth more than the keyword in the content itself. Exact point system is not made public and will be frequently updated to improve search quality.

Boolean Searching.  The search is very simple for the users with a single input text field.  It uses the standard search parameters that most users would expect.  For example, entering

IP address

would search the site for documents with BOTH the words "IP" and "address" in the same document.  Including the terms in quotes would require that the terms be next to each other.

Results.  The results are displayed in order of relevancy, with an icon to the left of each result signifying the type of document. By placing the cursor over the image, the type of document will be shown by name.

The name of the document will be linked to the document, with the exception of any calendar entries.  In the case of calendar entries, each date that matches the search will be linked separately.

The description of the link will be the first 250 characters of the document main text, AFTER the HTML has been stripped away.  In some cases where there is no document text (like photo galleries, av presentations, etc.) just the name of the application will appear.

If you are including private member only data in the first part of the description of any posts or descriptions, you may want to hide the search from non-members.

As of November 1, 2009, we have introduced a new feature into iGrOOps that can allow iGrOOp administrators to use iGrOOps in completely new ways: The "membership types".

As you already know, memberships can have three different levels, L1, L2, and L3.  These levels allow you to offer your members choices based on options, access, and cost.  Now, each membership level is also assigned what is called a membership type. 

Membership types can be defined as either "personal" or "business" and only effect how profiles are displayed in the search.  In general, a personal membership is private with select info available to other members, and a business membership can be publicly displayed to non members, with full information being displayed like a phone book ad.

Here is an example of what a personal profile looks like when searched:

Notice the photo, name, level, custom title, and bio. Now here is an example of a business listing:

Notice that a logo was used in place of a personal photo. The title of the listing uses the organization name instead of the member's name. And full contact information is shown including categories (more on this later).

Business listings that are open to non members will display an e-mail address, BUT we use javascript code to hide the e-mail address from spambots and other spiders.

What's the Point?

Having two membership types allow iGrOOps membership sites to not only have private members, but also business members whose information can be publicly searchable, and of course, searchable by members.  Take for example a Chamber of Commerce.  These members do want to promote themselves as much as possible, not only to other members, but also to the world.  The "business" membership type makes this possible.

Features

Here are just some of what you can do with these membership types:

• create a "sponsor" membership level, business type, and charge a premium
• allow members to search all members, just business, just personal, or no members
• allow non members to search business members (never personal members)
• allow to search by category using graphical buttons
• give your personal and business membership types custom names
• display certain membership types and/or levels by default
• and more

Differences Between Personal and Business Membership Types

With the new membership type we have modified what information the business members can update.  Here are some of the fields that are different with the different membership types:

Categories! Your Own "Yellow Pages" Like Site

Business membership types allow for up to three categories to be selected.  These categories are based on Microsoft's "Bing" categories -- one of the most useful and concise set of categories that we have come across on the web.

Once you are using the business listings, you will have a graphical category selection area available within your search tool.  This will use icons based on your color theme.  Clicking on the icons will reveal the sub categories for that category.  Clicking on the sub category will take the user to all the listings within that sub category.

Some Notes

• As group admin, you can now change the bio for your users, as well as set categories for your business users.  As long as your business users fill out the basics of their profile, you can do the rest for them.
• The admin options have been moved to the tab on the search screen, to be consistent with all other applications within iGrOOps.
• Categories are kept in the member's main database record.  This means any changes made to categories will be reflected within all groups using that profile.
• If you change color themes, your category icons will change to match

Do NOT just change your existing categories to business.  This would make your member's e-mail addresses viewable by other members.  Be sure you get their OK beforehand if you are going to do this, otherwise, use one of your unused levels as your business membership type.

To implement a business membership type, you may want to move all your members to a different membership level.  You can do this one at a time, or we can do it for you.  Send us a private message requesting this letting us know which group and which levels to change to which levels.

Nothing says motivation like some good old fashioned score keeping or friendly contest. With the iGrOOps Member Activity Points, you can create an environment for your members that encourages reading, commenting, and posting activity.

Use this feature to offer prizes to members who are most active.  Perhaps free membership to the top X members. Be creative!

This is the member activity listing that appears on the left column if the feature is activated.  You can see it will link to the member's profile, and display and link to any and all social networks if in the member's profile.  This is a huge incentive for the member to be on this exclusive list!

Each member will see in their profile their points and ranking, visible to the member only and admin.  This describes how the member can earn points and how they are ranked among all other members.

It is an industry-wide statistic that only about one out of every hundred members will actively participate by adding content in a social website, whereas the other 99 are considered "lurkers".  By rewarding members for participation, even with just recognition, this percentage is dramatically improved.

Activating Your Member Activity Points Feature

By default, this feature is turned off.  However, as of November 16, 2009 all activity is being logged.  This means when you activate this feature, you will automatically have a ranking of your members to list (assuming active members).

You can "Reset Points for ALL Members" in the homepage editor section described below.  This will allow you to run regular membership activity contents and give all members, old and new, an equal chance to win.

Begin by visiting your HOME PAGE EDITOR link on the bottom menu of your iGrOOp (you must be logged in as admin). Expand the "Left Column" link, then scroll to the "Most Active Members" section.

You will see several options to customize the way this feature works.  You can define the point value for each action as well as the name of the points.  Other options are explained within the home page editor.  Make sure you click the save button at the bottom of the screen before making changes.

Points are earned for many actions, not just visiting, commenting, and posting.  We use an custom algorithm to assign points to these actions.  Like Google, the exact algorithm is not made public.  This helps prevent gaming of the system.

You can use the "left menu item order" field at the top of the left menu section to choose where on the left menu you want these listings displayed.

Other Notes

• this can only be displayed in the left menu
• if you do not want to count hits, comments, or posts, just set the value to "0", but the default values are strongly suggested.
• This type of content/score keeping may cause some members to behave irresponsibly, i.e., comment on everything "i agree" or post nonsense.  You as the admin need to warn members and take appropriate action if you feel necessary.
• You can exclude any member from this scoring.  If excluded, the member will still see his/her ranking in his or her profile.