Getting Started with iGrOOps

This section is for the professional iGrOOp option only (paid).  The free iGrOOp has only one membership option -- free one year memberships.  Customers using the free iGrOOps option are prohibited to collect any form of payment from their members for the use of the iGrOOp. 

You have MANY options when it comes to membership for your iGrOOp.  iGrOOps offers perhaps the most flexibility available today for any social network/membership site when it comes to giving group admins the choice on how they want to run their membership.  This flexibility makes iGrOOps the ideal solution for just about ANY kind of group you can think of!

The Big Question:  Free to Members? or Charge Members?

For some groups this question may be easy to answer.  For example, a corporation using iGrOOps as an Intranet site would obviously not charge its employees for membership.  But for most groups, the question is not an easy one to answer.

You set the membership fee for your iGrOOp and you keep 100%* !  iGrOOps integrates with both PayPal and Authorizenet in seconds (see section below)

There are many aspects to consider such as the content you are providing, who is providing it, etc.  Whatever your decision, your iGrOOp can support both paid and free memberships (at the same time too - see below).

iGrOOps provides additional documentation and advice on charging membership fees for your iGrOOp.  Many successful paid membership sites are making millions of dollars today -- you can too with a good idea, the right execution, and iGrOOps.

Types of Membership

With iGrOOps, you can use one or two types of membership.  These are full access and limited access.

• Full Access membership gives members access to all areas you specify in the admin configurations when you set up your iGrOOp.  For example, you may choose that full access members can have read and write access to all the tools (read the video postcards and create them).  You can choose JUST to have this one level of membership.
• Limited Access membership also gives members access to all areas you specify in the admin configurations when you set up your iGrOOp, but as the name suggests, this is a lower level of membership where you would not give these members access to all the same tools as the full access members.

Why not use both Full and Limited access?  Charge a reasonable fee for your full access membership, then make your limited access free or very low cost and work on your upgrades!

Use the trial membership feature to give your members anywhere from a 1 day to a 6 month free trial!  This system will require a credit card from the customer, but not charge the customer until the trial period has finished.

Collecting Payment from Members

iGrOOps provides each group with a complete membership system that includes secure online forms fully integrated with both PayPal and Authorizenet. 

Group administrators can choose to charge members yearly, monthly, or both.  In combination with the access levels, this means you have a very powerful membership site tool!  Here are some examples on how you can set up your membership:

Example 1) Full access membership is $10 per month or $99 for the whole year, limited access membership is free

Example 2) Full access membership is $29 per month or $199 for the whole year, limited access membership is $5 per month or $50 per year

You can choose not to use both monthly and yearly, and just choose one.

Getting Paid (or not) 

You have five options when it comes to collecting payment (or not collecting payment) from your members.  These are... 

• Do not charge.  If you are not charging members, simply set all your monthly and yearly prices to $0 and your members will be registered without having to pay.
• You charge elsewhere.  This option is for those who do not want to use PayPal or AuthorizeNet, perhaps have another processor, or already charges customers through another business and would be better off adding their membership fees on an invoice.
• Promotion Code.  You can setup a promotion code that can be use to give users who use this code a free year full access membership.
• AuthorizeNet.  iGrOOps is fully integrated with AuthorizeNet to provide seamless real-time payment.  You must have an on-line processor who is compatible with AuthorizeNet, and AuthorizeNet account, and if you are billing customers monthly, subscription to AuthorizeNet's automated recurring billing system.
• PayPal.  If you have a PayPal account, you can start collecting credit cards in minutes with no extra expense. 

Inviting and Approving Members

Most admins choose to approve all members before they are given access to your group.   You can, however, choose to automate the approval and just have all who pay successfully automatically approved.

Inviting members can be done using a very simple invite tool within your iGrOOp.  Both members and admins can use this tool to invite prospective members to join.

* PayPal and/or Authorize net will, of course, take their share of processing fees -- usually about 3% and around .30 per transaction.  See their sites and your merchant agreement for exact numbers and details.