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WordPress Installation and Configuration

Before you begin#

Before you install the official Coil Web Monetization plugin, make sure you:

Minimum system requirements#

  • PHP 7.2 or newer
  • WordPress 5.0+

Install the plugin#

  1. Sign in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
  2. Go to Plugins.
  3. Click Add New.
  4. Search for keyword Coil. You'll see the official plugin and a few unofficial ones.
  5. Install the official Coil Web Monetization plugin.
  6. Click Activate.

Configure the plugin#

After the plugin is installed, Coil appears as an option in your WordPress admin dashboard.

Select Coil to enter your payment pointer and adjust your content settings. The plugin contains additional configuration options that are covered on the Customize the Plugin page.

Add your payment pointer#

You must have a payment pointer to receive payments from Coil when Coil Members visit your site. A payment pointer, assigned to you by your digital wallet provider, is a public address for your wallet account. It's how we know where to send your payments.

  1. Select Coil.
  2. Select the Global tab.
  3. Enter your payment pointer.

    payment pointer field under global tab

  4. Click Save Changes.
caution

If you use the plugin without adding a payment pointer, you won't get paid.

Also, any content gating you set up won't be recognized. Gating is an optional setting used to show or hide blocks of content based on whether the visitor is a Coil Member.

Review your content settings#

Select the Monetization tab.

options under the monetization tab

Content settings let you globally assign monetization to each of your post types. Pages and posts are listed by default. You might see additional post types depending on your WordPress setup.

Content SettingDescription
DisabledContent for the post type is available to all visitors. You will not receive payments from Coil because this setting disables Web Monetization..
Enabled & PublicContent for the post type is available to all visitors. You will receive payments from Coil because this setting enables Web Monetization. This is the default setting for pages and posts. Non-members will see a customized message suggesting they sign up for a Coil Membership.
Enabled & ExclusiveContent for the post type is only available to Coil Members and you will receive payments from Coil because this setting enables Web Monetization. Non-members will only see a customizable message stating the content is for members only.

The settings you choose for pages and posts can be overridden on an individual basis within the WordPress editor. For example, if you globally set pages to Disabled, you can set an individual page to Enabled & Exclusive within the editor. See the Monetize WordPress Content page for more information.

Configure your users#

tip

This section is optional.

Each user in your WordPress instance can have their own payment pointer. When a user authors a page or a post, their payment pointer is used in the Web Monetization meta tag on the page or post instead of the global payment pointer.

  1. Select Users.
  2. Edit an existing user.
  3. Enter the new payment pointer in the User Payment Pointer field.

  4. Click Update User.