This is a sample of a registration form using the new Sitelok WordPress plugin
[slregisterform formid=”1″]
Below are the main features of Sitelok in WordPress.
- Sitelok can now be fully implemented into WordPress to
- build advanced submission forms (i.e, registration, proposal/grant submission, etc.) on WordPress pages.
- restrict access to WordPress pages to specific user groups
- show specific information from the Sitelok database (example, accepted proposals) on WordPress pages. (See sample record at the bottom of this page of a proposal.)
- Membership features on par with those of Wild Apricot.
- Unlimited users, usergroups and secure areas.
- Paypal can be easily integrated, and when payment is received for a particular event (conference, clock hour, etc), the registrant’s record in the database is automatically marked as paid. It’s the same for membership (new or renewal). The Sitelok database which has all the records (membership, conference, clock hour, contact, etc.) can easily be queried, viewed, etc. and mailings can be sent out to the entire database or to various subgroups via the Amazon SES mailing system.
- PayPal processing fees are standard rates, 2.9% and $0.30 per payment OR nonprofit fees of 2.2% and $0.30 per payment.
- Conference/Clock hour registration forms are superior to those of Wild Apricot in that there is more customization ability in Sitelok.
- Auto mailings (using Amazon SES) can be set up for membership reminders, etc. This is very similar to that feature in Wild Apricot.
- There is a wide range of plugins available to extend the functionality of Sitelok and to connect to third-party systems, such as Facebook login and signup, reCaptcha, Amazon SES, Paypal and many more. Many of the plugins are free of charge for licensed users.
- Group registrations (i.e, a school registration of many teachers) can be added/updated via spreadsheet import.
- Has easy-to-use control panel to manage users, view access logs, create backups, import and export users as well as search for, filter and select users.
- Amazon SES available as a built-in plug-in. Amazon SES is a powerful email system for sending personalized template-based emails to any number of users based on a usergroup or any other criteria.
- Built-in form designers make it easy to create responsive (mobile optimized) login, registration, update profile and contact forms ready to paste in WordPress pages.
- The Sitelok fee is only $20 per year (as long as hosting remains with help-guy.com server, $40 per year otherwise) plus about $40-50 per year for various plugins. (Many plugins are free.)
- Since the registrations for clock hours would be connected to the Sitelok database directly, the PDF forms (when verified) would be easily emailed individually to clock hour registrants. No more paper mailings.
- The Sitelok database can be easily customized. Additional fields can be easily added.
Disadvantages compared to Wild Apricot
- Viewing financials as has been done via Wild Apricot cannot be done in Sitelok. However, Paypal itself has various advanced viewing capabilities of payments received.
- Sitelok is not ideal for proposal and grant submissions. However, I have used it for this purpose for the Spokane Regional ESL Conference for the last 4 years. It just means that after each conference, the submission data from the Sitelok database needs to be removed. There are, however, various options for archiving that data, so it’s not a big problem in my opinion.
- If implemented, as with any new system, implementation would take some time. Starting soon in order to have things ready for the fall conference would be important. Here are some of the major transition items.
- Current member data from Wild Apricot would need to be exported and then imported (via Excel file) into Sitelok. Then each expiration date of each member record in Sitelok would need to be set manually.
- Clock hour registration forms, existing and new, would need to be transferred from Wild Apricot to Sitelok.
- Sitelok has advanced and easy-to-use mail templates. Auto mailings from Wild Apricot would need to be transferred over to Sitelok.
- Training would need to be provided probably the first year and there would need to be some limited ongoing support.
- Another disadvantage of Sitelok is it has been developed by a sole software engineer. This does has advantages, such as he responds very quickly to support issues via regular email and he also listens to needs and updates his software to meet those needs, however, if he were to retire (he’s 57 years old and lives in UK), development of the project is less likely to continue compared to a project with a larger team of developers, such as Wild Apricot.
Sample record from the Sitelok database
Below is a record from the Sitelok database using both the Sitelok plugin and a WordPress plugin called Insert PHP Code Snippet. This will allow viewing by the public of accepted presentations similar to what’s done by the Spokane Regional ESL Conference HERE.
| First name | Last name | Institution | Presentation title |
|---|