Content Locking in 2024 — Tutorial & WordPress Plugins

Do you dream of making cold hard cash without doing a lot of work like all of us? It sounds impossible and pretty funny, doesn't it? If you had told us this is possible a few years ago, we would have laughed in your face, but guess what? You can make money with the help of CPA, mainly via content locking.

The best part of practicing CPA techniques is that you make money while doing something you love and creating top-notch content that you are passionate about and can talk about for hours on end. So, instead of talking about it, write that content and add in a little effort to come up with the award-winning recipe for making money from a website. Once you have done the procedure that you need to do, all you have to do is wait, and you will soon actually be earning money while you sleep your worries away.

What Is CPA Marketing

CPA is the abbreviation for “Cost per Action.” It refers to the amount an advertiser pays for every single time someone completes an action. For example, an advertiser for a social media app pays you 2 dollars every time you get a friend to rate his app five stars on the app store.

Cost per Action works by getting publishers of content to advertise lucrative offers to their users. But instead of paying the users for clicking a button or viewing something, the publisher of the content is paid when a reader completes a predetermined action. You can get paid for something your users do.

The action that you can ask from your users can be anything. A few good examples of action are:

• Fill in a short questionnaire or form like inputting an email address for a newsletter campaign
• Buying an inexpensive product
• Performing a survey
• Getting a quote for a service, such as custom printing t-shirts in bulk
• Voting for a small poll
• Entering a lucky draw
• Signing up for a free trial of editing software
• Downloading an app or game.

All these are relatively simple to carry out and do not take up a lot of time on someone's schedule. To make it even easier, content locking steps in like a knight in shining armor. You can incentivize an action's completion by using a content locker to lock content.

Key Terms Used in CPA Marketing

Cost per Action marketing can be the easiest thing in the world for you if you know the abbreviations, key terms, concepts, statistics, dashboard, and whatnot. In short, you need to be familiar with CPA's mumbo jumbo; otherwise, you will be lost as a kid on his or her first day of school.

But you need not worry because we have got your back and searched all the terms you need to learn.

Let’s see what you have to learn and remember:

• CPL — CPL is short for Cost per Lead and is quite similar to CPA. It refers to a specified action tied to generating a lead.
• Publisher — A publisher is a person who is in charge of creating and distributing content similar to a musician, a blogger, or a social media influencer, for instance.
• Locker — A locker is something that asks your readers or audience to complete a particular offer if they want to gain access to your content, a pdf, or a URL.

An excellent example of this is the Mega Downloader website that features a locker. To leave a comment on the site, you have to complete an offer. Clever, isn't it?

• EPC — It stands for Earnings per Click. It is what someone with a website earns on average for every click sent. If someone is earning 1.000 and they get 10.000 clicks, their earnings per click will be 0.1.

You can calculate the EPC by using the following formula:

EPC = Earnings/Number of Unique Clicks

• CPM — This one is more of a technical term that stands for Cost per Mille and is the price per thousand impressions. According to Cost per Mille, an advertiser pays a specific amount of money per thousand activities.
• Leads — These are potential sales generated, number of people, or completed actions that have made someone, with a website, some revenue.
• LR — The lead rate is the percentage of leads obtained from the total unique clicks. In other words, if someone's 1.000 unique clicks have transformed into ten leaders, their Lead Rate will be 1 percent.

This one is pretty easy to calculate. So, use the formula below to find out your Lead rate on your own for your website:

LR = Leads/Number of Unique Clicks

• Return on Investment (ROI) — ROI is the amount of cash made from a campaign. Its calculation formula is revenue divided by the ad spend and multiplied by 100.
• CPC — It stands for Cost Per Click, and it's another payment model in accordance to which advertisers give their affiliates some money per click received.
• PPC — It is very similar to CPC and stands for Pay Per Click. This one refers to a model according to which advertisers pay some money (as a fee) for every click received on one of their advertisements.
• Niche — It is just a part of a component of a market. For example, weightlifting belts are a niche in the weightlifting equipment market.
• Pixel — A Pixel? Wait! Are we talking about photography or video editing? Neither, actually. A tracking pixel refers to a code snippet that lets you track visitor behavior on your website. Pixel loads when a user stumbles on your website and tracks pixels then that allows you to acquire the data you need for web analytics, email marketing, or online marketing.
• CR — Short for Conversion Rate, CR refers to the percentage of users who complete an action out of the clicks’ actual number. In short, if someone's tracking link has received 10.000 clicks and their sales are at 100 sales, then their conversion rate will be 1%.

CR = Conversions/Clicks

• CTR — It stands for Click Through Rate. CTR demonstrates how frequently people, viewing an advertisement online, end up clicking on it. If we look at it in terms of numbers, if someone has had 1.000 website visitors on their blog and 100 people clicked on their ad, their Click through rate will be 10%.

CTR = Clicks/Impressions

There you have it!

You now have the knowledge you need. In other words, you are now a wizard!

What Is Content Locking

Many website owners and big businesses use content locking to block off access to specific content on their website to force their readers to go through an action completion activity to be granted access to the pages they want to read. This can include certain pages, sections, or articles on a website.

Content lockers are used for the goal of locking content. And even though they are very useful, they have to be used very meticulously. One wrong step and you can end up annoying your readers and consequently losing them, thus, getting lower user engagement.

So, an ideal scenario in this content locking is only to lock the content, which is highly valuable and goes above and beyond your website's standard offering. Hence, people are curious to see what it is. This comprises an extensive array of content, ranging from online courses and content upgrades to eBook downloads. This type of well-thought and well-planned content locking enables your readers to access your regular content and tickles them curious about what else your website has to offer and why certain content is hidden or locked.

How Does It Work — an Example

The incentivization, i.e., giving people an exciting incentive that makes them do what you want them to, is the key to the concept of content locking in WordPress.

Let's discuss an everyday example:

If someone writes a guide to lose weight without any exercise or diet, they will lock the download option, ask their readers to follow them on social media, or sign up for their email newsletter if they want to shed some pounds with the author’s guide. This way, the author will then earn on average anywhere between $1–$20+ every time someone downloads their weight loss guide, depending on the offers on the network at that moment.

What Is a Content Locker

We now know what content locking is. Let's dive into the topic of a content locker. What is it? What does it do?

A content locker enables a person to lock certain parts of their website and its contents from its audience, so they cannot access it usually.

Okay, but how does a user know that the content is blocked?

When a user visits your website and clicks on content that you have locked, he or she will be greeted by a pop-up asking them to complete a particular action if they want to see the post or the page you have hidden. The action is neither complex nor fishy. It is a very simple task, such as entering the email address, which, as a result, helps you increase your mailing list and stay in touch with your readers via newsletters or occasional emails, etc.

However, content lockers are not just for locking content. You can use them to achieve a lot of different goals to improve your performance as a whole. You can easily and very quickly add a content locker to your website via WordPress Plugins, which can vary depending on your preferences and the goals you want to achieve.

The Benefits of Content Locking and Content Lockers

Now that we are on the same page, let's jump onto the benefits of content locking and content lockers:

• Enhanced Social Media Performance

Besides getting emails to make a newsletter, you can utilize content locking to boost your social media performance by miles. Try experimenting with social media instead of asking for an email. Try asking your audience to access the locked content in exchange for a like on your latest social media post or by sharing it with their friends or Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

Try the Ninja Popups Content Locker to take your social media presence several notches up. Besides, having your readers follow you on social media platforms is a big plus and gives you an extra opportunity to promote your services, products, and content.

• Monetization of Your Site

Content lockers can successfully monetize your WordPress website. They do so by either having your audience pay for the locked content or persuading them to buy your products. If you know that your content is something that people look out for, then charge them to view it and make a profit.

You can try Pay Per View from WPMU DEV to charge your audience a certain amount to unlock your content. Your audience can either choose a recurring/monthly subscription fee to view the blocked content or just pay it all as a one-off fee. Plus, Pay Per View also boasts PayPal integration and can be bought as a constituent of the WPMU DEV membership.

• Boost in Email Subscriptions

As we have mentioned above, content locking helps you skyrocket your email subscriptions if you ask your readers to put in their email to access an article. So, lock away knowledgeable content to tempt your users to join your email list if they want to see the content hidden behind the red curtains.

Apart from informative content to make your audience a part of your email community, another significant inducement is locking the most exciting content, such as funny videos, behind-the-scenes photos, shocking images, exciting guides, and most exciting of all; discount codes and vouchers.

Once you have their email addresses and you have established a connection with your visitors, it is of utmost importance to stay in touch with them in the future. You can do that by emailing them business news, updates, and promoting products to entice them back to your WordPress website.

The bottom line is that you can use the emails to turn your readers into lifelong clients by offering them small incentives, such as a free trial offer page, a discount code, or a money-off shipping order in exchange for their email addresses. This way, you also end up boosting your odds of having your visitors buy from your website.

• Better Leads

Another jaw-dropping benefit of content locking is its ability and power to attract better-quality leads. Limiting the number of people who can access your content makes sure that only those interested in your brand, its services, and products get access to it. These are the high-quality leads that you need. These people go the extra mile to pay for access, bringing them closer to becoming permanent leads and ultimately conversions.

• Upsell Potential

Content lockers also offer key upsell potential. Depending on the content that your readers decide to unlock, you can choose what persuasive offer you send them to unlock the content. That can boost your revenue and help you send out more relevant and enticing marketing messages.

How to Add Content Locking in WordPress

If you are a WordPress user, you must be already aware that WordPress does not offer content locking as core functionality, so to achieve that task, you will have to levy the help of a plug-in. There are some amazing plug-ins available out there based on your chosen route of action.

Now, ask yourself, do you want to grow your email list drastically? If yes, then OnePress Opt-In Panda and OptinMonster are two of your best bets. We, however, will be using only one of them, the latter, I.e., the OptinMonster, to demonstrate the complete procedure of adding content locking to WordPress.

First things first, you have to install the OptinMonster plugin and activate it. If you cannot figure out the installation of a WordPress plugin, look up a tutorial on YouTube or ask a friend. The plugin acts as a connector between the OptinMonster account and the user’s WordPress site.

Once you have activated the plugin, you will see an OptinMonster menu item located on your WordPress admin bar. Click on it. It will ask you to provide your credentials — your OptinMonster API username and your key.

If you cannot find the API information, just look under your account on the plugin’s website. Now, all you have to do is simply log in and click on the API link given.

Once you have done that, copy and paste your API username and your key to the OptinMonster plugin’s page. Next, click on Connect to the OptinMonster button. As soon as you notice that you have successfully connected, click on the Create New Optin button positioned in the right corner of your laptop or computer’s screen.

This button will transport you to a new screen — the OptinMonster website. Here, you will have to give some information, such as the title for your desired Optin campaign and, then you will need to choose your website via the drop-down menu.

Other than that, you also have to choose ‘After post/Inline’ as Optin type. Doing this will load some amazing ready-to-use templates for you in the right column. Now, click on a template of your choice to use it as your starting point.

Moving on, you will be taken to an OptinMonster form builder, which allows you to customize and make necessary changes to the outlook of your outpin and configure whatever settings you want to.

Here, you can get as creative as you want to be. We say unleash your inner artist and edit fonts, add new images, change colors, add more text, etc. And when you are satisfied with what you have built, click on the ‘Optin’ Menu and then scroll down to the content blocking section. 

 Click on the on/off button to toggle the content blocking on for this optin.

When you turn it on, you will see the options you need to decide how you want the content blocking to work for you. But before that, you also need to determine the content blocking method you wish to use. At this point, you can opt for the obfuscation method, which is capable of blurring content. Or, you can go for the removal method, which, as the way too obvious name suggests, ultimately gets rid of the content below Optin.

Furthermore, do not forget to change the success cookie duration to zero (0). Doing this will stop the cookie from being set up until the user submits the Optin. Subsequently, go through the Integration setting to connect your email marketing service and configure the analytics set.

Once you are done and satisfied with your work, click on the Save button, which is present on the top right corner of the builder, or your screen, to save your settings.

Now, proceed ahead and go to your WordPress website and click on your OptinMonster menu. You will now see a content lock optin under your list of optins. If you cannot see it, do not panic, there are only a few things on the internet that a good old refresh cannot fix. Luckily, Optin and WordPress are not two of them. So, just click on the refresh optins button on your screen.

Drag your mouse’s pointer to the optin title and click on the ‘Edit optin output settings’ link. When you go to the next page, click on the checkbox below the ‘Enable optin on site’ option.

A little warning: DO NOT FORGET to click on the button for save settings present at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, we all know what happens when you do not keep the precious work that you have worked on very hard.

Next, click on your OptinMonster once menu again to get back to the Optins overview page. However, this time you have to copy the opt-in slug.

At this step, you will be required to edit the page or the post where you want to turn the content locking on or, in other words, enable it, and then add this shortcode before you add any other content to your post or after your 1st paragraph.

Afterward, substitute your optin-slug with the optin-slug you just copied in the previous step.

You can now save and publish your page or your post. If you want to see, content locking in action, visit your page or your post in a new browser.

How to Add Content Lock to All WordPress Posts

Suppose you do not want to do the strenuous work every time you post something and automatically incorporate content locking to all your posts on WordPress. In that case, there is an extremely easy-to-implement way to do that as well.

You do not even have to follow a lot of steps all over again. Just install the Insert Post Ads plugin and then activate it. Once it is started, go to the Post Adverts and then proceed to the settings to configure the plugin settings.

Now, select wherever you want the post ads plugin pages or posts to be enabled and, then simply click on the save settings button. Then, go to the Post Adverts and proceed to Add New page. Give a title to this content locking script and provide your content lock opt-in shortcode to the advert code section.

Under the ‘Display the advert’ dropdown menu, you can also choose before the content, or you can decide to add this option after your 1st paragraph and then click on the publish button.

That’s it. Your plugin is now enabled, and it will allow content locking for all your new posts to WordPress without you having to do the lengthy process every time you post something new.

Before we proceed forward, we have an essential tip for you. The actual reason why you should try to add this after your 1st paragraph is that you can utilize your 1st or opening paragraph as a teaser to excite your audience and convince them.

6 Best WordPress Content Locker Plugins

To make sure that you ace the process of content locking, you should find the best fit for you and your WordPress website. However, we understand that it can be overwhelming to find one on your own, which is why here are a few of the best content locking plugins that you can use!

OptinMonster

Starting with the plug-in, we love and even used to give you a tutorial above — OptinMonster is a premium plug-in with premium features. It lets you create content lockers and opt-in email popups. This feature is restricted to email opt-ins only.

However, to access this locked feature (see what we did there?), you need a Plus or higher account. Those plans offer opt-in forms, content locking, and split testing, among other features. If you want maximum value for your money, then go for this one.

OnePress Social Locker

OnePress Social Locker is another amazing plug-in that you can use to grow your social media following rather than focusing on developing your email list if that is where your interests lie. It creates content lockers that persuade your audience to complete a specific social interaction to unlock them.

The perks of this plugin are that it’s easy to use for beginners, and it lets you assign shortcodes to the content you wish to lock. All you have to do is give your social media URLs to the plug-in, and it takes the wheel from there, urging you to take a break.

PrivateContent

PrivateContent lets you make private content for your site, thanks to its multilevel content locker properties. Therefore, not everyone gets to see your WordPress website’s contents, and you get to limit specific comments and menu items by using an extensive array of widgets.

This plugin also comes equipped with the latest tracking and content management tools. Moreover, you also get to create private pages for your audience and offer unlimited registration forms. That means something, right?

And lastly, PrivateContent has a unique engine that allows you to limit different sections of your site, and it is GDPR compliant. So, it is an overall win.

Thriveleads

Thrive Leads has a lot to offer to its users. From working with different email marketing service providers, to expand your list to help you create visually-stunning content lockers, this premium WordPress plug-in does it all.

What’s more, it also provides you with other features, such as analytics, precise targeting, and split testing. And with these features, you can show your audience the correct opt-in at the right time, every single time.

Content Locker Pro

Just like its name suggests, it is a content locking plugin for WordPress. But it is not as simple as its name. It offers the best line-up of functionalities and options to boost your website’s likes, share counts, and grow your email list. It also provides access to a potpourri of customization and design options complemented by advanced lock options.

With this plugin, you get 16 aesthetic locker designs, eight designs for a sign-in locker, and eight designs for the social locker. When it comes to social locking, you will find support for social networking platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and Twitter. Plus, the sign-in locker gives you access to AWeber, MailerLite, and MailChimp.

Other features consist of Ajax loading, advanced analytics, performance tracker, lazy loading, delayed content locking, and option to show terms and policies.

OnePress Opt-In Panda

Finally, an equally important contender on our list is the OnePress Opt-In Panda that locks content for free. To get access to your content, your user will have to sign-up to your email list, but if you want more options like countdown timers and content blurring, you will have to spend some cash. The premium version offers all these features.

Furthermore, it is compatible with email marketing providers, and they work with it using an API key.

Conclusion

Content locking on WordPress can take your social media following and email list to the next level. While WordPress does not offer content locking (such a bummer), you lock content with a plug-in. Use the tools we have researched and build your website from the ground to the sky and earn money while sleeping in your warm bed.

Other than these options, there are multiple other plugins that you can check out and see which ones work the best for you.