Tutorial: Monetize Voting Contests via Membership

There are multiple strategies for monetizing online voting contests. In this tutorial, we explore monetization via subscription and membership plans for specific durations.

If you prefer a micro-transaction model where users spend credits/points for individual actions (e.g. pay per vote or pay per submission), refer to:

• Tutorial: Monetize Voting Contests via Points

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Concept Overview

Joomla membership and subscription extensions automate access control by assigning paying users to specific Joomla User Groups upon subscription purchase and reverting them to default groups (e.g., Registered) when their subscription expires.

By combining membership extensions with NorrCompetition's flexible ACL permissions, you can create tiered access levels:

Plan	Included Actions	Duration	Purpose
Basic Voter	Vote in contests	7 Days	General voters supporting their candidates
Active Voter	Vote in all contests	30 Days	Extended voting participation
Contestant Pro	Vote + Submit entries	30 Days	Active participants uploading works
VIP / Organizer	Vote + Submit entries + Create frontend contests	12 Months	Premium users and contest creators

You can also restrict access to specific contest categories (e.g., premium categories requiring specific user groups).

Example Pricing Plans Model

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Step-by-Step Configuration

Step 1: Create Joomla User Groups

1. In Joomla Administrator, go to Users > Groups > Add New Group.

2. Create dedicated user groups matching your planned subscription tiers (e.g., NC Basic Voter, NC Contestant Pro, NC VIP Organizer), setting their parent group to Registered.

Step 2: Configure Membership & Subscription Software

Choose a Joomla membership or subscription solution (available in the Joomla Extensions Directory: Membership & Subscriptions).

1. Create subscription plans matching your tiers.

2. Configure automated user group assignment upon active subscription and removal on expiration.

3. Configure payment gateways (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, offline transfer).

Step 3: Configure NorrCompetition Permissions

Configure ACL permissions either globally (Components > NorrCompetition > Options > Permissions) or per contest (Contest > Permissions):

• Registered (Default): Deny or restrict voting / entry creation.

• NC Basic Voter: Set Vote to Allowed.

• NC Contestant Pro: Set Vote, Create, and Create After Contest Start to Allowed.

• NC VIP Organizer: Set Vote, Create, and Create Contest to Allowed.

For detailed permission settings, refer to the Permissions Configuration Guide.

Configuring Permissions for Selected User Groups

Step 4: Customize Calls to Action & Language Strings

1. Guest & Restricted Prompt: Use Joomla Language Overrides (System > Manage > Language Overrides) to customize the COM_COMPETITION_VOTE_ERROR_NO_PERMISSIONS message with a clear CTA (e.g., "To vote in this contest, please purchase a membership pass").

2. Registration / Checkout Redirection: Direct non-subscribed visitors attempting to vote to your pricing/subscription landing page.