In this WordPress plugin tutorial, we will learn how to integrate free CiviCRM with WordPress to gain competitive advantages in terms of contact management.

civicrm wordpress

Overview:

Welcome to this tutorial article that is about CiviCRM WordPress integration. The fact of the matter is that we are living in the age of information and data. Certain things give distinctive features to your business such as automation of collecting data, consistent communication, marketing campaigns, and other business workflows. In this modern age, the amount of data is increasing day by day. Organizations receive this data from various data sources. Resultantly, it becomes hard to manage and compile such a huge amount of data. However, it is highly important to make sure data integrity and authenticity are the basis of an effective marketing campaign. In addition, the occurrence of data in multiple places gives birth to hassle and mismanagement, and operational teams find it difficult to come on the same page and work in a unified direction.

On the other hand, there are several content management systems that have gained the powerful support of the users and developers communities because of robust content management and SEO-friendly echo systems. These open source content management systems offer easy and quick developments and deployments to achieve content-related targets. It offers cost-efficiency, extensible functionality, and self-hosting capabilities. This WordPress plugin tutorial is about the Integration of CiviCRM with WordPress and we will cover the following bullet points

Benefits of this combination for business?

In the section of this WordPress tutorial, we will look into the core benefits of CiviCRM WordPress integration. The popularity of WordPress is increasing as the competition is growing in the market. The WordPress community has been developing new plugins to enhance the plugin’s bucket. Therefore, the addition of CiviCRM into the plugin’s pool of WordPress has gained huge attention from the organizations that thrive to automate and centralize their business workflows.

This integration is important due to certain aspects. First, CiviCRM removes the hassle of managing user’s contact sources residing in different places. Secondly, it provides complete security by taking regular backups of your data. Thirdly, it is web-based and open source that means you can access your data from anywhere. This open source marketing automation tool is developed for the civic sector. It has removed the need of exporting data to various sheets and databases by providing a one-stop solution. This open source CRM software stores all the data into the database coming from various sources such as newsletters, event management sites, contribution management, case management and etc. These open source constituent relationship management software are easy to set up and provide many features such as unlimited custom data sets, task management, users management, track open pledges and memberships, and many more.

How to setup a directory structure?

Before starting this WordPress plugin tutorial, we assume that you have set up WordPress and have a basic understanding to install and activate plugins. Further, you can find information here about setting up WordPress and its features.

First, download the CiviCRM from this site. Choose an option named such as “Download CiviCRMx.x.x for WordPress”.

After downloading, place the zip file into this location /wp-content/plugins and extract it. Make sure this directory has “Write” access.

You may use this command to give “Write” access permission. sudo chmod 777 server_path/wp-content/plugins/civicrm

Second, create an empty folder named “civicrm” into this location /wp-content/uploads and give “Write” access using the following command.
sudo chmod 777 server_path/wp-content/uploads/civicrm

Note: Do not forget to change these directories back to default. You can run the following commands to restore the default status of these directories :

This section of the CiviCRM WordPress integration is completed. Let’s move to the next section.

How to activate and install the CiviCRM in WordPress?

This section of the WordPress tutorial shows the installation and activation steps of the web-based marketing tool CiviCRM. After setting up the directory structure, go to the Plugins->Installed Plugins and you will see the CiviCRM in the list.

civicrm wordpress

Hit “Activate“.

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After activating the CiviCRM, you will find the CiviCRM option on the top right of wp-admin page. Just hit that option and you will land on the installation screen.

The following page will be shown with the requirement details along with database configurations.

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Press the “Check requirements and Install CiviCRM” button. CiviCRM will be installed successfully and a success message will appear if the above instructions have been followed correctly.

civicrm wordpress integration

Finally, the CiviCRM WordPress integration menu tab will appear at the top of the admin dashboard.

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Conclusion

The CiviCRM WordPress integration is a truly helpful add-on when it comes to managing huge storage of scattered user information. It makes complex workflows simple by offering an intuitive dashboard. The duo of these two open source software provides a user-friendly interface along with other utilities where users can navigate easily. Fortunately, the open source community has developed so many marketing automation tools such as Mautic, SuiteCRM, EspoCRM, and more. All these solutions are free and easy to deploy either on the cloud or on localhost. Above all, these solutions come with comprehensive documentation regarding development and deployment. However, this WordPress plugin tutorial will be very helpful if you are looking to integrate marketing automation software with your content management software.

Finally, containerize.com is in process of writing further tutorials about the integration of some other open source software. For regular updates, stay in touch with Marketing Automation and Blogging categories.

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