SubHub Offers Drupal 7 Marketplace, Monetization Platform

CMSWire covered SubHub (news, site) when the cloud-based web content management provider released its initial SubHub Lite Drupal 7 offering back in December, becoming one of the pioneers on the platform. The company, which has offered website building and content publishing since 2005, has now announced a Drupal 7-based Content Monetization Platform (CMP) including a marketplace (App Store) for Drupal 7 (news, site) modules. CMSWire walked through the new offering shortly before it went live with Evan Rudowski, Co-Founder and Director of SubHub.

Drupal 7 in a Few Clicks

SubHub has long prided itself in providing a platform that's easy to use for non-technical users. According to Rudowski, SubHub has been working with Drupal 7 for a year and a half, even before the platform was an official release.

Lots of companies indicate that their sites are easy to use. I have been in technology for the last 20 years, so I always need a demo -- one that I click -- and SubHub obliged my inner architect. After a quick setup involving specification of a:

site name
email address
password

SubHub spawned a Drupal site.

SubHub user guidance

A core component of the SubHub site building process is application palettes. The application palettes allow adding functionality on a site with on-screen configuration. This is a fundamental step away from the technology- and developer-centric resources that are typically required to create anything but the most simplistic Drupal 7 implementation.

SubHub app palettes

Users control the site by selecting "Manage Sites" from a menu. SubHub provides users contextual quidance to define themes, menus, content, general settings and installed applications. The administrative menu provides control over the site from content to layout.

In addition to getting a configured Drupal 7 site with a low level of effort, SubHub has implemented an application store for Drupal 7 modules. Users vist the AppStore by selecting MarketPlace. The MarketPlace will allow developers and providers to gain revenue and customers to gain access to new Drupal features. The App Store has a familiar feel; the interface should be easy to use for anyone with a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device.

SubHub featured provider

The SubHub App Store includes a featured products area that the company can use to feature module providers. Currently, SubHub has a partnership with MailChimp and other providers -- we expect the list to grow quickly. One of the key applications in the App Store is the Premium Membership module. The module, developed by SubHub using Drupal Commerce, allows content restriction to subscribers and many other membership options.

SubHub Drupal 7 App Store

The payment model is definitely a highlight of the site. There are no pricing tiers; each component is priced individually. If you decide you don't like it, uninstall the module and billing stops. There is no requirement to "pay for two more weeks when you didn't use it" as with similar services.

Content Monetization for Everyone

SubHub allows any user to monetize content -- making everyone a professional content publisher with a non-technical, user friendly interface. The membership module allows content providers, now potentially any SubHub user, an opportunity to implement a sophisticated membership and payment site for any content they desire to restrict or sale.

Using the premium membership module, users can restrict content to paid subscribers and enable features such as:

Allow visitors to sign up for free membership to your site
Charge for membership to your site
Take recurring or single payments for membership using PayPal
Add a sign up / login block to different areas of your site
Set any of your content to be viewable by members only
Manage your members (including view, add, block, delete members)
Customize your welcome email and "restricted content" message
View revenue from your members as a simple graph

all for around $30 per month.

SubHub Membership

SubHub membership configuration

SubHub revenue tracking

SubHub PayPal integration

SubHub isn't just about introducing new features for their users. Rudowski, said,

We don't use open source to build o ntop of, we dedicate back to the community."

SubHub has demonstrated its continuing commitment to open source by releasing the reccuring payment module back to the open source Drupal Commerce project.

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