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Standalone WordPress

BuddyPress Member Blog overviewFree + ProGet BuddyPress Member Blog →

WB Member Blog does not need BuddyPress, BuddyBoss or PeepSo. On a plain WordPress site it gives registered users a front-end place to write and manage posts, which suits multi-author blogs, guest-post sites, magazines, schools and review sites.

Standalone is the plugin’s baseline: every free feature works, and so does every Pro module except Group Blogs, which needs BuddyPress or BuddyBoss groups.

How members find their blog

Section titled “How members find their blog”

Without profile pages, the member home lives on the My Blog Dashboard page and the composer on the Add new post page. Both are created when you activate the plugin.

Page Shortcode What it shows
Submission page [bp-member-blog] The post composer
Dashboard page [member-blog-dashboard] The member home: Published, Drafts, Pending, Saved and Following, plus Pro tabs

Check both are mapped under WB Plugins > Member Blog > Pages. If one is missing, click Auto Create Page. See Required pages.

A logged-out visitor who opens the dashboard page is asked to log in. A logged-in member whose role cannot write sees a reading home with Saved and Following.

Set up a standalone site

Section titled “Set up a standalone site”
  1. Let people register. Under Settings > General, tick Anyone can register and set New User Default Role, usually Subscriber.
  2. Choose who can write. Under WB Plugins > Member Blog > Access, tick the roles under Allowed User Roles. Subscriber is ticked on a new site.
  3. Choose review. Publish immediately is off on a new site, so member posts wait in Posts > Member submissions for an administrator or editor. Turn it on when you trust your writers.
  4. Add navigation. Under Appearance > Menus (or the Site Editor’s Navigation block), add the dashboard page and the submission page, for example as “My Posts” and “Write”.
  5. Give readers a home for posts. Create a page and add list shortcodes or blocks, for example:
[bp-member-blog-recent]
[bp-member-blog-categories]
[bp-member-blog-authors]

See Shortcodes for every attribute.

Writer profiles and topic hubs

Section titled “Writer profiles and topic hubs”

Standalone sites have no member profile pages, so the Writer profiles feature is the natural profile for a writer: /author/{name}/ with their avatar, bio, posts, view count and a Follow button. Topic hubs turn category and tag archives into a page about the topic. Both replace your theme’s archives and are off on a new site. Switch them on under WB Plugins > Member Blog > Features. See Writer profiles and Topic hubs.

Toolbar menu

Section titled “Toolbar menu”

A member who may write gets a Blog item in the WordPress toolbar with My Posts (the dashboard page) and Create Post (the submission page).

Notifications

Section titled “Notifications”

Follower, clap and digest emails are sent on standalone sites, and so are Pro’s approval and publishing emails. The on-site notification bell needs BuddyPress, so standalone members get email only.

Review workflow

Section titled “Review workflow”
  1. A member submits a post. With review on, it lands in their Pending tab.
  2. An administrator or editor opens Posts > Member submissions and clicks Approve, or Reject with a reason.
  3. An approved post goes live. A rejected post returns to the member’s Drafts with the reason shown on the card and at the top of the composer. It is never deleted.

See Moderation.

Section titled “Related”