When we built Paid Memberships Pro, I thought I understood the ecosystem we were creating.


Our target was (mostly) clear: people building their own thing. A WordPress site with memberships, all aimed at building a recurring revenue stream they owned and controlled. A DIY-er that preferred to get their hands dirty vs. hire out. Not only because funds were tight, but because “knowing how it worked” mattered more than the time it took to get there.

What I did not anticipate is what would happen after these creators found success.

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Treating Eden’s Cushing’s Disease

Excessive thirst. Increased appetite. Becoming more reactive to people and other animals. Who know all of these small changes would lead us to a Cushing’s Disease diagnosis for our dog, Eden, in August 2023.

Jason and I have keep a log of all of Eden’s tests, treatments, medicines, and diet changes since the diagnosis. This post is designed to help anyone actively battling Cushing’s or who suspects their pet has a positive diagnosis.

February 2024 TL;DR: Eden is doing really well. We’ll have to manage this disease for the rest of her life, but she is happy, energetic, and should have many years ahead of her.

December 2025 TL;DR: Eden had a minor setback with pancreatitis and tore her CCL. Overall, still doing really well. We added an additional supplement (Six Flavor Rehmanni / Liu Wei Di Huang) and are now sourcing her Si Miao San (Four Marvels) from a holistic vet in Washington state.

Warning: There are some graphic photos of some of Eden’s wounds in this article.

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Add UTM Parameters to WordPress Menu Items

We’re working on use case-focused documentation and getting started guides over at Paid Memberships Pro.

For this effort, I also needed to add direct links to our most popular use cases in our site’s footer—and I need these links to have unique UTM parameters so I can track which use cases are getting the most interactions.

Here’s a quick code recipe to demonstrate using the nav_menu_link_attributes filter to extend a wp_nav_menu.

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SaaS Tools & Site Builders vs. Self Hosted WordPress

I’ve been ruminating on the key differences between streamlined website builder tools like Squarespace or Wix vs. the boundless possibilities with WordPress.

As a 100% biased person that makes their living on WordPress products, I firmly believe that WP is the right tool for almost every website project. No other tool gives you the power of WordPress.

Here comes the big BUT: there are stark differences between SaaS and self-hosted WP if you’re considering our platform.

So here’s a list of my top “shockers” you might find when you switch from a site builder tool to self-hosted WordPress.

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Content Marketing for a New WordPress Plugin

Content Marketing is the act of creating and sharing material to grow organic traffic and establish subject matter expertise for your brand. Businesses that use a content marketing strategy create many types of content, from blogs, videos, and ebooks to infographics, courses, and social media posts.

We’ve used this strategy for Paid Memberships Pro since day one—and it’s been a great success.

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