Installing and activating WP Lead Player

This guide takes you from download to a working plugin in about five minutes. You’ll need a WP Lead Player licence and access to your WordPress dashboard as an administrator.

Before you start

• Your site runs PHP 8.0 or newer.
• Your site runs WordPress 6.3 or newer.
• You have your licence key. It’s shown in the pop-up screen at the end of payment. Once you’ve closed that pop-up, you can find it in your purchase email or on the WP Lead Player Members page. Keep your key private and don’t share it.
• WP Lead Player works with any theme and behind caching plugins, so you don’t need to switch anything off first.
• WP-Cron must be running. Two things depend on it and both stop silently without it: the nightly summary of retention data, and the automatic retrying of a lead delivery that failed. Nothing warns you. If your host sets DISABLE_WP_CRON, make sure a real system cron job calls wp-cron.php instead.

How to tell if WP-Cron is working: go to Tools › Site Health. WordPress reports a problem there if scheduled events are being missed. If your host has switched WP-Cron off, ask them to confirm a system cron job is calling wp-cron.php.

What happens when you buy

1. Click the payment button and PayPal opens so you can set up your yearly subscription. Paying yearly keeps your updates coming all year round.
2. Once your payment goes through, you’re taken straight back to the pop-up screen.
3. The pop-up shows a Download button and your licence key straight away, so you can install and activate in one go with no waiting for emails.

If you close the pop-up, you’ll still find the download and your key in your purchase email and on the Members page.

Step 1: Download the plugin

1. Click the Download button in the pop-up after payment, or log in to the WP Lead Player Members page and download it there.
2. Keep the plugin .zip file as it is. Don’t unzip it.
3. Copy your licence key somewhere handy.

Step 2: Upload and activate

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins › Add New Plugin.
2. Click Upload Plugin at the top of the page.
3. Choose the .zip file you downloaded and click Install Now.
4. When it finishes, click Activate Plugin.

You’ll now see WP Lead Player as its own item in your dashboard menu. Until you add a licence, a reminder banner shows at the top of every WP Lead Player screen: “WP Lead Player — add your licence key to receive updates and support.” with a Licence settings link.

Step 3: Enter your licence key

1. Go to WP Lead Player › Licence (or click Licence settings in the reminder banner).
2. Before you activate, the Status shows No licence.
3. Paste your licence key into the Licence key field.
4. Click Activate.
5. The status should now show that your licence is active. You’ll see Active, the date it renews or expires (for example “Renews or expires on 2027-10-24”) and when it was last checked.

Don’t worry if you haven’t got your key to hand: the plugin keeps working whatever the licence says. Your licence controls automatic updates and support, not whether your videos play.

Your licence covers 1 site (Personal), up to 5 sites (Business) or up to 50 sites (Agency). Each site where you activate the key counts towards that number.

Staging and local copies are nothing to worry about. The licence only provides updates and support; it never locks the plugin, so WP Lead Player works fully on a staging site whether or not the key is activated there.

Step 4: Check everything works

1. Add a test video to a draft page (see Adding your first video).
2. Preview the page and press play.

If the video plays, you’re ready to go.

If something goes wrong

• “The link you followed has expired” when uploading – your host’s upload limit is too small. Ask your host to raise it, or upload the unzipped folder to /wp-content/plugins/ by FTP.
• The licence won’t activate – check you’ve copied the whole key with no spaces, and that you haven’t reached your plan’s site limit. To free up a site, open WP Lead Player › Licence on the site you no longer need and click Remove from this site.
• Still stuck? Open a ticket on the support page on ABC and a real person will help.

Updating the plugin

While your licence is active, updates arrive in Dashboard › Updates like any other plugin. If your licence expires, the plugin keeps working, but you stop receiving updates and support until you renew.