Case study from Made Grand. Project: A Level AHEAD. Outcome: Made Grand evolved A Level AHEAD into a freemium WordPress learning platform offering 103 free A Level English Literature seminars alongside paid Student and Teacher resources.
Membership
A Level AHEAD
Evolving a membership website into a freemium learning platform
A Level AHEAD opens 103 expert-led video seminars to everyone, reorganise a growing educational library and focus paid membership on high-value resources for students and teachers.
Visit A Level AHEAD →
The Problem
A Level AHEAD had outgrown its original subscription model as the seminar library and audience continued to expand
The flat catalogue made it difficult to navigate 103 poetry and drama seminars by poet, play and qualification level
Andy wanted to keep every core seminar freely available while focusing paid membership on high-value Student and Teacher resources
The platform needed to change without disrupting existing content, established URLs, member access or the client’s publishing workflow
The Challenge
Restructure more than 100 seminars into scalable poet and play catalogues without changing established seminar URLs
Build granular access rules so free, Student and Teacher resources appear correctly for every visitor and membership level
Simplify the membership system while protecting existing member access, payments and downloads
Give the client a straightforward way to add seminars, books and resources without editing templates or code
Deliver a consistent experience across mobile, tablet and desktop
“A platform built to evolve as its content, audience and purpose changed”
What we built
Rather than rebuild the site, we evolved the existing WordPress platform around a clearer freemium model. Every seminar is now freely accessible, while supporting Student and Teacher resources are delivered according to membership level. We also reorganised the growing library around poets and plays, with a straightforward publishing workflow that allows Andy to keep expanding the platform.
- Reconfigured WordPress and Paid Memberships Pro around the simplified Student and Teacher plans
- Built searchable Poetry and Drama catalogues with dedicated poet and play pages
- Created custom templates for seminars, teaching resources, books and related content
- Added resource-level access control for free, Student and Teacher materials
- Connected poems, poets, plays, exam boards, study guides and supporting resources through structured content relationships
- Added responsive navigation and filtering for mobile, tablet and desktop
- Configured and tested Stripe payments, memberships, protected downloads and existing user access
Outcome
A Level AHEAD is now a focused freemium learning platform, opening its entire seminar library to students and teachers while reserving additional study and classroom resources for members. Its connected content structure can continue expanding as new poets, plays, books and teaching materials are published.
- 103 expert-led video seminars available without registration or payment
- 64 poetry seminars organised across 15 dedicated poet pages
- 39 King Lear seminars arranged scene by scene across all five acts
- Two clearly defined memberships providing targeted resources for students and teachers
- Visitors and members see the correct resources for their access level
- A structured publishing system that Andy can expand without rebuilding page layouts
- Established seminar content and URLs preserved throughout the restructure
“Made Grand has had an excellent impact on the development of my business. A committed and reliable partner, they have proved flexible and creative in the way in which they have worked with us. I wanted to secure a long-term working partner when I selected a company to design my website: I found them in Made Grand.”
— Andy Hurley
What This Included
- Refocused the platform around free seminars and paid supporting resources
- Organised the growing library around poets, plays and qualification levels
- Defined clear access rules for visitors, Student members and Teacher members
- Preserved established content, URLs and existing member access throughout the restructure
- Kept the publishing workflow simple so new content can be added without development support
Reflection
The most valuable result is that the original platform could evolve rather than be replaced. By separating free seminars from paid resources and reorganising the growing library, we gave Andy a clearer publishing system that supports A Level AHEAD today and can adapt as new content is added.
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