SPHERE – Digital Publication Platform & Member Access System
SPHERE is the quarterly publication for the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists (NYSSA). It was originally produced as a printed newsletter and mailed to members—but they wanted to evolve it into a modern, web-based experience.
I was brought in to build that from the ground up.
Turning a Printed Newsletter into a Living Platform
Instead of just uploading PDFs, I developed a fully custom WordPress site at sphere.nyssa-pga.org that transforms each issue into a structured, searchable experience.
Each issue is organized by:
- Volume and issue number
- Individual articles (not just a single PDF dump)
- Downloadable full editions
- Mobile-friendly layouts for reading anywhere
On the backend, I built a flexible system using Advanced Custom Fields so NYSSA can easily manage:
- Issue metadata (volume, number, cover images)
- PDF files and supporting assets
- Article structure and organization
This gives them a repeatable process for publishing new issues every quarter without reinventing the wheel each time.
Member Access Across Multiple Sites (SSO Evolution)
Originally, SPHERE lived on a completely separate WordPress install from the main NYSSA site. To avoid forcing users to log in twice, I built a custom authentication system that validated users across both environments.
That alone is a pretty uncommon setup—and something that can be adapted for other multi-site/member-based projects.
In 2026, I replaced that system with a more robust, long-term solution using the MemberClicks API.
Now members have a true single sign-on experience across:
One login, no confusion.
Balancing Member Content with SEO (Free Article Feature)
One of the newer challenges was growth.
If everything is locked behind a login, search engines can’t see anything—and that kills organic traffic.
So I built a “free article” system that allows NYSSA to flag select articles from each issue as publicly accessible. Everything else remains gated for members.
This gives them the best of both worlds:
- Protected, members-only content
- Public-facing articles that can rank in search engines and bring in new visitors
Author Pages & Content Discovery
Originally, authors were just stored as text fields. I converted that into a proper WordPress author system, allowing articles to be assigned to real author profiles.
This unlocked:
- Dedicated author archive pages
- Better internal linking
- Additional SEO value through indexed contributor pages
With dozens of contributors, this turned SPHERE into more than just a newsletter—it’s now a searchable content hub.
Ongoing Growth
SPHERE continues to expand with each quarterly release, and the system in place makes it easy to scale without adding complexity.
This project is a great example of what I focus on: taking something static and limited (like a printed newsletter), and turning it into a flexible, scalable platform that actually works long-term.