If you provide specialized knowledge and content about any specific content, you could make a lot of money with building membership sites. Membership sites are websites that provide access to premium content to members who in turn pay a monthly fee for the access. The premium content is usually a lot of resourceful information compiled in one place and can consist of access to ebooks and tools, or monthly contents such as newsletters, reports, services, etc.. Membership sites provide a reliable income stream because members pay a recurring fee every month to maintain their access.
The best way to start out, is to first offer some free content, or even a free trial membership to your visitors. This way they will first be able to try it out for themselves and, if they decide it’s for them, continue with the membership and pay their monthly fee. Lots of people also don’t want to start giving out money for something that they can’t first preview/sample – the free trial would put them at ease too.
Setting up your Membership Site
Here are a few guidelines to help you set up your membership site:
- Think about what kind of website you would like to create? It could be a site about fishing, or maybe about hiking? Or maybe a site about marketing and advertising?
- Come up with content that you could offer your members every month. Would it be access to ebooks and newsletters? Podcasts and webinars? Maybe you could offer access to tools they could use on their own websites?
- If you have decided on the type of website and content to be offered, come up with a domain name for your membership name (you can read Tips on Choosing your Domain Name and Different Types of Domain Extensions for some help).
- Register your domain name and get a good hosting package. I would recommend using BlueHost – their prices are cheap and their service is very good!
- You must also now work out how much your monthly fee will be. Will you offer discounts to new member from time-to-time? Maybe you will offer discount to members who refer other members to your site as well?
- When designing your website, you could choose to use one of the many free membership site templates available on the internet. You could also make use of WordPress and setup payment with Paypal. There is also a lot of plugin options, both free and paid, that can make everything so much easier for you. Further on in my article, I will explore the different options more thoroughly.
Added Value to Your Membership Site
Consider providing a forum in the Members Area as well.
People appreciate being able to speak to other people in similar industries and talking about the same problems and difficulties. Providing a forum wherein your members can actively participate in, could make your members feel more like they are in an exclusive club of people similar to them. Then when they experience a difficulty in their industry or niche, they can post their issue or question on the forum and get other people’s solutions, instead of having to look for the answer themselves on the internet. This kind of support encourages members to maintain their monthly fees in order to have continued access to the “club”.
What are my Options?
There are various options for setting up a Membership Site.
You could use:
- Original WordPress Dashboard
- Free MemberWing WordPress Plugin
- Premium Wishlist Member WordPress Plugin
- Magic Members
Original WordPress Dashboard
This is a free option and easy to setup. It is also built right into your current WordPress dashboard!
Here’s how to do it:
- Write (or hire someone to write) unique valuable content specific to the niche you want your Membership Website to be about and post them on your WordPress site.
- On your WordPress Dashboard, go to your “Edit” tab under “Posts”. Select the content you would like to make available to your Members Area only and open the individual “Edit Post” screens. Look for the “Publish” widget on the right side and then go to the “Visibility” option and select “Edit”. Choose the “Password Protected” option. Type in your desired password and save. Now your content is password protected.
- Create a page with the title of your Membership Site. Use this page as your Sales Page, wherein you will tell people more about your website – the features, trial memberships, benefits, how to register, etc.. Also offer Paypal or other automated payment options here.
- As soon as somebody purchases membership, send them the password so that they can access all the premium articles.
Pros of this method:
- It is free and no need to install anything as everything is already available on your WordPress Dashboard.
- It can be easily setup and will be up and running in only a few minutes.
Cons of this method:
- Keeping track of all your members, content, getting paid, etc., can be tedious and difficult.
Free MemberWing WordPress Plugin
The MemberWingplugin is also a free option and offers more options. The administration will also be easier. You just download the plugin from their site and integrate it into your WordPress blog.
Configure the plugin, and you have a membership site!
Some options that this plugin offers:
- Insert {+++} anywhere on a post or on a page to create a marker. Everything before the marker is free to see and just used as a teaser, and everything after the marker is paid premium content.
- Content and Download Protection to stop people from trying to guess the correct URL and/or password or unauthorized links for the premium content.
- 4 Membership levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. This allows for different pricing options and content availability.
- Works with eJunkie, Paypal, PayDotCom, etc.
Pros of this option:
- Administration is better and than the Original WordPress Dashboard option.
- Allows more control with specific coding and scripts to do most of the work for you.
- Shows you how well the membership site will work with your content.
Cons of this option:
- The plugin is free but if you want more additional advanced options, you will need to have the premium version of the plugin. The premium version does cost some money, however.
- The free version does not look very appealing.
Premium Wishlist Member WordPress Plugin
This option is not free, but it is of the highest quality and definitely worth the cost, which is $97 for a single-site license. The Wishlist Member plugin offers both a lite, as well as a powerful, plugin option. It also offers a very appealing and professional look which will surely lure in some members.
Some other benefits of this plugin include:
- 30 Day trial period with guaranteed money back guarantee;
- Unlimited membership levels;
- Shopping cart system;
- Gradual content delivery system;
- Secure RSS feeds;
- “Sneak peak” content display;
- Free support;
- Auto response and auto payment options;
- Content and download protection;
- Easy installation with a new or existing blog;
- Flexible membership: free, trial, paid and any combination of them;
- Support videos and tutorials;
- Free upgrades to your plugin for life; and
- Easy integration with your current theme.
What I like best about this plugin is the ability to automate everything. It makes everything so much easier and your members’ experience so much better. You can’t go wrong with this option!
Magic Members offer a plugin that could easily accommodate any WordPress theme, so you won’t need to do any modifications to your theme.
MagicMembers Plugin’s Features:
- 30-day money back guarantee;
- Free video training and tutorials;
- Free screenshots and support guides;
- Free unlimited updates;
- Free unlimited support;
- Unlimited membership levels;
- Flexible membership options;
- Payment integration modules;
- Control subscription length;
- Multiple membership levels purchase;
- Unlimited coupon creation;
- Sequential course delivery system;
- Controlled content access;
- Partial content display;
- Pay per post access;
- Entire blog protection;
- Roles and capabilities support;
- Secure RSS tokens;
- Download features;
- Simple member management;
- AutoResponder integrations;
- Simple: Press forum integration; and
- Custom widgets.
MagicMembers is also a very good choice for implementing your membership site. It has a lot of benefits to offer – and everything for also just $97 for a single license!
In Conclusion
There are many ways to create a membership site, both free and paid offers. I would suggest using the free options if you are only just experimenting with a membership site, but if you want to really make money from a membership site, I would recommend using the Premium Wishlist Member WordPress Plugin or the Magic Members option. The latter two options would automate your site’s administration and provide a much more sleek and professional look to your website. Your only administration would consist of getting visitors/potential members and taking care of the content that you would like to offer on your website, while the premium Wishlist Member WordPress Plugin or the Magic Members option would take care of rest for you!
