Creating a membership site has been proven to be one of the most profitable ways to generate a solid recurring online income. With wordpress, they can be very simple to create because of the ability to quickly install a comprehensive plugin to manage your website.

WordPress used to just be a platform for bloggers, but it has quickly evolved into an elite content management system. More and more often, internet marketers have turned to wordpress to manage their membership site as more companies produce amazing and comprehensive membership management plugins.

When you are choosing a membership plugin there are 5 requirements that a wordpress plugin must have in order for you to consider using it to manage your membership site.

1. RSS Feed Encryption

This feature is almost always overlooked the first time you design a membership using wordpress. RSS Feed Encryption ensures that only members have access to your rss feed. Without it, everything you put in your membership site would be available to the public through your rss feed. Even if you do not promote your rss feed, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.

2. Membership Levels or Types

The ability of creating multiple membership levels is critical to maximizing your sites profitability. With this feature you can create multiple levels that are more expensive than the standard level of membership. If your members are happy with your content, they will often upgrade their membership status to get even more content. It also allows you to create a free membership with limited access so that prospective members can get a take of what your membership will provide.

3. Content Teasers

This is a great way to pull in members. They are allowed to see the first paragraph or two and when they tried to read more they will be taken to your registration page. There is no better way to entice people to become a member of your website than to give them a taste of what is to come.

4. Drip-Feeding Content

Most membership websites have content that needs to be delivered over a pre-set amount of time. Many plugins do not allow that to happen, which is why it is important to make sure that you choose a plugin that does. Drip-feeding content allows you to load all of the content you need and deliver it over a specific period of time.

5. Payment Integration

It is important that your membership can easily accept payments from multiple sources. Using only paypal has become common, but can be very limiting. Make sure that your membership plugin can be easily integrated with your virtual payment processor.

If you have found a plugin that has all of these requirements then it might be the right fit for you. If you have several plugins to choose from that all have these features make sure to consider important intangibles such as customer support and a money-back guarantee Without these, if you have a problem with the plugin, you may not be able to overcome it. With excellent customer support, the sky is the limit.

Our WordPress Membership Plugin Suggestion;
Visit Magic Members’ Home Page : Magic Members WordPress Membership Plugin

Membership sites have continued to gain popularity with the online community because they are the most effective way to create a long-term income.  WordPress has emerged as one of the most reliable options for creating a membership site.  Once it is set up, it can operate hands-free which allows you to move on to other profitable projects.

WordPress utilizes a simple plugin style which means that you can create your membership site within hours instead of days or weeks.  It is designed to allow you to create whatever style of membership site that you need from a simple protected download area to online courses and on going content creation.

There are numerous plugins available, both free and commercial, with varying formats an options that can be used to create your membership site.  By using only free plugins you will be able to create a very simple wordpress membership site.

The first thing you need is a plugin that can protect your members area.  The purpose of this plugin is to ensure that your paid content is not accessible by everyone.  Every plugin is set up differently, so take some time a choose one that best fits your needs.

The second plugin you need deals with payment processing.  This plugin needs to create a way for people to actually subscribe to your membership site.  The size of your customer base is very important to consider, because some programs will force you to collect recurring payments manually which will take a lot of time when you have even 100 subscribers.

While these types of plugins are free to use, they are very limited in what they can achieve.  If you are looking to create a truly unique and profitable wordpress membership site, then you should seriously consider a premium commercial plugin.

For your do-it-all solution, Magic Members has proven to be the best membership site plugin available.  It has the ability to drip-feed content.  This is incredibly important if you selling monthly content or an ecourse.  This ability allows you to limit what people can get based upon how long they have been a member.  There is no point in subscribing to a membership site for a year if you can pay for one month and download everything and then cancel the membership.  For long term profits, you need long term subscribers and giving them everything at once does not give them a reason to stay.

Magic Members also has premium functions such as total content protection which allows you to create membership levels (bronze, silver, gold, etc.).  This give you more chances to maximize your income.

There are a laundry list of additional features of Magic Members that can give your wordpress membership site the edge over the competition.

While it is simple to create a very basic membership site on wordpress using free plugins, a paid plugin like Magic Members will make your life much easier and your membership site look and feel more professional.

Visit: Magic Members Membership software

If you don’t own a membership site you are more than likely missing out on a very profitable income stream. It’s no accident that most Internet marketers have a membership site or more than one.

The great thing about a membership site is that if you sell a product you can offer a month free to your membership site as bonus therefore making your products more easy to sell and creating multiple streams of income from one customer.

Also people love to learn so if you have great content and you want to spread out in the form of an online course what better way than a membership site. Your course material i.e. module one is delivered on the day that they sign up and use sequential modules will all be available to them month after month.

The best thing about a membership site is that once it’s in place and all the content or modules are in place and ready to be delivered you can leave it to start on your next project knowing that one site can generate a sizeable income for years to come.

WordPress The New Standard

WordPress with its easy-to-use plug-in architecture is fast becoming a standard on the web today, making it extremely easy for you to have a fully working website up and ready in a matter of hours.

For many WordPress is just a blog, but it can be so much more with new plug-ins appearing every day!

The plug-in I’m talking about today will turn your WordPress blog into a fully functional membership site which will be fully incorporated into your autoresponder and shopping cart.

The best part is, it’s easy to use. Just unzip, upload and within minutes you can have your own membership site up and running.

Types of Membership Site

When you hear “Membership Sites” it’s likely you think about a site publishing ongoing content.

Am I right?

But what if I told you that there are many “types” of membership sites.

Take a look…

1) Ongoing Content – This is your traditional membership site. Essentially you provide fresh content on a regular basis and people pay monthly to access that content whenever they want.

2) Protected Download Area – If you sell any type of digital product, you’ll want to protect it behind a membership.

Why?

Because that way you can prevent people from passing your info to others who haven’t paid for it AND you can block their access should they ask for a refund.

3) UPS Method – This type of membership is used when you deliver a “package” of content to your members each month.

They belong to your membership so they can receive this “package” every month.

A good example would be a Private Label Rights membership. With those memberships they deliver a package of PLR content each month.

4) Course Materials – If you sell any type of course that has “Modules”, then you should consider putting it into a membership site.

When you select the right membership software, you can automatically deliver each module at a predefined time so that everything is automated.

That way you can create the course once, but after that people can continue to sign up and receive the course one module at a time.

5) Micro Continuity – This membership was made popular by Russell Brunson and essentially it involves delivering content for a fixed period of time.

It’s similar to running a “modular course” where you automatically deliver content but over a fixed period of time (3-6 months).

6) Project Management System – Running a virtual business often means you are working with vendors around the world.

With the right membership solution you can quickly create a “private membership” for YOUR company.

Just setup a membership level for each “position” in your company and then create a section of your site just for people who belong to that position (webmaster, designer, customer support etc.).

Buy The Best  WordPress Membership Plugin

The purpose of membership websites are many and varied. Whilst the majority tend to be related to Internet marketing, membership websites are starting to diversify. In recent times I’ve seen sites that are related to cooking, self improvement and other topics that are of interest to a broader audience. It’s only common sense that this new trend to choose non-internet niches will continue. Why compete in a fairly saturated market like Internet marketing when the membership world is literally your oyster?

More and more people are discovering that setting up and running a membership site isn’t the gargantuan task they may have thought it would be. Granted, it does take some work, research and study, but there are very few businesses that don’t require at least some effort on your part.

Let’s look at some things that are required to run a successful membership site.

1. Passion and Dedication – It’s always easier to provide information, services and products to others if you have a keen interest in the product you are selling. If your only motivation for wanting to run a membership site is because you see others making money with them, then don’t waste your time. Unless you are willing to put the time in to maintain and develop your site you will end up with a poor reputation and a lot of disgruntled members.

2. A Good Domain – If you’ve ever looked around at other membership sites you’ll see that they nearly always have a relevant domain name. This is important as it is part of your branding. There are plenty of good examples of well thought out, branded membership sites. Names like Mr. Overdeliver and SureFireWealth are good names that enhance the overall concept of the membership site and are easy to remember.

3. Starting Content- You usually can’t start a membership site if you don’t have any content. This could be information, scripts, e-books and/or your own products. When most people join a membership site they expect to see something that they can use straight away. If you have a large amount of content you don’t necessarily have to offer it all up straight away. Keep in mind that your members will expect regular updates, so it’s best to try to always overdeliver. You can’t do that if you’ve given everything out on day 1.

4. A Good Script – This is a topic in itself, but basically you need to work out your membership fees and structure first. You also need to be sure of how you are going to present your products and which payment methods and processors you will use. Once you know the answer to these questions you can look for a script that has the appropriate membership structures, can deliver your products in a way that suits your site and supports your payment processor(s). (We recommend you to use WordPress)

5. Commitment – This is one of the most essential ‘ingredients’. Whilst membership sites will, for the most part, run on autopilot, you still need to maintain and update them regularly. Provide a helpdesk and a forum where members can get in touch with you and interact with each other. Some of the best membership sites are thriving communities because they provide these features to their members.

So there you have it in a nutshell. You’ll notice that I didn’t mention anything technical. That’s because with the range of membership scripts and information that is available the technical aspects and requirements have become quite a minor issue.

Yes, you really can run a membership site but to be successful it will take some time, dedication and work. The rewards for a well run membership site can be quite extraordinary though.

Our recommendation to operate your own membership site; WP Membership Plugin