Choosing a CMS is one of the most important decisions that a webmaster can make.  The CMS that is chosen will play a large role in determining how the website is created as well as what tools will be available.  There are a variety of popular options, most notably Drupal and Joomla, however WordPress has done an excellent job of standing out from the crowd.  Here is a quick look at some of the reasons that WordPress has become the best CMS option available.

1. Fast Development

WordPress seems to come out with both minor and major updates much faster than either Drupal or Joomla.  The most recent major update was earlier in June when WordPress 3.0 came out.  It was long anticipated because it integrates WordPress-MU as well as added several options to make creating a website easier.  Additionally, WordPress reacts to discovered security threats extremely quickly when compared to their counterparts.  Additionally, WordPress makes it extremely easy to update both the core and complimentary plugins simple.  With the strong development community surrounding WordPress, it should be no surprise that updates are released on a regular basis.

2. Flexibility

WordPress was designed to be able to utilize plugins to create any type of website that a webmaster might need.  It is no longer a simple blogging platform, but can be turned into full-fledged websites, sales pages, squeeze pages, and even membership sites.  With so many plugins that can be used to mold a website into anything a webmaster can imagine, it is no surprise that WordPress continues to grow in popularity.

3. Designed to Be Search Engine Friendly

WordPress is one of the few content management systems that has been designed specifically to be search engine friendly.  It allows for incredibly fast load times, which is becoming increasingly important, but has a lightweight core that makes adjusting the settings to meet the needs of search engines easy.  Additionally, there are a growing number of plugins that can further enhance search engine optimization.

4. Short Learning Curve

Compared to Joomla and Drupal, WordPress seems to have a much smaller learning curve.  The back-end is designed to be very intuitive and user friendly.  Webmasters can even download and install plugins from inside the dashboard.  You can update the core and plugins with a single click and if any updates are available you are notified on your dashboard.  The back end is designed so that it is easy to understand as well as manipulate to fit your needs.

It seems like WordPress will continue to gain more and more followers, which means a continually stronger and active community.  This will ensure that WordPress is consistently changing to meet the needs of the average webmaster.  This coupled with its fast development, overall flexibility, built in SEO, and small learning curve makes WordPress the best choice for many webmasters.

WordPress has always been a popular option for setting up membership websites.  Before there commercial membership plugins were available, there were a variety of ways to piece together multiple free plugins in order to create a WordPress membership website.  However, commercial plugins have proven to be a much more comprehensive option, which holds a number of advantages to webmasters.  There are a number of reasons that using a single plugin is beneficial when compared to piecing together multiple free plugins to create a WordPress membership website.

1. Cohesion

The most obvious advantage of using a single plugin is the cohesion that it creates.  It allows you to manage all aspects of your WordPress membership website from registration to recurring billing and everything in between.  This cohesion makes setting up and maintaining a membership website on a daily basis much easier.  This is especially true when it comes to adding content and making large scale changes to the setup of the website.  If you are working with a large number of plugins that have been piece-mealed together, there is a much greater chance that you will need to make modifications in several plugins in order to create a single change.  With a comprehensive plugin, you will be able to make almost all of your changes from a single place.

2. Support

If you are using a single, comprehensive plugin to manage your WordPress membership website then getting support, if a problem arises, is easy because you know exactly who to talk to.  If  you are using several plugins together, there is a good chance that each developer will tell you that the problem lies in the other plugins.  This means that you will need to convince a developer that they need to change their plugin.  Additionally, when dealing with free plugins, there is a higher chance that their plugins come with no support, which means that you will need to find out what is causing the problem and then fix it yourself.

3. Maintenance

Obviously, maintaining a single plugin is much easier that maintaining 5 plugins, regardless of what they are.  By using a comprehensive WordPress membership website plugin, regular maintenance is simple.  However, if you are using several plugins then there is a good chance that they will need to be updated and maintained at different times.  Additionally, if you are using several plugins, then when you update one, it may become incompatible with the other plugins that you are using.  This can become especially problematic when it comes to updating the WordPress core.

As you can see, there are some big advantageous to using a comprehensive WordPress membership website plugin rather than piecing together multiple plugins.  All of these advantageous can be measured in the savings that they provide.  You will be able to save time, money, effort, and a whole lot of stress by using a single, comprehensive WordPress membership website plugin.

There has been a larger emphasis placed upon website speeds since Google announced that loading speed was going to become part of their ranking algorithm.  Unfortunately, many membership website owners have ignored this issue because aside from the homepage and sales-page, all of the other pages  are only available to members and will not be indexed by search engines.

However, it is important to understand that loading speed is an issue for everyone, because if a membership website is slow to load, there is a much higher chance that members will soon become frustrated and cancel their membership.  The average person will only wait a maximum of 3 or 4 seconds before growing impatient and moving on to another page.  Fortunately, there are a number of simple plugins that can be added to a WordPress membership website in order to speed up load times for the entire website, including the homepage and sales-page

• WP Super Cache

WP Cache is always one of the first plugins that is mentioned when discussing WordPress website speeds.  With a standard WordPress installation, all of the information about the website is pulled from the database, processed, and then sent to the user.  This process is very time consuming.  WP Super Cache will create a static copy of the web-page that is loaded and then every time a new visitor comes to that web-page, they will see the cached version of the page.  By loading the saved copy, there are less calls to the database as well as the server as a whole.  If you are going to only install one plugin to speed up your WordPress website, then Super Cache is arguably the best choice.

• Gzip Output

The best practices that were introduced by the Yahoo! Developer Network reported that Gzipping can reduce the total response size by nearly 70%.  Additionally, 90% of all internet users will be using a browser that supports the Gzip technology.  This means that your website will load up to 70% faster without the end user noticing any difference, aside from the loading speed.  All you need to do is install the Gzip Output plugin.

• WP Minify

This plugin allows you to integrate the Minify engine into your membership site.  It will take you JS and CSS files, combine them, and then compress them.  Once the Minify engine has compressed these files, it will create a script for the plugin to reference.  This can greatly increase your load time.

There are a number of other WordPress plugins that can increase your pages load time, but these 3 should be considered essential.  Even though many of the pages of your WordPress membership site will not be indexed by search engines, the load time is still essential to keep your members interested and happy.

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

WordPress is a blog publishing application and content management system. It was first released in May 2003 by its co-founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little as the successor to b2/cafelog. It is powered by PHP and a SQL data backend. As of September 2009, WordPress is used by 62.8 million websites in the US and 202 million websites worldwide.

Features:

WordPress has a templating system, which includes widgets that can be rearranged without editing PHP or HTML code, as well as themes that can be installed and switched between. The PHP and HTML code in themes can also be edited for more advanced customizations. WordPress also features integrated link management; a search engine-friendly, clean permalink structure; the ability to assign nested, multiple categories to articles; multiple author capability; and support for tagging of posts and articles. Automatic filters that provide for proper formatting and styling of text in articles (for example, converting regular quotes to smart quotes) are also included. WordPress also supports the Trackback and Pingback standards for displaying links to other sites that have themselves linked to a post or article. Finally, WordPress has a rich plugin architecture which allows users and developers to extend its functionality beyond the features that come as part of the base install.

Multi-Blogging:

WordPress supports one weblog per installation, although multiple concurrent copies may be run from different directories if configured to use separate database tables.

WordPress Multi-User (WordPress MU, or just WPMU) is a fork of WordPress created to allow simultaneous blogs to exist within one installation. WordPress MU makes it possible for anyone with a website to host their own blogging community, control, and moderate all the blogs from a single dashboard. WordPress MU adds eight new data tables for each blog.

Matt Mullenweg announced that WordPress MU would be merged with WordPress as part of a future release.[24]

Lyceum is another enterprise-edition of WordPress. Unlike WordPress MU, Lyceum stores all of its information in a set number of database tables. Notable communities that use Lyceum are TeachFor.Us[25] (Teach For America teachers’ blogs), BodyBlogs and the Hopkins Blogs.

In 2008 Andy Peatling joined Automattic to continue his work on BuddyPress – a plug-in extension of WPMU that is adding missing community features to WordPress.

“Add New Post” page of the WordPress administration interface. Version 2.8

Enhance Your Registration Page With Register Plus

Editor’s Review; If you run a membership site, you should know how important registration page is. Registration page should be; clear, understandable, easy to use  and short. You can re-create your WordPress registration page with Register Plus plugin.

Custom Logo Tired of that WordPress logo getting all the attention? Upload your own custom logo image and get your brand in the spotlight.

Password Field Hate those forgettable auto-generated passwords? Allow your users to set their own prefered password during registration. Includes that sweet Password Strength Meter from the Profile page.

Invitation Codes Is your blog super exclusive? If so, you better require an invite to join your high end crew. Setup multiple codes and track where your new users are coming from with the optional Invitation Tracking Dashboard Widget.

Disclaimers Worried about legal liabilities? Setup a general disclaimer, licence agreement and/or privacy policy for new users to agree to during registration.

Captcha Validation Hate spam? If you don’t want those spam bots registering with their very own passwords, you need some protection. Includes a simple captcha easy enough for real humans to read as well as the ability to add a reCAPTCHA.

User Moderation Need absolute control? Check out every new user yourself and hand pick who can stay and who gets the boot before they are able to login to your site. (Manage under Users > Unverified Users)

Profile Fields Want more done sooner? Have new users fill out there entire profile or just bits you need all during registration, you can even make them required.

User Defined Fields Not enough info yet? Add your own defined fields to the registration page for users to fill out. It also adds the new fields to the profile page as well so current users can add their own info and update as needed. Now includes the abililty to add date, select, checkbox, radio and textarea fields!

Duplicate Email Registration Got multiple users using the same email address? Easily solve this prediciment without forcing them to sign up with unneeded email accounts. Also useful for administrators to create another account with one email address.

Customized Admin & User Registration Email Tired of the same old emails when someone new registers? Spice it up with your own From/Reply-To address, customized subject and customize the entire message! You can even disable those tiresome Admin notifications for new registrations.
Regiter Plus Download Link; http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/register-plus/