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All-In-One: All About Membership Sites

by admin Administrator
175 replies
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All-In-One Threads:

All-In-One threads is something I'm starting here where we as a group try to list damn near everything known about the subject of the thread. When you see an All-In-One thread feel free to speak up. It can be a 'secret', just a technique you happen to use or even something you haven't used, just heard about - whatever. Feel free to join in.

Please do not use the term All-In-One anywhere on this board. It will be saved for these threads specifically so at some point all one will have to do is search for the term "All-In-One" and all these threads will be easily found. At some point these will become some of the most sought after threads on the forum so it might be a good idea to participate if you have something to say people are going to really like.

If you have a great idea for an All-In-One thread please send me a PM and let me know about it.

To Find All All-In-One Threads Just Click Here: WarriorForum - Internet Marketing Forums - Threads Tagged with allinone

Thank you..
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This thread is for listing any strategies or tips you might have about creating and marketing Membership Sites...

Thanks!

Allen
#allinone #membership #sites
  • Profile picture of the author TyBrown
    I'm not an affiliate or anything, but I'm a huge fan of membergate. I use this system to host my membership site. It's bloody expensive compared to other options but it's so simple, set up so nice, and so hands off that I've been thrilled to use it.
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    Online Dog Training
    Salt Lake City, Utah Dog Training
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    • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
      When it comes to membership sites the first piece of acvice I give is... Keep It Simple!

      We automatically try to muck everything up and make it over complicated. Focus on getting the site to market and iron out the tiny details as you go.


      Shannon
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Mayhew
        Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

        When it comes to membership sites the first piece of acvice I give is... Keep It Simple!

        We automatically try to muck everything up and make it over complicated. Focus on getting the site to market and iron out the tiny details as you go.


        Shannon
        Truer words have never been spoken

        I've bought and have sites running with...
        Simple Member Pro
        Easy Member Pro
        WP Wishlist
        Fantasos

        All great scripts, but *My 2 Best Performing membership sites are SIMPLE*...

        One is delivered simply by autoresponder.
        The other a simple script I bought from a WSO for 7 bucks years ago. Now found alot of places free.

        Go figure.
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        IMO Partnership. A National Insurance Marketing Alliance.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
        Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

        When it comes to membership sites the first piece of acvice I give is... Keep It Simple!

        We automatically try to muck everything up and make it over complicated. Focus on getting the site to market and iron out the tiny details as you go.

        Shannon
        That's a hard lesson to learn. I still haven't quite caught on to it.

        Seems to cause me problems all the time.

        Kirk
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        "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice."

        Dr. Samuel Johnson (Presiding at the sale of Thrales brewery, London, 1781)
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      • Profile picture of the author rltenney
        Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

        When it comes to membership sites the first piece of acvice I give is... Keep It Simple!

        Shannon
        I believe this isn't only the first piece of advice to be given, it's also the best advice when it comes to membership sites.

        Keep in mind that a membership site will always require some of your attention. It is NOT passive income. In my opinion based on my success, there is no such thing as true passive income online. I find that I am always needing to give attention somewhere along the line of my 'passive' sites. It still beats being locked in a cubicle and being told what to do and how to do it every day of the week 9 to 5.

        Membership sites can be very lucrative, but my input to this thread would be to generate six months to a years worth of information for the site and drip feed it along the way. It's easier to go in and tweak your existing materials rather than creating them each and every month.

        You can then are prepared to deliver fresh content to your members each and every month without babysitting and maintaining the site constantly.

        Second best advice in my opinion: VALUE, VALUE, VALUE. You should provide the absolute top notch value to your members or they will jump ship and find it elsewhere. I've belonged to some membership sites that I dropped one to two months later because the information provided was fore newbies even though it stated that it was for experienced marketers.

        Good luck and I hope my 2 cents worth can be of some help.
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    Hi All,

    A membership site can be any type of site where people have to be a member to read or download the information. Duh. Tell us something we don't know George.

    LOL I just say the above because a lot of new people ask "What script do you have to use to have a membership site?"

    If money is an issue you don't really need a script.

    You can have a password protected forum.

    You can have a normal web page with links to information and downloads in a password protected directory.

    There is a nice little application that lets you have a different password for each person who joins. When money starts coming in one can use that money to invest in bigger and better scripts, or not. It just depends on how much hands on time you want to spend on your membership site.

    Membership sites can be monthly subscription.

    Another great model for membership sites is Free, to build a mailing list and or a one time payment, again, for building a large list.

    My first introduction to a membership site was the Warrior secret site that included the Warrior Forum.

    Allen offered a TON of information products in a password protected directory for a one time payment. Back then in the 90s this was a very new and unique experience. It felt as if I had been "let in" on a great secret society where by being a member I could improve my internet business skills and learn a lot of other wonderful things.

    As it turned out all that was true. Being a member of the Warriors has been an amazing learning and doing experience.

    What I tend to forget and what I think many of us tend to forget is that there are millions of people that look with the same wonderment at the Internet and Membership sites as we did years ago.

    We just have to position ourselves "in their way," and make them members on our membership sites.

    Another GREAT source of members are those who aren't newbies at all but who will benefit from the service or products we can offer them.

    Case in point there are Members of this forum who have membership sites that have other members of this forum as members. (Whew that was some sentence)

    Another thing I forget a lot is that there are millions of Internet "savvy" folks who are not members here and who (excuse me Allen) have never herd of the WF. It may seem like a pipe dream but there are some in here who could be an "Allen Says" or a "Tony Blake" to a few thousand people.

    I read a recent thread here about 1,000 fans. Look it up it's a good read.

    George Wright
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    "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." Mickey Spillane
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  • Profile picture of the author Lou Diamond
    Hello,
    keeping members happy and the right price point is a tricky
    combination for customer retention.
    We need to focus more on that point of view.
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    Something new soon.

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    • Profile picture of the author Brian Cook
      A paid membership site should focus on a narrow niche
      (and provide content that your members can't find
      anywhere else).

      Brian
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      • Profile picture of the author natep219
        Brian,

        Creating content that people cannot find anywhere else is next to impossible these days..all anyone really has to do is type into google and something of substance comes up. How do you combat that in forming a membership site?

        Thanks
        Nate
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        Nate Pennington, M.S.
        www.rundreamachieve.com
        Join My Fitness Newsletter

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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    Deliver everything as a membership site...

    Everything!

    If you sell an oil change offer a free value added membership site and "members only" email and direct mail follow up with it. Teach people how to take care of their car, why your service is the best, remind them when to return and let them login and print off a coupon to get them back in the store...

    If you sell content of any type including digital downloads deliver it in a membership site....

    Why?

    1. It makes your site sticky getting them back to the site after the sale, after the upsells and downsells so that you can provide them more value and have new opportunities to sell.

    2. It allows you to automate delivery even when they might have missed the download page. A simple link from your sales page to the members login area and password retrieval function for anyone who forgot will eliminate tons of "where's my download" customer service.

    3. You could deliver your info products as web based content instead of ebooks etc... again site stickyness, real time updates (they always have the latest version), value added, and easier media integration for other forms of communication and selling... Drip bonus materials and other value to keep em coming back. If they paid for it... emailing them that there is more than what they paid for now available in the members area will get them back to your site better than a pitch.

    4. Eliminate the "my hard drive crashed" or "I lost it" customer service. Again automated login and password retrieval is the key.

    5. Automated billing update for continuity offers. If it is recurring you had better have both an automated membership site billing follow up system that reminds them to update their billing many times giving them a grace period and then suspending them but still leaving the door open for them to update the billing and regain access to the account... turn over due to expired cards, declines etc. on rebill is a large % of attrition... so have a system that automates that billing update retention for you.

    6. Security... they can share your ebook, they can share your download links... but when you can track how many IP addresses access the membership each day and limit that number and either auto suspend if exceeded or quietly notify your support staff in background so they can call and check on the client... and when you can cloak download links and other resources such as embedded media source file locations inside the membership pages... don't go too crazy to the point it makes the experience of legit clients bad... but we all appreciate good security.

    7. Integration Marketing... make every member an affiliate... use tags to auto populate their pages with their own personal affiliate links. Use tags to put it right in the content pages... why not ask them "Are you enjoying your membership? Send this link to a friend and if they join we'll pay you..."

    You can use that in any niche not just business to business.

    8. Personalization... capture the name, capture other data and personalize the content using tag based personalization systems. Hey Frank, hows the weather in Mt Rainier? Have you lost those 50lbs you wanted to loose yet? Well here's a way to drop it by next week..."

    Yeah all that custom data personalization is easy to automate when you capture the data and have a good tag based content publishing system. You don't have to know anything about the prospect... only your membership system does.

    9. Centralize your business(es). Don't choose a membership system that makes you have a bunch of individual stand alone sites.... choose one that lets you centralize and manage all your sites, all your offers, all your affiliates, and all your clients from one central location. This will help you be efficient, your clients know where to go to get your stuff, and give your affiliates one central place to get promotional tools and track all your offers. And that leads to the next point...

    10. Choose the right solution so that you can automate it, so you don't have to hack it together trying to make stuff do stuff it was never meant to do. Find the solution that does what you need, does it in one place, and does it without you having to hire a programmer or become an IT pro.

    Why? Because its not building a membership or even managing it that makes you money... its marketing it.

    Your goal should be to spend as little time as possible managing your operations and as much time as possible marketing them and keeping your clients happy with great content and valuable service.

    11. Memberships don't have to just be web based either... physical continuity and direct mail follow up can be just as or even more powerful and yes, it can be fully automated... even a large physical widget of the month club can be completely automated from receiving the container off the ship to warehousing it to packaging and shipping it.

    Connect your manufacturing and import service with amazon wharehousing and fulfillment with an API connected to your front end internet marketing, membership, and ecommerce automation system...

    Hope that gets the creative juices flowing!

    Anything is possible if you have the right system
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    • Profile picture of the author FJM2010
      Originally Posted by Josh Anderson View Post

      Deliver everything as a membership site...



      Hope that gets the creative juices flowing!

      Anything is possible if you have the right system

      Thank you for that info, very helpful for a newbie like me just starting out! Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author Jared Alberghini
    I suggest everyone check out this 'must read thread' about membership sites by John Taylor:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...blueprint.html

    .jrd
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    • Profile picture of the author Byrt M
      Jared
      Thanks for the link dude.
      Everyone else, 'thanks' - I can stay here and learn a ton and graduate with a Membership MBA!
      Love the forum
      Byrt
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  • Profile picture of the author SolomonHuey
    Here's three quick tips that have the potential to skyrocket your profits on autopilot for practically no extra effort. Just follow these 3 steps:

    1) Tell them and emphasize the benefits of your affiliate program

    Don't expect people to just join and think they're all going to promote your website. You need to create a page that specifically "sells" your affiliate program.

    Show them how it can benefit them and make sure there is a prominent link inside of the member's area. Finding just a few of the right affiliates can add hundreds or even thousands of people to your list.

    You'll only find those affiliates if you tell them your affiliate program exists and how it will help them.

    2) Make an extensive affiliate tools section.

    Having an affiliate link is not enough. Provide your affiliates with as many cut and paste affiliate tools as you can. The less work your affiliates have to do, the more likely they are to promote your website.

    My sites grow on autopilot even if I stop promoting, partially because I make it so easy to promote my website. You could easily have this effect with your own sites as well.

    Just examples of affiliate tools to give to your affiliates:

    - Banners
    - Solo emails
    - Autoresponder series
    - Splash pages
    - Squeeze pages
    - Signatures
    - Tweets
    - Videos
    - Blog posts
    - Reviews
    - Lists of places to advertise

    3) Give your members steps

    People like following steps. It makes things easier to understand, makes it clear what you want them to do, and most importantly they will be more likely to do what you wanted them to do in the first place.

    And following along with the theme of the first two points I made... make sure one of those steps is to start promoting your website!

    =========
    There's so much to cover about membership websites. but the advice above will plant the seeds for long term, autopilot growth of your membership websites.

    Solomon Huey
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    Solomon Huey
    Having Trouble Getting Traffic [YOU]?     - My Blog - EliteSafelist - FastActionAds

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  • Profile picture of the author Jag82
    One simple membership site idea:

    Use aweber to deliver your content weekly or monthly, and slap on a recurring payment on Paypal.

    Alternatively, use Rapid Action Profits together with it's Membership add on.
    One of the best membership systems out there.

    Jag
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    • Profile picture of the author lazfin
      Originally Posted by Jag82 View Post

      Use aweber to deliver your content weekly or monthly, and slap on a recurring payment on Paypal.
      I would actually like to do this soon on my site. How did you integrate the Paypal subscriptions with Aweber? My understanding is that Aweber only supports single purchase.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anonymous Affiliate
    My main tip: Keep the technical structure of the site simple as pie. The more complex your membership script gets, the more chances you'll encounter technical problems down the road as your member base, website sections and content expands.

    Last year I set a membership site with a top-notch membership script, running multiple plugins, different password levels and whatnot. Well, eventually it all turned into a nightmare: technical problems would pop up every week!

    Keep the technical structure simple!
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  • Profile picture of the author ruch1v
    anyone created a membership site using completely free tactics? i've got an idea for one, but i wanna test if it works first before mentioning

    thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author benhill114
      Originally Posted by ruch1v View Post

      anyone created a membership site using completely free tactics? i've got an idea for one, but i wanna test if it works first before mentioning

      thanks
      Yes i have a one site where you can found free membership just post your thread about the SEO discussion the name of the site is "SamuraisSEO" it is the forum site where you can get all the relevant information about the SEO and other internet marketing techniques thanks the link of the forum is
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonParker
    While I don't own a membership site, I make most of my income by promoting them as an affiliate. So with your affiliate program, if you want to attract a bunch of affiliates who will send you traffic all the time, offer at least $47 per month recurring commissions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
    Contrary to what you may be told, you don't need to buy membership software to run a membership.

    Paypal has it's own FREE script that automatically grants/denies access to a directory. And, you can put whatever you want in that directory (Wordpress, HTML, anything). Wordpress won't be seamless (they'll need to create an account)...but it's FREE!

    Anyone that's curious about this: here's the PDF with more information.

    https://cms.paypal.com/cms_content/e...ationGuide.pdf

    Skip to page 139 for details, download location and the manual.

    I'm personally using Nanacast to deliver my memberships and products. See sig for link.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
    I started my current 2-week-old membership site using no software, just Paypal, Aweber and Wordpress. I looked into software because I'd like to integrate everything into one place, AND, this won't be my only membership site, so I want one place to do it all.

    But yes, it most definitely can be done very simply.
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    • Profile picture of the author cmaclean
      Originally Posted by TinkerAndPo View Post

      I started my current 2-week-old membership site using no software, just Paypal, Aweber and Wordpress. I looked into software because I'd like to integrate everything into one place, AND, this won't be my only membership site, so I want one place to do it all.

      But yes, it most definitely can be done very simply.
      I just checked out your signup page and notice you have the field to pick your username. Are you not using any script to manage your user's database?

      I'd love to know how you integrated the different components
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  • Profile picture of the author DennisM
    Another way to launch a simple membership site is to use YouTube.

    Set up a YouTube private channel that is password protected. You're limited to 25 logins/users but it's a quick way to get a site up and running that's video based content.

    You could then launch a PDF type WSO but offer a "bonus" membership to the first 25 that purchase. Then record your video(s) on that channel with your extra content.

    Dennis
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  • Profile picture of the author Jay Moreno
    joomla with the AEC component works well for me, has lots of options for third party payment gateways and the latest version of AEC is a breeze to install

    both are open source and dont cost a penny unless you need direct support from the developer of AEC or like myself like to donate to help continue the development of the project...

    hth
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  • Profile picture of the author James Pateman
    List of membership software links:

    (Disclosure: I have no commercial interest through these links)

    Membership software - aMember Pro

    Welcome to Spreedly! | Spreedly

    Membership Software | Wild Apricot - Easy Membership Management

    WordPress Membership Plugin :: Membership Software WishList Member

    MemberClicks - Membership Software, Membership Management Software and Content Management Software

    regards,
    James Pateman
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    Internet Marketing Blog
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  • Profile picture of the author dbarnum
    For a fast membership site yet professional and full of features, many people don't think to check out GoDaddy's Website Tonight. These have password protected files, RSS feeds, video, podcast abilities and lots more...starting under like $5 a month (free with ads at the bottom of the site, I believe)...and complete with their support. Can't beat it for setting up shop in under about an hour and selling same day (been there, done that a couple times now )

    Short article on some points more here: Introducing WEBSITE TONIGHT, a Professional Quick Site Builder with RSS & More


    Also Kayako - you can sure run membership sites from here, too! Load files, invite members to register for free and you're set up in minutes...on your own hosting or theirs to get started. Cheap and fast, too.
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  • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
    I have had a successful membership site for 2 years with very little attrition. Bottom line to keep members is to offer tremendous value for the money. I use WP Wishlist along with aweber to keep them updated on new stuff. For a long term membership site, I think a service like aweber is a must, since staying in touch with them is important and getting those emails delivered is crucial.

    Another aspect is to keep your members involved. I have my members vote every month on content that they want, and I use plugins that members can sign up to be notified of new comments in that occur in the members area. The great thing about WP Wishlist is that you can have multiple memberships from a single domain, and moving members around to different groups is a couple of clicks of work.
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    • Profile picture of the author glassextreme
      Originally Posted by xlfutur1 View Post

      I have had a successful membership site for 2 years with very little attrition. Bottom line to keep members is to offer tremendous value for the money. I use WP Wishlist along with aweber to keep them updated on new stuff. For a long term membership site, I think a service like aweber is a must, since staying in touch with them is important and getting those emails delivered is crucial.

      Another aspect is to keep your members involved. I have my members vote every month on content that they want, and I use plugins that members can sign up to be notified of new comments in that occur in the members area. The great thing about WP Wishlist is that you can have multiple memberships from a single domain, and moving members around to different groups is a couple of clicks of work.
      Yes, I use WP wishlist too. The good thing is if you want to get some SEO traffic for what's in your site, you could always set the 'content protected' stuff where your downloads or main stuff is, and maybe the first paragraph be visible to the rest.
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  • Profile picture of the author cmaclean
    Originally Posted by David Hamer View Post

    Just a quick tip for getting something up and running quickly without the worry of which is the best membership software...

    Just send your members to your content via an email autoresponder like Aweber.

    So for example it might be a set of Video Lessons - for each stage of the membership just send them an email with a link to the latest / new content within the membership area. (Really it's just a web page that isn't linked to from anywhere else)

    This may seem like a bit of a cop out - but it's very simple, it works and most importantly you can set it up very quickly.

    Having said that - I'm still looking for the "Best" Membership plugin for Wordpress so I'll be keeping a lookout here!

    Thanks - Dave
    Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this is how Russell Brunson's micro-continuity program is done. Although they do validate your email to make sure you're a paying member.
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  • Profile picture of the author lakshaybehl
    Selling em directly is hard.

    So lead customers in with 30 days free trials (sold along with a front end product as an optional bonus).

    -Lakshay
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  • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
    Originally Posted by David Hamer View Post


    Having said that - I'm still looking for the "Best" Membership plugin for Wordpress so I'll be keeping a lookout here!

    Thanks - Dave
    I'm playing with this one: http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...r-17-95-a.html
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    "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

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  • Profile picture of the author Tracy Yates
    When I decided to convert my main site into a membership site, I set it all up using simple HTML pages that were contained within a special folder that was password protected.

    This turned out to be a whole lot of extra work when it was time for the monthly upgrades. And, having just one "centralized" log in code proved to be a fatal move on my part. For the simple fact that this information could be passed along to others that had not paid for their own personal access.

    Once I caught on to that little trend of inside members sharing the log in codes, I elected to manually change them each month. Then consequently mail those codes out to paying members.

    Again, another huge mistake on my part.

    After that, and current members asking for a method for doing searches inside the members only section to find the exact product they wanted without extesive digging, I decided to switch everything over to a new platform.

    One that would be easy for members to navigate. And one that would be much easier to update.

    Know what I chose to go with?

    Wordpress.

    Let me tell you, there's nothing better than being able to add new content with a CMS (Content Management System). Whether you're using Wordpress, Joomla, or something else. It's so easy.

    You log in, add your new products, and save the posts. Doesn't matter if you're adding daily, weekly, monthly, whatever.

    I went with a free WP theme called BoxTube that you can download directly from the author/creator's site here: Dezzain Free WordPress Theme – Box Tube | Dezzain Studio that includes special HTML coding that allows me to "highlight" the download links.

    Members find it easier to distinguish the download links. And the fact that it comes already pre-coded into the css stylesheet is fantastic.

    Of course, the front end of my site is still plain old HTML, but the area that members access is full on CMS controlled with WP.

    And, how do I collect the recurring payments plus keep the members only Wordpress section secure?

    I use JVManager.

    For me, that's the best solution.

    Beyond it being the best solution for my membership security needs, I can use it when selling single products as well. Or package sets.

    And yes. I do use PayPal as my main recurring payment gateway. Although JVM1 offers other payment gateway options.

    This may seem a bit over-complicated to others posting to this thread, but it's the best fit for me. And that's what you need to find if you are thinking of starting up your own membership site. What would be the best fit for you and what you want to accomplish?

    There are plenty of ways to start up your own membership site and many different "niche" areas to target. Many great ideas I've already seen mentioned above me, so I won't go back through all of those in this post.

    Just wanted to give another alternative way to set up and run your membership site.

    Remember too that the security options you decide upon are extremely important. Don't overlook this step or decide to "go on the cheap" when implementing it. Otherwise it could cost you further down the line.

    Hopefully all the posts shared here will help you avoid any costly mistakes


    Tracy
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  • Profile picture of the author SageSound
    Rapid Action Profits + Membership Plus & Subscription Addons + WP Integration Addon = everything you'll ever need for as many membership sites as you'll ever want!
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
    Josh is right every product you have should be delivered in a members area

    its the biggest tool there is to get JV partners, and use the login method to make sales

    I have a $7 report here called login frequency marketing
    http://loginfrequencymarketing.com

    You can bypass the payment and get it free here
    Login Frequency Marketing

    Far to much detail for me to put into a post here, but the login strategy is huge, and so much simpler to email members with a reason to log in and then upsell them than it is to try and sell them in email.

    Robert

    PS: Solomen you learnt that lesson well my man
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    • Profile picture of the author johnbaker
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        • Profile picture of the author achivement84
          Hey,

          I may share with you few tips as follow:-

          Step 1 - They need to target the correct market for their topic area.
          Step 2 - The content should be unique and valuable. If the information is not found anywhere else online than you will be able to pull in subscribers without much effort other than advertising the fact that your content is unique.
          Step 3 - You need to find subscribers by generating quality traffic such as getting good search engine positioning, using pay-per-click, using joint ventures, utilizing Ezines, affiliate programs and viral marketing.
          Step 4 - You need to involve you membership in the learning process by adding tools and services such as software, ebooks, resources, and give-aways. When you provide tools and services along with your valuable content you are giving members everything they need in one place, which adds value to your site.

          I wish that be helpfull

          B.Regards
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    • Profile picture of the author caliray
      Originally Posted by Robert Puddy View Post

      Josh is right every product you have should be delivered in a members area

      its the biggest tool there is to get JV partners, and use the login method to make sales

      I have a $7 report here called login frequency marketing
      http://loginfrequencymarketing.com

      You can bypass the payment and get it free here
      Login Frequency Marketing
      Thanks for the free report offer. As much as I'd like to read it, I don't know why you need to know my physical location, phone number, Clickbank ID, and force a creation of a login. just to download a $7 report.

      Is the same information required to buy it? Please enlighten me as to why there are so many fields to complete?

      Thanks
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      • Profile picture of the author DebbyMettler
        I took a look at Social Sam membership but I think their pricing is off the charts..$29.95 for each 1000 subscribers. I'd prefer to go with Extreme Member that is designed for WP and costs $19.00 for 1000 subscribers.

        Anyone here using Extreme Member? If so, I would appreciate some feedback as to how easy or complicated it is to use.

        Thanks, Debby
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        • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
          Deleted by :WD
          Reason: misunderstood Robert cleared it up.
          -WD
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          • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
            Originally Posted by WD Products View Post

            Robert,

            Offering a report in exchange for an email address is one thing. using that report to generate "leads" as you say is deceptive and wrong. it makes no difference your opinion on said subject. If people sign up and then opt for a coaching program that is one thing requiring the info without stating what that info is for is not good and makes you look sleezy in MO.

            People will be unimpressed when suddenly they receive a phone call trying to get them to buy something when all they wanted was the "free" report. I am shocked at this but I say Integrity Robert is what is Always required in Business your going to give yourself a bad name if you keep using tactics like this in MO

            But suit yourself I on the other hand, choose not to invade my customers lives with prying information. Represent your intentions upfront it goes a long way.


            -WD

            Hmm you missed the point entirely...

            Nowhere in my sales process will you ever get an phone call from me...

            The form is designed that way to filter out people not open to giving me that information, those that wont like the above poster will almost certainly not be open to higher priced products (not exclusively but mostly)

            The sign up form can and in some case should be used to filter out poeple...

            I also said I have other sites which dont ask for that kind of information, on those sites they are taken much slower through the funnel system, and the funnel system grades them in other ways.

            Robert
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            • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
              Hi Robert,

              Oh .Ok my apologies I misunderstood what was the purpose.

              I will remove that then.
              thanks for being clear.

              -WD
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        • Profile picture of the author SageSound
          Originally Posted by DebbyMettler View Post

          I took a look at Social Sam membership but I think their pricing is off the charts..$29.95 for each 1000 subscribers. I'd prefer to go with Extreme Member that is designed for WP and costs $19.00 for 1000 subscribers.

          Anyone here using Extreme Member? If so, I would appreciate some feedback as to how easy or complicated it is to use.

          Thanks, Debby
          $8 for the first hundred seems quite reasonable.

          I'm not sure $30/M is very unreasonable seeing as how that's not much more than what places like AWeber charge just to mangage email lists.

          Remember, this includes hosting, support, updates and upgrades, etc. And if the site really takes off, you don't have to worry about moving to a dedicated host -- they'll manage it for you.

          I only wish it was possible to get a look "inside" before commiting to an account.

          -David
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          • Profile picture of the author John Hixson
            Originally Posted by SageSound View Post

            $8 for the first hundred seems quite reasonable.

            I'm not sure $30/M is very unreasonable seeing as how that's not much more than what places like AWeber charge just to mangage email lists.

            Remember, this includes hosting, support, updates and upgrades, etc. And if the site really takes off, you don't have to worry about moving to a dedicated host -- they'll manage it for you.

            I only wish it was possible to get a look "inside" before commiting to an account.

            -David
            I was looking at this before and whilst it may be $8 for the first 100 they make you jump through a few hoops re payment processors. If you want to go through paypal it is something like $60 a month extra because they make you sign up to a number of things.

            It is very interesting software and if I were signing up to those parts of paypal I would happily have joined, but it is not worth me paying $60 a month to experiment when I can use similar software for free.

            If you are confident your membership site will make you money it could well be worth going for.
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  • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
    A look at membership models.

    1998. The good old days. I was paying Bill Myers $1000.00 a year to be a member of his Idea Bank. We became the beta testers for his MemberGate software.

    Today you can join Bill's site for a measly 10 bux a month, the best value on the Internet.

    So what "model" do you want to follow? Sure, it depends on what your goals are and what you are trying to do.

    When my old friend Jim Straw came on line around 2000, I started the "Jim Straw Study Group", a membership site which was simply a password protected forum with LIMITED memberships. Funny thing, my new "Harvey Brody Study Group" is being set up the same way, as the best post in this thread stated, KEEP IT SIMPLE.

    Here's what I've found over the years. And, of course, you may have a totally different experience. But for me, the HIGHER the price to join, the less you have to do and the better the customer/member The lower priced sites are very demanding of your time and your members want MORE, especially access to YOU and your time. YIKES.

    Perhaps I've experienced the anomaly? I don't know. I was very pleased with the content Bill Myers delivered for my 1000 bux, so I renewed every year it was available.

    So let's get to you, what KIND of a customer do you want? Do you want MASSIVE amounts of members that pay you a little each month? Or do want a handful of members that pay you MUCH more per mo/yr?

    Or the IDEAL, large numbers of members paying LARGE dollars to be there. Well, you get to decide what your content is going to be and the market will determine its value.

    So before you go out searching for the HOW part of it; the software, the scripts, the delivery methods...determine the WHAT of your site.

    What do you have that people want? Is it a high ticket item for limited audience? Is it a low priced item that has more "mass" appeal?

    Where do you want to go with this site? Are you looking at a short term strategy or do you want to build something more permanent and lasting?

    Will you be interested in your topic in 2 - 3 years? Or will you have moved on?

    Heck, the SIMPLIST membership site I've started was this:

    Send me 10 bux via PayPal, I'll send you the content ASAP (before auto responders).

    When you get just a handful of people sending you weekly little sums of money, it is a sweet deal.

    So, WHAT do you want? From your membership site? I call that Square One.

    THEN, once you know what you want, you will find a plethora of tools (in this thread) to make it happen.

    gjabiz
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  • Profile picture of the author JONBOY666
    Hey Warriors,

    I hope it's o.k to ask questions in these all-in-one threads?
    I'd like to draw on your knowledge if that's O.K?

    I have emailed a few services suggested here but basically i'm looking for a membership script that will allow me to deliver content on a time-related basis.

    e.g - User receives module 1 on sign-up then once they have been a member for 1 week/1 month they receive module 2 etc etc.

    I have seen a WSO but that was a few thousand dollars. I am hoping to find something a little more cost-effective.

    All suggestions greatly appreciated...

    Thanks all,

    John.
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  • Profile picture of the author Johnny Slater
    John,

    Look at SimpleMemberPro PHP Membership Site Script

    It does exactly what you are looking for. Content can be delivered depending on how long you have been a member.

    I wrote the script but have sold it to a new owner and no longer have any association with it but it's one of the best options currently available for under $1000.
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    • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
      Originally Posted by Johnny Slater View Post

      John,

      Look at SimpleMemberPro PHP Membership Site Script

      It does exactly what you are looking for. Content can be delivered depending on how long you have been a member.

      I wrote the script but have sold it to a new owner and no longer have any association with it but it's one of the best options currently available for under $1000.
      I use SMP. It will do what Johnny says and I have had absolutely no problems with it.

      Also, the new owner is very good at updating the script and taking user feedback for future updates!

      Allen

      p.s. It has a built in affiliate program as well - I just started using it and it works! WOO-HOO!
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    • Profile picture of the author Donald Truehart
      Originally Posted by Johnny Slater View Post

      John,

      Look at SimpleMemberPro PHP Membership Site Script

      It does exactly what you are looking for. Content can be delivered depending on how long you have been a member.

      I wrote the script but have sold it to a new owner and no longer have any association with it but it's one of the best options currently available for under $1000.
      Does this require a new subscriber to create an account before paying?

      Also are there any coupon/discount codes that you know of for this?

      Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author rephinbar
    Hi - Have you looked at WishList for WP? Any thoughts on it vs. other plug-ins?

    Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author rephinbar
    I've recently joined SocialSam.com. Cost starts at $7.95/month and so far seems to me the easiest membership platform to set up with built-in social media features like forums, blogs and groups. It also has some very cool features to sell products, offer a module based eCourse and of course any type of contents. It also includes a recurring billing engine and you can customize your entire site's behavior without ANY programming or technical skills.

    Check it out at www dot socialsam dot com
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    • Profile picture of the author mlevenhagen
      Here are the 10 Steps to How I Build a Suite of Memberships..

      1) Build a List and/or Following in Forums.. win fans.
      2) Create a cheap Special Report that Pre-Sells your 1st membership.. make the report stand out.. something new, unique and 'wow'. Something you are uniquly qualified to blow people's minds with.
      3) Create a 2nd Membership a few months later that's next to nothing to join (couple bucks a month) to build a larger list of buyers and to spread your risk - don't worry about making money with it - it's just building your list and winning more fans.. and make sure you give free lifetime access the first membership's members.. raises the value of the 1st membership and makes them happier. Never forget where you came from..
      4) Continue to build a list.. both an e-mail list and a membership list, product, buyers list.. while over-delivering on your promises where possible and to the best of your ability.
      5) If your first membership fails due to situations out of your control... then go to the next step.. it doesn't? then skip to step 8.
      6) Launch a 3rd Membership using the lessons you learned from that failure including making sure you are in total control of the ship and your fate.. many of those people on your buyers and membership list will join as you won over fans.
      7) Find great partners to help you run and grow your new membership suite.. Choose them from within.. those that are members or have made money from your methods (or benefited from whatever it is you are doing and have an intimate knowledge)
      8) Somewhere over a couple years launch a couple of satellite memberships that your older, seasoned memberships get automatic access to and raises the value of those memberships because you give bonus access to the new satellite memberships..
      9) Then when everything gels.. create a combined offer to gain access to all your membership for a better price >> which in turn becomes your best, and most profitable, most popular seller. (using a solution like Delavo helps you umbrella it all..)
      10) Vision complete; relax, focus back on the list and continue to over-deliver.

      Gradually as you add more and more value, raise your monthly prices.. but only to what the market will bear. And build into your business plans using a lot of coupons and special offers in different ways.

      ..I like to keep things complicated, lol.. (everyone else keeps it simple.. I like to just make money and build businesses - simple or not it just needs to work long term).. lol! actually, this is what happens when you are an Affiliate Marketer who accidentally got into the membership business on the side. I went with the flow.

      I think the most important lesson is not what you build it on.. (although I like to use high quality solutions that are well supported and has a good development team - I'm into long term stability not short term profits).. it's not about the platform so much...

      What's important is the list.. and caring for that membership. Commitment.. and having a vision to aim for.

      Hope it helps someone! At least to see that business building isn't always a smooth process or works out perfectly as you might have planned; in the end it goes to those that keep going, have a clear vision they are committed to and never give up.. no matter what the initial model or platform... (in fact the first 3 membership platforms I used I phased out for my current.. a platform is an important consideration long term; you have to live with it)
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    • Profile picture of the author mwaters5
      @rephinbar thanks for the mention, SocialSAM is undergoing some great new changes first quarter 2010. I am always seeking advice & feedback on improvements etc... and of course any question you have would be welcome as well.

      SocialSAM is designed to combine the powers of both a membership site as well as a social network. We have so many extremely unique features, and our desire is to be the premier provider for membership/social network sites on the internet.
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      • Profile picture of the author Barch
        Originally Posted by mwaters5 View Post

        @rephinbar thanks for the mention, SocialSAM is undergoing some great new changes first quarter 2010. I am always seeking advice & feedback on improvements etc... and of course any question you have would be welcome as well.

        SocialSAM is designed to combine the powers of both a membership site as well as a social network. We have so many extremely unique features, and our desire is to be the premier provider for membership/social network sites on the internet.
        @mwaters5 I was looking at SocialSam and to give you feedback from a prospects point of view, I was quite interested, but couldnt find a live demo site (there was a old one, which said it ws no longer to be supported) and also there was no portfolio of customers sites that one could have a look at. So I was stumped in my evaluation of the product and I had to leave it. I wonder how many other prospects would also leave at this point. I am not being critical of the product (I didnt really get a chance to see it) I hope you understand, Im just trying to give you helpful feedback about your sales process that if changed could bring you a significant increase in conversions. I like your product concept and what it offers, and appreciate the significant amount of work it would have required you to produce and implement this product in the market. Seems a shame, after all that work to have it stumble at the last hurdle ...sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author JONBOY666
    Thanks everyone!

    there's some great info there. I'd never heard of socialsam and funnily enough I already use the free version of simplemember but I didn't realize the pro version had the drip-feed option.

    I think these all-in-one threads are a great idea and i'll be on the look out for more of them.

    Thanks guys,

    John.
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  • Profile picture of the author GopalG
    Thank You all for these wonderful information on membership sites.

    Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
      The first thing to consider when wanting to start a membership site is -what is my site going to do for people?

      The second thing is how is it going to deliver to them.monthly,1 time,yearly.

      The third thing is what do you expect your members to achieve by joining your site.are you offering training in a specific area that will help them. are you offering plr/mrr content for them to download, or are you having an article creation course product creation etc..

      The fourth thing is who does it target .experienced marketers.newbies. advanced users.

      The fifth where does it fit with competitiveness.do you have the ability to stand alone or would you profit from recirpocal promotions with other membersites offering content that compliments your own. are you able to drive enough traffic to get the site seen for the other person if you chose to go that way?

      The 6th thing what are you going to do for your members they already know what they are doing for you -making you cash. what can you give them that they can't get elsewhere or that they would have to pay big for?

      The 7th thing How are you going to provide new content for your members next year.are you going to create your own products and release them only to members. are you going to write your own content or are you hoping others will have freebies you can add via giveaways other membersites etc. very important if offering a recurring bill .


      The average stay time is 3-6 months depending on the quality and pricing of the site what are you going to do to continually get members added are you going to offer an affiliate program .are you going to advertise in mainstream venues i e newspapers commercial whatever. or are you going to post and baclink your site in various venues such as forums article directories etc.

      The 8th thing you need to consider is how will i handle customer service. will i .put up a support desk. use direct email. use a contact form. use a blog. customer service is utmost importance in any membersite you consider starting you have to be willing to listen and implement things for them to keep them happy or your site will not last.

      The 9th thing are you going to be splitting the membership up. are you going to offer different levels for instance or are you going to use just one membership level. this has to be considered from both ends

      pro: split memberships can bring in more cash quicker.
      con if you offer a content based site some will upgrade download and cancel

      pro split membership at a fixed member level creates urgency and scarcity therefor making the customer understand they are missing something huge by not upgrading or purchasing immediately. i limit my elite members to 100 only that creates a sense of status. urgency and makes them consider if i don't do it now i may not be able to until next year . this is very very powerful when offering content based sites because the higher level recieves more content then the lower the higher receive bonuses higher commission or whatever you offer where as the lower does not receive said things.

      The other part of this is are you going to use this site to build your list to then market to if so how will you seperate them from the sign up form for paid members. i do not offer this many do i do not however if your list needs to be built for a different purpose then i would suggest using the free option that is a very quick way and if you offer a little bit of content each month will make it sticky.

      finally the tenth thing is simple. how are you going to market this site where are you going to advertise to get it in front of as many people as you can if partnering what can you offer them they can't get elsewhere if articles what are you going to write about that pertains to your own site that would cause them to check it out. and what makes you different from me or any other site. i offer something NO ONE does so i set myself apart. membersites are a dime a dozen now people are catching on. you need to have a site that kicks but and overdeliver on your promises to the members. i advise installing a forum not a third party system one where you have full access . maybe a chat room people by nature are social creatures so give them something they naturally are attracted to for proof your reading this in a public forum.

      these are things i had to go through before developing any membersite and i believe it is solid advice i will be teaching this as part of my elite course to help my members get set up with their own membersite.

      i don't use complicated software for wp i use memberwing it is enough for html site i used memberease very simple to use and handles cb and pp as well as provides a free option

      The best way to make a living online is with a membersite once you have proven your site you will then have member evangelists who will spread the word because they are so impressed or unimpressed the reality is people talk this site and every other forum proves that. some more then others.

      this concludes my lesson on how to begin with a membership site and the things needed to consider before creating it. make a list
      systemize strategize then monetize

      -wd
      p.s. don't follow my method of writing your own sales letter unless your good at it i am not but am determined to be so i can then show others how to do it . just the way i am . pays off in the long run but the process sucks.

      HTH
      _WD
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    A Tale from the Dark Side...

    Okay, maybe that was a little overly dramatic, but I do offer a warning. When I started my membership site I had no idea if people would be willing to pay, so I simply password protected a directory. I have my own merchant account so that's how I processed payments.

    I kept a record of the members on my computer and email them from my desktop. I'm sure you can see what's coming...

    Well, the site did take off. Now I have about paying 400 members and a nightmare. Password set up is all manual. Billing is all manual. Support is ... well, not too bad actually, other than password management. How do so many people lose their passwords each month?

    So now this winter I have to decide on a new membership model. One with automatic password issuance and lost password retrieval, automated billing and member management, mass mail capabilities, multilevel support...and then I've got to rebuild everything because I want to add two new levels.

    The moral of the story, plan for success from the start. It's okay to start out as I did if you don't have much of a budget, but have a membership script/solution chosen before you start and switch to it fast if it looks like it will take off.

    I've got a major project on my hands and it didn't have to be like this. Learn from my mistake.

    I've noted the positive support for the RAP script with membership module. I have the RAP script and may go that way. Does anyone use DLGuard for a membership site?

    I'd also like to see other membership software suggestions and why you like what you use. I'm not interested in solutions like Social Sam that require monthly fees. I want to own the software, unless the fees are extremely reasonable for large memberships. Social Sam gets expensive in a hurry for what I have in mind.
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    • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
      Hey Dennis,
      thanks for proving my point.

      The software I use is memberease handles paypal ipn and cb it is free if you want a copy I can give you one. I like it set up was simple and the functions are great I can capture all details in the database or if you go to toddhost.com that guy wrote the other membership script I use for the elite site very cheap and very good handles paypal ipn i dunno if memberease does handle mailings i will have to look i was just gonna do it through my auto responder but the todd host one is good too. for some reason i thought it did mailing but it doesn't so i had to edit it out of this .

      Either way if i can be of any help just let me know you helped me way back when and didn't even know it let's see i started web design about 10 yrs ago and yours was one of the respurces i used so anything i can do to help you just say the word.

      -WD
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    • Profile picture of the author TheNightOwl
      @Dennis Gaskill

      Good story. Sorry to hear about the hassles, though. Good lesson, I guess is what I meant. (Good follow-up comment too: "Plan for success from the start")

      I know you said you're going to overhaul the whole thing. I don't know, mate, but this might be what you're looking for in the meantime:

      CoffeeCup Password Wizard

      It might also be all that some other folks using the K.I.S.S. principle might need, too, for a super, super simplmembership site concept based on password-protected directories.

      Hope it's useful!

      TheNightOwl

      P.S.       Actually, CoffeeCup make some nice stuff. For techies, it's all a bit simplistic, really. But for people who aren't, they make some really nice "remove your brain, point and click" software solutions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    WD - I may get back to you with some questions, thanks. I Googled those products and am looking them over now, but I'm off to bed after that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
    Thought I'd take a look.

    Too many hurdles to jump, so I used my "ignore" email account.

    Good luck
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    • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
      ??????? Pardon

      What do you mean what does this have to do with membersites??:confused:
      -WD

      Originally Posted by Kirk Ward View Post

      Thought I'd take a look.

      Too many hurdles to jump, so I used my "ignore" email account.

      Good luck
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      • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
        Originally Posted by WD Products View Post

        ??????? Pardon

        What do you mean what does this have to do with membersites??:confused:
        -WD
        It means there were too many hurdles to jump through to become a member of the site. It wasn't worth it to me to join. I suspected some such, which is why I opted to use my throwaway account until I knew for sure while trying to join the site Robert Puddy was posted about. I just gave the feedback as a point about how a difficult signup process can lower signup rates.

        Kirk
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        • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
          Oh,
          Hey thanks Kirk that is a good point very good point in membership sites the rule is k.i.s.s. members don't like to fool around.

          Thanks for this useful post
          -WD
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        • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
          Originally Posted by Kirk Ward View Post

          It means there were too many hurdles to jump through to become a member of the site. It wasn't worth it to me to join. I suspected some such, which is why I opted to use my throwaway account until I knew for sure while trying to join the site Robert Puddy was posted about. I just gave the feedback as a point about how a difficult signup process can lower signup rates.

          Kirk
          Or...

          How specifically setting up a sign up process can filter out people, or filter in specific people.

          getting every tom dick and harry into a membership may not be the desired result required from the owner.

          I fully agree that signup form will put some people off, and thats ok, thats why i did it on that site. Other membership sites I have which are what i call free for all sites have less detailed signup forms.

          That site is actually used to create leads for the LFMpire coaching program, hence the detailed form...

          Never the less thats a valuable report for just $7

          Now for those not willing to complete the form thats ok... not critcising you in any way at all. In some cases i might take the same decision... which means I am probably not the target for there upsells either.

          But it is a valuable lesson in setting things up with specific end results in mind (hope that made sense)

          Robert
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          • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
            Originally Posted by Robert Puddy View Post

            Or...

            How specifically setting up a sign up process can filter out people, or filter in specific people.

            getting every tom dick and harry into a membership may not be the desired result required from the owner.

            I fully agree that signup form will put some people off, and thats ok, thats why i did it on that site. Other membership sites I have which are what i call free for all sites have less detailed signup forms.

            That site is actually used to create leads for the LFMpire coaching program, hence the detailed form...

            Never the less thats a valuable report for just $7

            Now for those not willing to complete the form thats ok... not critcising you in any way at all. In some cases i might take the same decision... which means I am probably not the target for there upsells either.

            But it is a valuable lesson in setting things up with specific end results in mind (hope that made sense)

            Robert
            I agree and understand ...

            Key words in my response were that it wasn't worth it "to me." For others it may be okay.

            It wasn't asked, but even though I know of you and you have a good reputation, my idea of free is no obligation whatsoever. If I am "testing the waters" by looking at a free product, then I am wanting to take as little effort as possible, and have as little asked of me as possible.

            My idea of developing targets for a high end upsell is to use the "classic" funnel method and work them through a series going from totally free and no obligation, through slightly higher products, until I have a zillion dollar program they're buying into.

            Asking for too much information at the beginning may turn off just that one person who would buy everything else I ever offered.

            Kirk
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            "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice."

            Dr. Samuel Johnson (Presiding at the sale of Thrales brewery, London, 1781)
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            • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
              Originally Posted by Kirk Ward View Post

              I agree and understand ...

              Key words in my response were that it wasn't worth it "to me." For others it may be okay.

              It wasn't asked, but even though I know of you and you have a good reputation, my idea of free is no obligation whatsoever. If I am "testing the waters" by looking at a free product, then I am wanting to take as little effort as possible, and have as little asked of me as possible.

              My idea of developing targets for a high end upsell is to use the "classic" funnel method and work them through a series going from totally free and no obligation, through slightly higher products, until I have a zillion dollar program they're buying into.

              Asking for too much information at the beginning may turn off just that one person who would buy everything else I ever offered.

              Kirk

              Well i actually wanted to make that report available to WF members, but i was also to lazy to set up a seperate download for it, so the quick and lazy was to just give them a link to the registration form without going to the sales page.

              Robert
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        • Profile picture of the author mariambowe
          I know at least one other person mentioned it, but I want to say that I absolutely LOVE Membership Site Plugin - Wordpress Membership Plugin - MemberWing
          I have a half a dozen membership sites up, including sites for consumers and sites for my partners. It takes me only a few minutes to setup a new site and integrate it with PayPal.
          I should say that I originally looked into wishlist member and memberwing and chose the latter because it seemed to have more of the features I wanted, like content protection, payment integration. After I got into using it (the free option) I quickly realized how much I liked it.
          For example, when it came time to integrate with Authorize.net for one of my sites, it was super easy. I've been programming for about 12 years and the software is written very well.
          If anyone's interested I can send/post some examples of sites where I'm using the software.
          On another note, I also want to say that I've helped friends with amember installations in the past and have been very impressed with amember support. I would say from all that I've seen that their software operates as advertised and may give flexibility to people that want to include forum, CMS or other technologies as part of their membership offering.
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        • Profile picture of the author GregDeTisi
          I did quite a bit of research re membership sites. I found a woman called Claire Jarret who seemed pretty good at getting professional sites up and showed some great examples. I also liked Andrew Lock now, this guy is awesome to me. As on his webinar he gave so many tips away that I could have written an ebook about the very subject. Instead what I did was take notes and start making my own. I think these charge from 990 up to 7k and so, I decided as a coach to learn myself and then teach it. I tried various platforms inclduing a wordpress one called wishlist and there were other like Membermouse. As I have a wordpress blog I found 3 or 4 software installations pretty easy to use AND I AMNOT TECHY AT ALL. So good news for you guys n gals that are scared of tech stuff. My adice is try and gather as much info as you can of the top 5 sites which you can find on Google and then see what fits for you. Also, find an expert and ask as many questions as you can for free. )) Then look at what you want to earn, and ask yourself how you will set your price points. Be sure to join some memberships and or look at others in your niche to see how you can copy and improve upon what they have. Top subjects are: Cooking, weight loss, fitness, selfhelp, making money and saving money, dating and love.
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    • Profile picture of the author rkat55
      Want to start a Membership site?

      There are several scripts you can use that are good. I recommend
      searching on this forum and the various webmaster forums. Just
      do a search.

      The technology of doing it is the least of it, albeit vitally important.
      (not that choosing one over the other is that vital, there are many
      good options).

      The key is in what you offer members. Make sure it is something
      that is helpful. The more helpful the membership is, the more
      successful it will be and the more money you will eventually make.

      Also, once you have one successful membership site, you will
      have the credibility to open others if you are so inclined.

      Also, you need to have a good pricing strategy. For example,
      offer both free and paid versions. OTO's (which I personally
      hate with a passion) etc.

      Furthermore, vitally important is having an affiliate program
      for your site and paying very generously for referrals.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
    If anyone is looking for a decent membership script (designed especially for newbies) you can't go wrong with www.easymemberpro.com I used to own it, but no longer do so I have no interest in sales now just a genuine reccomendation. The new owner has made some extensive modifications to the script and its now exceptionally good (especially at the price)

    Kim
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  • Profile picture of the author TheNightOwl
    OMG!

    Dennis just pointed me to Digital Access Pass: WordPress Membership Plugin - Membership Script For WordPress Blogs And Regular Web Sites

    Check... it... out!

    I'm ecstatic! It's got almost everything I've been looking for -- for months! -- with some totally awesome upgrades to come and I think that adding the extra features I'd like should be a relatively simple hack for an extra few hundred dollars!

    YAY!

    That link again ----> WordPress Membership Plugin - Membership Script For WordPress Blogs And Regular Web Sites

    Ha ha! I'm turning cartwheels here!

    TheNightOwl
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  • Profile picture of the author DrDivina
    My experience with WishList was regretful. Spent a heck of a lot of money and didn't get anything near what I expected. After 2 months of begging support for help - and getting only links to videos, .pdf's, and screenshots I already had access to, they finally believed I had a problem and fixed the code - twice. I lost lots of time and money - and paid another techie $360 to help me get the site up and running. What a waste. Can't recommend it. Is amember better?
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    • Profile picture of the author dwatrous
      Originally Posted by DrDivina View Post

      My experience with WishList was regretful. Spent a heck of a lot of money and didn't get anything near what I expected. After 2 months of begging support for help - and getting only links to videos, .pdf's, and screenshots I already had access to, they finally believed I had a problem and fixed the code - twice. I lost lots of time and money - and paid another techie $360 to help me get the site up and running. What a waste. Can't recommend it. Is amember better?
      When I was looking into membership software I sent their support a few emails and got a really flippant response too. I've already posted about memberwing here, but I can say that getting support from memberwing was a breeze and very refreshing as compared to dealing with wishlist.

      One thing I can say for wishlist is that they do a better job following some of the guru marketing tactics, like doing product launches.

      In defense of wishlist though, I have a good friend that met the owners at a conference and was very impressed. Last I talked to him about it he was planning to use them on his next membership site (he uses amember), but I'm not sure if he has yet.

      I think they probably have a really good product, but it seems they need to change their approach to support.
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      • Profile picture of the author billspaced
        Originally Posted by dwatrous View Post

        When I was looking into membership software I sent their support a few emails and got a really flippant response too. I've already posted about memberwing here, but I can say that getting support from memberwing was a breeze and very refreshing as compared to dealing with wishlist.
        I had similar encounters with both providers. Gleb at Memberwing is simply awesome. MW-x is even easier to use and more powerful to boot!
        Signature

        Bill Davis
        Chief Marketing Officer, SoMoLo Marketing

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  • Profile picture of the author nanobanano
    I have just been given this great chance to work with a major player on new membership site. What is the best way to gain traffic to site ASAP?
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  • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
    ^ If he is a major player he would already know
    -WD
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    "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

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  • Profile picture of the author m1online
    same question...interested but that's a big form to fill out...and more info than I want to give right now.
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  • Profile picture of the author managepro
    There are 4 parts to membership websites (or any online business i can say):

    1. Business Idea / Niche - This is the area one is going to target to provide content to a particular niche market.

    2. Technology - This is the software one is going to use to develop a membership website, there are many paid scripts like amember, membershpeed and there are some fabulous opensource membership scripts like joomla and drupal.

    3. Website - Structure, Content and Navigation of the website, this is so critical to the success of a membership website. KISS - Keep it simple stupid rule is essential to be followed here.

    4. Marketing - Last but the beast no marketing no sales no money. This essentially involves your salescopy, follow-up mechanism and of-course traffic generation.
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    • Profile picture of the author Riz
      My first membership site was firstly promoted offline. Depending on the niche don't forget there are some very effective offline marketing techniques (depending on youir target niche) to get the ball rolling for members.

      I used:

      1) Leaflets in shops
      2) Hiring college students to hand out leaflets outside the places where my target audience was going to.
      3) JV'ing with local shops
      4) Vehicle wrap

      Also having an affiliate program for your current members is a great way for free word of mouth promotion.

      Riz
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  • Profile picture of the author Gasen
    I used Member Ease to create my membership site. I like Simple Membership Script but it does not support clickbank.

    I am giving away the Simple Membership Script to my subscribers. It's in my sig.
    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author dwatrous
    I know at least one other person mentioned it, but I want to say that I absolutely LOVE Membership Site Plugin – Wordpress Membership Plugin – MemberWing

    I have a half a dozen membership sites up, including sites for consumers and sites for my partners. It takes me only a few minutes to setup a new site and integrate it with PayPal.

    I should say that I originally looked into wishlist member and memberwing and chose the latter because it seemed to have more of the features I wanted, like content protection, payment integration. After I got into using it (the free option) I quickly realized how much I liked it.

    For example, when it came time to integrate with Authorize.net for one of my sites, it was super easy. I've been programming for about 12 years and the software is written very well.

    If anyone's interested I can send/post some examples of sites where I'm using the software.

    On another note, I also want to say that I've helped friends with amember installations in the past and have been very impressed with amember support. I would say from all that I've seen that their software operates as advertised and may give flexibility to people that want to include forum, CMS or other technologies as part of their membership offering.
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  • Profile picture of the author frankw57
    Hello All,

    Anyone use or have some experience with Wild Apricot. Was recommended, wondering what you thought of it.

    Thanks
    Signature

    ...

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    • Profile picture of the author TheHappy4
      Originally Posted by frankw57 View Post

      Hello All,

      Anyone use or have some experience with Wild Apricot. Was recommended, wondering what you thought of it.

      Thanks
      Trying it now. Looks like a winner, trying to checkout the features a little more.
      Signature

      Sincerely, Brandy Roberts
      BlogBasedMoms.com

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  • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
    Hi Frank,

    Wild appricot? nope never heard of it just a second and I will check it out....

    Hmmmm well I wouldn't use it and for you just starting out I would completely avoid any monthly software I run a training site for this particular niche and the best thing to do is keep it simple then after you are more confident maybe look at switching things up I would start with wordpress and use memberwing which is what I personally use or wishlist member I know a lot of others use that as well.
    HTH
    -WD
    Signature

    "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

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  • Profile picture of the author dwatrous
    It's worth mentioning that drupal and joomla can be setup as membership sites. Here's some information on integrating the excellent ubercart with drupal for paid membership sites: Selling Site Access (Role Assignments) | Ubercart

    And here's one for joomla: Membership Control by OSE - Joomla! Extensions Directory

    I haven't tried either of them, but I can imagine that you'll spend a little more time that you would with one of the wordpress membership plugins. Might be worth it though if you're strapped for cash.
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  • Profile picture of the author subhub-mark
    Hi All,

    Please take a moment to check out SubHub.

    SubHub is a powerful membership site platform (rather than software), with clients on both sides of the Atlantic. We're just about to reach our 5th birthday in February - a big milestone for a membership website solution.

    With SubHub your entire site is run from one easy to use control panel, including design template picker, page management, subscriptions, e-commerce, a forum, advertising and affiliate management.

    We handle all hosting, updates and platform management. This means that there is nothing to install, test or update

    SubHub clients get access to our Site Owners Club - a members only site, filled with hundreds of articles on starting, building, marketing and monetizing your website, plus you get access to our popular client forum.

    We offer a free 14 day trial, with all features enabled.

    Best wishes

    Mark
    Signature
    Mark Ramskill, SubHub
    Create Your Free Website in Minutes. Now With Added Membership Goodness!
    Visit www.subhub.com to Get Started
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    • Profile picture of the author angiebee
      This is some really great information. It reinforced several things.

      1. Plan and prepare

      2. K.I.S.S.

      3. Take Action
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      • Profile picture of the author Daniel Brock
        Sorry for digging this thread up.

        I was wondering everyone's thoughts on membership pricing structures.

        Let's pretend you created a membership site(delivers pdfs, videos, software, etc) in a market where you aren't exactly well known in.

        You have a list of about 3000 people, and have done a really good job at building trust and relationships with them.

        The average price for the big name membership programs range from $39.99/m to $99.99/m.

        Now assuming you actually have good unique content to provide in your membership site, do you think you would be OK if you offered it at the $19.99/m price point?

        My main concern is with people who have never been my customer before. Do you think the lower price point is enough to supplement the fact that Im not well known yet?

        I know this is such a stupid question, I am so torn on this pricing point on content membership sites.

        Any input is appreciated!

        Thank you

        Daniel
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        Clickbank #1 Best Seller: The Deadbeat Super Affiliate.
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    • Profile picture of the author MightyWarrior
      Originally Posted by subhub-mark View Post

      Hi All,

      Please take a moment to check out SubHub.

      SubHub is a powerful membership site platform (rather than software), with clients on both sides of the Atlantic. We're just about to reach our 5th birthday in February - a big milestone for a membership website solution.

      With SubHub your entire site is run from one easy to use control panel, including design template picker, page management, subscriptions, e-commerce, a forum, advertising and affiliate management.

      We handle all hosting, updates and platform management. This means that there is nothing to install, test or update

      SubHub clients get access to our Site Owners Club - a members only site, filled with hundreds of articles on starting, building, marketing and monetizing your website, plus you get access to our popular client forum.

      We offer a free 14 day trial, with all features enabled.

      Best wishes

      Mark

      Everything housed on someone's servers?? Take the trial --
      choose your domain http://xxxxxx..trial.subhub.com LOL

      $97 per month... unreal !!! WoW -- same Class-C IPs
      for everyone -- "I'm certainly not taking the plunge!"
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      • Profile picture of the author subhub-mark
        Originally Posted by MightyWarrior View Post

        Everything housed on someone's servers?? Take the trial --
        choose your domain http://xxxxxx..trial.subhub.com LOL

        $97 per month... unreal !!! WoW -- same Class-C IPs
        for everyone -- "I'm certainly not taking the plunge!"
        Yes, we're a platform, whereby we look after all hosting and updates. The trial address is the temporary address you get during your trial. If you choose to become a paying client you can use your own domain.

        Same Class-C IP's? Not sure what point you're making here? This is the same as any hosted platform.

        SubHub is great for those that are uncomfortable downloading, installing and updating software themselves on hosting that they have to source and set up seperately. As soon as you sign up everything is available and ready to go from within one control panel... subscription module, choice of payment gateways, store, forum, affiliate module, design templates etc etc.

        Best wishes,
        Mark
        Signature
        Mark Ramskill, SubHub
        Create Your Free Website in Minutes. Now With Added Membership Goodness!
        Visit www.subhub.com to Get Started
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  • Profile picture of the author willyboy104
    I would watch out Daniel that you don't price your self too low, you want to ensure that your pricing is competitive however by pricing it lower than your main competition I would assume potential customers would automatically think your pricing your membership lower because of some flaw or issue with your content, they may believe its not high quality or your not reliable.

    Instead I would price it competitively but also ensuring that you are pricing within the market. You mentioned most are priced between $39.99 and $99.99 then price yours at the lower end, $39.99.

    You can build up your trust and reputation once you have them as members.

    Good luck.
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    If you want to learn how to make money online, no bullshit click here.
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Brock
      Originally Posted by willyboy104 View Post

      I would watch out Daniel that you don't price your self too low, you want to ensure that your pricing is competitive however by pricing it lower than your main competition I would assume potential customers would automatically think your pricing your membership lower because of some flaw or issue with your content, they may believe its not high quality or your not reliable.

      Instead I would price it competitively but also ensuring that you are pricing within the market. You mentioned most are priced between $39.99 and $99.99 then price yours at the lower end, $39.99.

      You can build up your trust and reputation once you have them as members.

      Good luck.
      Thanks!

      That's exactly what I was thinking but I was watching a video created by Lee Mcintyre which has made my seriously doubt my pricing point.

      We are in similar markets, and he said originally when he released his membership program he priced it at $27/m and during his launch it completely flopped.

      He said he refunded the money, and dropped the price down to $10/m and it sold really well.

      He stated the reason for it was because he wasn't well known in the market at the time. Today I believe his same membership program is like $97/m. That is only because he now has the authority to charge that rate.

      My problem is, Im still new to my market like he was...so charging $47/m or somewhere around there is pretty much out of the question(even though the material given each month is way more than that).

      Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with this?
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      • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
        Hey Daniel,

        One way to help overcome your lack of reputation, is pricing - but that doesn't have to be chiseled in stone.

        Have you considered introductory pricing during the launch period? Those that get in early, get the preferred rate for the life of their membership. You can put a price tag on it that reflects true value, but cut a special deal for early movers.

        Another alternative would be to set up a trial period (i.e. 7 days, or 1st month free) for everyone.

        Of the two, I like the first option better, because it establishes your "normal" price, lets you create some fear of loss to get early members, increases the ongoing revenues (from those that buy later), and allows you some breathing room to run a special down the road.

        Hope this helps,
        Signature

        Sid Hale
        Coming Soon... Rapid Action Profits (Pro)

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  • Profile picture of the author subhub-mark
    Hi Daniel,

    We've got a couple of articles in our free resources section of SubHub which you may find useful:

    How to Choose the Price That Will Maximise The Profit Of Your Membership Website

    How to Get the First 100 Paying Members for Your Membership Website - in 90 Days

    Hope this helps

    Mark
    Signature
    Mark Ramskill, SubHub
    Create Your Free Website in Minutes. Now With Added Membership Goodness!
    Visit www.subhub.com to Get Started
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Brock
    Wow thanks for the response guys

    Definitely provided me EXACTLY what I was looking for!

    I never would have imagined how crazy membership sites can be until I actually put one together lol.

    Much appreciated!!
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    Clickbank #1 Best Seller: The Deadbeat Super Affiliate.
    Click here to learn how to make money online in your bath robe and gym socks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mukul Verma
    THANK YOU ALL for the great information, just spend an hour reading everything here.

    I dont have a membership website yet and am working on setting up my first one making a step into the ever popular IM niche

    Let me ask. What is the best membership website for Wordpress? (following KISS)

    Some already suggested
    - WP Wishlist
    - WingMember
    - digitalaccesspass.

    What is your favorite suggested for WP membership method?
    Would you suggest doing a WP membership to keep it simple.

    Cheers,
    Mukul
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    • Profile picture of the author dwatrous
      Originally Posted by Mukul Verma View Post

      What is your favorite suggested for WP membership method?
      Would you suggest doing a WP membership to keep it simple.
      Mukul,

      I really like memberwing, and there are a few free options for using it. For my sites and several others that I've built it's very accommodating.

      I've found that the biggest problem many people have is understanding how to use the membership site once they get it. I posted something recently which I think will help you understand one possible visitor funnel into your membership site. You can see it here:

      Two level membership website model | Daniel Watrous

      Best of luck!

      Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author zachary0611
    Why doesnt anybody use Moodle?
    Its what I used in my college classes and plus its free and comes with cpanel!
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    Professional Web Designers www.WebDesignBros.com
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  • Profile picture of the author perfectlovehere
    Are there any free programs you can use to set up a membership site? If anyone has any please pm me. Thanks!

    -Gina E.
    {Perfect Love Here I Come}
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  • Profile picture of the author DamianLeon
    Here's the best flow for your membership offer:

    Free Gift (Excerpt of BEST Content from Membership)>> Free Gift Delivered on Email>> Page Redirects to Powerpoint/Keynote Based Slide Show 10-15 min Video Piling on Bonuses as the primary Value Overload, and as a condition, signing up for a 14 day trial of the membership, priced say at $47 or $97 a month- drip fed content within membership site, and wordpress for content management, Infusionsoft or Nanacast for Affiliate Management, Powerpay (Authorize.net) for Merchant account- hope that helped
    Damian
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  • Profile picture of the author Amy Carczak
    One thing I did not see mentioned was the ability
    to re-purpose content and micro-market multiple
    membership sites.

    I'm using a membership system from Premium Web Cart
    that lets me replicate the system over and over
    so I can run 1, 5, unlimited membership systems
    without having to pay for each membership system.

    Since my membership sites are all pretty small in nature,
    I cannot afford to pay for a new membership system
    every time I want to launch a new concept.

    Now I can launch as many as I choose, customize
    each one to look 100% unique so nobody ever knows
    that any of them are associated with the other.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Pereira
    Have a question, if anyone can help with some advice would be greatly appreciated

    Basically I want to setup a few (5-10) membership sites, they'd consist of a blog, a forum and some videos. The blog and forum I can handle, using Wordpress and vBulletin.

    I want the whole area protected with a membership script, with two main features (payments would be through Paypal):

    - If they stop paying they get blocked from accessing the area
    - Affiliate program so that others can promote (doesn't necessarily need to be instant, as long as it keeps a track of who's referred who).

    My idea for the main membership site was $47 up front and then say $17 a month access to everything. 50% commission on all of it.

    The two options I've found so far that look feasible are:

    RAP with PP and MbrPlus addon (cost $297)

    RAP / Member Plus

    or

    Easy Member Pro - Features

    Anyone have some suggestions or experience with the above two, can it do what I want? Looking at the features it seems so but would be more comfortable deciding if someone with experience knew about things like ease of use etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author dwatrous
      Originally Posted by Jason Pereira View Post

      Anyone have some suggestions or experience with the above two, can it do what I want? Looking at the features it seems so but would be more comfortable deciding if someone with experience knew about things like ease of use etc.
      Hey Jason Pereira,

      I would recommend using MemberWingX. It also costs $295 (or possibly free with attribution). I use it on several sites and have set this up for my clients too. Each site will take only a few minutes.

      Some interesting bonuses that you get include the ability to sell individual articles/videos, easy paypal integration and affiliate tracking right out of the box.

      Daniel
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    • Profile picture of the author BenBrandes
      Originally Posted by Jason Pereira View Post

      Basically I want to setup a few (5-10) membership sites, they'd consist of a blog, a forum and some videos. The blog and forum I can handle, using Wordpress and vBulletin.

      I want the whole area protected with a membership script, with two main features (payments would be through Paypal):

      - If they stop paying they get blocked from accessing the area
      - Affiliate program so that others can promote (doesn't necessarily need to be instant, as long as it keeps a track of who's referred who).
      Id recommend having a look at FusionHQ. It allows you to easily create sales processes as well as membership sites with drag and drop technology (no coding required).

      You can sign up for a free account which allows you to build 1 membership site. (You need to upgrade to get more). An upgraded account also allows unlimited membership levels.

      In answer to what you're looking for...
      - If they stop paying they WILL get locked out.
      - Only one person can log in at a time (so people won't share their login details)
      - You can unlock content whenever you want
      - Fusion HQ also has an integrated affiliate program so you can easily set up an affiliate program for your sites.

      Hope this helps!
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      • Profile picture of the author WikiWarrior
        Originally Posted by BenBrandes View Post

        Id recommend having a look at Fusion HQ. It allows you to easily create sales processes as well as membership sites with drag and drop technology (no coding required).

        You can sign up for a free account which allows you to build 1 membership site. (You need to upgrade to get more). An upgraded account also allows unlimited membership levels.

        In answer to what you're looking for...
        - If they stop paying they WILL get locked out.
        - Only one person can log in at a time (so people won't share their login details)
        - You can unlock content whenever you want
        - Fusion HQ also has an integrated affiliate program so you can easily set up an affiliate program for your sites.

        Hope this helps!
        Hi Ben,

        Just looked at your site and it looks really good. I'm building a membership site in Wordpress and have been looking at Wishlist member but I would need to buy something like iDevaffiliate for an affiliate program. Before I go ahead and make an account would I be able to use this software in Wordpress or is it more for standard website designs?

        Cheers,
        Toby
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        • Profile picture of the author BenBrandes
          Toby, it's more for creating a proper membership site or mini content site. If you want you can link to your membership site from your wordpress blog. (Not sure if that works for you).
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      • Profile picture of the author MightyWarrior
        Originally Posted by BenBrandes View Post

        Id recommend having a look at FusionHQ. It allows you to easily create sales processes as well as membership sites with drag and drop technology (no coding required).

        You can sign up for a free account which allows you to build 1 membership site. (You need to upgrade to get more). An upgraded account also allows unlimited membership levels.

        In answer to what you're looking for...
        - If they stop paying they WILL get locked out.
        - Only one person can log in at a time (so people won't share their login details)
        - You can unlock content whenever you want
        - Fusion HQ also has an integrated affiliate program so you can easily set up an affiliate program for your sites.

        Hope this helps!

        FusionHQ is closed, and it is also child's play...
        Eye-candy to get people to do what they don't
        want to do... You still have to do the work, no
        matter how easy it is made to look!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Pereira
    Thanks Ben. Will look at it if I need something more advanced in the future.

    I decided to go with EasyMemberPro and at the moment I'm very happy with it, has all of the functions I needed and is very easy to use. Plus has unlimited site usage for a one time fee which is the best thing about it I think
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  • Profile picture of the author csl001
    Originally Posted by David Hamer View Post

    Just a quick tip for getting something up and running quickly without the worry of which is the best membership software...

    Just send your members to your content via an email autoresponder like Aweber.

    So for example it might be a set of Video Lessons - for each stage of the membership just send them an email with a link to the latest / new content within the membership area. (Really it's just a web page that isn't linked to from anywhere else)

    This may seem like a bit of a cop out - but it's very simple, it works and most importantly you can set it up very quickly.

    Having said that - I'm still looking for the "Best" Membership plugin for Wordpress so I'll be keeping a lookout here!

    Thanks - Dave

    Hi Dave

    That seems a nice idea but what is people bookmark the delivery page and start sharing it with their friends? What mechanism are in place for you to manage this?

    I personally think that for membership site to be perfect the owner must have total control over what is being delivered to the members. Otherwise you should get ready for ripoffs
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  • Profile picture of the author cage73
    I built my membership site using Wordpress and this plugin that I purchased through the WSO forum.
    http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...r-19-95-a.html

    The plugin was very affordable and had all of the features that I was looking for. Only thing I do not like about the plugin is that before creating a paid account members must first create a wordpress account. I worried that it would be too many hoops to jump through for members but so far it doesn't appear to be hindering people from becoming paid members.
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    • Profile picture of the author WikiWarrior
      Can anyone offer some advice on choosing between membership software for a Wordpress membership site?
      I'm almost finished building site content for my Wordpress site and I'm looking at either using Wishlist Member or Memberwing (not sure what the difference is between Memberwing and MemberwingX). I will definitely need an affiliate program integrated and Wishlist has iDevaffiliate in Beta (seems like a lot of added value with all their training videos for my would be affiliates) whereas Memberwing has it's own but is price slightly more expensive. Which one would you guys choose and has anyone had experience of both?

      So in a nutshell I need:

      1) Membership software that I can use with my Wordpress site
      2) Affiliate program for members
      3) Cart solution (or just paypal buttons?) for customers linked to the affiliate program.

      Tying all this together leaves me scratching my head right now so any advice would be much appreciated.

      Thanks,
      Toby
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    • Profile picture of the author aldo112
      Originally Posted by cage73 View Post

      I built my membership site using Wordpress and this plugin that I purchased through the WSO forum.
      http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...r-19-95-a.html

      The plugin was very affordable and had all of the features that I was looking for. Only thing I do not like about the plugin is that before creating a paid account members must first create a wordpress account. I worried that it would be too many hoops to jump through for members but so far it doesn't appear to be hindering people from becoming paid members.
      if people still want to become paid members, that because of the plugins is working so great, rite? So, that won't be any problem at all. :p
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  • Profile picture of the author farhangyar
    good info for new beginners
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  • Profile picture of the author Amy Carczak
    The other tool I now use is to set
    up all my membership systems with
    a "drip feed" so the content is
    spaced out and the members stick
    around longer to get it all.

    My old membership sites exposed the
    content all at once and my attrition
    rate was much higher than it is now
    even though I'm using the exact same
    content in both sites (old and new).
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  • Profile picture of the author quiescen
    Here's another great idea for those who already have a membership site. When you add new content, make it like a seperate product launch for those who haven't joined yet.

    For example, I have a piano membership site. Every 3-4 weeks, I give a new lesson. Those who haven't joined get a 'sneak peek' at some of the content. I sell this as I would a new product because in essence it is.

    This way, everytime you post new content, you get another chance to upgrade those who haven't joined yet.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    I am looking for a way to "pay per post" - that is, i need some sort of a credit system where users can purchase credits for posts to submit.

    Aka..user level 1 can post & submit 10 posts, level 2 user 20 posts and so forth. With a way to purchase more credits once they run out.

    Is there anything like that?
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  • Profile picture of the author Russ Emrick
    Yes Magic Member allows you to buy individual posts or packs of posts.

    Wordpress Membership Plugin | Wordpress Membership software | Magic Members
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  • Profile picture of the author jshapan
    I purchased MemberSpring and if you think Gary Ambrose is long winded in his sales video, wait until you get inside.

    There is no forum and the knowledgebase is very thin. It takes a day or so to get an email back from him as he is a one man show.

    I like the sites, but after the 72 days the site is out of articles/emails to members so you are on your own to keep it going.

    Last, I have tried to get through the videos on list building and after 5 hours I still did not have my answers to building lists for the 5 sites I purchased. We are suppose to have access to 300,000 email base and I can't find anything anywhere that give that to me.

    So, here I am waiting to hear back .. my support ticket was opened on his end, but I have not received answer to this question.

    It is turnkey to create, but not turnkey to support after 2 1/2 months when you have to figure out how to keep 5 plus (4 more if you buy into the 2 additional ones each month) up and running for current clients ... putting articles into Aweber .. etc. If they fall off .. then you are trying keep marketing to new names .. either way ... it is a lot of work.
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    • Profile picture of the author MightyWarrior
      Originally Posted by jshapan View Post

      I purchased MemberSpring and if you think Gary Ambrose is long winded in his sales video, wait until you get inside.

      There is no forum and the knowledgebase is very thin. It takes a day or so to get an email back from him as he is a one man show.

      I like the sites, but after the 72 days the site is out of articles/emails to members so you are on your own to keep it going.

      Last, I have tried to get through the videos on list building and after 5 hours I still did not have my answers to building lists for the 5 sites I purchased. We are suppose to have access to 300,000 email base and I can't find anything anywhere that give that to me.

      So, here I am waiting to hear back .. my support ticket was opened on his end, but I have not received answer to this question.

      It is turnkey to create, but not turnkey to support after 2 1/2 months when you have to figure out how to keep 5 plus (4 more if you buy into the 2 additional ones each month) up and running for current clients ... putting articles into Aweber .. etc. If they fall off .. then you are trying keep marketing to new names .. either way ... it is a lot of work.

      Gary already answered this post! Why are you posting in multiple locations?
      You don't like the playing field, then get out -- ask for a refund! You're mixing
      apples and oranges...

      YES, there is no forum!

      Let's see now... you didn't take up the $97 per month offer for Gary to give you
      added content, but you expect and unending site that somehow generates its
      own content. I didn't see ANYWHERE where Gary said he was selling AutoBlogs!

      So after 3 months of content you need to provide your own.... sure, that's how
      the world works! You don't purchase something for $200 and then get $1,000,000
      worth of unending product!

      The ListBuilding and other videos were bonuses... Gary specifically tells you HOW
      TO DRIVE TRAFFIC if you would look under the 'TRAFFIC' tab and watch his 3 videos.

      Gary said that he built a 300,000 member list using the techniques in the bonuses...
      AND, to be honest, his lists were built YEARS AGO... and the rules have changed!!!

      NOWHERE did Gary say that he was going to give you HIS LIST!


      Sorry for being so HARD ON YOU, but don't bad-mouth a WF member by posting
      duplicate garbage in an unrelated thread where he won't find it!!!!! my 2 cents.


      Get off the pot... ask for a refund!!!

      Obviously Gary and MemberSpring isn't for everyone.
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  • Profile picture of the author cassidywilliams
    Use Traindom (Start Your Information Marketing Business in Minutes - Traindom). The easiest way to set up an paid-access information product or a membership site. has built-in video streaming capabilities and everything. And its free until you're making money (later very affordable price).
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    »» Build better online courses and membership sites
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  • Profile picture of the author contentment1st
    Just a late addition to this thread: DAP Digital Access Pass. Excellent backoffice management with a two tiered affiliate platform. Thanks. Greg
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  • Profile picture of the author ravijayagopal
    One of the "big picture" or "strategy" questions people often have, is whether to publish two different blogs: one for the "general public" where you have all your public (and free) content, and another blog for your "members", where you publish only private, members-only content.

    Based on my own personal experiences as a blogger, marketing consultant, and as the founder/co-developer of DigitalAccessPass.com (DAP) - a membership platform for WordPress - and having dealt with thousands of our users who wish to to run a membership site based off of WordPress, I highly recommend that you keep it all on just one blog.

    So your free (open) content and your private members-only content should all be on the same blog.

    This strategy has multiple advantages, as you can see below.

    1) You could always use a feature like "sneak-peek" (many membership plugins - including DAP - offer this) to break a post into a "Public View" and a "Member View" - a "teaser", if you will - and you can show this teaser to the general public and also to Google and the other search engines.

    If you lock away all of your content on a different domain or inside a fully-private blog, then all of that content you are creating, while it's great for your members and all, will be no good as far as "SEO" and "Social Proof" benefits go.

    2) Let's say you create 50% free content, and 50% paid content. If you put your free content on a different blog, you would have to send your members to a different blog each time you want them to see your free content. And then send them to your paid blog when you want them to see paid content. "Sometimes go here, other times go there". Unnecessarily confusing. Dilutes your brand, your SEO efforts, and most importantly, your "marketing" efforts.

    3) It's hard enough maintaining just one active blog and getting people to visit regularly, read, and then get involved and comment and be part of the community. Why split your focus, your content generation into two blogs, while also losing the SEO benefits?

    Focus on one main blog. That's what you market, that's what you promote, that's what your future members see, that's where they see the "Sorry, this content is for members only" when they click to read the rest of that awesome article you wrote... etc.

    4) When you focus on just one blog, in the long term, it's easier to build a lot of social proof using comments to your posts on that one blog. You can plug in a wordpress forum plugin like Simpleress, and then have everyone participate. Or you could use an advanced forum platform like vBulletin, set up separate access for free users versus paying members, and have them all interacting on just one site, in just one forum.

    Too many benefits to doing it all on one site.

    Plus when you use a script like DAP, you get the added advantage of creating a centralized "Content & Community Hub", with a "Global Affiliate Program" where your affiliates can promote not just one product, but many products across your network of sites.

    Have a more detailed blog post at the link below that explains more. It will certainly help you think through all options before you make a decision.

    http://www.digitalaccesspass.com/doc...affiliate-hub/

    Hope this helps.

    - Ravi Jayagopal
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    • Profile picture of the author LegendaryMktg
      Originally Posted by ravijayagopal View Post

      So your free (open) content and your private members-only content should all be on the same blog.

      This strategy has multiple advantages, as you can see below.

      1) You could always use a feature like "sneak-peek" (many membership plugins - including DAP - offer this) to break a post into a "Public View" and a "Member View" - a "teaser", if you will - and you can show this teaser to the general public and also to Google and the other search engines.

      - Ravi Jayagopal
      Great advice. I especially like this part. You could also use the "More" tag in WordPress to separate your content. Make the first part of your post or article so compelling that the reader can't help but click the "Read More" tag. But this post is actually for paying members. When they click thru, they would come to your Sales Page telling them this is for members only and then giving them all the information about what they would get if they joined your membership and how to join.

      As you said also, you would want to have free content too. If potential members see the value your provide for free, it would compel them to join because if your free stuff is that great they can imagine how great your paid information is.

      Thanks again.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Besides the stock answer - test and see what works - what do you see as the advantages/disadvantages to having an "open" membership site where you can see free articles as well as intros to paid content versus everything hidden behind a sales letter?

    Two examples of open sites are Information Marketer&39;s Zone and Exclusive Videos, Chats, Fantasy Tools and More ESPN Insider - ESPN

    Thanks for any input.

    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author ravijayagopal
    Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...

    But based on what I know, SocialSam shut down a while ago (even though their site seems to be live) and their founder George Tran switched to using DigitalAccessPass (DAP) - you can see his testimonial at our web site.

    - Ravi Jayagopal
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  • Profile picture of the author quiescen
    For those of you who don't know, PayPal offer a free perl script that you can use to create an automatic billing for memberships. I've been using it for over 6 years and it works like a charm.

    Did I mention it's free? Yep.
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  • Profile picture of the author surflongdude
    Originally Posted by FifthDimension5 View Post

    Good idea of all in one threads. If your membership site is based on video training it is going to be hard protecting the videos from being stolen or re-routed, if you are storing videos on S3 it doesnt have password protection or authenticaion mechanism anyone knows the url they can access the video directly.
    I use s3mediavault.com which covers this.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Hessler
    I purchased DAP almost a year ago after being excited about a membership site. Great to find this thread and be reinvigorated.

    Still not done any work on the site but do have DAP installed on it.

    Ill make sure to pull my finger out. If I had kept to my Plan last year, I'm sure I'd be a lot further forward. (Duh...obviously James!!).

    Thanks for such a great thread and advice...
    James
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  • Profile picture of the author mathewsps
    Great Info and experience from the warriors.
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  • Profile picture of the author mark hazlewood
    hi guys i want to create a new membership site
    i'm thinking of building one with wish list member
    can any body tell me is this good soft ware to
    go with and give me some good ideas please on
    other membership programs

    regards mark hazlewood
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  • Profile picture of the author eniggma
    As always, super informative. Great info on these different platforms, thanks guys.
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  • Profile picture of the author RealBusy
    There's a membership site that on Wordpress using only free plugins that works very well
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  • Profile picture of the author ibacklinkpro
    In my experience, membership sites can really grow many members fast if you give them "free" access, then try to sell via newsletters. I remember doing a privacy policy for my site and I used a free online tool to do it (it required my email address to use.) I got an email from them later saying that I "got to be one of the few lucky ones" that had free access to this membership site with a bunch of training videos on how to build social media content. Although I knew that it was probably some kind of a sales ploy (the whole one of the lucky with free access thing), I still felt like I had been given access to something everyone else was paying money for, they had a sign up option on the home screen and everything... but interestingly, they positioned themselves as professional social media dudes in my mind and I was always interested in what they had to say in their newsletter, though, to be honest, I never signed up for any of their offers...
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  • Profile picture of the author quiescen
    Just rememberd this important lesson. Most marketers spend 80% of their time trying to find new customers. But the most important person here is not the prospect but the customer you already have.

    J. Conrad Levinson of "Guerilla Marketing" fame suggests you flip this and caress your customers with as much attention and care as possible.

    I agree.
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  • Profile picture of the author LegendaryMktg
    All great information!

    Something to consider is what is your purpose for your membership site? There are many types of memberships. Do you want a site where you will be posting articles, tutorials, audio, etc. on a regular basis - like daily or weekly? Or are you doing modular courses, or selling digital products?

    You want to make sure you have a software that can handle the various methods and is secure. Also that you can integrate with autoresponder and shopping cart carriers so they talk to each other.

    Just be sure you know what your objective is before you choose a program.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Ogbin
    I use butterfly marketing software; it's so amazing and absolutely free.

    It's a complete membership software, it's sold in $1997 before but now is free.

    ButterflyOpenSourceCode.com

    You can do with the software what you want; sell in any price that you want, create unlimited websites for you or for your customers.

    You will pay for $297 for the developer license.
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    • Profile picture of the author Adam Dejamour
      Originally Posted by Mike Ogbin View Post

      I use butterfly marketing software; it's so amazing and absolutely free.

      It's a complete membership software, it's sold in $1997 before but now is free.

      ButterflyOpenSourceCode.com

      You can do with the software what you want; sell in any price that you want, create unlimited websites for you or for your customers.

      You will pay for $297 for the developer license.
      Are you using this script on a WordPress site? Have you found it current in technology... up to date with current needs? The script is several years old and that is why I haven't spent the time to install and play with it. I'd love to find a features list somewhere to compare it to other solutions. Do you know where I could find that?

      Thanks!
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      • Profile picture of the author celente
        Originally Posted by Adam Dejamour View Post

        Are you using this script on a WordPress site? Have you found it current in technology... up to date with current needs? The script is several years old and that is why I haven't spent the time to install and play with it. I'd love to find a features list somewhere to compare it to other solutions. Do you know where I could find that?

        Thanks!
        yes you can use this on wordpress, and it works with most things. It still works but I do not know where they compare it to everything else. I use software / tool called wordpress with a S2 members plugin that is free for my membership sites, and they are flourishing in 2012, I tell more about this in my free report below in my sig if you want to take a look, no optin.
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  • Profile picture of the author theendof925job
    Understanding What A Membership Site Could Be

    Membership sites are becoming very popular. They provide information to hungry Internet readers and can offer a range of content such as mentoring or coaching, articles and ebooks, product reviews, results of tests or studies, reference information, or a place to share information about a shared interest or hobby. No matter how different membership sites are from each other they have one thing in common: they all allow access by members who have paid for the priviledge of being on the site and receiving the information or resources contained in the site. Some sites have a free trial or a entry level that is free or costs less than a higher level and there are sites that cost less than others but the common thread is that members receive benefits that the general public do not.
    You might now ask, "Why would anyone pay for information when the Internet is a super highway of information?"
    The answer is that membership sites provide information that is of a higher quality or information that is not available elsewhere on the Internet. It is very specialized information that is contained on membership sites. Being a member of one of these sites gives an edge over those who are not members. There is value in being a member as opposed to not being a member. The value is equal to or greater than the membership fee. The information may be hard to find or time-consuming to find and this is what makes it valuable to go to one site and have the information contained in that one convenient location.
    Membership sites appeal to all age groups all over the globe because everyone has a need to be filled and smart marketers are looking for those needs so that they can fill them with membership sites. At the present time membership sites are generating BILLIONS of dollars each year for site owners. Membership sites have revolved around the need for people to share a hobby or to form book clubs, find out how to make something, or learn how to make money online. Membership sites have been designed around the need to find a mate, or find others of the same faith. Membership sites have been started in order to mentor others or to give product reviews.
    Those individuals interested in taking advantage of membership sites and wish to start their own need to find a hot topic and one that they have knowledge about. Then they have to design a membership site around that topic. They need to set up the site so that members will be able to easily navigate it and be able to use the resources and information on the site. The site owner needs to build real value into the site and to maintain the site with fresh content on a regular basis.
    There are endless possibilities when designing a membership site not only concerning what topic to focus your site on but in the content that you provide to your members. Your content can include informational products such as articles, videos, ebooks, teleseminars, coaching as well as forums, chat rooms and physical products such as books, CDs and DVDs.
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  • Profile picture of the author alamest
    It is great thread..

    I recently thought to make my own membership site, but don't know where to start from, I have gone through some good post over here and some idea's went through my mind to open up a good membership site.

    Whenever I make membership site, I need to definitely integrate with Clickbank so I don't need to worry about affiliate sales.. thanks for sharing this thread
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  • Profile picture of the author enterforum
    if you want to make membership site then you have to consider certain issues.

    the issue is:

    why you want membership site?
    who will use your membership site?

    why they should use your site if there is many?
    who will generate the content for your site.
    which platform you want to use?etc.....
    so be carefull and choose right things..
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  • Profile picture of the author nasuryono
    When creating membership site, keep in mind that you have to keep delivering values to your customer.

    When you set up a membership site and don't update it frequently, you'll risk losing trust and respect from your prospect.

    I would focus on the content of your membership site first before toying around with the technology.

    Make sure you are delivering the value and helping other people first before starting your membership site.
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  • Profile picture of the author abboastor
    Thanks for information...
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  • Profile picture of the author Marcus Rockey
    I've been hearing so much about membership sites recently that some people might benefit from this great thread...

    Marcus Rockey
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  • Profile picture of the author murtuza
    I started a membership site before few years and it did great.

    What I offered was a complete business in a box in one specific niche where my clients not only got a complete designed site in one niche but also they got all the traffic packages including articles, newsletters, follow up emails, reports, traffic ideas, keywords, product ideas, etc. All this in ONE NICHE every month.

    Anyone can take this idea and start creating a solid membership site in various niches, there are hundreds and thousands of niches to tap into. This idea has made me thousands and therefore thought of sharing it, hope this is helpful...
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    Want to know my true story & how I got started with my internet business? What kind of problems I faced to get started & how I finally cracked the internet code? I have also prepared a 30 day blueprint for you to get started. No signup is required, just rush in to check out pure content ==> how to start an online business - And yeah, if you like what you read don't forget to 'like' & 'tweet' it. All the best :0)

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  • Profile picture of the author jaypyoung
    Im half way through setting my membership site up, it takes a lot longer to do than normal 1 page products, i hope the rewards of residual income outway the hassle so far in creating content and setting the backend up. Time will tell.
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  • Profile picture of the author PeterKell
    how is everyone doing with pricing?

    I went through Nano Continuity and he recommends having a $5m/o membership site that gives a wealth of information to make more people sign up because its such a good deal?

    Has anyone tried this method? Or is a one time fee something better?

    2000 people paying $5 monthly would be nice....
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  • Profile picture of the author MojoHelpdesk
    Membership sites can be hugely profitable for both the vendor and the affiliate. We created a subscription as a service app for small businesses (SAAS) and only have about 550 members and we generate low to mid 5 figure revenues every month.

    It's a great business model.
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    • Profile picture of the author PeterKell
      hmm. What are you charging them for that?
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      • Profile picture of the author MojoHelpdesk
        Originally Posted by zippi100 View Post

        hmm. What are you charging them for that?
        Between $24 and $149 per month depending on the features they request.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesColin
    Banned
    Hi, I've read this thread and it is very useful.
    But I've seen something missing and so I'd like to give my input.
    Many people are talking about WordPress, but I use Drupal for all my sites.

    So on Drupal it is possible to automate also paid membership via free modules which allow you to sell roles. For instance, the module UBERCART which is a ecommerce solution on top of drupal has the ability to sell roles, with expiring dates and recurring with the paypal gateway.
    I did it before, but it is overkill and it is made for selling roles, not lazer focused on selling memberships.

    So for the first time in my life (started in 2004 using drupal) I bought a drupal module, in fact two from the same coder. The site you can search for it on google is called moneyscripts it should have drupal all over it, so in case there's another don't make the mistake or don't think it doesn't exist anymore.
    And it has several modules but the 2 I've bought are:
    MS membership
    MS affiliates
    So, it has payment gateway for paypal and also for clickbank (and more) I use paypal. And I use the affiliates module for setting affiliates commission (up to 3 levels of affiliates, so it can become very benefitial for affiliates) and also mass paying them.

    That's it, I don't want to post a long message, but it was just to tell you about one solution if you're using Drupal. Of course it can be done with free modules, but I've paid those modules because of past experience (the affiliate part I managed it with free module USER REFERRAL) of bugs and no direct support from coders.

    Because membership and affiliates is an important part of earnings, I have invested in the coder of those modules, he is doing them and maintening as a fulltime job, so I don't feel like it was money wasted from my part.
    If you want to know how to do it for free I can help you on Drupal, but please open another thread and PM me the url, I don't think this is the place for that.
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    • Profile picture of the author JamesColin
      Banned
      Originally Posted by JamesColin View Post

      So for the first time in my life (started in 2004 using drupal) I bought a drupal module, in fact two from the same coder. The site you can search for it on google is called moneyscripts it should have drupal all over it, so in case there's another don't make the mistake or don't think it doesn't exist anymore.
      And it has several modules but the 2 I've bought are:
      MS membership
      MS affiliates
      So, it has payment gateway for paypal and also for clickbank (and more) I use paypal. And I use the affiliates module for setting affiliates commission (up to 3 levels of affiliates, so it can become very benefitial for affiliates) and also mass paying them.
      Hi, I just want to say that this was a very bad mistake, very bad, I will never buy any Drupal module, ever..
      I will know continue to use modules hosted on drupal.org.

      Something bad happened with the coder, it is not only me, everyone has been let down, crazy.. with lies about being an illness, etc.
      Anyway, just to let any potentially interested Drupal user, NOT TO do like me.
      I just wanted to take back what I wrote earlier, and warn you, ok?
      That's it, thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author PeterQ
    I just want to thank all of the people who have contributed to this thread.

    In the past two weeks I have created a lot of original content for a new membership site, set it up, made it all pretty and all.

    I launched the site about 4 days ago, and so far I have made 17 sales... that actually motivated me A LOT! Its just amazing to see two weeks of late nights and a lot of typing and digging through my brain and some research online, actually pay off so fast.

    My site is a one-time payment.. I figured the content is what it is, and although something can be added, it would be redundant.

    Now thanks to this forum, I am starting to build my list, separate from the the sales... I mean, i am now offering a free "report" in exchange for their names and email addresses.

    Although receiving 17 sales in 4 days is awesome... i figured out that it took over 10,000 visits to generate them... all paid really targetted advertising at about 0.01 cent/click... the cost per sales is not bad ($5.88), i actually lost 9983 potential leads!!!!!!!!! And this just got me going crazy trying to figure out what to do. Thus I came to this forum and became a paid member right away.

    Anyway, since this is my first comment ever in this forum, and although I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing your knowledge and experience, it didnt seem appropriate to start a new thread just for that...

    In case anyone is wondering where i got the 0.01c/click really targetted traffic, I used badoo.com new advert system, targetting users in Spain.. and because I was their first advertiser, meaning no competition, the price is really low right now. I highly recommend it now, before they start to raise the price.

    Oh.. and my membership site is just a "practica guide for online dating"... in spanish... so if anyone has (or knows someone that has) a niche dating site in spanish, let me know I am eager to talk business with them

    Again thank you, and I will start contributing more often now that I found this forum.

    Cheers from a Mexican living in Spain.
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  • Profile picture of the author Noah Fleming
    Here's a great blog post -


    The Ultimate Guide to Building a Recurring Revenue Business From Scratch
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  • Profile picture of the author Vince81
    Hello,

    I seek HELP about the WishList plugin...

    If somebody use this plugin and know how it works, I'll be glad asking him some questions...

    I am a little desperate about the way the Support team is handling my question...
    So I'd prefer someone who uses the Plugin to help me...

    Let me know if you are ready to handle my question.

    Thank you in advance.

    Regards.
    Vince81
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Wellington
    For those of you that want to set up a membership site, I highly recommend using Wordpress. It makes the whole process much simpler and easier, especially if you have Wordpress experience already. As for scripts (or plugins, in this case), I think the best option is Magic Members. A single license if $97, but the multi-site license (which I would advise for anyone thinking of setting up more than one site) is $297. If you don't have that money, why not use something like Paid Memberships Pro (free) to get started, earn a little and learn a lot, then invest your profits into Magic Members or another great plugin or script.

    I think membership sites are the best way to deliver your premium content. Not only does it open the door to recurring income, but it makes members feel a part of something (much more than any ebook or course can do). It allows you to build a community, which is more desirable to prospects.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rick Britton
    OK, can I ask the experienced folk a question?

    I would like to ask my existing members to introduce new members to my site which offers advice and training in a particular set of skills and hobbies plus information, articles etc

    How can I motivate / incentivise my members to forward links, talk to their friends and generally help me grow without upsetting them?

    Has anyone attempted this? I feel nervous about asking them straight out by e-mail ;hey do you feel you could help?'

    any views and discussion appreciated
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  • Profile picture of the author assenal
    I took those advice above and set up a membership site one month ago, and currently get no member joining, I charge 10 for each member for a life membership, I guess membership is not that easy.
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    Linux Forum
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  • Profile picture of the author pewpewpewmonkeys
    I would like to ask my existing members to introduce new members to my site...How can I motivate / incentivise my members to forward links, talk to their friends and generally help me grow without upsetting them?
    Pay them. In wordpress you can set up an in-house affiliate system where users are automatically affiliates. You can provide them with a commission for referring others.
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    Some cause-oriented hackers recently hacked one of my websites. So I researched what they're about and then donated a large sum of money to the entity they hate the most.

    The next time they hack one of my websites I'm going to donate DOUBLE.
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  • Profile picture of the author tamalanwar
    If you are teaching, you may want to try Udemy http://udemy.com/

    No need for all the technical stuff, membership software/payment processor just upload your course and let the money flow. Udemy does the promotion.

    Also check out DAP (Digital Access Pass) for a hosted membership solution: Membership Plugin for WordPress | Membership Site Software For WordPress and HTML sites - Automate payments & content delivery
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    Tamal Anwar C.
    I transform old outdated 1990s/2000s websites
    into a fresh site of present time     Learn How
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Hello fellow Warriors,

    What are you using in 2015 to run your membership websites? I'm looking for something that doesn't rely on Wordpress Plug-ins btw.

    Something that can drip feed content.

    Something that can run a free trial and/or a $1 dollar 30 month trial.

    Something that works seamlessly with the major autoresponder companies out there.

    Something that will allow me to give someone access for a specific period of time (think 6 months or ten years).

    Thank you,

    RoD
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    "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
    - Jim Rohn
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Rod,

    One of the things on my list to try is Robert Puddy's membership system. Take a look and see if it meets your needs: The Best Membership Script

    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author jercarbra
    Has anyone tried the free One Page Membership Model by Brendan Burchard? If so, would you kindly share your results? Here is a 31 minute seminar with Brendan teaching this model. He gets into the nuts and bolts of it at the 13:57 mark of the video. By the way, I am not an affiliate. Here is the link to the video:
    Experts Academy: Frameworks
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  • Profile picture of the author Mac the Knife
    I want to get a few membership sites up and running, but since I have knowledge in certain areas, but NOT so much in building and promoting membership sites, I am getting confused with all the options. Can anyone recommend a course that will help me get a site up and running, upload content, AND promote it to get paying members? I am looking to do my first one in the fitness niche...I have TONS of experience in that area.

    Mac
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarah Harvey
    A tip for all aspiring membership creators...

    Keep it simple is definitely in the game, but more so is the security feature on the 'Thank you' page.

    Get people to log into your membership sites and make sure the actual product page cannot be accessed without logging in. Be clear on this because I can tell you now there is tons of content out there on Google freely available by just googling a product and guess what... it uses some famous membership software- which had me surprised, but in the long run it just means I won't personally use that software. At one point I did think of buying it.

    So tip one is: Make sure your membership software is secure.

    Second tip is: Make it simple for your customer to delete their account if they want to. In this day and age with people misusing personal information, it will make someone feel at ease if they can delete their account. Its more important to offer that feature for free membership sites as opposed to heavily paid ones. But for the paid ones, you can still offer to delete their account which will give the customer extra peace of mind.

    Tip three is: Be different. In every way. If you clone your site after another, it will look and feel spammy and also not appeal to people. People are wising up about people offering bad products and services and in this day and age with social media, things can get ugly very quickly- especially if someone feels justified. A good example is this marketer Matt Bush who promised to refund money and spoke elaborately over the issue but eventually just didn't do what he promised, which resulted in Paypal disputes and eventually a proper claim being put in place. So lesson is... make sure whatever you offer in a membership site is clearly defined. Half define your product or make up 'stories' and sell it, you will not only disappoint your end customer, but they in turn will go on to tell at least 10 people of their horrible experiences.

    Tip 4: Make sure a proper refund policy is in place and make it easy accessible. Do not hide it in the small print or in a linked page that is hard to find. That screams of unprofessionalism.

    Tip 5: Communicate with your customers. Not just automated emails selling them stuff, but actually talk to them, find out how they liked your product, choose a random amount of people and get feedback. So far I have only come across one marketer out of the 200 or so that I subscribe to that actually contacted me personally and asked me if I could help him out with some feedback on his product (in this case his Wordpress theme) and I was glad to tell him what I liked and disliked about it so he could either a) Improve it or B) Toss it aside to concentrate on something better.

    And those are my tips. Hope it helped someone.
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    "Find the problem and provide the solution."
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  • Profile picture of the author silveroaks
    there are three basic advice that one should keep in mind:
    -keep the site simple.
    -keep the customers happy.
    -deliver something through your website that is not available elsewhere i.e. make it unique.
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  • Profile picture of the author EcommerceGear
    Just a thought, I think the doctors and lawyers can run the best membership websites on the " one-to-one online consulting" model because in such a scenario, all the content will be unique and valuable.
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