Free Membership Website Software

Here are five reasons you should think twice before you try to use free membership website software.

1. Support – I think free is great.  But free plugins and software do not have any support and that means they just might stop working.
2. Affordable Options – I do not think it is wise to spend $1,000’s on membership website software.  However, there is membership website software that works great for under $100.
3. Free Membership Website Software is not really free.  You have to figure out how to set up and integrate the software, and since it is just an free open source membership website software, it may not have any instructions.
4. Versioning – When Wordpress upgrades, I feel confident that the Wishlist Member team will upgrade thier plugin and I will not have any major outage.
5. Use a combination of free software and paid components for the best, low cost solution.  Wordpress is free, and it is big enough so you can have faith that it will be around.  However, the free membership website software plugins for wordpress are not feature rich enough to make managing your membership website easy.  For that reason, take the free software that works well, but spend a little to get good plug ins and services to make your membership website a success.

Membership Website Script vs Software vs …

What are you looking for?

• Are you looking for a Membership Website Script?
• Are you looking for Membership Website Software?
• Are you looking for Membership Website Plugin?
• Are you trying to find Membership Website SAAS?
• What about a Membership Website Widget?

All these different terms get used in different ways by people, making it hard to know what you are looking for.  Here is a quick guide to Membership Website Scripts and other terminology – just so you know what you are looking for.

Membership Website Script

The word script usually refers to a third party tool where you place a few lines of script (code) in the footer of your membership website.  Typically it is independent of whichever Membership Website Software System you have chosen.

Membership Website Software

Membership Website Software is usually a full content management system that may be specifically designed for membership websites or it may simply have the features to make it a good option for membership websites.  Examples are Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal and Moodle.

Membership Website Plugin

A plugin is much like a script, but it is designed for one particular platform.  So a Wordpress membership website plugin will only work in Wordpress.  The good thing about a plugin over a script is that it is designed to be easy to install and configure within your membership website software.

Membership Website SAAS

SAAS stands for Software as a Service.  This is a more expensive option because someone is doing the work, development, support and hosting of your membership site for you.  However, a good Membership Website SAAS will free you up to create great information and market the membership website.

Membership Website Widget

Membership Website Widgets are pieces of code nearly the same as a plug in.  Widgets have special properties that make them easier to set up and move around in your membership website software.  Not all membership site software supports widgets, but those that do make it much easier for non-tech people to customize the tools and interfaces.

Free Membership Site

Setting up a free membership site is a great option to give running a membership site  a try.  However, it is not the best long term strategy and it also lacks the commitment you need to make.  The fact is, with a free membership site you will not have expenses and for that reason you might make excuses about why you have not made a good effort at marketing your membership site.

I am a huge fan of keeping costs for your membership site low.  That is why I recommend an inexprensive webhost, free membership software and optional tools that are low cost and can be paid off quickly with modest membership.

Of the free options, a truly free membership site can be set up in Ning.  However, here is the issue.  If the membership site is hosted on Ning, and everyone knows that ning is free, how much do you think subscribers will be willing to pay for it?

If you want to set up a free membership site that charges money and has a higher precieved value, you should take a look at myNetcipia.  This is as good and as low risk as it gets.  The big disadvantage of this is that they do not disclose the percentage of the sale they take when someone joins, and they do not have an affiliate program built in.

While myNetcipia offers you a free membership site that has no risks, it makes marketing harder to do and after you have built real membership, you may regrete the much higher percentage of the fee that you are paying out.

If you already have a hosting account on a web host like Bluehost, you will probably be able to add a free wordpress blog to your account, a free membership plugin (not automated, but it works) and no additional hosting fees.  The only fee I would see in that kind of a set up is the $10 per year domain name.

So you have a lot of free membership sites available to you.  Remember your time is worth something, and you do not want to start on one system and change in a few months as it is painful for you and for your members.  A free membership site may not be free at all when you factor those things in.

Membership Site Software – Moodle

Moodle is an open source online learning tool that you can use to create membership sites.

If you get a hosting account at Bluehost, you can use Fantastico to automatically create a Moodle website.

As you know if you are a regular reader of this website, I prefer the wordpress plugin  wishlist, which can also be set up on that same bluehost account.

Here is why my Moodle Membership Site failed:

1. Too many options – and I did not ignore them – I had to play.  Too many things will kill a membership site.
2. Poor integrating with eCommerce. Wishlist auto-builds your membership accounts if you use 1ShoppingCart.  How many people want to wait 24 to 48 hours for access to a membership site when they sign up.  Please note that with enough effort I am sure you can figure out how to do it with Moodle, but I could never get it to work and I have a technical background.
3. Basic templates were terrible. To make it look nice you have to do a lot of customization and design.  On the other end, with wordpress you have 1,000’s of great, free blog templates that make great, free membership sites.
4. Confusing courses - Moodle is probably very good for a department or even a full school to manage learning materials.  However, when you are trying to set up a streamlines membership site you do not want software that requires people to enroll in different courses and such.  The whole thing simply made it more difficult to manage.

Where there some good things using Moodle as our Membership Site Software?

Absolutely.  Moodle as membership site software has some advantages, such as if you want to do assessments, quizes, have discussion boards on each course, a glossary and many other real classroom kind of features.  That said, I have found that the cleaner and simpler a membership site is, the more likely people will use it and stay in the program.