Membership Site with Wordpress

You might not consider a wordpress blog as a good membership site solution initially.  Even though I am  something of a wordpress expert, I still tried out other options for membership website management before I finally decided to use Wishlist Member with Wordpress to create my membership websites. 

Why does Wordpress work well?

Well, by itself it has some difficulties because of weak membership management.  But if you buy a plugin to take care of that issue, then you will end up with a very good system because wordpress is great for managing information and structuring your information.

If you are good at using Wordpress blogs to build websites, then you will love using  a membership plugin to build a wordpress membership site.

Wordpress Membership Promotion

Even if you decide to go with Moodle, Drupal or Joomla for your membership website, still consider installing Wordpress on the root of the website as the promotional tool of your Membership site.

Wordpress gets great seach engine results and it will help you keep your paid area and your members only website separate.

This will allow you to post parts of articles, videos and more to your promotional membership marketing materials.

Personally, I think that Wordpress with Wishlist Member is the best solution for you to run your membership site and manage things.  However, if you already have experience with Drupal for Membership sites or Moodle for Membership sites – I understand that might be a better option for you.

Just don’t assume one is exclusive of the other.

WP Wishlist Member Review

This is a review of using WP Wishlist Member for building membership websites.

First, do not take my word for it.  When I decided to buy Wishlist Member, I spent more than an hour watching the videos on their website.  They do one of the best jobs I have ever seen at showing you what their product does.  I Yes, WP Wishlist Member has a 30 day money back guarantee, but I doubt anyone ever uses it because it is an excellent product and because they do such a good job of educating a prospective buyer in advance of the purchase.

Now for the wordpress membership plugin itself, it is important for me to give you some history of what I am comparing it to.

I started my first membership site initially in Moodle.  Moodle is a nice open source eLearning tool that is used by entrepreneurs and big universities alike.  However, I soon became overwhelmed with trying to customize it and deactive what was way too many features.  I was spending too much time with the software and not making money.

So then I tried Ning.  Ning is a nice free community site and I paid a small amount to take the adwords off of the site.  Ning has a great community feel but I was not developing a real asset (developing the domain) and I could not easily structure and host course oriented information in a friendly way.

Then I tried Drupal.  Drupal is another open source community and publishing platform and I do think Drupal could have worked well, but I was forced to start learning a new technology, which I did not want to invest more time into.

Then I tried Litmos.  I really liked the simplicity of Litmos but I found it very expensive as I would be paying per person per month – and it would add a much higher cost to the opperation of the membership site and would hurt the profitability.

Sadly, it took me a full six months to realize that the best membership site software would be to use what I was already comfortable with – Wordpress.  I began using the free membership site wordpress plugin but I had to manually add and remove people from the site.

Finally I found WP Wishlist Member and everything got easy.  I can now launch the technology around a membership site in less than an hour and focus on the important things, like content and marketing the membership site.

WP Wishlist Member is one of the best software investments I have ever made.  I integrate it with 1ShoppingCart and the entire thing runs so smoothly that I tend to thing of the membership site as free money.

Wishlist Member Review

Should you buy the WP Wishlist Member Plugin for Wordpress Membership Site Management?

Instead of reviewing the wishlist member plugin, let me first say that it is excellent.

But no, not everyone should buy it.

Why?  It has nothing to do with the Wishlist Member Plugin.  Instead, I want to tell you that setting up a membership website is harder than you probably realize.  It takes time to develop the content and it takes time to market your membership site.

If you are serious about doing a membership site, then you need to worry as little as possible about the technology.  Buy Wishlist Member and 1ShoppingCart and set it up.  Then forget about the technology and focus on great content and marketing your membership site like a madman.

Wishlist Member was my 6th membership site software solution I tried before I finally found something I could work with.  I tried free membership site tools and other paid membership site options – and Wishlist Member was the simplest and let me forget about the management of membership and content.

Had I used Wishlist Member first, I would have been able to start doing more marketing six months earlier and made a lot more money.

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.