Key Points
Creating a membership is an effective way to increase income regardless of the type of business you are in. You can generate recurring revenue, get ongoing support from your audience, and expand your brand influence. You can use membership to sell online courses, tutoring, and anything else you can imagine.
Creating a fully functional membership website with WordPress is very easy. In fact, you only need a plugin to get the entire WordPress membership website up and running in less than an hour.
In this guide, I will explore the different options for creating a WordPress membership website and then show you how to set it up accurately.
WordPress membership plugin for you?
There are several powerful membership plugins on the market, all of which offer a lot of features. Here is a brief overview of some of the most popular choices:
s2member gives you everything you need to start a membership website with WordPress. It provides you with a variety of customizable options, integrates well with PayPal, and uses shortcodes to make the whole process as simple as possible. It has a free and paid version, but the free version has enough features for you to get started.
The team behind the Membership plugin has reworked it to the current version of Membership 2. This plugin contains all the features you expect from a membership plugin: access to downloads, automatic recurring payments, paywall options, and a variety of member types, including staged content membership. Although there is a professional version, the free version is a great framework that doesn't cost a penny.
As the name suggests, this plugin provides a simple solution for WordPress-based membership websites. It has all the fancy features including various membership levels, recurring payments and PayPal integration. A unique feature of this plugin is the login widget you can place in the sidebar so members can easily access their accounts.
There are several other options, but these three are the most popular contenders. In this guide, we will choose s2member as our plugin, but any membership plugin you use should have similar features.
Start
After installing and activating the plugin, the first step is to set up basic membership. There are some important decisions you need to make here:
After answering these questions, you can make these answers realistic in a few steps. You can complete these steps in any order.
As mentioned above, in this tutorial, we will use s2member.
The membership options page is a page on the website where readers can purchase membership. You need to create a new page for this. s2member recommends naming it "Member Registration", but you can name it as you like.
After creating the page, you can adjust your options in the "Member Options Page" section of s2member. Navigate to the s2member > General Options > Member Options page. Make sure the Member Options page is correct and you are ready to go.
Go to s2member > General Options > Log in to the welcome page. Like the member page, you can create a new page that members will see after logging in. Alternatively, you can specify a redirect URL. If you have difficulty, s2member also provides useful knowledge base articles here.
Go to s2member > General Options > Registration/Profile fields and options. Here you can customize the registration process that new members will go through. You can set custom fields, switch custom passwords, select minimum password length, force personal emails, and more.
This step is optional. It allows you to change the design of the login interface. The user will log in like you at http://yoursite.com/wp-login.php. If you want the advantage of aesthetics, this is the page for you. You can change fonts and colors, insert your logo, and create custom footers.
It's time to create the different memberships you will offer. In s2member you can do this by going to s2member > General Options > Member Level/Tag. Here you can create specific memberships for different levels of access. s2member allows you to allow free membership, and it also has 4 levels of paid membership. (You will find out how these work later.)
Now, select the number of memberships you will have. Then decide what types of content each level will have. You will use this information later.
s2member works with PayPal, one of the most popular payment processors among most member plugins. In s2member, you can link your PayPal account by going to the s2member > PayPal option. In the PayPal Account Details tab, you need to enter your basic details such as your PayPal email, merchant ID, and API credentials.
Next, go to PayPal PDT/auto-return integration. You need to find your PDT identity token on PayPal, but don't worry - s2member will friendly tell you where to find it.
You can also change the registration confirmation email, post/page confirmation email and change the EOT (end of term) behavior. Modifying EOT behavior is crucial because you can decide what happens after the client’s membership is over.
Now, you need to create a specific purchase button that members can use to register. Navigate to the s2member > PayPal button. s2member is all-encompassing; it provides you with a custom button generator for every member level.
To create a Level 1 button, click the "Level #1 Access Button". You will see the button generator. Change the options to reflect the price and duration of your Level #1 member and click Generate Button Code. The code will be displayed in the WordPress shortcode section below the form. Copy this code and paste it on the page you created for your new member registration. When readers visit the page, they will see a custom PayPal button. You need to add some text to describe membership.
You can then simply repeat this for levels #2, #3, and #4. You can choose to put all PayPal buttons on the same page, or use different pages for different levels of membership.
Recalling the page you set up before - your membership registration and login welcome page. Make sure these pages are in line with your preferences.
Whenever you create a page or post, you will see the s2member protected section in the upper right corner. Here you can choose which levels of members can see the content. You are primarily concerned with restrictive options because customization is beyond the scope of this guide.
It is important to note that if you make the content available to a specific level, all higher-level members can view it as well. So if you post and need a Level #3 membership, Level #4 members can see it too.
Use the protection function of s2member, you can choose from multiple ways to display content. You can create a completely member-only website so that people have to register to view content, or you can post public and member-only content.
Conclusion
That's it - you now have a runnable membership website and it's done in less than an hour. I didn't cover all the features and can tweak more if you prefer. The content you have now is fully functional and ready to sign up for new members.
Please tell us in the comments below what is your favorite membership plugin and why?
Frequently Asked Questions about Setting Up WordPress Membership Website
Security is a key aspect of any member website. You can keep WordPress membership websites secure by using secure hosting providers, installing security plugins, and regularly updating your WordPress cores, themes, and plugins. Also, use strong passwords and two-factor authentication for enhanced security. Back up your website regularly to ensure you can recover quickly in the event of any security breach.
Yes, you can integrate various payment gateways into your WordPress membership site. Most member plugins support popular payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net. This allows you to accept member payments safely and easily.
Managing membership subscriptions includes tracking registration, renewal, cancellation and payment. Most WordPress membership plugins offer the ability to manage subscriptions, including automatic email notifications, renewal reminders, and detailed reports.
Yes, you can offer different membership levels on your WordPress membership website. This allows you to provide different content and benefits to different members based on the subscription level of your member. You can set membership levels using the membership plugin.
You can use the membership plugin to restrict access to content on WordPress membership websites. This allows you to control what members can access based on their subscription level. You can restrict access to posts, pages, categories, tags, and even posts and specific content sections within a page.
Yes, you can customize the registration and login forms on your WordPress membership website. Most membership plugins allow you to add custom fields, change layouts, and style the form to match the design of your website.
Processing member communications includes sending welcome emails, renewal reminders and other notifications. Most WordPress membership plugins offer the ability to manage member communication, including customizable email templates and automatic email notifications.
Yes, you can offer trial membership on the WordPress membership site. This allows potential members to try out your content and benefits before committing to becoming a full member. You can set up trial membership using the membership plugin.
Tracking the performance of WordPress membership websites includes monitoring registration, renewal, cancellation, and revenue. Most WordPress membership plugins provide detailed reports that allow you to track these metrics over time.
Yes, you can integrate your WordPress membership website with other tools and services. Most WordPress membership plugins support integration with email marketing services, CRM systems, and other tools. This allows you to automate tasks, simplify workflows, and enhance the functionality of your website.
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