Do you want to utilize WordPress to create a section of your website just for members i.e. members only content? You’re in luck because creating a WordPress membership site is not particularly challenging. This is due to the fact that you may create a membership site far more easily using a few alternative methods.
You can earn money online by charging visitors for access to a community, premium services, and content on a membership website.
In this blog, We’re going to talk about what is members-only content and its advantages, what are the types of members only content, and a step-by-step process to create a WordPress members area on your website.
Although creating a WordPress membership website might seem difficult, it’s not that hard. Simply pick the best membership plugin, install it, and set it up, and your membership section will be ready in no time!
WordPress plugins for members only content are widely available. We’ll review the top membership plugins in this article so you can pick the one that works best for your company. We’ll also show you how to create your membership plan using the membership plugin.
Now let’s begin…
What All Are We Covering:
What Is Members-Only-Content and its Advantages
Before we get started, let’s quickly discuss what is members only content and all of its advantages.
In simple terms, members only content refers to the material such as articles, videos, or courses that are exclusively available for the members of your website.
This content is generally accessible to people who have paid for your membership program or met specific criteria to join. Members only content is often used as a way to provide added value to members, incentivize membership, and offer exclusive resources that are not available to the general public.
It can include valuable information, educational resources, and other materials that are restricted from public access, making it a key benefit for those who are part of the membership program.
A WordPress membership area is the ideal approach to making a secret space on your website for whatever purpose you need it.
Key Elements That Make A Members-Only Content Website
1. Restricted Content
Content is the key component of a WordPress membership website. The concept is to limit access to content according to a user’s level of membership. The cost of access increases with how premium the content is.
When it comes to content…the possibilities are endless.You may provide digital downloads (podcasts are a well-liked option, for instance) or simply content for a WordPress post or page. Even better, you could use a membership model to develop and market online courses.
We’ll talk more about the types of content you can serve on your WordPress members only pages, in the upcoming sections.
2. Membership/ User Registration
You need a user registration system so that users may access the content they want. WordPress does have one of them built-in, but it isn’t strong enough to handle member-only material on its own.
Sadly, it’s a little trickier than just making a signup form.
There are several access tiers for many member only content websites. Free trials are occasionally available. Sometimes, they request an email address in exchange for free stuff. Whatever the arrangement, it will require a membership system to function.
3. Online Forms
Of course, you’ll need a mechanism for users to sign up for your website. Forms are crucial for members only content websites because of this.
Some WordPress form builders include the capability to independently establish a membership website.
On the other hand, certain membership plugins come with excellent forms. And for those of you who wish to design your users’ ideal membership experience? A fantastic form builder and a great membership plugin combined is the best solution!
4. Payment Methods
Forms are one thing, but you’ll also need to think about payment options based on the size of your membership region. There are two perspectives to consider:
- Payment gateways
- Payment structure
The technology that enables you and your online forms to receive payments is known as a payment gateway. Authorize.net, Stripe, and PayPal are a few such examples. Even though most individuals have credit cards, not everyone has a PayPal account, which makes it occasionally problematic.
The manner you will charge users to access your restricted material is referred to as your payment structure. You occasionally give a free trial before switching to a paying membership. Users may occasionally be charged a fixed rate for unlimited access.
Make Digital Transactions simpler and easier with Woocommerce Wallet Plugin
Advantages Of Creating Members-Only Content
[Source: profitpermonth]
- Increased traffic and income
- Encourage community
- Make a lead list
Let’s dive into each of these advantages in more detail.
1. Monetary Benefits
A members only content site is one of the most consistently successful ways to generate cash. Almost anything can be sold in membership areas, including guides, e-books, articles, cloud-based services, and even exclusive discount coupons.
One-time payments or recurring payments can be made for goods, content, or services.
Businesses benefit greatly from recurring payments. Recurring payments don’t require any active marketing efforts, unlike other marketing tactics (like email marketing and social media marketing) where you have to actively work to get clients to buy again.
2. Community Building
Creating a Members only group is a great way to build a strong community on a membership site. When members get exclusive content, it makes them feel important and valued. This can help create a sense of belonging and loyalty among the members
3. Collecting Leads
Users that sign up for access to your membership area give you vital information like their names and email addresses in addition to making a financial contribution. For sales efforts like Black Friday sales, Christmas marketing, new product releases, brand awareness drives, etc., you can use this data.
It should be noted that you can gather leads without providing a paid membership service. Many companies put restrictions on certain sections of their websites to encourage visitors to register if they want to access hidden content.
4. Grow Your Email List
Creating members only content can help you get more people to join your email list. When people know they’ll get exclusive stuff in your membership program, they’re more likely to sign up with their email. This way, you will not only grow your email list but also can see if people are genuinely interested in what you share.
Types Of Members-Only Content
1. Exclusive Articles and Blog Posts
You can create exclusive articles and blog posts for your members tailored to their interests. These articles should delve into the topics that are not available on your public website, offering members specialized insight and information on topics they love to know about.
2. Videos and Courses
If you have a specialty in a certain field and your members will be interested in it then you should start creating video tutorials and courses. You can leverage the visual medium to provide engaging and educational content to your members, enhancing their learning experience and making complex subjects more accessible.
3. Webinars and Live Q&A Sessions
You can host live webinars and Q&A sessions providing real-time interaction between you and your members. Your members can ask questions about their interested niche in which you have expertise. This dynamic format allows you and your members to directly engage with each other, enabling members to participate one-on-one or in a group discussion.
4. Discounts and Exclusive Deals
You can provide your members exclusive discounts on a product, services, or events as per your niche. This will allow you to more effectively use upselling and cross-selling techniques and noticeable benefits like these not only justify subscription costs but also boost your brand loyalty.
5. Early Access to Content
If you are a successful author or blogger then this type of content will be perfect for your members, as you already have a fan base it’ll be much easier to grant members access to your content before making them available to the public.
This can even help you improve your writing by taking suggestions from your members plus these exclusive perks make members feel like valued insiders and add an element of excitement to their membership.
We have talked about what type of content you can produce for your members, Now let’s talk about how you’ll do it and why you need a membership plugin for it.
Why Do You Need A Membership Plugin?
Plugins are the backbone of a WordPress Website. Whether you need to add contact forms, enhance SEO, speed up your website, build an online store, or provide email opt-ins, they add crucial features. With a plugin, your website can accomplish anything you need it to.
What does a plugin for memberships do?
- Limit who has access to your content
- Use drip content to maintain readers
- Accept dues from members
- Offer specials and promo codes
- Change user profiles or revoke user access
A membership plugin is always designed with one thing in mind: helping you build and run your WordPress member only content site.
So while you can piece together a membership site with an assortment of other WordPress plugins, it often makes sense to bite the bullet and pay for a full-scale solution.
The Best WordPress Membership Plugins
You will need a membership plugin to build a members only area in your WordPress website. Below are the 4 well-liked WordPress membership plugins and a subscription plugin that works on the same recurring revenue model that thousands of companies have used and evaluated.
But first, Take a backup of your complete. Your safety net is your backup. Installing plugins is required in the subsequent steps, and as you may already be aware, doing so increases the risk of a website crash. If that occurs, you can use that backup to swiftly restore service to your website.
1. Membership For WooCommerce
The Membership For WooCommerce is feature-rich, well-supported, and easy-to-use premium solution for all eCommerce store owners to sell and manage membership plans.
It allows you to offer members-only products and discounts, you can select product tags, categories, and sections for members-only, and send completely customizable email notifications to your members.
Features:
- Show Products to Members Only
- Cancel Memberships Anytime
- Show Offered Prices to Non-Members
- Customize the Membership Plan Page
- Membership Report
- Customize Membership Emails
- Monitor all Membership plans
- Send Quick Notifications
- Membership Shortcodes
- Multiple Templates for Membership Plan
Offer Exclusive Discounts to Your Members With Membership for WooCommerce
2. WooCommerce Memberships
Another well-liked membership plugin is WooCommerce Memberships, although as you can see, it’s made specifically for WooCommerce websites.
You can create invite-only member areas, invite-only reward programs, free trials, and much more with this plugin. The fact that this plugin is an e-commerce plugin is the main selling feature of the members section.
As a result, you will be selling membership to the member’s area, and to power the payment gateways, taxes, products, and other features, you must use WooCommerce.
3. Subscription For WooCommerce Plugin
With the Subscription for WooCommerce plugin, you can enable subscription prices for a one-time purchase of products. Merchants can create special coupons for subscription-based products that are valid exclusively for members who paid for the subscription.
You will be able to sell subscription services and products through membership subscriptions and customers will be able to leverage membership discounts in the same interval.
You can sell physical subscription products, downloadable subscription products, and everything in between.
Furthermore, you can create multiple subscriptions and offer manual payment methods for subscriptions like cash on delivery, direct bank transfer, etc
Features:
- Create Instant Recurring Order
- Email Reminders for Subscription
- Select Subscription Expiry
- Create Manual Subscription Order
- Ability To Accept Manual Payment for Subscription
- Exclusive Coupon Types for Subscribers
- Active WooCommerce Subscription
- Add Limitation on Free Trial Cancellation
4. Paid Member Subscriptions
With the help of this Paid Member Subscriptions plugin, you can build a fully functional membership website with options like content restriction, lifetime memberships, levels of membership, PayPal and Stripe payment processing, etc.
It lets you offer a free trial to your customers before they can choose any paid subscription. Additionally, You can delete and edit user’s subscription details allowing you to gain full control over the recurring revenue model.
How To Set Up A Members-only Area On WordPress Websites
With the popular plugins in mind, here’s how to go about setting up a members-only area on WordPress websites.
1. Start A WordPress Site
This ought to be the obvious first step! If you haven’t set up hosting or a WordPress site yet, take into account the following advice:
Select a URL that appeals to your potential members and has SEO potential.
Look for a host that focuses on WordPress. Many hosts will automatically install WordPress for you!
You need to be sure you are utilizing the appropriate WordPress platform before you start building a membership site. It’s true that WordPress comes in two of its attires.
Since self-hosted WordPress.org allows you unlimited access to all the features and tools you require, we strongly advise using it.
You will require a WordPress hosting account, domain name, and SSL certificate for a self-hosted WordPress website.
And tada! Now you have a website of your own🤩.
2. Choose A Membership Plugin
You’ll probably need a plugin to assist in creating your members-only area, as we hinted earlier. Except if you know how to program a login form or registration pages.
You may easily set up your site using a premium membership plugin, as previously mentioned. You can get started by configuring the plugin’s options page.
3. Create Your Restricted Members-Only Content
You will need to start working on the content, regardless of whether you are creating posts, pages, courses, audio, or video. In all honesty, this will be the most challenging aspect of your membership website.
You might also want to think about including a membership directory on your website. This increases value and aids in member retention.
4. Build Your Audience
They’ll come if you build it, they say. While Kevin Costner and the guys may have found success with this, it will most definitely fail online! Additionally, it will take some time and effort to grow your following.
As a kind of advertising, several membership websites provide free content to pique users’ interest.
Others produce blog posts with SEO potential in order to attract members.
But Remember, Expecting the audience to find you overnight is totally unrealistic.
Want to know a few of the marketing tactics that never fail?
Summing Up
In conclusion, keeping in mind that the membership model is highly beneficial and continuously growing it’s essential to implement a membership program on your website.
In this article, we have talked about what is members-only content, its advantages, what type of content you should produce, and some of the best membership plugins.
Now you know how to use a WordPress membership plugin to build a membership website. If you have any doubts or queries then do tell us in the comment section below.
About the Author: Mohd Talib
