After 15 years of building websites, I‘ve learned that membership sites are one of the most powerful online business models for predictable recurring revenue.
In this ultimate guide, I‘ll share everything I wish I knew when starting out to help you successfully create your own profitable WordPress membership site.
Contents
- Why Every Blogger Needs a Membership Site
- How To Choose The Right Membership Plugin
- Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your WordPress Membership Site
- Step 1: Get WordPress Hosting
- Step 2: Install and Activate MemberPress
- Step 3: Set Up Your Payment Method
- Step 4: Create Your Membership Plans
- Step 5: Configure Membership Access Rules
- Step 6: Add Member Registration Forms
- Step 7: Create Members-Only Content
- Step 8: Customize the Look and Branding
- Step 9: Promote Your Membership Plans
- Step 10: Configure Email Notifications
- Step 11: Analyze Performance and Optimize
- Conclusion
Why Every Blogger Needs a Membership Site
A membership site allows creators to monetize their content by charging subscribers for access. But they provide so much more value beyond direct revenue:
Recurring Revenue
The primary benefit of a membership site is predictable recurring revenue.
Unlike ad income which fluctuates, membership fees come in month after month providing a reliable cash flow stream. This revenue stability helps smooth out income swings from other sources.
According to a Price Intelligently study, companies with subscription revenue have 22% higher average revenue compared to non-subscription businesses.
Higher Customer Lifetime Value
Members tend to spend more money over the lifetime of their membership compared to non-members.
- eCommerce sites make on average $183 per year from non-members.
- For members, this number nearly doubles to $371 per year according to Outbound Engine.
Higher lifetime value allows you to aggressively spend more on member acquisition.
Deeper Engagement
Members have invested their hard-earned money into your business. Naturally, they‘ll engage more with your content.
You can leverage this engagement by using members for case studies, testimonials, and feedback to improve further.
Paying users are also more willing to share your content acting as evangelists. Member referrals can become a significant source of new signups.
Less Reliance on Ads
Online ads are an unreliable income source. Their performance varies significantly based on competition, targeting, and platforms.
Membership fees remain consistent irrespective of the ad environment. This makes memberships ideal for insulating yourself from ad volatility.
The average site makes $7.6 CPM from display ads. Compare this to ~$100 per month from subscription revenue.
More User Data
Members provide much more information about themselves like email, location, and purchase history.
This data is invaluable for segmenting users and tailoring content & offers to them.
Cathartic Business Model
Subscriptions are a more ethical and sustainable way to earn from users who value your content.
It removes the incentive to create clickbait content that gaming advertising systems.
Users tolerate ads but they actively want to pay for memberships to remove ads and support creators.
How To Choose The Right Membership Plugin
Now that you‘re convinced about starting a membership site, let‘s talk about the best way to create one with WordPress.
The easiest way is to use a purpose-built membership plugin that handles all the functionality needed including access control, payments, emails, etc.
Here are the best membership plugins for WordPress:
1. MemberPress
MemberPress is the most popular paid membership plugin for WordPress. Here‘s why I recommend it:
- Easy to use drag and drop interface.
- One-time and recurring payment options.
- Powerful membership access restriction rules.
- Email customization for sender details and messages.
- Coupons and affiliate management.
- Detailed member analytics and reports.
- Works with all major page builders.
The only downside is the price. MemberPress starts at $199 for a single site license.
But if you can afford it, MemberPress is 100% worth the investment and will pay for itself quickly through membership revenue.
2. Paid Memberships Pro
Paid Memberships Pro (PMP) is a full-featured membership plugin for WordPress that is 100% free.
It has all the essential membership features including:
- Payment processing via Stripe or PayPal.
- Unlimited subscription levels creation.
- Content restriction for members-only.
- Member management and analytics.
- Membership signup and login forms.
The interface is not as intuitive as MemberPress but the plugin is free. For most bloggers PMP should work fine especially when starting out.
3. WishList Member
WishList Member is a popular membership solution that competes directly with MemberPress.
It has been around for over 10 years and is known for advanced access rules and drip content features.
Other key features include:
- Flexible membership packages.
- Email automation for onboarding.
- Forums and community capabilities.
- Detailed analytics on membership data.
The biggest downside is the high price. Wishlist Member starts at $297 for one site making it more expensive than MemberPress.
For large membership sites, WishList may be worth the premium. But MemberPress offers the best bang for buck for most users.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your WordPress Membership Site
Once you have picked your membership plugin (MemberPress in our case), it‘s time to setup your membership site.
Follow these 11 steps to get your membership site up and running:
Step 1: Get WordPress Hosting
Since we‘ll build our membership site with WordPress, you need to first get WordPress hosting.
Here are the best options:
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Bluehost: Officially recommended WordPress hosting. Best value with prices starting at $2.75/month. Free domain name and SSL certificate included.
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SiteGround: Fastest WordPress hosting. Prices start at $6.99/month. Free CDN and SSL.
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WPX Hosting: Blazing fast speeds with custom built infrastructure. Prices start at $24.50/month.
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Kinsta: Best managed WordPress hosting. Prices start at $30/month. Free SSL certificate.
Read our guide on choosing the best WordPress hosting for more details.
Once you have WordPress hosting, install WordPress with a few clicks. Most hosts provide 1-click WordPress install.
Step 2: Install and Activate MemberPress
Now it‘s time to install and activate MemberPress to turn your WordPress site into a membership site.
Go to Plugins » Add New and search for ‘MemberPress‘. Install and activate it.
Upon activation, MemberPress will add a ‘Memberships‘ menu to your WordPress dashboard. This is where you will configure all aspects of your membership site.
Next, go to the MemberPress settings. Enter your license key under Account to activate MemberPress.
Step 3: Set Up Your Payment Method
To collect membership fees, you need to set up a payment gateway in MemberPress.
Under the ‘Payments‘ settings, click on ‘Add Payment Method‘ and select a payment processor:
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Stripe: Preferred choice for credit card payments. Low fees with high conversion rates.
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PayPal: Convenient option for users who prefer PayPal. But slightly higher fees.
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Authorize.net: Better for higher risk businesses like online pharmacies, betting sites, etc.
Enter the API keys and required credentials to connect your payment processor with MemberPress.
You can add multiple payment methods to offer users choice during checkout.
Step 4: Create Your Membership Plans
Now it‘s time to create some membership plans that users can sign up for.
Go to Memberships » Add New and start making your first membership plan.
Give the membership a title and description. Make sure to highlight the value users get from this plan.
Set the billing details like one-time or recurring payment under ‘Membership Terms‘.
You can create multiple plans like Free, Silver, Gold, etc with different access permissions.
According to Price Intelligently, the median number of pricing tiers is 4.
Step 5: Configure Membership Access Rules
Next, you need to configure access rules for your membership plans.
Go to ‘Rules‘ and select content that should only be available to members of a particular plan.
For example:
- Make posts with a certain category visible to only Gold members.
- Allow only paying members to access your podcast episodes.
- Give members exclusive discount coupons.
Use multiple rules for fine-grained control over access permissions. This lets you tailor benefits of each plan.
Example of setting up membership access rules.
Step 6: Add Member Registration Forms
To allow users to signup, you need to add MemberPress registration forms to your site.
Go to Appearance » Widgets and add the ‘MemberPress Register Form‘ widget to your sidebar.
You can also insert a registration form into any post or page using the [mepr-signup-form] shortcode.
Make sure to place registration forms prominently above the fold to boost conversions.
Step 7: Create Members-Only Content
Now it‘s time to create some members-only content restricted by the rules you made earlier.
Simply create a new post and assign it to a category limited to paying members.
You can also create an entire members-only section using Page Builders. Or with the [mepr-restrict] shortcode to easily hide content from non-members.
According to MarketingExperiments, gating just 10% of content can boost conversions by 300%.
Step 8: Customize the Look and Branding
To match the membership site with your brand, you can customize the look of MemberPress.
Under ‘Settings‘, go to the ‘Styling‘ tab to add custom CSS styles.
For example, you can modify:
- Colors
- Borders
- Font sizes
- Padding
- Page layout
For more styling flexibility, consider using a MemberPress compatible WordPress theme like Memberlite. This gives you full control over the site‘s design.
Step 9: Promote Your Membership Plans
With your membership site ready, it‘s time to attract users by promoting your membership plans.
Here are some proven tactics to get members:
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Create dedicated pricing and sales page clearly highlighting membership benefits
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Build email lists and send promotional newsletters
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Partner with influencers and brands to cross-promote
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Add testimonials and social proof elements
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Run limited time discounts and promotions
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Repurpose evergreen content into lead magnets
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Create teaser content that gives a preview of members-only areas
Referral programs are also effective. Offer existing members an incentive to share your site.
Step 10: Configure Email Notifications
MemberPress will send various emails to members over their lifecycle like after signup, expiration notice, etc.
You can customize these automated emails to match your branding.
Go to MemberPress » Emails tab to edit the look, content, and sender details for each email.
Make sure to click ‘Send Test Email‘ when previewing to ensure emails are being delivered successfully.
Step 11: Analyze Performance and Optimize
Continuously monitor analytics to identify opportunities for growth and improvement in your membership site.
Tools like Google Analytics and MonsterInsights make it easy to track membership site metrics in WordPress.
Analyze conversion funnel data to:
- Optimize pricing plans
- Improve messaging
- Identify popular content to create more of
- See demographic and buyer persona insights
- Personalize user experience
- Reduce churn
Small tweaks informed by data can greatly boost your membership revenue.
Conclusion
Building a WordPress membership site takes some effort but the long-term payoff is worth it.
Follow the steps in this guide, implement proven promotion strategies, and keep optimizing based on data.
While there is no "magic bullet", membership sites built the right way can become a significant source of recurring revenue.
You have all the tools and information needed to succeed. Now go unleash the power of memberships!
