The easiest steps are behind you, and now its time to get your hands dirty. Creating a paid membership site is a tough job. If you think it’s as easy as building a regular, free website, well, you seriously need to think again. Every decision you make in the beginning stages will have a long-term effect on how the site operates.

Honestly, at this stage of your progress, it’s a good idea to spy on the competition. Creating your own paid membership site is a complicated process. And it’s even more difficult if you have no experience building or maintaining websites.  

By joining a paid membership site about your topic, you can gain first hand knowledge of how things operate. If there is no paid membership site in your topic (which is unlikely but possible), find something similar. You can even subscribe to more than one at time. The primary goal at this point is to study how things work.

As a member, you will be able to see things from a subscriber point of view. You can also use various forums to find out what people like or dislike about paid membership sites. Feel free to ask questions and take note of what you learn.

This is an important step that can help you avoid certain mistakes, as well as repeat things that work. No doubt about it, these steps will serve you well when you start working on your site.

Things to take note of when evaluating a paid membership site:

Why is the paid membership site successful? Did it appear high in search rankings? Did you notice ads or other marketing tactics?
What are the best features of the website? What are the worse features?
What do you like best about the website design? What do you dislike?
Is the site easy to navigate? Are there lots of graphics?
How is the copywriting? Is it compelling? What words are used to entice visitors into becoming subscribers?
What do members get for their money? Are there free incentives for joining? Look for offers such as free ebooks, reports, or instructional videos.
How is the subscription process? Is it quick or time-consuming?
What payment methods are accepted?
Is there a free membership offer? How many levels of membership are there?
After becoming a member, do you receive a welcome email or a gift?

This information will help you in the long run. Keep your answers handy when you start planning your own site. This will give you an idea about which features are useful, and which ones are unnecessary.

The planning stages

Based on your research, you should already have a strong idea of how your site will operate. Most successful paid membership sites automate every step in the sign-up process. Very few steps, if any, are done manually. If you want your site automated, you’ll have to set-up:

Automated registration – subscribers will automatically be admitted once they complete the registration process. There’s no waiting to be approved by a moderator.
Opt-In (optional) – if you require subscribers to “opt-in”, they will still be given access to the member’s area after confirming their registration.
Auto-responders – new subscribers will receive a welcome message without you having to do it manually for each person. You can also send messages to everyone subscribed to your site.
Credit card processing – this step is important because you most definitely want to get paid. Not only do you want to get paid, but as soon as possible. Make things easy and set-up a system that accepts credit or debit cards.
Password protection – the only way to keep non-members away from your information is to password protect the member’s area. Any information that’s only for members must only be accessible with a password and/or username.
Automated cancellations – you hope no one cancels, but it does happen. Make the process as easy as possible.

The Good Stuff

So you’ve decided on the basic operation of your site. Now it’s time to decide on what you’ll put on it. Or in other words, what do you plan to offer your members? Imagine that you are the member, and then think about what you would want from your membership site. Your offerings depend on the type of site you plan to create.

You may think it’s cool to include video tutorials on your article writing site. But do members really need to see you writing an article? No, probably not. A much better choice would be to use a series of downloadable lessons or plain HTML text.

However, a guitar tutorial site could make great use video tutorials. Lots of people would pay to learn guitar in the comfort of their own homes. In this case, video tutorials would be a big hit. Learning an instrument is a hands-on activity anyway. And it’s much easier to learn Mary had a Little Lamb when someone else demonstrates the correct hand positions.

Here’s a list of things you can offer site members (depending on what type of site you’re creating, of course):

Video tutorials
Downloadable lessons or tip sheets
A supply of original ebooks, articles, or reports
A supply of original website graphics and/or templates
A supply of royalty-free images to use on ebook and report covers and software boxes
An ezine with valuable job or marketing leads
A monthly conference call
Mentoring
Forums
Interviews with professionals related to your topic (example: golfing site, golfing professional)

I’m sure you’ll think of even more goodies to offer. This list is just to get your creative juices flowing.

Remember earlier we discussed how paid membership sites should offer unique, hard to find, information. If it’s something they can find anywhere online (for free), they’ll have no reason to pay for it. In fact, the features you offer play a large part in setting your membership fee.

Many paid membership sites also offer a free option. Free members have limited access to the services or features of your choice. For example, if you include articles on your site, you can give free members access to certain articles. And remind them that a paid membership would allow them to access even more goodies.

Paid members usually have access to everything on the site. That is unless you decide to offer different levels of paid membership. Some sites offer what amounts to basic, premium, gold, or platinum memberships. They might not be called that exactly, but the idea is the same. The membership fee depends on what’s offered at each level.

Let’s use Elance for an example:

Elance is an outsourcing site that allows writers, graphic designers, and programmers to bid on jobs. Membership is required before you can bid on any jobs. And then your membership level determines which jobs you can access.

There are currently four levels of membership available:

1.Courtesy Listing. This membership is free, and as basic as it gets. You can’t bid on any jobs, but you can have a portfolio and listing on the site. You can also be invited by buyers to bid on their invitation only jobs.
2.Limited. This membership is slightly better than the free one. It adds everything included in the free listing, plus you can bid on 8 jobs per month. Fees for this membership range from $14 to $29 per month.
3.Professional. At this level you get everything included in the previous levels, plus a little extra. And your bid allotment is 80 bids per month. Fees for this membership range from $29 to $89 per month.
4.Select. This is the cream of the crop. It includes everything from the previous levels, plus access to select only projects that usually have sealed bidding. You also receive prioritized listing on the site, and 180 bids per month.

As a select member, you can also access any job on the site – no matter what level. On the other hand, anyone without a select membership can’t bid on select jobs. Fees for this membership range from $69 to $199 per month.

Based on the example, Elance can charge more for various memberships because as the prices go higher, so do the features. This is a great tactic for encouraging subscription upgrades.

Depending on the type of site you plan to start, this type of level based membership may be a great idea. But keep in mind the more complicated things are, the more work you’ll have to do. Paid membership sites demand a lot of time and attention.

You will have to regularly update your site. This is the only way to keep the attention of your members. If the site gets boring or doesn’t provide enough useful information, the cancellation notices will begin flooding your mailbox.

There are many options when it comes to managing a paid membership site. When you read the next section, you will learn more about the nuts and bolts of running a membership site.

Software, scripts, huh?

After you’ve decided how the site will operate, you need to get it working. This is more complicated than it sounds. Now, there are three solutions to this problem. Let’s look at them all (you should take notes!).

Solution 1

Hire someone to do the heavy lifting. If you select a hosted membership site management service, most of the work will be done for you. This is by far the easiest, but most expensive, method. The Internet is full of services that will handle the hard parts, and leave the specifics to you.

If you use a service that provides hosting, your site will be hosted on a server run by a company specializing in creating and maintaining membership sites. This option usually requires no programming, software installation, or headaches (or at least very few). Some of the features you should look for include:

Terrific security to keep non-members out of members only areas
Templates to make building your website much easier
Automatic administrative functions so you don’t have to do
everything manually
The ability to easily edit, delete, and add new content
The ability to have search engines crawl the site without needing access
The option to setup different membership levels
RSS syndication abilities
Automatic email lists so you can keep track of subscribers,
purchases, etc…

Solution 1 would certainly give you more time to focus on site content. And actually, you could even hire someone to handle that for you. It’s probably not a good idea to take a complete hands-off approach, but you sure could get close to it. But then you’d have to keep watch over your employees.

An example of a hosted membership site management service:

VisionGate – This service handles many of the tasks involved with starting a paid membership site. You don’t have to build anything from scratch. VisionGate will host your site, so you don’t have to download or install any scripts.
There’s also no need to worry about glitches caused by using products that are incompatible with the server. The current price for VisionGate is $97 per month.

Solution 2

Purchase an easy to use membership and subscription management script. This has the possibility of being a really complicated process.

If you’re not comfortable installing scripts on your server, this option is probably not for you. But keep in mind that free installation is sometimes included with your purchase. Also, this solution is cheaper than the first solution.

Scripts designed specifically for membership site creation are great if the learning curve isn’t too steep. So it’s important to read reviews of anything you plan on buying. And it’s even better if a free trial period is offered.

One of the first things to consider is the reliability of the script and its developers. Does the product have a money-back guarantee? Does the company provide adequate tech support? You should be able to find this information by doing a quick Google search. If the product or company has a bad reputation, you’ll surely find someone talking about it online.

It’s also important to know how long the script has been around. Think of it the same way as a piece of software. Very few people buy any new software as soon as it gets released. Do you know why? It’s because new software is likely to have bugs.

Even the latest edition of Windows has flaws. And if a million dollar company experiences glitches, then you know the small fries can have problems as well. The same rule that applies to software applies to scripts.

When possible, pick a script that’s been around the block a few times.
Building your paid membership site with an untested script is a huge gamble. You need something that has been used to build sites like the one you’re creating. Let the developers do their jobs and find the glitches.

A smart move is to find out which sites, if any, use the script you’re considering. It doesn’t have to be every site on the developer’s client list. Five or ten sites should do the trick. Check each site and contact each owner. This is an excellent way to see the product in action.

Ask the site owners about ease of use and reliability. Find out how many members each site has, and if there’s been any problems at all. Some membership site scripts experience problems when a certain number of members are added. A script may work perfectly for a site with fewer than 100 members, but become unstable if more members are added.

Avoid developers who aren’t willing or able to provide a client list. They may tell you it’s an issue of privacy, but don’t believe it. Failing to provide a client list can mean the script isn’t in use, or that it has many unsatisfied users.

It’s also important to evaluate the features. Not all membership site scripts are the same. The developers should display all the features prominently on the website. If they don’t, then move on to someone who does. You could write and ask but you shouldn’t have to.

The next big concern is making sure the script is compatible with your web hosting account. Unlike solution 1, solution 2 requires you to manually install the script on whatever server you’re using (unless free installation is included with your purchase).

The bad news is that the script may or may not work with your server.
If it doesn’t, you’ll have to ask for a refund, change web hosts, or buy a new script that works with your setup. Currently, most membership site scripts require PHP. So if you’re using an ASP server, PHP dependant scripts won’t work for you.

Choosing the best script for your membership site is extremely important. Think of it like building the foundation for your family home. If the foundation isn’t strong, the house will eventually crumble. Do you want your loved ones trapped in a falling house? I certainly hope you don’t.

But if the foundation is as strong as possible, the house will last much longer. In other words, build your paid membership site on a strong foundation and it won’t suffer performance issues further down the line.
Unless you’re on a tight budget, price should be the least of your concerns.

It’s true that you get what you pay for – at least most of the time. There’s nothing wrong with saving a few bucks, but sometimes the cheapest product is far from the best. Your main concern should be getting the best product your money can buy – not the cheapest.

When it comes to scripts, a cheap price can mean the product isn’t stable or has little to offer by way of features. This isn’t to say that cheap is always bad. There are some relatively inexpensive scripts that are highly rated. The products in the $3000 to $4000 range may offer more features, but everyone can’t afford that.

Membership Site Management Products

The following is a list of popular membership site scripts.

Amember Professional. This is currently a highly rated membership site PHP script. The regular price is $159.95, and there are features galore. A great bonus is that free installation is included with each purchase. You can also view an online demonstration of the product or download it for a free trial period.

Amember has a great reputation. The learning curve isn’t too steep, and tech support is fast and reliable. But as always, make sure to research any product you plan to purchase.

MemberGate – This is one of the most expensive and extensive membership site management scripts available. Large corporations such as General Motors use this product. It includes free installation, setup, testing, site design, and one year of support. However, all of this comes with a hefty price.

A license for the startup edition of Membergate costs $3,995 and allows up to 1000 members and 2500 content pages. An upgrade is required when you want to add more members or pages. There are various upgrade options, with the top option being the global edition. It allows up to 15,000 subscribers and 30,000 content pages for $14,995.

MemberGate may be a tad expensive for most people. However, if you are interested in this product, payment plans are available. Each edition also includes online support, training tutorials, and notification of upgrades and enhancements.

Solution 3

This solution is the cheapest, but least popular, of them all. If you plan on running a small paid membership site, and don’t want anything fancy, then you can forgo using any scripts or services at all. That’s right. You can do everything on your own.

All you need is a hosting account that allows you to password protect your directories. You can then place the member’s area in a password protected directory on your website.

You will have to do everything manually. This includes sending out membership and password information, and collecting payments via the payment processor of your choice. One way to make things easier is to find scripts that work with your server.

There are free scripts available, but they usually don’t do much. So if you want administrative features, you’ll have to find a higher quality script. Some of the free scripts don’t even allow you to sell products. Instead of looking for free, look for inexpensive instead.

These scripts aren’t as extensive as those mentioned above. Instead, they are standalone scripts that usually perform only one or two functions. If you can’t find what you need online, you can hire a programmer to make a script to your specifications.

This relatively free method will work, but only for sites with few members. Once the site grows to 50 or more members, the workload will become too much of a chore. So only consider doing it all yourself if you’re sure membership will remain small. Cheap isn’t a bargain if it’s not to your advantage.

Another option is to use forum creation software. This type of software allows you to integrate payments into a forum on a website you own. One such software package is vBulletin. Technically, it isn’t designed to run a paid membership site, but the latest version does have integrated payments for private or member only forums.

You could easily charge access to certain areas of your forum while keeping others free. Simply upload the software to your server, install it and go. vBulletin requires a server that uses PHP and MySQL.

An owned license from vBulletin costs $160. This option allows you to use vBulletin software indefinitely. You also receive one year of free updates, and email and forum support. A leased license costs $85, and allows you to use vBulletin software for one year. After the first year you must renew or remove the software from your site.