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A membership website is a great method to monetise your content and develop a devoted following for your company. With the strength and adaptability of WordPress, it’s simple to create a membership website with access to special content, forums, courses, and other features. We’ll walk you through the steps of creating a WordPress membership site in this step-by-step tutorial.
Step 1: Install WordPress on Your Site
Your WordPress site has to be set up as a first step. You’ll need to get a domain name and web hosting if you haven’t already. Once your hosting account is set up, you can quickly install WordPress using the tools offered or the well-known 5-minute WordPress installation method.
Step 2: Choose a membership plugin
You can efficiently construct and maintain your membership site using one of the many membership plugins available for WordPress. MemberPress, LearnDash, and Restrict Content Pro are a few well-liked choices. Choose the plugin that best suits your requirements after researching it and comparing its characteristics. For this lesson, MemberPress will be used.
Step 3: Install and activate MemberPress
You can install MemberPress by going to your WordPress dashboard, selecting “Plugins,” and then clicking “Add New.” Once you’ve located MemberPress, click “Install Now” and then “Activate.” Your WordPress website will now have the MemberPress plugin enabled.
Step 4: Configure MemberPress settings
You’ll discover a new menu option in your WordPress dashboard named “MemberPress” after activating MemberPress. To access the plugin’s settings, click on it. You can set up many choices here, including payment gateways, access restrictions, membership levels, and more. Explore these options at your leisure, then adjust them to suit your needs.
Step 5: Create Membership Levels
You can specify several access levels and price choices for your members using membership levels. You can establish a membership level by going to MemberPress > Memberships and selecting “Add New.” Include the title, description, cost, length, and any other parameters you wish to use in the fields for your membership level. For each membership level you wish to provide, repeat this procedure.
Step 6: Protect your content
It’s time to secure your special material and limit access to your subscribers. Grace White noted that you can simply safeguard posts, pages, categories, or any other custom post type with MemberPress. There are options to limit access to certain membership levels when adding or modifying material. To limit access to certain material, just choose the appropriate membership level.
Step 7: Set up payment gateways
Payment gateways must be set up in order for your membership site to take payments. Popular gateways including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net are supported with MemberPress. To set up your chosen payment gateways, go to MemberPress > Settings > Payments. To link your payment gateway with MemberPress, enter your account information and follow the on-screen instructions.
Step 8: Make the Membership Site Your Own
Your membership site can have a distinctive appearance and feel by using one of the many themes and customization options available in WordPress. You can choose a theme created especially for membership sites or modify an existing theme to meet your requirements. In addition, you can design beautiful sites and layouts without any coding experience by using page builders like Elementor or Beaver Builder.
Step 9: Configure Email Notifications
You can configure email alerts in MemberPress for a variety of occasions, including successful membership registrations, lapsed subscriptions, password resets, and more. To modify the email templates and settings to meet your branding and communication requirements, go to MemberPress > Settings > Emails. Email messages that are timely and personalized can significantly improve the member experience.
Step 10: Test and Launch Your Membership Site
It’s essential to properly evaluate the operation of your membership site before releasing it. Make test accounts for users, go through the registration and payment procedures, and check that all the features operate as intended. To ensure everything is operating properly, test the membership tiers, content access limits, and payment mechanisms. It’s time to launch your membership site officially if you’re happy with the testing findings.
Step 11: Create a user-friendly registration process
A successful membership website must have a user-friendly registration procedure, which is one of its most important features. Create a straightforward and user-friendly registration form to make it simple for prospective members to join up. To construct custom registration forms that gather the required data from your members, utilize a plugin like WPForms or Gravity Forms. Reduce entrance barriers by streamlining the registration procedure as much as you can.
Step 12: Provide Special Features and Content
Offer members valuable advantages and unique material in order to draw them in and keep them around. Think about producing premium content that is exclusively available to your subscribers, such as articles, videos, downloadable materials, and even online courses. In addition, you can provide members benefits like price cuts on goods or services, entry to events reserved for members only, or access to exclusive forums where they can communicate with you and one another. Maintaining member satisfaction and engagement requires regularly updating and growing your library of unique material.
Step 13: Implement a community forum
Implement a community forum: Web Design guru Grade White noted that implementing a community forum is a fantastic tool for encouraging participation and communication among your users. You can include a forum function on your membership website by using a plugin like BuddyPress or bbPress. Members can interact, communicate, exchange knowledge, and work together on a variety of issues pertaining to your area of expertise thanks to this. A vibrant community forum can greatly raise the value of your membership website and provide your members a feeling of community.
Final words
Congratulations! WordPress has been used to effectively create a membership website. Keep in mind that it takes time and work to create a flourishing community. To build a remarkable membership experience, be in constant communication with your members, provide insightful information, and pay attention to their comments.
