Profitable Membership sites are a great way to make money online by sharing your knowledge. It’s like running your own exclusive club where people pay to access your valuable content.
Instead of making a one-time sale, you earn recurring monthly income. Sounds great, right? Plus, you don’t need to be a tech expert—WordPress makes the process super easy.
In this guide, I’ll walk you step-by-step on how to create a profitable membership site, keeping everything simple and easy to follow.
What Makes a Membership Site Work?
A membership site is basically a website where some content is hidden behind a paywall. People need to pay a fee to see the good stuff. It’s like having a VIP section at a club.
For example, let’s say you’re really good at cooking. You could create a membership site where you share your best recipes, cooking videos, and tips. People would pay maybe $10 a month to access all this content.
The key is having something valuable that people can’t get for free somewhere else. Your content needs to be worth paying for.
Why Should You Start a Membership Site?
Make Money Every Month
The biggest reason to start a membership site is the steady income. Instead of making one sale and that’s it, your members pay you every month. This is called recurring revenue, and it’s the holy grail of online business.
Let’s do some quick math. If you have 100 members paying $20 a month, that’s $2,000 every month. Not bad for sharing what you already know!
Build Your Own Community
When people pay to join your site, they become more engaged. They’re not just random visitors – they’re invested in what you’re doing. This creates a strong community around your brand.
These community members often become your biggest fans. They’ll tell their friends about your site and help you grow.
Low Cost to Start
Starting a membership site doesn’t cost much money. You just need a domain name, hosting, and maybe a plugin. That’s way cheaper than starting a physical business or even an online store with products.
Different Types of Membership Sites You Can Build
Online Learning Sites
These are probably the most popular type. You create courses and lessons that people pay to access. Think of sites like Udemy or Coursera, but smaller and focused on your expertise.
Community and Networking Sites
These sites focus on bringing people together. Members pay to network with others in their industry or hobby. It’s like LinkedIn but for a specific group.
Content Sites
These sites offer premium articles, videos, or other content. News sites often use this model – you can read some articles for free, but the best stuff requires a subscription.
Service-Based Sites
Here, members pay for ongoing services like consulting, coaching, or support. It’s like having a retainer client but with multiple people.
What You Need Before You Start
Domain Name
First, you need a domain name. This is your website address, like “myawesomesite.com”. Pick something short and easy to remember. It should relate to what your site is about.
Web Hosting
You need a place to put your website. This is called web hosting. There are many good options out there. Look for one that specializes in WordPress hosting.
WordPress Installation
WordPress is the software that will run your site. Most hosting companies can install it for you with just one click. It’s free and easy to use.
Right Plugin
A plugin is like an app for your website. You’ll need a membership plugin to handle subscriptions, payments, and content restrictions.
Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Build Your Membership Site
Now let’s get into the real work. I’ll show you exactly how to build your membership site from start to finish. Each step is important, so don’t skip any of them.
Step 1: Get Your Domain Name and Hosting Set Up
First things first – you need a place for your website to live. Think of this like getting an address for your new business.
Choosing Your Domain Name
Your domain name is what people type to find your site. Keep it simple and related to what you do. For example, if you teach guitar, something like “guitarmastery.com” works great.
Here are some tips:
- Keep it short (3-12 characters is best)
- Make it easy to spell
- Avoid numbers and hyphens
- Pick a .com if you can
Getting Web Hosting with ServerAvatar
What is ServerAvatar
ServerAvatar is a managed cloud hosting provider that simplifies the deployment, management, and monitoring of servers and applications, no deep technical expertise required.
with ServerAvatar you can:-
- Deploy servers directly on top cloud providers like DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner (Linode coming soon).
- No need for your own cloud provider account.
- Easily deploy and manage apps like WordPress, Laravel, n8n, custom PHP, and Node.js.
- Enjoy one-click deployments for faster setup.
- Access features like monitoring, backups, free auto-renewing SSL, firewall, fail2ban, and more to simplify daily tasks.
- Supports various stacks: LAMP, LEMP, OLS, and Node Stack.
- Comes with a built-in log monitoring suite.
- Get 24/7 expert technical support.
- Enjoy affordable, scalable pricing plans.
Install WordPress in ServerAvatar Guide:-
https://serveravatar.com/install-wordpress-apache-ubuntu/#install-wordpress-using-serveravatar-6
Step 2: Pick and Install Your Membership Plugin
This is where the magic happens. The membership plugin handles all the subscription stuff so you don’t have to.
Why Paid Member Subscriptions is Perfect for Beginners
For this guide, we’re going to use a plugin called Paid Member Subscriptions. Here’s why it’s great for people just starting out:
- It has a free version that works really well
- Super easy to set up and use
- Works with any WordPress theme
- Handles payments automatically
- Great customer support
What Makes This Plugin Special
Paid Member Subscriptions does everything you need:
- Creates subscription plans easily
- Restricts content with simple shortcodes
- Handles recurring payments
- Manages member accounts
- Sends email notifications
- Works with popular payment methods like Stripe and PayPal
How to Install the Plugin
Installing is super simple:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard
- Click on “Plugins” then “Add Plugin”
- Search for “Paid Member Subscriptions”
- Click “Install Now” then “Activate”
That’s it! The plugin is now ready to use.
Read Full Article: https://serveravatar.com/profitable-membership-in-wordpress/
