How to Build a Business with a Membership Plugin for Divi (and Which One to Choose)

by Octavia D | Feb 6, 2023 | Resources

Good hosting, a domain, Divi, WordPress, a membership plugin for Divi, and a bunch of ideas: that’s pretty much all you need to build a business. Call it a side hustle, a passion project, or a full-fledged enterprise – if you have the ambition to take your venture to the next level, you can do it with the Divi builder and a WordPress membership plugin.

What are some of the most important things to know about building a business with a membership plugin for Divi? And how to choose the right plugin?

Let’s take a closer look.

Contents

What Is Divi?

Divi is one of the best WordPress page builders, as it enables you to create modern websites without any coding knowledge. It includes drag-and-drop builder and a visual editor, which means that pretty much anyone can use the Divi builder to create a website.

All you need is to install Divi on your WordPress site, and you’re ready to go. With the Divi plugin, it’s easy to create custom page layouts, add visual elements, and customize everything to your needs.

The Creator Economy

“Creator Economy” refers to a business model based on digital products and services. It’s been around for over a decade but has recently gained recognition due to the surge in digital creators. In 2022, 30% of 18-24-year-old consumers and 40% of 25 to 34-year-olds considered themselves as “content creators.”

Sure, not everyone makes a living out of it. Statistics show that approximately 21% make more than $50,000 annually — and that’s considering over 40% of content creators make an income from their content.

All in all, though, the Creator Economy is on the rise. In 2022, the entire industry was valued at $16.4 billion (a number steadily growing over the last few years). This shows great interest in the Creator Economy — and now’s the best time to jump on the trend.

More than 60% of people are online. That’s 4.9 billion active internet users who have been given a voice. The Creator Economy is the only natural response to how the internet has evolved over the last few decades. YouTube, TikTok, and membership sites — they’re all just a few of the many opportunities available to make money online.

Will you get super rich with a membership site or by publishing on YouTube?

Probably not.

But tapping into the Creator Economy will give you:

A lucrative way to do what you love
The opportunity to build a healthy side hustle
Make money from home (or the beach, or a coffee shop…)

The best part of it all? You don’t need more than a WordPress site to get going. You’ll need a plugin to make sure you can block your membership site’s content based on membership level and you will also need a plugin to build your website easily (without the need for a developer.) Other than that, the sky is the limit, regardless of what specific type of membership site you want to build!

Is There Any Secret to Running Successful Membership Sites?

The short answer is no, there’s no secret recipe for successful membership sites. Some of the most successful membership websites are built on WordPress, using WordPress membership plugins and, sometimes, the Divi page builder. They also use a variety of techniques to encourage membership registration, ensure they have different membership tieres, and ensure they keep their members engaged.

However, there are several things you can do to pave your way to success:

Choose Your Niche Wisely

The key to building successful membership sites is to be actually passionate about the topic you’ve chosen. There’s no point in building an entire community around something you don’t quite enjoy. The most popular WordPress theme and WordPress plugins can’t replace passion — so choose a niche that gets you excited too.

For example, if you don’t like cooking, you won’t be able to sustain regular content production for a membership site on a topic you don’t like and aren’t interested in. Similarly, if you’re not into, say, computer hardware, you won’t even be able to offer different membership options according to how advanced your content is.

Make Your Content Valuable

Content is one of the most critical factors that will determine whether or not your membership site will be successful. It should be engaging enough to keep people coming back and engaging with your membership site. Even more, it should be the kind of content you can’t find Googling — it needs to be hands-on experience and tips (even if it sometimes readers to “building in public.”

Create free memberships

Not all membership sites will want to do this, but if you decide to create membership tiers, it would be great to include a free option as well (even if just for a limited time.) This encourages people to sign up for the membership and you can use the opportunity to gain their trust. Once they have a taste of what you’re offering, you can run email and social media campaigns to nudge them tp upgrade their membership to a paid option.

Promote Your Site on Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool for spreading the word about your membership site. Promoting content and keeping people updated with what you’re up to can help boost interest in your community.

Think of it this way, if your Divi website is a house, your registration page is the doormat, and social media is the alley that leads up to it. Social media will most likely be part of your arsenal of tools to use if you want to devise strategies to attract people to your site (e.g., by running social media ads that offe free membership and then encouraging members to upgrade to one of the paid membership tiers.)

Focus on a Seamless Member Experience

Make sure you create a smooth, hassle-free experience for your members. If a new member has any difficulty navigating your site, they will most likely leave and never come back. Same goes for, say, subscribing to a paid option, or even subscribing to a paid membership plan. And yes, the same applies to unsubscribing too.

You need to create a complete membership site that focuses on a smooth membership experience more than anything. A simple membership site with clean navigation, an easy to understand membership dashboard, and specific membership features your customers can access at any time — all these things matter more than fancy-looking WordPress membership sites.

The good news? Using the Divi theme and page builder to create your website and take your membership site to the next level. Plus, even the most complex membership site is easy to build with Divi and the right membership plugin!

How to Build a Membership Site Using Divi and a Membership Plugin

Divi is one of the easiest-to-use WordPress themes and page builders. It’s intuitive, allowing even complete beginners to create modern websites in no time. Regardless of whether you want create a site for your online courses or just a blog to share your ideas, Divi can help you do it in no time.

If you want to create a membership website and block specific types of content (i.e., make them visible to just some of your members — like the paying ones, for example), you’ll need a membership plugin for Divi. It will enable you to charge users for content and give them access to exclusive materials based on their membership level.

Which Membership Plugin for Divi Should You Choose?

Choosing the right membership plugin for Divi is key if you want to build your membership site with Divi, so follow these steps to make sure you make a good decision:

1. Check the plugin compatibility with Divi

2. Make sure the plugin has all the features you need (what can you block with it, for example?)

3. Compare different pricing plans

4. Look at customer reviews and feedback

5. Test out a few different plugins to see which one works best for your needs.

How to Use UMP’s Membership Plugin for Divi

Ultimate Membership Pro has a membership add-on that allows you to create a Divi membership site by restricting content on it and creating different membership levels, as well as have access to a variety of membership management features.

Using it is extremely easy, just:

Get the Divi Content Locker add-on (it’s $29 for one site)
Install the Divi Content Locker tool on your website.
Set up memberships using the Ultimate Membership Pro plugin.
Create a new post and enable the Content Locker on the sections, rows, or columns you want to restrict access to.
Determine who you want to display the content to, either by showing it only to registered members or hiding it from unregistered users.
Once activated, you can use the Locker to show or hide content in different sections.
Optionally, use the Drip Content system to schedule the release of restricted content.
Specify the access to the restricted content in one of the following ways:
a. Instantly, when the membership becomes active.
b. After a specified time period from the moment the subscription becomes active.
c. On a specific date, selected using a date picker.
Members will receive an email notification when sections from your post are released through Drip Content.

Summary

The Creator Economy is an exciting opportunity to make money online. Whether you want to create a membership site, start a side hustle, or monetize your content on YouTube or TikTok, it’s a great way to make money from home.

The good news? Building a membership site is easier than ever, and you just need a few ingredients:

A domain
Hosting
Divi for WordPress
Ultimate Membership Pro for Divi (add-on)
Email marketing tool (which you can integrate for email automation)
Ideas
Patience
And the willingness to test, fail, and try again

Sounds like a long list? Look at it from a different perspective, then: it’s inexpensive. All those tools will cost less than $200. Everything else is all you — so give yourself the chance to really succeed!