How to Create Paid Member Subscriptions on WordPress

To create a paid membership WordPress site, you set a goal and a plan, choose WordPress as your platform, and install a membership plugin that sells Memberships, takes recurring payments and restricts content to paying members. With the right plugin, you can do it without writing code.

Paid member subscription-based businesses are on the rise. If the 90s were all about the dot-com bubble and the 00s were about social networking, the 2020s are all about close-knit communities, often anchored in the creator economy. The good news? Creating a paid member subscription site is easier than ever. Here’s what you need to know.

Set a Goal and Create a Plan

If you’re serious about building a community, you must ensure you set a goal and create a plan. What are you trying to accomplish? Who is your target audience? What do you want them to get out of the membership?

These questions will help guide the process of building your paid membership site. Once you get your basic blueprint in place, think of the following elements:

Subject or Niche

Choose a specific topic you want to talk about. It could be Artificial Intelligence, fitness, cooking, books — literally anything you can think of. What’s most important is to choose a subject you’re more than just “vaguely familiar” with. Pick something you are an expert in or something you can become an expert in — and more than anything, something you’re genuinely passionate about.

Business Model

What is your business model (i.e., how, more specifically, do you plan to make money with your membership site?) Consider the following:

• Advertising revenue
• Digital product sales
• Service offerings (consulting, webinars, etc.)
• Merchandise
• Restricting content access (which you can approach either as a one-time payment or as a subscription)

There’s no right or wrong business model in paid member sites. The key is knowing how to get consistent revenue, build a sustainable and scalable business for yourself, and focus on what works best for you and your audience.

Type of Subscription

Have you picked a recurring subscription business model? That’s great! There are many benefits to subscription-based paid member sites; they allow you to build a long-term relationship with your members, keep them engaged and up-to-date with what’s happening in your community, and deliver consistent revenue streams.

There are several types of subscriptions you can implement in your membership site:

• Monthly
• Annually
• Quarterly
• Weekly
• Fixed usage
• Unlimited
• Freemium (where you start your members on a free membership plan and upsell them into a paid plan)

Choose a subscription model that works for your specific product or membership site and audience. For example, if you offer a course in a specific area, you may want only to give people limited access to it. If, however, you create new content regularly, you may want to give members an unlimited access plan.

Marketing Plan

Just because you have a membership site and you told your friends about it, it doesn’t mean you will have a huge number of members. You will need to put together a marketing plan.

Strategies you can use, on their own or as a mix, include:

• Email marketing
• Ads for membership sites
• SEO
• Social media outreach
• Content marketing
• Affiliate programs
• Press and PR
• Word-of-mouth

Choose Your Platform

Knowing where you want to take your membership site is very important because it will directly impact your chosen platform. There are many popular platforms available:

• WordPress (which is inexpensive and offers a lot of customization)
• Wix (which is user-friendly but may not offer as much customization)
• Squarespace (which is relatively cheap but also offers limited customization options)
• Podia (which is a great platform if you want to create and sell online courses)
• Kajabi (similar to Podia but with more features)
• Ghost (which is great if you have technical skills and want more control over your site)

All of these platforms are great for creators, but it’s worth knowing each comes with pros and cons. For instance:

• Wix isn’t as customizable as WordPress
• Kajabi and Podia usually cost more per month than a self-hosted WordPress site
• Ghost offers fewer themes and extensions than WordPress

Why Is WordPress Great for Membership Sites?

WordPress is an excellent choice for a paid membership site, and there are plenty of reasons for this:

It’s the Most Customizable Option

WordPress is an incredibly flexible platform and highly customizable. You can make it look and function as you want, even if it’s completely out of the norm. Most WordPress users appreciate this type of flexibility precisely because every creator is different — and they’ll want their website to fully mirror who they are, what they do, and what they can bring to the table.

You Don’t Need to Code

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a coding genius to create a membership site on WordPress. In fact, there are many plugins and themes that make it incredibly easy to create a stunning membership site without having to write a single line of code. All you need is an eye for design and the right plugins and themes.

The Membership Site Is Easy to Install & Manage

Once you have your WordPress website ready and the plugins and themes installed, creating and managing your membership site will be a breeze. Most plugins have straightforward instructions and settings that allow you to quickly set up and start managing your members.

You Have Access to Powerful Tools & Integrations

WordPress is also known for its wide array of powerful tools and integrations. With WordPress, you can use plugins to integrate your membership site with all the top payment processors, email service providers, advanced analytics, and more. This gives you an extra level of flexibility and control that other platforms simply don’t offer.

Inexpensive to Start

WordPress websites are among the least expensive options you have. All you need is a domain, hosting, a theme (optional, as you can go with a free one too), and a membership site plugin. You may also get Elementor or another page builder, though this is optional too. Your total cost depends mostly on your hosting and on how elaborate you want your setup to be, so you can start small and add tools as you grow.

Easy to Scale

WordPress is straightforward to scale, as it can handle huge amounts of traffic and members. This is great if you want to grow your site quickly, as it means you won’t have to switch platforms (or even paid member plugins) when you grow. You can just upgrade your hosting and keep going with the same theme or plugin.

These are just some of the reasons why WordPress is such a great platform for creating a membership site. From its low cost to ease of setup, as well as its flexibility and scalability, WordPress is hard to beat.

How to Choose a Paid Member Plugin for Your WordPress Site

OK, say you’ve already decided to create a membership site on WordPress and now you’re looking for the right plugin. Here’s how to choose the right paid member plugin without getting lost in an ocean of options:

Budget

First and foremost, you need to decide on a budget. Think about how much money you can invest in the plugin and then narrow down your choices accordingly. You want to be in the sweet spot where you don’t spend a fortune on all the tech required for a paid member website, but still get all the features you need to make it efficient.

Features

Next, you’ll want to narrow down your paid member subscriptions plugin choices based on the features they offer. Look for plugins that provide the core membership features you need, such as member login and registration, membership levels, content restrictions, payments and subscriptions, and integrations. Additionally, make sure your plugin integrates with your preferred email marketing tool and has features you can use to build a community around your membership site.

Add-ons

Add-ons are a great way to make your paid member site more efficient. Look for plugins that offer add-ons such as email triggers, content dripping, and automated reminders. These can be helpful in ensuring your members get the most out of their membership experience.

Ease of Use

Finally, you need to make sure your plugin is easy to use. Ideally, the plugin should be intuitive and straightforward enough for even beginner WordPress users to understand. This will make it much easier for you to manage your membership site and keep everything running smoothly.

Scalability

It’s also important to look for a plugin that is scalable. This means it should be able to handle large volumes of traffic and members without any lag or slowdown. Make sure the plugin you choose can be easily upgraded when your membership site grows so that you don’t have to switch to a different platform.

Flexibility

Last, but definitely not least, make sure your membership plugin is flexible enough to accommodate any changes you need down the line. This means it should be able to integrate with third-party tools, and allow you to customize it without too much complexity.

How to Set Up a Paid Membership WordPress Site with Ultimate Membership Pro

Ultimate Membership Pro is a WordPress membership plugin that covers the criteria above in one place. Every plan includes unlimited members, and the plugin has been tested with more than 100,000 members and over a million payments. Here is how a basic setup works:

1. Install and activate Ultimate Membership Pro, then create your Memberships (for example Free, Monthly and Annual).
2. Set the price and billing for each Membership: a one-time payment, a recurring charge every few days, weeks, months or years, or a set number of payments, with an optional free or discounted trial.
3. Connect Stripe, PayPal or another of the supported payment gateways.
4. Add registration and login forms so visitors can sign up and pay.
5. Restrict your premium pages and posts to the Memberships that should see them.
6. Give members a member portal where they can manage their account, renew or cancel.

Ultimate Membership Pro is sold as annual plans (Pro, Full Package and Agency), which you can compare on the pricing page.

Conclusion

Building a paid membership WordPress site is easier than ever — and it can definitely help you build a healthy stream of income. Choosing the right plugin for your WordPress membership site is key if you want to make sure your site is efficient, cost-effective and reliable.

Just remember to consider factors such as budget, features, add-ons, ease of use, scalability and flexibility when comparing plugins. That way, you’ll be sure to find the one that best meets your needs.

Frequently asked questions

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