The kind of membership site software you should choose ultimately depends on your budget, and whether it can cater to the needs of your membership site. Broadly speaking, most membership site managers are similar, although there are some strong differences in price.
Some scripts do offer more unusual features, like viral marketing. It's a matter of weighing up whether a particular software solution can meet your needs, and your budget, the best. You may find some do everything you ask for, or it might be a case where you settle on the one that does the most important things. This requires you to have some understanding up-front on what your needs will be.
What Kind Of Membership Site Do You Want To Set Up?
In terms of choosing membership site software, you don't have to have a complete understanding of how you will present your membership site. The main question you need to answer is, do you need a content management system, or are you just offering a monthly download?
If you're just offering a monthly download, with a few links and perhaps some basic information with regards an affiliate program, or a few other pages, then a simple membership script is all you'll want. Your membership script just needs to take care of the administrative tasks of processing payments and member details, issuing passwords, controlling access to your site, providing lost passwords, keeping track of cancellations and failed payments, and managing recurring subscriptions. These simple scripts are at the low end of the market in terms of their cost.
If you're going to build up a repository of content - whether that is audio, video, articles, reports, courses, or ebooks - you'll need a way to organize that information meaningfully. This type of membership site will grow large quite quickly. If content isn't organized in a logical way, your members won't be able to find things easily. This will mean more customer service work for you, and some very frustrated members who don't appreciate the value you're giving them.
An integrated content management system is needed for larger sites. This allows you to categorize your content, and should provide a search feature. The mid to high range membership site managers usually include a content management system. The better ones also allow you to set multiple levels of membership. This is where you can designate certain content to be available for each tier of members. You might offer some free content in order to build a large list of prospects. And an introductory membership with less features and content. Then you could offer a premium membership that has everything.
Building Community
Whether you want to set up a simple or content-filled membership site, building a sense of community is crucial. Along with good content, it helps keeps your members subscribed for longer.
There are a number of ways to build community. The first, is by having a forum installed. Although forums take a little bit extra work to moderate and answer questions, they should be part of your membership site. Most membership scripts, especially those that include a content management system, include forum software.
Other ways to build community include conference calls, and web conferencing. These don't matter so much at the level of choosing a membership script, however.
Membership site software solutions offer a huge range of features. In deciding what is most important to you, it helps to write down a list of everything you need, and then divide that list into the essential and non-essential category. That way, you'll be able to see quickly whether a membership site manager has the features you really need, for a price you're willing to pay.
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