Lessons, Tips and Tricks for Selling Online Content

I’m surprised actually that the socialists haven’t been more vocal in the comments yet, but someone did say I was an “arrogant ass” so I judge that as a success!

Andrew also put my interview behind the membership wall, which makes total sense since I egged him on to do so and because we were talking about membership sites.

But here are a few clips of the interview if you haven’t seen them yet. Was I over the top? Perhaps. But in the moment, I wanted to get the point across strongly that content creators deserve to be paid for their work and that it’s their choice – not the Internet’s choice – of whether to take that route or not.

Tim email marketing, membership site software, starting a membership site Andrew Warner, membership interview, Mixergy

One of the first things Emile and I did when we decided to start a membership website was evaluate the various choices in membership site software. I’m fortunate that I have a brother and business partner who is a software engineer. I knew that ultimately whatever software package we decided to go with, Emile would be able to customize it to our needs and preferences.

No software package does everything you want it to do right off the shelf. But we wanted to find one that came close so that we could get up and running quickly. The good news is that as membership sites have grown and become more popular, there are more choices and features available. Most of the membership site software available for internet businesses are relatively turnkey. If you don’t need it to look a certain way or handle membership chores a specific way, you can get any of these up and running quickly.

If you’re not lucky enough to have a software engineer brother, you can always ask the company selling the software to install or customize it for you (usually at an additional fee – but you can always ask to have it installation included). The sellers usually have forums you can access and ask for help as well. Otherwise, RentACoder.com, ODesk.com or ELance.com are good resources to find software installation help. Just be very specific about what you need on those freelance sites.

We’ll update this post as needed so if I’ve missed a software package you think should be included, let me know in the comments. Also, let me know your experiences with these software packages in the comments. These are in alphabetical order and the ones at the top shouldn’t be construed to be any better than the ones below. Everyone has different needs for your specific membership site so be sure to do your own comprehensive reviews before buying.

For purposes of this article, we’ve listed just those membership software packages specifically tailored for online membership sites that offer paid premium content to their members (articles, videos, podcasts, webinars, message boards, etc.).

aMember
This is the package we use for our membership site at TraderInterviews.com. One of the more popular packages out there, it’s got a lot of plug-ins and since lots of membership sites use it, there is a lot of help available for installation and customization. It runs on your server or web hosting account. If you have a website already built and need just the membership functionality installed within your existing design, this is a great choice.
Price: $179.95 – $199.95
Pros: It works very nicely with Wordpress so if you are using that particular blogging software to run your site, it’s a great choice. It also has nice integration with a ton of payment systems including the majors like PayPal and Authorize.net. Lots of plugins and installation/customization help available.
Cons: Limited customization available with regard to the emails that get sent to membership site owner and member. (Specifically, we wish it would send a different email to us when a new member signs up as opposed to a member renewal – as of now they look identical.)

Easy Member Pro
This membership site software solution is a favorite of the “long sales page internet marketing” websites. It puts a lot of emphasis on the affiliate functionality because information product marketers rely heavily on services like ClickBank and other affiliate programs to sell their memberships. If you know that the long sales page is the way you want to go, where most of your site that is available to the public is sales material to sell the membership, this is a good choice. It runs on your own server or website hosting account. They’ve got some great videos that explain how to use your admin control panel which are very helpful. Also, if you don’t plan on having your own merchant account, it has tight integration with ClickBank.com to handle your payments
Price: $97.00
Pros: Relatively simple to use interface to create pages. Inexpensive.
Cons: Limited design customization. No integration with Authorize.net or your own merchant account.

ExtremeMember.com
I found this hosted membership software from a blog post from one of its customers. They have a professional-looking site, which is important when the service will be providing you templates for your own membership site! They are based in Australia so phone support has limited working hours in the USA, but they continue to add features to the software. I had a tough time finding anything it wasn’t capable of doing since they recently added Authorize.net support (to use your own merchant account). It looks like this software would be a great choice for someone who doesn’t want to host their own software and needs most everything built-in to a monthly service fee.
Price: $19.00 – $99.00 per month (depending on number of members and size of site)
Pros: Nice designs. Tight integration with Wordpress. Affiliate management built in.
Cons: Monthly fee so no self-hosted option (could be a positive for some people!)

MemberGate
This is also a popular membership site software package. I personally know a few friends who use this particular package and they are very happy with it. It seems to be the most “turnkey” of the membership site software choices because they install and test the functionality for you. MemberGate also goes a step further and provides a full content management system that enables you to add pages of content easily. In essence, the MemberGate software IS your website because it includes everything you need. Because of this, you’ll notice that many MemberGate sites look similar to each other, but they do offer customization of the look and feel.
Price: $3,995 to $29,995
Pros: Turnkey solution that provides everything you need to get your website up and running including content management. Phone support (which is a big plus if you’ve ever waited days for support via an email form). Industrial strength for large membership sites.
Cons: Pricey and similar look/feel to other MemberGate sites.

MembershipEase.com
A self-hosted membership solution, this software has screens that allow you to point it to the folders that contain your premium content. At $27 we’re a bit leery about using it for anything but the most basic of password protection features. It’s claim of being “100% hacker-proof” is also suspect (nothing ever is 100% hacker proof).
Price: $27
Pros: Inexpensive
Cons: Web-based overseas support only. No customization.

Memberstar
This is a hosted solution, meaning everything runs on their servers and therefore includes a monthly fee. One benefit is that (presumably) backups are handled on their end, alleviating the worry that your own server will crash and take all your membership data with it. I had a tough time finding the link to the actual features of the software since most of the site spends time selling the benefits of having a membership site business rather than talking about what the service offers.
Price: $59 for the first month, $129 per month thereafter
Pros: Hosted solution means no installation headaches
Cons: Very limited customization, website has feel of one-person company (not necessarily a bad thing but I would imagine support response is at the mercy of the one person owner)

Vision Gate Portal
This membership site software offers easy WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) page design. it is a “software as a service” solution, meaning it is hosted on their servers so you do not have to install it on your own. It offers RSS support and allows members a way to message each other. it also offers support ticket functionality to help you answer questions from your members or provide support to them in an organized manner.
Price: $100 setup fee and $197 per month
Pros: Hosted solution means no installation headaches
Cons: Phone number was disconnected at the time of post so we can’t recommend this solution. No affiliate functionality.

WishList Member
This membership site software is actually a plugin for Wordpress software. Billed as the “fastest way to turn a Wordpress blog into a membership site. Because Wordpress is so popular, there are lots of message boards and freelancers out there to help you install all kinds of plugins, including this one. If you’re comfortable using the Wordpress admin area and you need simple membership functionality without more advanced member tools, this is a good choice.
Price: $97
Pros: Good integration with AWeber.com, the popular email marketing tool
Cons: No merchant account integration. You’ll need to use PayPal, Google checkout or other 3rd party payment processor

Tim membership site software membership site software reviews