Can You Build a Reliable Income with a WordPress Membership Site?

Building a membership website on WordPress is a cinch. Founded in 2003, they’ve had years to build a robust software platform and work out the bugs.

Here are some other reasons why WordPress might be the best platform for you:

• There are over 55,000 WordPress plugins available (and counting)
• It’s easy to use, even for beginners with no coding experience
• It’s easy to find developers and designers who are familiar with it

While this platform is a powerful blog and website building option, can the same be said for its membership capabilities?

1. What’s the difference between a WordPress site and a WordPress membership site?

WordPress is fundamentally a content management system (CMS) — this means that it’s built to help you create, publish, and manage content online without the need for a web developer’s help.

A normal WordPress website or blog is the simplest way for you to share your digital content.

A WordPress membership website is a little different.

Here’s a table comparing WordPress websites vs. membership sites:

As you can see, a membership site offers you more ways to make money online, as well as increase your audience engagement.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of WordPress membership sites and see if this platform lives up to its promise.

2. Pros and cons of WordPress for membership sites

If you’re in a hurry, this section is for you.

Below, we’ve put together a list of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in WordPress, which you’ll have to deal with if you choose to use it to build your membership website.

Here are some pros and cons of using WordPress for a membership site:

Pros

• The learning curve is pretty small and no coding experience is needed

• You can start building your membership site for free

• There are thousands of plugins and integrations available

• There are loads of customization options available

Cons

• WordPress sites need constant updating and crash often

• More advanced features can become costly

• Plugins and integrations mean extra costs and technical headaches

• Customization, without the help of WordPress’ developers, is tricky

Keep reading to dig into the details of WordPress’ membership features and find out if this is the right tool for you.

3. WordPress membership features

While many membership websites make use of a WordPress membership plugin, there are several built-in features that can help you accomplish the task.

3.1. Password-protected posts and pages

The first membership feature provided on the WordPress platform is the ability to add password protection to your webpages and blog posts.

Here are some of the page settings that are available on WordPress:

Source: Kinsta.com

With this feature, you can create a budget-friendly membership website in 1 of 2 ways:

• Option 1 — Set up password protection on the blog posts and pages you want to use as your exclusive membership content
• Option 2 — Create a completely separate website and set it to private, with similar password protection across the whole site

The first method isn’t ideal if you plan to have a fully-fledged membership site because you’ll waste a ton of time changing the settings and setting the password for individual pages.

The second option is better, but there is still an obstacle you’ll have to tackle — how to share the password with your members.

With a handful of members, it’s simple enough to send out an email, but once you scale, it becomes a more tiresome task.

You could use an email integration as a workaround, but email marketing tools don’t come cheap and integrations never provide a seamless user experience.

However, that’s not all that WordPress has to offer when it comes to memberships . . .

3.2. WordPress membership themes

One of the biggest benefits of creating your membership website with WordPress is the ability to use a WordPress theme.

These will seriously speed up your membership website building time.

Here’s a list of some of the best themes you can use to build your own membership website:

• Astra — Integrates with Membership plugins, has a free version, and is incredibly fast
• Kallyas — Integrates with WooCommerce and includes the Zion page builder
• Hestia Pro — Integrates with WooCommerce and other page builders and has lots of customization options
• Core — Usually used as an online course theme, with 25 demo websites for different niches
• LaunchPad — Powered by LifterLMS and perfect if your membership site will offer training across several niches

Most WordPress themes, especially those that come with membership functionality, also come with a cost of their own.

When you choose a theme, you’ll need to consider the cost as well as which WordPress plugins you want to use.

If you want to build your membership for free, then stop reading and head over to systeme.io. You can create and launch your membership site in less time than it will take to finish reading this post.

4. Top 3 WordPress membership plugins

If you’re still dead set on creating your membership website on WordPress, it’s worth considering a membership plugin.

These hyper-specific software add-ons are purpose-built to help you create a membership website that functions as you choose, without the limits of WordPress’ meager content blocking options.

With third-party plugins, you can:

• Create membership levels
• Build a members’ area
• Use a specific, integrated membership theme

And more!

We’ve created a list of the top 3 membership plugin options so that you can choose the right Wordpress membership plugin for you.

4.1. MemberPress

MemberPress logo

The most widely used membership plugin for WordPress is MemberPress — created in 2013, with its users having achieved over $1 billion in sales, it’s easy to see why it’s a popular choice.

With this WordPress plugin, you’ll get access to the following membership features:

• Build member registration forms and log-in pages
• Create editable member profiles and membership roles
• Use advanced payment processing with multiple payment gateways
• Manage your membership website from a simple dashboard

However, premium WordPress plugins like this don’t come cheap. How much will it cost you to add MemberPress to your WordPress website?

MemberPress has 3 pricing options:

1. Basic plan for $279/year — 1 membership site with unlimited members

2. Plus plan for $449/year — 2 membership sites with unlimited members

3. Pro plan for $599/year — 5 membership sites with unlimited members

Unfortunately, there’s no free plan or free trial, just a 14-day money-back guarantee.

On top of the annual-only pricing, this makes the MemberPress plugin out of reach for small business owners.

4.2. Wishlist Member

Wishlist Member logo

Boasting more than 100,000 users strong, this WordPress plugin allows you to create online courses, launch a monthly membership and sell digital products online.

With Wishlist Member, you can also:

• Protect free content for exclusive free communities with one click
• Drip your content or schedule it to publish when you need it to
• Build unlimited membership levels, and reward members with badges

Wishlist Member has 2 pricing plans available:

1. Wishlist Member for $199/year — 1 website with unlimited membership levels and members

2. Wishlist Member + add-ons for $399/year — 50 websites with unlimited membership levels and members

Wishlist Member also doesn’t come with a free trial or free plan, just a slightly underwhelming 30-day money-back guarantee.

With an up-front cost of $199, it’s still outside of most people’s budgets.