WordPress powered membership sites have become extremely popular in recent years and building membership sites with WordPress has been playing catch up to demand for some time.

It is probably safe to say that nowadays, the sophistication of WordPress membership site plugins has reached the point where virtually anyone with the will and a little investment can soon have their first membership site up and running.

Membership sites come in all shapes and sizes and you certainly don’t have to use WordPress as a platform if you don’t wish to. There are plenty of alternatives out there and some of these were powering membership websites long before WordPress got much of  a look in.

Having said that, with so many webmasters and bloggers now using WordPress, it is natural that for those among them thinking of building their first membership site that they will gravitate towards the platform with which they are most familiar.

There are various plugins available nowadays that can make the job much easier than it used to be and so we decided to compile a list of WordPress Membership Site plugins to assist users who are considering building such sites.

Wishlist Member is one of the better known premium plugins and  has gained a great following and a string of glowing testimonials. You can see a brief overview of the plugin in the following video presentation.

If you need features such as Sequential Content Delivery, Multi-Level Access, Secure RSS Feeds, Control Viewed Content, integrations with Mailchimp.com, file protection, infusionsoft and more, this plugin incorporates all these features and more as well as having its own API. Regular updates are free to purchasers too and the plugin continues to evolve and grow. You can find out a lot more about Wishlist Member at their website. Certain feature may require additional payments.

Magic Members is another popular plugin and many of its adherents claim it is better than Wishlist Member. That of course depends greatly on your own requirements and preferences.

Some of the key features of this plugin are a download manager, integration with Authorize.net and WorldPay, member only RSS feeds and more. If you want the ability to run an affiliate program from within your membership site, MagicMembers offers an additional plugin called MagicAffiliate which is fully integrated with MagicMembers and the WP Ecommerce plugin.

The plugin comes in at the same price point as Wishlist Member so the choice between the two comes down to available features and perhaps user interface and aesthetics based on personal preferences.

MemberWing is an extremely powerful membership plugin which combines most of the features offered by the previous two products and adds a whole swathe of its own. The power of this plugin is reflected in its price which is considerably higher than the aforementioned options too but if you need or want most of its functionality it is hard to beat.

The plugin can do so much that listing all its capabilities would require an entire post in itself but it supports more payment gateways, has its own API and enables you to build and launch virtually any kind of membership site your imagination can come up with.  Online stores selling access to digital downloads – ebooks, videos, podcasts etc. Integrate with autoresponders, such as Aweber and Mailchimp easily and build your mailing list automatically. Sell access to posts, pages and digital downloadable materials for a fixed fee or by flexible recurring subscriptions. Build opt-in list by offering automatic access to premium materials to free subscribers. Create and manage affiliate programs. Special SEO capabilities and powerful file protection functions that help you to protect your digital property against theft.

WP-Member offers a basic single site license for just $29.99 making it far cheaper than the the options mentioned above. However, if you want support there is an additional annual cost involved.

The plugin offers most of the features you would expect to find in a membership site but is not as comprehensive as MemberWing. It offers unlimited membership levels, unlimited subscriptions, free, trial and paid account types, content protection, content teasers, fall back and encryption protection and customizable registration and error messages. Payment gateway support for Google Checkout, PayPal and Authorize.net

WP-Member was once a subscription based plugin with recurring fees but now that it has moved to a one off fee for the single site license and added more features it represents much better value for money. There is a developer license too which costs $199 annually and can be used on up to thirty sites.

Digital Access Pass is another popular and highly regarded plugin with a multitude of features that rival MemberWing in terms of comprehensive options.

Payment processors supported include 1ShoppingCart (and all private labels), ClickBank and Paypal Standard, for shopping cart Digital Access Pass directly supports Authorize.net, Paypal Express Checkout and Paypal Payments Pro. There is no need for any third party shopping carts as Digital Access Pass itself becomes your Shopping Cart.

Other key features include a built in affiliate program that supports pay per lead and pay per sale so it is a good option for anyone who wants an easy way to offer their own affiliate program. The plugin also offers file protection, pay per view pricing and pay per download and subscription based memberships.

There are plenty more features that make this plugin worth a serious look.

WP-eMember is another attractive option and comes in at a very competitive price. Its affordability might suggest that it is somewhat short on features but that is actually far from the case.

WP-eMember costs less than $50 and includes unlimited licenses so you can use it on as many sites as you like.

The list of features is pretty impressive and although it doesn’t include a shopping cart or affiliate program the company offers its own in house plugins that will enable users to include these options if they wish. All the other expected options are present and correct including content protection, unlimited membership levels, autoresponder integration and real time reporting.

For a solid basic membership site WP-eMember offers a good package and you can customize it to suit your needs with a wide range of add on features as required.

WP-MU & BuddyPress is not strictly speaking a membership site plugin but we feel that it should be mentioned in this article because it does offer many things that  users might be looking for when considering their options. WP.MU is an installation and hosting service for WordPress Multisite (MU) + Custom themes and plugins + BuddyPress + bbPress.

WP-MU or WordPress Multi User offers a complete range of themes, plugins and hosting options which enable users to build things like social networking sites and forums. Depending on your your plans you might want to take a look at this option which is why we have included it here as a well established and respected platform.

This is only a very brief rundown of some of the most popular and well known membership site plugins for WordPress and there are others available which may or may not be better suited to your budget and/or purposes. If you think we have missed any that deserve a mention please feel free to leave your own recommendations and feedback in the comments section.

Below we have also embedded a 56 page guide to running a profitable membership which contains some useful information, tools and links. If you prefer to download a copy to read at leisure and for future reference go ahead. You are also free to share the report on your own sites.

The Catalyst Theme is really a lot more than a traditional bolt on WordPress theme – it’s actually a framework that enables you to do some pretty amazing things when it comes to designing and building WordPress driven sites, whether they are blogs, static or dynamic sites or a combination of all three.

There are no longer any coupon codes published by Catalyst – sorry. However, they are currently having a one year anniversary sale and you can grab a lifetime Personal Edition membership for just $77.00 if you order during this special offer.

With Catalyst Theme, you are not limited to a single layout, one, two or three sidebars, one widget area or all the other restrictions that come with a single WordPress theme. With the Catalyst theme framework you can basically build unlimited custom page layouts, custom widgets, custom hook boxes and more, enabling you to design and construct every page and post template on your site exactly as you want them. You can have an individual header or footer for every single page if you so desire!  The real beauty of it though is not just the almost limitless customization available to you, but the ease with which you can implement them all.

Firstly, Catalyst comes with 22 custom skins, which in and of itself might not sound like much, but with the Dynamik Child Theme that comes as part of the Catalyst bundle you then have over 600 No-Coding Design Options, meaning that combined with the base skins, you have at your fingertips an absolutely huge range of design options. Whether you are a beginner or an accomplished WordPress user, customizing your WordPress sites has never been easier or more efficient.

Once you have installed the Catalyst theme and the Dynamik Child Theme you can start to explore the power and flexibility of the framework using any of the Dynamik child themes as starting points, using those from the marketplace or just creating your own. Catalyst makes design very straightforward and intuitive.

At this point it might be prudent to show you an example of what Catalyst can do, and bear in mind this site was built over the course of a couple of days, starting completely from scratch after a request for a redesign of an existing WordPress website – Catalyst Theme Powered Site – Arteccentrix

You can even create your own custom child themes with a single mouse click, something you will not find anywhere else, not even with the mighty Thesis.

All the following features come with the Catalyst WordPress theme:

22 Custom Skins on which to base site design.

600+ Dynamik design options to tweak your site’s design to perfection. (no manual coding or CSS required)

Add any Custom CSS you likeBuilt-In Image Uploader to add the images that make your site shine.

Fill in a few fields, click a single button and download the themes you build. Use them for anything you want – your own sites, client’s sites etc. You can even sell them for profit if you wish.

Huge range of  Custom Widgets including Excerpt Widget, Author Bio Widget, Ad Widget a PHP  Widget and lots more!

Catalyst works with WordPress and WordPress MU (Multi-User)

Receive Free Updates for Life ( with automatic update feature)

You will also have access to the new “MarketPlace” where you will find more custom themes, skins and other add ons for your Catalyst powered sites that have been created by the Catalyst members themselves. Many of these are free but there are also premium products available within the store.

All this sounds impressive but if it’s also a little overwhelming don’t worry. Installing the theme is pretty much the same as you would follow for any other theme,the only real difference is that you actually install it in two steps, first the Catalyst Theme Framework followed by the Dynamik Child Theme.

Once you’ve done that you will be able to access all the theme‘s options from within your WP-Admin area. There is a lot to explore, and the more you look the more you find but you will also find an excellent support forum and some pretty comprehensive video demos and members support area that answers all the most common questions and shows you exactly how to use the powerful features.

Once you start to play around with the options you’ll soon feel comfortable and it’ all accomplished from within the theme itself so if you’re not CSS savvy, don’t worry. Things that can be a huge headache when working with regular WordPress themes are amazingly easy to achieve with Catalyst’s user friendly and clearly laid out interface.

I should add that when it comes to SEO, Catalyst has been fitted out with a pretty decent set of options that will ensure every post and page you write can be quickly and simply optimized for the search engines at the time of writing and can be easily tweaked at a later stage. Since using Catalyst I have, for the first time in my WordPress career, not bothered to use any SEO plugin and judging by the results, Catalyst does a very nice job at optimizing for targeted keywords.

A lot of thought has gone into the entire package and the developers have delivered a clean, logical and well laid out admin interface which is very intuitive to use and the tutorial videos are all anyone will need to understand and use the multiple options available.

For a good overview take a look at the following video while you’re here:

To sum up, I am so happy with my own purchase of Catalyst that I intend to eventually move the majority of my WordPress sites across to the platform. It is really that good and will make tweaking my sites in the future a whole lot easier. The latest release which came out a couple of days ago includes even more goodies that I have yet to explore.

Don’t think that this all comes at a premium price either – an unlimited site license for the Catalyst Theme comes in at just $77.00 (Basic Edition) or $127.00 (Personal Edition) and this includes lifetime updates. In that sense alone it is a genuine bargain. There are other frameworks out there but Catalyst is not only powerful and extremely flexible it is also fantastic value for money. Visit the site to understand the differences between the aforementioned license options which are extremely generous.

For those who need or want even more there is a developer edition ($197) which gives you access to an exclusive forum and more special features that are not available to regular members. Full details can be found at the site, so we’ll leave you to decide if the developer license is something you need.

Order now and take advantage of the special anniversary pricing options.

You Can Find Our More and Download Catalyst WordPress Theme Framework here

If you would like to see some of the sites built using Catalyst have a browse through the Catalyst Showcase

There are numerous autoresponder solutions and email marketing services available today, some free, some that cost, third party services such as GetResponse or Aweber and several others and scripts that webmasters can install on their own servers.

No time to read this post? Get Your Free WordPress Autoresponder Here

Whichever route you decide to follow there are benefits and drawbacks to each.

Third party services are most favored due to the fact that, at least with the two market leaders, deliverability is high and there is little chance of spam complaints finding their way to your door.  Features are comprehensive and due to their market positions, users of both GetResponse and Aweber usually find that integration and compatibility with other programs and services is generally high. The downside of course is the expense and some people are unable to afford or justify the monthly fees associated with the services.

Scripts are numerous but often installation is a nightmare and I’ve certainly tried a few only to find that they did not work as advertised or that support was non existent. There are paid and free solutions if you want to go this route, but, in all honesty, I’ve yet to find a genuinely great autoresponder script that is easy enough to get up and running for a person of limited technical skills and has all the features you might require or desire.

Having recently lost the services of my autoresponder and email marketing company, due to a major failure of their server and systems, I once again found myself cast into the tedious search for an affordable alternative to what was an excellent email marketing package. I wasted a lot of time trying and rejecting a number of scripts, looked at a few commercial third party services and was beginning to think that I was simply not going to find anything as good as I’d had at anywhere near the price I have been paying.

Enter the free WordPress autoresponder!

It was then that I came across the GWA Autoresponder for WordPress. A free WordPress autoresponder in the form of a plugin.

It was urgent that I found something as quickly as possible as all my opt-in forms were no longer functioning so it grabbed my attention because it was free, and because it was a WordPress plugin. However, I doubted a free WordPress autoresponder would have the functionality I needed and decided to take a closer look to see just what it could do.

I have to say that the free version will be more than adequate for a lot of WordPress users who just want to be able to set up an opt in form on their blogs and start building a list. It is really simple to install and set up and if you are a remotely competent WordPress user you can literally have it up and running in a few minutes. Basically if you can install a plugin, you can install the free wordpress autoresponder or GWA Autoresponder plugin too.

I downloaded the plugin and had it functioning very quickly but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t going to be a substitute for my previous service. Basically, it’s fantastic for those who have no need of anything more than a means of generating opt-ins on their WordPress site with a built in autoresponder facility that can be loaded with sequential messages and used to mail out to their list manually when desired. You can build your opt-in forms and use them on any web pages you choose, not just on your WordPress sites, which is good, but there are some limitations – hey, it’s free, so you have to expect some.

As a free user your opt-in forms will have a link back to the service which you cannot remove and your emails will all have a link appended to the footer too. If this really bugs you, you can pay a small fee of $5 to have the branding removed.

All in all it’s a great free autoresponder and I would recommend it to anyone who is not yet using any form of autoresponder or mailing software.

If you want to harness all the features and really have your own fully featured autoresponder which you can use to build an unlimited number of lists and forms, be able to redirect subscribers to any URL after opt-in, upon confirmation and on unsubscription, you will need to upgrade to the pro version.

Aha you say, here’s the catch! But really it isn’t, if you don’t need the extra functions you can use your free autoresponder forever and never worry about paying a cent. The beauty of upgrading is that it is an amazingly low one time cost of just $27.00 if you grab the one time offer that you will see when given the opportunity of taking the upgrade.

I bought a copy immediately because the value of the pro version would be very hard to beat anywhere. In terms of ease of use and customization options I’ve not seen anything better and certainly not from either free or paid scripts that I have experimented with. Also, support was very prompt and courteous and once you pay for the upgrade you will get access to some useful bonuses, and some comprehensive tutorials on how to use your new autoresponder in a variety of ways to get the best from it. It worked straight out of the box, requires no cron jobs, although you can use them if you need or want to, and there was no knowledge of script installation required whatsoever.

As a pro user you can import all existing subscribers into your lists without the need for them to opt-in again which is a bonus as anyone who has had to move a list before will confirm. The autoresponder is shared hosting friendly as it can be throttled in a variety of ways to ensure you do not upset your hosting provider by overloading the server with your emails or falling foul of their hourly sending limits. Spam complaints are minimized by the fact that the autoresponder offfers double optin for all subscribers and records their information upon signup so their can be no doubt that they asked for your emails. Every email includes a one click unsubscribe link too of course. You would have to be an idiot to fall foul of the CanSpam Act using this software, but for those who are new to email marketing, there is plenty of advice within the interface as well as in the members area.

All in all a great solution for any WordPress user looking for either a free or paid autoresponder service. There is a lot more to the software but I hope this has given you a good idea as to whether it might be for you or not. The  free WordPress autoresponder is an entirely risk free proposition so why not try it on your blog and let me know what you think.

Download your free WordPress Autoresponder here

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WordPress for Absolute Beginners is brand new free PDF ebook that can be downloaded now and comes with full giveaway rights, allowing you to share it freely with others.

Unlike many WordPress basics type books, this 20 page PDF cuts through all the jargon and explains all the things that so perplex many who are completely new to WordPress.

It explains what WordPress is, how to use it, the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, the requirements for each and exactly how to get up and running.

It was written in light of the huge number of misguided, albeit often well meaning, comments that are regularly thrown around online telling people “Get WordPress, it’s easy” so casually thrown out as “advice”. Such advice often comes from such a wide variety of WordPress users that it soon becomes apparent that the value of such advice might often be somewhat questionable. Someone who uses WordPress.com for example, who has never even heard of WordPress.org is hardly in a position to remark on how simple the self hosted path might or might not be and are often completely unaware of the difference. An experienced hard core WordPress designer or coder is equally reckless if they tell a beginner how easy WordPress is to customize or manage without even considering the recipient’s knowledge level.  This is the problem – most people who post throwaway one liners on twitter and other social networks do so without considering either a). the knowledge and experience of the person to whom they give the advice or b). their own knowledge and experience in relation to the advice.

It is not uncommon to see pleas from people who have spent money on a premium theme or plugin only to discover that they can’t use them on WordPress.com. Others tell people they can host their own domain name on WordPress.com (true) but do not understand that this is completely different from hosting WordPress on your own domain with a hosting company. The list is endless and it is hardly surprising that so many people end up lost and confused. As the saying goes, free advice is so often worth what you pay for it.

In simple terms this book explains things such as getting a domain name, a hosting account, installing WordPress, and the basic first steps you should take as a brand new user with your first WordPress installation.

It is aimed squarely at the complete novice although a few nuggets will also be enlightening for more seasoned users – most people can learn something from this ebook. It’s free to download and you can give it away to others, the only proviso being that the content remains unaltered in any way.

If you have an audience you think might benefit please feel free to offer it as a gift to them – blog readers, newsletter subscribers – you can even add the book to giveaway events and similar.