If you want to monetize a website, you will likely find all kinds of way to do it. Having a paywall and various membership levels is one of the tried-and-true methods, though, and many individuals and companies have utilized it.
If you want to set up one of these sites because you feel that you have some dynamite content, that’s great. If you go this route, you should strongly consider purchasing some software that lets you customize and streamline not just your website, but indeed, your entire business model.
Let’s go over a few things that one of these handy software suites can do for you.
You Can Use Them to Protect Privileged Content
If you get a pay website software suite like WishList Member, there are all kinds of things that you can do with it. For more details check out member.wishlistproducts.com
However, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that you don’t necessarily need to have a pay-to-view setup in place with one of these privileged content sites.
You might have a website where you are not necessarily charging people to view the content, but you still only want certain individuals to access it. If you have a religious sect, and you’ve got a website with information on your faith, that would be a perfect example.
With a pay website software suite, you can set up a membership-style, privileged access-only format. You can hand out membership accounts with passwords as you so choose. That way, if you have exclusive content that you want only congregation members to see, you can post it with the knowledge that no one you deem unworthy can ever peruse it.
You Can Protect Privileged Content
You might also have privileged content, and maybe you’re charging people to view it, or perhaps you’re not. Either way, if you get the right software suite, it will have some advanced security features that can guard against anyone you don’t authorize from entering your site and looking at your content.
With the software suites you can buy these days, you can utilize built-in, top-of-the-line security features. You’ll want to have those in place either to make sure that no one is cheating you by bypassing your paywall, or else they are seeing content that you only want a privileged few to be able to read, interact with, or watch.
You Can Sell Digital Products Using These Software Suites
You may also use these software suites not just to set up a members-only system but also to sell digital products. Maybe you have someone who buys into your pay-only website, and now they can access much of your valuable content. However, they cannot access it all.
You might also have additional website content or products that these members need to pay an extra fee to access. You could have an exclusive eBook that they can only buy once they get past the initial paywall.
You might have a course that teaches them some skills or facts that they didn’t otherwise know. Maybe it’s highly interactive. Your course behind the paywall might teach them how to skin a deer, knit a sweater, succeed at blackjack, or just about anything else of which you can conceive.
You might even sell individual or exclusive WordPress blog posts. Because these are frequently WordPress-compatible software programs, you can use the suite to create super exclusive content on which you place a premium.
You might market these individual blog posts as though they are incredibly valuable. You can say something like, “if you want the secret to my success, pay this one-time fee.” If you have a devoted following, many of them might be willing to pay a high price to access what they perceive to be this highly valuable content.
You Can Set Up a Monthly Membership Payment Format
One simple but effective thing to do with a membership site software suite is to set up a recurring membership payment plan. It’s best if you make it automatic. That way, you already have the customer’s credit card number or some other payment method, and you can charge them each month without needing their permission every time.
If you want to do that, though, you should make sure that you have exclusive new content every month, or every week, quarter, or some other period if you’d prefer to do it that way. Every time the new payment cycle comes up, you need to give your clients the impression that you have some stimulating new content that they can’t do without.
You can also have many specific pricing tiers that allow your clients past different paywalls. The only way you can successfully pull that off, though, is if you can convince them that what you have behind each wall is worth it.
You Can Automate the Membership Workflow
If you don’t get a suitable membership site software suite, you might have a labor-intensive setup that takes up much of your time. For instance, you might have to process credit card payments and meticulously update your site content.
You can automate virtually everything having to do with your site if you get the right software. You can also allow your site to function along with a wide third-party integration variety.
If your site can function with third-party integrations, you can set up highly complex membership tiers. You can have as many pay levels as you like, and you can customize a member package based on the choices that they make. This way, if a customer wants some of your content and services but is not interested in the others, you can cater to their buying experience so that you won’t lose them.
When you get the right software suite, having a privileged-access site is far simpler than you could have imagined. You can either charge people or not, and you can either make money or create a community of like-minded individuals either for business or a hobby you all enjoy.
