Choose Membership Software Part 1

At this point, you’ve uploaded wordpress on your website, and the next step is to choose membership software.

Note: if you’ve done this before, you might be wondering . . . what about a theme? This is one of those things we could have done next . . . but it is also something that might slow down the process of you getting up and running quickly. So, if you are familiar with themes, have one you like, or can make a quick decision, sure, go ahead with a theme. If not, let’s get the membership component up and running next.

One of the big problems I see that holds folks back from having the success they want online is that they get stuck in endless choices of different things that others do, that feel necessary. And of course at some point you want a theme. But this is one of those things that can hold you back if you let it. By getting the membership software chosen and working, then your mind becomes free to start creating lessons for your membership (like this lesson right here that you are reading) and once you have a few lessons, you’ll be comfortable inviting people to become members, right?

And if you are comfortable inviting people to become members, you’ll have a good reason to write articles, recording videos, do blog posts, etc., to get people who need what you have, to come to your website, get on your list, start getting a daily email from you, and you can start inviting them to become members!

So the real key here, one of the things that I personally hope differentiates this training center from others courses or programs you’ve done in the past is that there is an aggressive focus on getting up and running – even  if it’s not perfect yet.

And I’d love for you to see THIS membership as an example – it’s not perfect (by a long shot!!!, I’m getting the emails to know!) – BUT it’s up and running and teaching you.

And if I took 3 months to make it perfect, it wouldn’t be helping you right now.

Your membership should be the same way.

I’d love to see you up and running one week from now, fully operational membership software with a few lessons, and have it open for business.

Then your primary focus can be to get new people who need what you have to come to your website and have a chance to become members if they want.

So that’s brings us back to choosing a membership software.

Truth be told, there are perhaps thousands possible, and maybe 50 that are serious contenders.

And there are 2 paths I can go down in directing you, both of which have issues:

1) I could make a single recommendation, like THIS is the ONE you should use. There are 2 problems with that: 1) there is no ONE. depending on what you want in your membership site, different softwares are better or worse for you and 2) no matter which one I decide is best for “everyone,” many folks would tell me they use something they like better!

or 2) I could give you a choice of 50 to choose from, and you could get lost for 90 days trying to decide which is best.

So I’ve decided to do a hybrid of those two things: give you a list of a pretty good review of the top 30 or so membership softwares out there so you can see what’s available and see the differences

THEN: I’ll give you my top “3” generic choices . . . meaning if you are just starting out and need to choose an easy one that has the features you need, you can just choose one from that list. And of course if you are old hat at this and have a favorite . . . by all means choose the one you want from the big list!

Now, there’s one last step before choosing membership software, and that is knowing what you want it to do.

Which of these things do you prioritize?

Do you want it to be easy to use (and it may not have as many features)

Or do you want it totally loaded with features (but it might take you a few days to learn)

There is usually a tradeoff between the two, so while you are reading this next list of options, be aware that there is no perfect solution – there are tradeoffs.

So . . . just so you know what’s out there, study this post, and you can read each review of each membership software here (the post itself is a review of one software, but the key this is that about 1/2 way through the post is a list with links to all but one of the other reviews. I suggest you read 5-10 of these reviews to get a real sense of how much choice you have): comparing wordpress membership plugins with Chris Lema

Then in the next lesson I’ll give you one more step before you choose  . . .

And then I’ll give you my top 3 choices . . . and then you can make a decision, download the software, put it on your site, and get your membership up and running!

Sean