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Using Wordpress to Build Membership Sites
November 2, 2007
Making a membership site just became a whole lot easier and a whole lot cheaper thanks to Lewis Poteet\’s Cheap Membership Site video series. Why make a membership site, you ask? If you\’re not interested in steady income flowing into your bank account month after month after month, then by all means, don\’t make a membership site. But if you\’re interested in making some serious cash, extra cash, play cash, (whatever you call it, it\’s still cash) and saving yourself a lot of hassle and worry, then take a look at Chep Membership Sites\’ video series.
Most people don\’t make membership sites because it\’s a real pain to set one up. There\’s the enormus amount of scripts and backend techie work that needs to get done for the site to run smoothly. Not to mention payment processing and all that rigamaroll. There are tons of software products on the market today that can do all this for you, but they can cost from $300-$500+! This video series teaches you step by step how to make a membership site using WordPress! Have a blog already? Add a premium members\’ section to make some money with it! Using the information in this power-packed series can get you up and running in no time with your very own membership site. When the money starts rolling in, take your family to Disney!
The Cheap Membership Sites Video Series will teach you:
- Step-by-step instructions that will have your membership site up and going in less than one hour
- Crucial settings your need to ENSURE are correctly established to keep your membership-only materials safe from the prying eyes of non-members
- Quick and easy way to set up your sales page on front of your Wordpress membership site so that’s ALL non-members see
- Make communication on your membership site INSTANT with a quick-and-easy chat feature (Plug-In Included!)
- A super-easy way to maximize your membership profit by offering up to three different sign-up packages (offering more than one option, such as one-month at $27.00 or three-months at $77.00 dramatically boosts conversion rates)
- How to establish forums within your membership site to allow back-and-forth communication among your members (Plug In Included!)
- And much, much more…
As a special added bonus, this series includes 100 HOT WordPress Themes so you can make your membership site look sleek and sexy. And of course, this product is backed by DealDotCom\’s 30-day Money Back Guarantee, so give Cheap Membership Site a try. Get access right now!
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21 Responses to “Using Wordpress to Build Membership Sites”
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November 2nd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
I looked at this before and I found that the information he gives is outdated.
He states that you will need to buy a $25 plugin to make this work.
The plugin is NOT $25 anymore! That plugin has been discontinued.
Read about the new plugin here: http://www.gootix.com/
1 Site License: $37 with recurring payments of $15 anually
10 Sites License: $67 with recurring payments of $15 anually
It may still be a great product but I just wanted to give everybody a heads up about these changes.
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
So buying this “how to” doesn’t mean you can just set up a wordpress member site. Before you can do that you have to buy more software? Why isn’t that mentioned in the sales copy? I would be pretty pissed if I bought this thinking it was all I needed (as it makes it seem) only to find I have to spend more money to get the plugins needed to actually make it work.
It sounds really cool but if hiding details like that is normal practice then not so sure I would want to buy it. That’s like buying a car off the lot only to find a note in the glovebox after you paid that you now need to go find and buy an engine that will make it go.
Any comments from the actual seller of this?
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
2 great comments, so far, that would, hopefully precipitate clarification of the “Deal”. In other words, whose ‘word’ do we take on this ‘Deal’, and how much does it ‘really’ cost to get the program running?
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I am about to buy then found out the above comments draw me back (luckily! and thanks to mmoconnor). I am waiting to see what is the result.
Actually there are some plugins online that serve for the same purpose, but since I not yet study and test them out, so I cannot comment too much. I am willing to see whether the plugin really worth such a sum of money or not. If it cannot justify the cost, I had better turn to the free plugins and use some time to figure it out. However, the videos can cut my learning curve.
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:14 pm
tnx mmoconnor for the heads up.
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I am the person selling this product and will try to answer your concerns.
First, I am not purposefully giving “outdated information”. The company that made the plugin for $25.00 has just recently updated the product and word from them is that it will offer a lot more features. The new price for 1 site license, instead of $25, is now $37, and you can pay an optional $10 for support and updates for a year. They are also offering a 10 site license and I believe the price for that is around $67. This product update availibility happened after I told DealDotCom they could sell my videos, so not much I could do about that. In fact, I still use the old $25 plugin on my membership site with no problems.
Second, I did not “hide any details” in the sales copy! The copy on DealDotComs sales page was written by them, so I had no idea what it would say. They put a link there to my product sales page, on on my page there is this copy:
You’re total investment should be less than $100, broken down as follows:
A $37.00 investment for the video tutorial walking you step-by-step through the setup (because a single mistake in this process can cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars down the road).
The membership site plugin, which you’ll find a link to inside, for $25.00.
You’ll also need a domain name (between $5 and $15) and hosting (between $5 and $15)….which you may already have…
I beleive that is very clear that you could spend around $100 to get a site going, assuming you bought my video series at $37, plus the then going rate of $25 for the plugin, plus whatever you paid for domain name and hosting.
Sorry for any confusion and hope this clarifies the price of the plugin and total price to get a membership site going.
Lewis Poteet
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:45 pm
What a damn shame! Something that I’ve been looking for to ‘privatize’ a blog and forum I’ve recently started - Ahh! I thought what perfect synchronicity!
Now, at best, it looks like a poor job and won’t work, what a shame
So my marketing site http://www.webel.biz remains ‘free’ to everyone [for now!] who’s interested in Web 2.0 marketing so feel free to subscribe, don’t worry! When I charge later you’ll still have a free subscription.
[ User ID= webel PASSWORD = lebew] but only for the next few days.
If the owner of this site would like to use me as an example of how his offer/idea/software can work well please feel free to get in touch. That would be the best way to show people it works surely?
I suggest you contact me at clive@webel.biz when you hae a moment.
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:54 pm
[...] Step by Step Series on How To Build Membership Sites With Wordpress is the deal of the [...]
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Lewis, thanks for the post and clarification. Although after re-reading my post I can see how it would sound negative towards you a bit (or even towards DDC) but it wasn’t meant to be really. I had the same frustration with the nichology product a while back because it “auto charged” after the first month. Mostly just frustrated knowing I would get stuck with being re billed since I am lazy lol.
But it’s always nice knowing the full details and any other non-obvious cost that might be associated with a product. I think most people can assume that you actually need a site for many products which means hosting, domain and such but when something is directly related, like a required plugin, that is kind of an important bit of info needed to make a decision.
I’d definitely want your product but having to buy the plugin on the back end and having to pay extra for more than one site takes a lot of the value away for me ;). Still looks like a nice product though and maybe I won’t be so broke/picky in the future lol.
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Jesterfx, thanks for the reply.
I am also frustrated with this whole experience with DealDotCom.
I wish they would have given me the opportunity to review the copy they were going to put on the page. I would have definitely wanted them to make it clear that my product was not a piece of software that was going to build a membership site, but rather a series of videos to show someone how to create a membership site using Wordpress and some plugins. I would have also wanted it made absolutely clear, as I do on my web site, that there would be some expense involved, around $100, to build the membership site. By the way, I think $100 to get a membership site built and operating is a very very reasonable price.
Next, I am frustrated that this all happened just at the time when the person who created the plugin, and who I have no relation with or no control over, decided to upgrade the plugin, and then discovered it had some “bugs” that needed to be corrected before people should start using the new plugin. Last word from them was that it should have all problems corrected and be ready for use on November 1st(that’s yesterday), but still no definite go ahead from them.
That’s the reason I hesitated to update my site to show the new plugin available at $37 until I knew it was perfected and ready to go. I’m still using the old $25 plugin on my own membership site, and I have no complaints at all about it. I understand the new one will have a lot more features, and for only $12 more, I am more than willing to pay the price.
I will comment that if Bill Gates and mighty Microsoft can’t put a product on the market that isn’t full of bugs, how can I expect some little guy trying to create a plugin for Wordpress, probably out of a home office, to do any better.
My last comment is that I have sold a fair amount of these videos, and have not had one single person make a negative comment back to me, or voice a single complaint. In fact, I have had several people email or call me and tell me how much easier it made their task, and how much time and effort it saved them.
Oh well, live, learn, and grow from the experience.
Good luck to all,
Lewis Poteet
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:09 pm
To Lynn Terry (#8). That’s a riot. The first time I saw you do this, I was a little confused and thought you were running dealdotcom.com and you were running it as your own affiliate. But now I realize, you really ARE an affiliate of dealdotcom.com. Who say’s you can’t make money right in front of their noses! Good for you. You must of learned this little maneuver at the warriors forum.
I am not even going to comment how you are doing this, but I am very amused and your website is full of well learned lessons. No doubt doing the above has really notched you at least 20 sales a day through various affiliate programs who have blogs.
And everyone can learn alot from your website. I estimate a cool 10K plus per month from what I see. It’s not getting you rich, but beats a day job none the less. I especially like the Opt-in web 2.0 templates you bought. The Gator Hosting banner - very nice. And the “coffee” jar is really funny and great. I feel like I am at Starbucks already. I give your website a 9/10. Only because I don’t own it. LOL.
And it’s sweet the way you use the same “category” template everywhere. I bet that makes it easier for you. Truly, your own header is what sells this website! You sitting by the water on the dock. Very Nice. My recommendation: Write a book on how woman can make a living online for real. Then get some real life cases, including yours and submit your book to the Oprah Book Club for submission. The rest will be history. You’re almost ready.
Here’s a nice Tip for you and dealdotcom: Select to opt out the date in the url. It will help you optimize your content better in indexing results, because the url is also examined by the search engines for validity of content. The date tag is actually pulling down your indexing positions.
To do this, login to admin, go to options, permalinks, and select custom. Enter this line: /%postname%/ Now save and take a look at the url line.You will notice a nice clean keyword separated and readable url line in your browser. You should see a nice rise across all you current pages in the next two weeks after the next time Google comes around.
As far as the actual wordpress product goes here. It is what it says it is. Under $100 after everything. Lets be realistic guys. If you can not separate yourself from a $100 bill, this is not for you. The reason is the $100 setup is like the cover charge at the door of a night club. The drinks are going to run you $500 to a $1000 once you’re inside. Meaning, you are going to come into alot of “other” costs much higher than this for sure!
All the best and thanks showing me something new Lynn Terry.
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Hey Lewis (#10) Don’t sweat it. Make another video on “How to setup word press with some cool plug ins. Then get dealdotcom’s other membership product they were selling here yesterday I believe or the day before. Install this and set it all up. then come back with your new and improved video membership setup.
I invite all to listen to the podcast section here, and then you’ll realize dealdotcom happened much like the Beverly Hillbillies Show. Where ‘ol Jed Clampet struck “black gold,” “texas tea” ‘oil.” Dealdotcom was as much planned about as Jeff’s idea of amazon.com. Are you kidding me?
These guys have only been here since Sept.18th. 2007! They have a monthly people count of over 190K. Not bad at all! But yeah, there going to make alot of mistakes along the way. Even break some things here as well. Remember the site down last weekend?
The only thing planned here is their “damn the torpedoes” blueprint for success. The idea here and the huge challenge for these two guys is to find out what the next big thing they can glue themselves and their website to, before their own web “bubble’ bursts.
Heck I have the widget on my test site just to see what happens next to these guys! I do the same for another great site called killerstartups.com And I keep an eye on another fast startup called, techcrunch.com
You think dealdotcom has problems , check out John Reese’s blogrush.com. These guys are actually turning away customers faster than they can sign up new ones. And they are currently sitting at over one million unique visitors a month! I had to write them and get them to start paying attention, before they really screw things up and loose it all. Believe me, they are making mistakes left and right and making a killing learning what to do right next.
Welcome to the wild, wild world wide web! Yi Haaaa!! The west ain’t won yet! Not by a long shot! So sit back, enjoy the ride, becasue it’s going to be a bumpy one for a few more years.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Lewis, how is the plugin now? Bugs terminated?
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Lewis, How many videos are in your series? How long is the total time
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:47 pm
There are 6 videos and a little over an hour total time.
I cannot say for sure about the plugin at this very moment, the man who made the plugin sent an email out saying it would be ready for use on November 1, which was yesterday. If you go to their forum, several users say they are using it with no problems.
I will probably go ahead and update to the new one this weekend on my membership site, so I will know more once I get it installed. As far as I know, it had some minor problems, like most software and especially wordpress plugins are prone to do, but the support on the old one, which I am using, was good, and I trust it will be on the new one as well.
Time for me to get some beauty rest now, but will be back in the morning.
Thanks,
Lewis Poteet
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Hi seoagent,
I dont have a time/date in my URLs, just a Post ID (which has a purpose). Also, I didnt do anything ‘tricky’ here. I blogged about this deal, and the #8 entry here is simply a trackback that happens automatically because DDC is powered by WordPress. No maneuver, lol.
I’m flattered to be the subject of your post though. Was an interesting read!
~ Lynn
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:28 am
I decided to get this, it looks good, better than what I discovered trying to figure this out on my own. Only problem is I almost could not buy it because ever since dealdotcom did the major update to their site this weekend, the login box doesn’t work for me in AOL or in IE 6.
If I didn’t have firefox, I would have been unable to get this. I don’t know what dealdotcom did to their login box during their site update, but the login button no longer does anything when I click it in AOL or IE. If others don’t have firefox, how many more potential buyers will give up unable to login anymore. Before this site overhaul I had no problems logging in. I sent an email to the support; hope they can fix it.
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:46 am
A quick update on what I know about the plugin as of today…..
I received an email from Gootix this morning, November 3rd, advising me that the update version 1.1.0 was ready to go and available for download.
They also advised that they would post on their web site what changes were included in the new version.
Lewis Poteet
November 4th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I didn’t mean to be negative in my post and I apologize if it came across that way.
It just caught my eye because I had looked into the product several weeks ago. I was initially very excited about it but ran into the price inconsistancies when I was doing my research on it.
I think that with a product that interfaces with WordPress you have to be hyper-vigilant about how recently updated it is. WordPress is a moving target and if you don’t keep up you can miss out on a lot…
I was a little concerned because I know that videos are the hardest product to keep updated. Unlike with a text or software product, updating a video product often means completely re-doing it.
The latest version of WordPress was released 9 days ago. The previous version was released 41 days ago. Keeping up with WordPress will really keep you on your toes!
November 6th, 2007 at 2:08 am
Lynn,
I missed this deal. I couldn’t get the site to let me make the purchase and then had to crash early since I was a bit under the weather.
Any chance you would be willing to offer an “extended promotion” coupon? I would imagine there’s others that had technical difficulties but I suppose it could have been a personal problem. Maybe I made my computer sick too.
Or perhaps I should submit a ticket to Deal Dot Com. Let me know if that’s the best route or if you can hook me up. If it’s a no go all the way around I’ll probably still buy your product. I think you picked a great niche. Any helpful information on the topic will be valuable to those of us focused on leveraging WordPress as the platform for our Internet business operations.
November 6th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Hi promozoom,
Unfortunately I am not the author/developer of this product, and I dont have any ties with DealDotCom outside of being an affiliate - so I cant help you there. You might contact DDC and/or the author of the product and see if you can work something out.
Good luck!