By Gary on May 6, 2012
I’m in the process of reviewing several wordpress membership and shopping cart plugins and there have been some very obvious points that I think are worth discussing when you are in the process of purchasing one of these plugins.
1. When was it last updated?
Because WordPress is so popular it is also a target for hackers. We’ve seen a few major breaches over the years (such as the timthumb.php exploit) and one of the most important ways to minimise your exposure to possible breaches of site security is to make sure you have the latest version of WordPress as well as the latest version of any plugins or theme you are using. If a plugin hasn’t been updated for a year or more then that tends to ring the alarm bells for me. Either the author is so confident that they don’t believe their plugin is vulnerable or they are displaying apathy and will continue to do so until a major breach occurs.
Continue reading “5 Things To Look For In A WordPress Membership Script Or Shopping Cart”
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Posted in Membership Sites |
By Gary on May 6, 2012
In an earlier article I talked about some reasons why WordPress is such a great membership site platform. In retrospect I was probably putting the cart before the horse as I didn’t talk about why a membership site might be better than some more traditional methods of marketing such as a mailing list.
Marketing, in my opinion, is partly about messing with people’s heads. If you have ever studied marketing you will know about the major role that emotion plays in buying decisions. So, whilst it is messing with people’s heads, it can be done for the right reasons. I remember struggling with the whole concept of playing on emotions for some years. For a while I believed that any sales pitch that wasn’t 100% fact was deceptive and wrong. Then I read a case study by Paul Myers which used fear as a motivator.
Continue reading “Membership Sites – Like A Mailing List On Steroids”
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Posted in Membership Sites |
By Gary on April 21, 2011
Whilst the main focus here at Blog Membership Scripts is scripts that allow you to create a membership site, we also review shopping cart scripts and pretty much anything that enables you to sell products or services from your blog.
WP eStore by Tips And Tricks HQ is a very versatile shopping cart script that is well suited to selling just about anything online. I use it myself on sites such as Squeeze Page Giveaways and Downline Builder.
One of the features I really like about this plugin is that once you get to know the process of setting up your products you can add a product in around 5-10 minutes. In my case, that’s digital products. The process will be familiar to anyone who has used an ecart script to sell products online. You create an obscurely named directory, upload your files and then link to them from the ‘Add Product’ screen.
Continue reading “WP eStore Review”
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Rating: 9.0/10 (2 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Posted in Reviews |
By Gary on February 23, 2011
This is an interesting plugin to review because whilst it lacks a couple of features (which I’ll mention after the review), it stands head and shoulders above any other membership plugin I’ve used for its sheer power and versatility.
The plugin works with standalone WordPress blogs, WordPress Multi-site and Buddypress. That in itself sets the plugin apart from any others that I’ve seen. You could use it to provide a membership site system to all of your WordPress Multi-site and/or Buddypress members.
The first thing I liked about the WPMUDev WordPress Membership plugin is that it adds its menu right at the top in the WordPress admin area. If you’re running a membership site then it’s just nice to login and not have to go digging through the tools menu or scrolling up and down looking for your membership controls and settings.
Continue reading “WPMUDev WordPress Membership Review”
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Rating: 6.3/10 (3 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Posted in Reviews |
By Gary on February 1, 2011
As the developer of a popular (standalone) membership script, my experience has been that there are a couple of areas that many people find difficult when they are first setting their membership site up.
The first problem is the website design. To get an attractive, professional look you generally have to hire a designer and have them create a unique design for your site. A membership site (or any website for that matter) with a poor design can turn people away. It’s the old ‘first impressions’ rule. The second area is the content. Most membership scripts provide a WYSIWYG editor to add your content, but if you don’t know much about HTML and site layout you can end up with a fairly awful looking member area.
Continue reading “Why Use A WordPress Membership Plugin?”
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Posted in Membership Sites | Tagged membership plugin, wordpress |
By Gary on February 1, 2011
A membership site could be broadly defined as any website that allows you to log in. There are many different types of membership sites.
- Community Membership Sites – such as Digg, Technorati, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
- Business & Retail Membership Sites – such as grocery stores, online music sites like iTunes, your bank or insurance provider.
- Training Membership Sites – there are many of these that teach all sorts of skills such as programming, dog training and personal development.
- Internet Traffic Membership Sites – such as traffic exchanges, banner advertising services, pay-per-click (PPC) services and text advertising services.
Continue reading “What Is A Membership Site?”
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Posted in Membership Sites | Tagged membership site |
