How To Create a Membership Site: The Easiest Way to Start a “Members Only” Community for Your Content

Are you a maker, marketer, author, artist, content creator or aspiring entrepreneur looking to build a community? A membership site is a great way of turning your passion into profit, and a great way of connecting to a community of peers who will help build “buzz” for your brand and business.

I have used (and struggled with!) just about every type of membership style platform out there, so if you find yourself scratching your head and wondering why what OUGHT to be easy is sucking so much of your time…..know that you aren’t alone :)

Some common options for membership sites are:

Wordpress Plugins. (not a fan, simply because they tend to require a lot of tweaking, updating, integrating and attention….EVEN when they work as intended. Which isn’t always :)

Patreon style solutions. Can work well — but changes in fees, and “walled garden” style SAAS solutions are often not where you want to build your brand.

Gumroad. Love Gumroad…..but it doesn’t offer a true “membership” style site in the truest sense of the word. (you can upload files, and share content in a repository style setting, but your members can’t interact, or really feel like they are part of a “community” on Gumroad. This is something I’ve learned th hard way, is super important to folks who are connecting around your content — the urge to interact is important)

Podia.com — I love Podia, and it’s the best, most affordable and engaging way to deliver content, community and commerce all in one place. You can create courses, offer digital downloads, have an affiliate program, an email marketing automation system, and a true interactive membership community with likes/comments and a protected stream…..ALL on one platform. (and you own your content, and your courses, and it integrates/plays well with all of your other platform pieces out of the box)

Mightynetworks.com — I also love MN. Doesn’t do the “commerce” piece very well, but does the community piece in great style. MN is an evolving piece of the puzzle, and with lots of cool things coming, is a great platform to keep your eye on in 2018 and beyond.

(we integrate our Podia.com with our Mightynetwork, so feel free to ask if you’d like some pointers there)

What do YOU use for memberships? Feel free to share with us on our FB page, or in the comments below.