WishList Certification Update

Planning Strategies

This week we completed the training portion of the WishList Certification (first mentioned in this post), and I’m impressed with how versatile the WishList Member plugin is. WishList Member can be used for different types of membership sites as I learned in the Planning Strategies module.

Here’s a summary of the different membership models using WordPress and the WishList Member plugin.

• Publisher Model: where you are creating fresh new content on a regular basis, very much like an online magazine. When somebody joins your membership, they typically get access to not only the new content that you published this month but they also get access to the content that you published in previous months.

• UPS Model: where you are delivering a package of content on a regular basis. It’s called the UPS Model because it is like a package of content that is being delivered each and every month (week, etc.). Each month that a person remains a member, they get a new download area where they can download a package of content for that specific month.

• Micro Continuity: a fixed term membership. The major distinguishing factors between this and most other membership sites is that it is there is a definitive end to the membership and it’s set up all at one point in time, “set it and forget it.”

• Modular Course: where you are delivering your course one module at a time over a period of time. The Modular Course is perfect for those people who teach courses delivered in a modular format. The content is delivered one step at a time so everyone coming in starts at Level 1 and progress from there.

• Protected Download Area: where you create a page with download links to your various tools and resources or products that people are purchasing. Put the product you’re selling into a Protected Download Area, which means that after payment, they have to set up a username and password in order to access that content.  You can set this up so that this access expires after any number of days.

• Project Management: where you create a membership level for each type of person within your company, non-profit, or committees within a community group.

• Community Center: it is a protected communication center like a forum. It’s a use of WishList Member not necessarily to deliver content, but as a foundation to be able to communicate with like-minded people who share a similar interest in the same subject matter. Essentially creating a protected forum or a protected communication area for people who belong to a particular community.

• Private Members Area: where you create an area where you can have resources, materials, and communication for a private group of people. A private members area is a way for you to create a membership where people can not only communicate with one another, but they can also download materials and resources and perhaps even interact with you or with each other.

• Coaching Site: you create a membership level for each client. If you are a coach or a consultant and you are working with clients, you might want to create a private area so you can communicate and can deliver resources and materials that are specific to their particular needs. You can also create a shared members area where if you have resources that all of your coaching clients are going to use.

• Combo Model: a variety of different elements from each of these. You are never going to be stuck with one particular membership type model. And more often than not, you are probably going to have components of multiple membership levels all contained within one site. So, be creative and enjoy!

Contact me to discuss your own membership site!