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Why restrict access?
In the age of content marketing, where providing valuable content can increase your online visibility as well as your authority, it may seem counter-intuitive to block it. But ‘gated’ content has been a useful concept for some time. In order for someone to access your material, they have to provide something in return, commonly an email address, or money.Is a membership site right for me?
Almost any niche would benefit from restricted content. As long as you have content that visitors are willing to pay for, a membership site is something that you may want to consider.What are the benefits of a membership site?
- It can offer recurring revenue for your business which creates more stability.
- You have the ability to create highly-targeted content to suit the needs of your specific subscribers.
- It protects your content against plagiarism (to an extent).
- You create more engagement with your audience.
- It offers the potential to scale your business through providing the same content to many people rather than on a one-to-one basis.
What kind of features should I look for on a membership platform?
Everyone’s wish list for their membership site is going to be different. And setting one up can seem overwhelming and time consuming. If you’re using a WordPress website, you’ll find there are a host of plugins available which can help you set up your membership site. I’m choosing to focus on Restrict Content Pro (RCP) because it offers almost all of the features I hear people talking about the most when they’re looking for a membership platform, and the set up isn’t overwhelming. We’ll take a quick tour of the some of the most common features that people are looking for when they’re weighing up platforms, and by the end of the post, you should be able to make a decision as to whether RCP would be a good option for you. Here are common features which are on many people’s wish list.- The ability for members to be able to manage their own membership, eg. Upgrades, billing information etc
- I need to be able to drip content
- I’d like to be able to use my favourite payment gateway
- Be able to restrict access on different levels, eg. bronze, silver, gold
- I need to be able to generate coupon codes
- The ability to view comprehensive statistics about usage
- Be VAT compliant
- Be able to offer affiliate payments
- Good support
- A trial period
Membership management
This is a really strong feature of RCP – the customer dashboard lets members easily manage all aspects of their account.
Drip content
This is possible with Restrict Content Pro, but only on the Professional or Ultimate license.
Various payment gateways
Yes, this is a winner. RCP is compatible with all the major payment gateways and can handle multiple payment options too.
Restrict access
As the name suggests, RCP is pretty much a pro at this, and you can restrict or grant access to customers depending on the level that they have signed up to. Better still, customers can move between subscription levels and only pay the difference on a pro rata basis. LOVE THIS!Coupon codes
This is a big one for me as I want to be able to run promotions and offer discounts to existing clients. Coupon codes are a doddle to implement on RCP. I can create an unlimited number of discount codes and offer percentage or flat rate based discounts.
Reporting
The reporting function gives me an overview over any particular time period that I choose so I can see how the membership area is performing.Manage VAT
Thankfully the VAT headache that I often encounter with various platforms is taken care of through an integration with Taxamo.Affiliate payments
Although it’s not part of the RCP platform, their sister plugin, AffiliateWP does offer this and as you would expect, it’s compatible with RCP. It does mean payment for both plugins, but for the peace of mind of not having to handle all the affiliate payments manually, it’s high on my wish list.Support
Support is via a ticket system, and when I submitted a support request it was dealt with quickly and efficiently.Free Trial
I don’t mind paying for something, but I want to know that it’s going to work for me first. RCP don’t offer a trial, but they do offer a 30-day money back guarantee which equates to pretty much the same thing.
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