WordPress plugins are a very tough niche to be in for plugin developers.
There are not only plenty of options for each requirement, but many are either free or cheap.
But there’s a lot more to a membership plugin than just price. And it’s not just about just accepting payment and protecting content either.
Almost everyone starts off thinking “Oh, I just need to protect my content and accept payments online”, but very quickly realize that you need a lot more from your membership platform than just being able to do those two things.
Most people who start a membership site would need to protect different types of content – like WordPress pages, posts, categories – in different ways – like some content available as part of one membership level (say, “Platinum”, but not under “Gold” or “Silver”). Then there is the need to integrate your site with different payment processors (Stripe, Paypal, Authorize.net) and affiliate networks (ClickBank, JVZoo) where you can recruit affiliates to promote your product. Then comes the need to do Upsells and Downsells, automate email marketing (set up pre-written email autoresponders and send out email broadcasts to your members), automated cancellations and upgrades, reminder renewal emails, make one-time offers, offer coupon codes to members on during a promotion, sign up affiliates (or allow your members to become affiliates) so they can promote your products, etc.
And finally, the most neglected and overlooked part to a membership plugin provider is technical support. Since your web site is catering to paying members, it’s of utmost importance to be able to get timely support within a few hours, or at worst, within a day, even on weekends and holidays. And then the software you are buying needs to be kept up to date, what with the ever-changing landscape of payment processors changing their API’s to increase security, new WordPress versions being released all the time, and a slew of third-party WP plugins that people are constantly adding to their site.
In short, membership plugin niche is a whole a lot more complex than most people would realize.
And that’s where a plugin like DigitalAccessPass.com, membership plugin for WordPress- appears to be head-and-shoulders above the competition. Not only do they offer a whole slew of features built right into the software for free (like shopping cart, content dripping, upsells, coupons, email marketing, affiliate module, etc), but they’ve also just completed 5 years of being in existence, and have been constantly updating their software throughout and adding more features and releasing multiple enhancements every year. And the one thing that really stands out about them is their excellent reputation for tech support, which is what has really elevated them to the forefront of all other membership plugins.
So if you’re thinking about getting a membership plugin, while there are many free and cheap options out there, make sure you consider everything you need today, as well as everything you need tomorrow, and make sure you’re getting a plugin that excels in features, support, and development, and can grow with your membership site. And you would be wise to start your research with DigitalAccessPass.com, arguably one of the best wordpress membership plugins out there for your money.
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