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Question About Subdomains and Membership Sites

by GernBlanston
11 replies
Hi, there! I'm new to the Warrior Forum so I hope I'm allowed to post this here.

My question is regarding subdomains and frontend registration for information products.

I'm launching an online course in February and I want to protect my content. I see a lot of marketers use domains for their sales pages (www.myawesomeproduct.com) and subdomains as an access point for the product (www.access.myawesomeproduct.com).

I know a lot of sites uses software like Zippy Courses but is there an alternative?

I want customers to be able to register an account after purchase and be able to login to my site to access the content.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
#membership #question #sites #subdomains
  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Hope
    Hi Gern,

    Welcome to the Warrior Forum

    There are lots of alternatives, and yes, most can be set up with subdomains if you wish. You will likely get lots of replies with different opinions on this, but there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

    Are you looking for hosted membership software, where your site is hosted on the software vendor's servers?

    Or do you want self-hosted, where you host the membership portion of your site on your own hosting account?

    If self-hosted, do you want to use Wordpress with a membership plugin, or for example dedicated membership software?

    Is content protection your only concern, or do you have other requirements that you want your membership software to do for you?

    Which payment processor(s) do you intend to use?

    Jeff
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    • Profile picture of the author GernBlanston
      Thanks Jeff,

      I actually found out what I need is Wishlist but it's a little out of my price range at the moment so I'll find an alternative.

      Thanks for the reply.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Is there a particular reason you need Wishlist - I mean is there a feature that you need that only they offer?

    Are you using WordPress?

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
      If it's Wordpress there is a gazillion ways to handle it.

      You don't have to put it on a subdomain to protect the content either.

      A lot of membership plugins let you choose which pages the public can access.

      In fact, sometimes you will want to allow public access to some of the pages.

      As a point, I have a membership site. I have videos from youtube for instruction on how to use a plugin. Because those are from youtube, I shouldn't legally lock them away as paid content - against youtubes TOS. So those pages can be accessed without being logged into the members area - but people can't go anywhere else in there.

      Members who are logged in don't realize those pages are accessible without being logged in as they blend with the whole scene.

      And the whole members area is completely structured differently than the front page or the sales page.
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      "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

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      • Profile picture of the author GernBlanston
        Originally Posted by Jill Carpenter View Post

        If it's Wordpress there is a gazillion ways to handle it.

        You don't have to put it on a subdomain to protect the content either.

        A lot of membership plugins let you choose which pages the public can access.

        In fact, sometimes you will want to allow public access to some of the pages.

        As a point, I have a membership site. I have videos from youtube for instruction on how to use a plugin. Because those are from youtube, I shouldn't legally lock them away as paid content - against youtubes TOS. So those pages can be accessed without being logged into the members area - but people can't go anywhere else in there.

        Members who are logged in don't realize those pages are accessible without being logged in as they blend with the whole scene.

        And the whole members area is completely structured differently than the front page or the sales page.
        Hi Jill,

        Thanks for chiming in. What plugin are you using?
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    • Profile picture of the author GernBlanston
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Is there a particular reason you need Wishlist - I mean is there a feature that you need that only they offer?

      Are you using WordPress?

      Mark
      Hi Mark,

      I am using Wordpress. I guess I don't need Wishlist in particular per say, it's just that I've seen other marketers use it so I presumed it was the best software available.

      Thoughts?
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  • Profile picture of the author SageSound
    The sales page is usually on the home page, and the membership area is often elsewhere. It can be in a folder beneath the home page, or in a subdomain, or on a totally different domain. It really doesn't matter. It just cannot be in the same folder as your sales page. (That's like putting your bathroom and kitchen in the same room simply because, well, they both need access to plumbing.)

    A guy named Chris Lema posted reviews of 30 different membership site plugins for Wordpress on his website recently. Some are free, most aren't. He does an excellent job of discussing different features and benefits of each one. It might be helpful for you to at least skim over some of his reviews.

    Here's a post he made where he announced his favorite. There are links to the reviews of all of them.

    http://chrislema.com/best-wordpress-...p-plugin-2015/
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  • Profile picture of the author FreedomBlogger
    You can build a WordPress Membership Site - and use free and premium plugins to help you customize everything.

    And yes, you should definitely use your own domain name!

    The WordPress platform is one of the best platforms to work with!

    I have actually built many WordPress membership sites for many people. This is how I made some good money thanks to Fiverr.

    You can outsource this on Fiverr, by the way.

    Keep up the great work!

    Best wishes for your launch!
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    At the beginning, I thought making money online with a blog was super super hard. Not anymore. Learn the art of making money online blogging - step by step - HERE.
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    • Profile picture of the author GernBlanston
      Originally Posted by FreedomBlogger View Post

      You can build a WordPress Membership Site - and use free and premium plugins to help you customize everything.

      And yes, you should definitely use your own domain name!

      The WordPress platform is one of the best platforms to work with!

      I have actually built many WordPress membership sites for many people. This is how I made some good money thanks to Fiverr.

      You can outsource this on Fiverr, by the way.

      Keep up the great work!

      Best wishes for your launch!
      Thank you. Any recommendations for plugins?
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  • Profile picture of the author Nexstair
    Wordpress have some great membership plugins you may use.
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    Custom Website design | Affordable Theme Development | Special Discount for Warriors
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Depending on your specific needs, S2Member.com may be able to help.

    They have a free version which can only use PayPal but all the basic functionality is there that is needed to do what you want. Then once you are making some money and if you like the free version you can upgrade to the premium version.

    With S2Member you wouldn't need to separate out into subdomains - it handles the permissions and everything you need.

    Mark
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