Choosing The Right Membership Software

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately you’ve probably heard how profitable owning membership sites can be.

You simply setup the membership site, add content, and sit back and collect your money month after month after month.

What could be difficult about that…?

Setting up the software for your membership site!

This can be very very time-consuming. And in the end could end up losing time and money if done wrong.

So I posted my review of a handful of membership programs below.

Please keep in mind these reviews are written from a ‘techie’s’ point of view. So what appeals to me (self-sufficiency and detachment from 3rd-party control is a major objective), might not appeal to you.

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a system…

Contact the individual vendors instead.

Since I don’t know your specific objectives for setting up a membership site, nor have any idea how you plan to promote the membership site, please don’t contact me asking which of these software programs is right for you. I can’t give you specific recommendations for your circumstances. Contact the individual vendors instead. That’s what they are getting paid for :-)

The Products:

http://www.russellwreynolds.com/imb/ also sold as http://www.memberfire.com/

At a glance: JUNK!!! Don’t buy it!!

Price: $37 WSO reseller. $20 retail purchase.

Review: This is a windows desktop app. It creates your site for you. Requires your ftp username and password.

Warning: the escape key closes the app without confirmation. So if you typed in half the details and accidentally hit escape you will get annoyed. Also tabbing from one field to the next didn’t work for me. Must use the mouse to go from field to field. Lame if you type 80+ wpm and have to stop to grab the mouse to move to the next field over and over again.

Cut and pasting, insert and delete were disabled too. Backspace worked though. Annoyance that slows entering data quickly when info is identical.

No save feature. Once you close the app your data is gone.

“Create new” isn’t the link to click after you’ve entered all your details. That immediately clears the screen w/o confirmation. Another annoyance. You must click the ‘create membership site now’ button at the bottom of the screen when done.

If you block the app from connecting out to that ip address you get ‘the page cannot be displayed’ in the software’s main screen and it goes nowhere else. Just dies.

Oh. If you get an error trying to ftp into your software there is no feature to go backwards and correct your mistakes. You must click the ‘create new’ link and wipe all the fields and start over.

So what happens when you finally do connect?

You get a screen saying ‘this software has been outdated’ and a link to upgrade to the newest version at http://www.membershipease.com. So, the author continually gets upgrade fees but the affiliate/reseller only gets front end commission from selling outdated software that folks will probably request a refund for buying outdated software. That’s lame :(

No clue if that is by design or not but if so that is pretty scammy.

Ok. This is ‘officially’ the most pain in the butt software to deal with of any kind I’ve ever come across so far — And I’ve been working with computers since the early 80’s!!

The lack of a save feature, inability to go back to the setup screen without re-entering your data from scratch again and again, inability to cut and paste your info into the fields (especially complex ftp login combinations), the lame ‘outdated software’ msg to get buyers of the reseller product to upgrade to a newer version that’s apparently NOT available as a reseller or affiliate product, and the software’s refusal to login to any area other than the root of your server makes this a pain in the butt to deal with.

That means if you get an ftp typo error you got to exit or create new and start over from scratch retyping your info again and again and again. grrr.!

I eventually got it installed and limited to a specific folder on one of my domains by creating a new ftp user account that was limited to a specific area and left the path field blank in this software. That way it doesn’t gain root level access to my domain. You NEVER want anything that phones home to gain complete control of your domain. Even if the software developer is legit there’s no way to know if future exploits will allow others to hack your site.

Oh. There’s a file named temp2007.cgi that gets uploaded to your server during the install which in turn uses < form name = “ftpform” method = “POST” action=”http://www.me.marketersgiveaway.com/cgi-bin/memlite.cgi” > to handle data processing at the server level — from your domain. If this is not just a file the author forgot to delete, this post method tells the author exactly where the software is installed and gives the author your user name and full ftp account login, since that data is parsed on his end.

But, if this temp file was something left behind by mistake then no need to worry. But I doubt it.

I don’t recommend using this software. Maybe future versions as it matures. But for now the security risk is just too high.

If your server permissions are misconfigured anyone can type www.yourdomain/cgi-bin/imsc/temp2007.cgi and get full access and see your admin settings. You may as well give your login details to the public because hackers will exploit this.

Oh. This software has probably been sold as private label rights under multiple names. Russ Reynolds and MembershipEase.com are two different people selling the same software but different versions and with different product names. The level of ’sucky-ness’ is the same though.

http://www.7dollarsecrets.com/

At a glance: Of the paid products, this one is the cheapest. Has lots of support despite the low price (why I have no idea. But heck, why look a gift horse in the mouth).

Price: $7

Review: Dirt cheap price. Has OTO feature. Controls digital product delivery.

CONS:

1) Not a true membership system. No built in mailing list or cms system. You’ll need to integrate your own.

2) Can cause LOTS of problems when newer, undetected browsers are released. Sends automated “fraud” threats and threats of reporting your buyers to PayPal for fraud violations - even when there are no fraud attempts. Really ticks off valid users who’ve done nothing other than try to buy your products or join your membership program with a browser the software doesn’t detect properly. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.

Actual harassing email sent to valid purchasers:

"Firstname,

Our system has caught your attempt to purchase [product name] for [price] instead of its actual purchase price. Be assured that you will not be receiving a download link.

Also, the product owner has been notified of the fraud, and will very likely report you to PayPal’s fraud department.

If you feel you have received this message in error, reply to this email stating your reasons for believing this is not the case.

This message was auto-generated by $7 Secrets Security"

I’d be annoyed at being accused like that too. These emails damage relationships big time :-(

This has only happened to me umpteen times :(

To be fair, it has only happened after a new browser or major upgrade to browsers was released.

I hear this issue has now been fixed and won’t happen again. So weigh the cost of using this yourself.

If you are selling simple product access and an oto (or multiple otos) it might be worth the risk. Heck. It’s only $7.

http://www.gootix.com/  (site is dead)

Price: Product no longer available

Review: This was a nice plugin for WordPress. It allowed you to set-up your WordPress blog as a very slick membership site using PayPal. The version to get is “WPB-PayPal 2.1″…if you can even find a copy anywhere. It is the predecessor to the new product named ‘PayBox’ plugin.

The difference between the two?

Nothing. Well, almost nothing. The publishers decided to charge an annual license fee and rename the product to ‘PayBox’ (which incidentally, doesn’t work because of the junky licensing code they added to the pay-by-year version). Other than the addition of annual licensing code and a new annual pricing, the product itself is the same.

The standalone gootix version worked fine with Wordpress blogging system. Wordpress is an awesome content management system that the search engines LOVE.

The new PayBox version is http://www.getpaybox.com/ and HIGHLY DISCOURAGED. I’ve read many reviews stating something in the ‘phone home’ membership script will take your entire site offline when this crazy plugin fails to connect to their validation server. The stand alone product is the better choice…if you can find it.

http://membershipsitescript.com/

Price: Too many prices to list

Review: This has tons of nice features. Unfortunately though, within the past month or two the author has added multiple price points instead of a single price point — all for the same product. This didn’t install for me back when it was set as a single price-point of I think $67. I gave up trying.

PROS: TONS of features. a single price-point of I think $67. I gave up trying.xpensive compared to many other products as a stand-alone license. Not the most expensive though.

http://viralmembershipsites.com

Price: $37

Review: This is probably the easiest to setup and most straightforward to install and use membership script available.

Only thing it seems to lack is htaccess protection of your content. Anyone who gets valid login can simply share direct links to all of your private content with anyone else, without the need for passing login info to the stealers. I accessed the demo site, saved the download links, logged out, opened firefox instead of IE, pasted in the download links — and gained complete access to all the content. There is absolutely no protection whatsoever to keep people from ’sharing’ your stuff. :-(

The company recently posted they are going out of business completely. So, if you need an easy membership system that doesn’t need protecting your content, this is probably the best option.

http://bluesome.net/post/2006/01/01/121/#comment-19436

Price: FREE

Review: Disclose-Secret plugin for WordPress. The Disclose-Secret plugin only shows WordPress articles to users if the user meets certain access criteria.

FREE is always appreciated :) It doesn’t hurt that this plugin works with wordpress (my preferred cms).

Unfortunately you’ll likely need to go through some ‘hoops’ to get this working. Here are the details for you:

http://blog.achille.name/wordpress/hot-fix-for-disclose-secret-plugin-wordpress/

The down side to free is a lack of direct support. You are on your own. Plus this isn’t a true cms system. It lacks multiple membership tiers, payment processing, etc. that you’d expect in a real membership program. But if you are keen on wordpress, you know there are plenty of free plugins to make up that lack.

www.butterflymarketing.com

Price: $797 and rising…

Review: What can I say? This was the leader of the OTO membership products. Filsaime released the first commercial membership product of its kind — and made millions doing it!

This is the market leader. The trendsetter. The product everyone else trying to follow — and knock off. Very small script. Takes up very little room on the server. But is expensive. Is one of the most expensive of the bunch. And can be incredibly buggy. Latest version claims to fix previous bugs. Not tested the latest to know if is true or not.

http://www.launchformulamarketing.com/

Price: $297 when released. Then shot up to $997.. now has $2,000 retail price tag.

Review: This is my second best recommendation. Everything amember leaves out, this puts in. If this included coupons it’d beat amember in terms of features and true membership system. If it weren’t for the price and personal navigation annoyance (comments below), this would be my product of choice.

PROS: Tons of features. Straight-forward install. Nearly everything you’d want in a membership program is in here.

Cons:

No coupons

Expensive. More so than any other reviewed product.

I don’t like the admin interface. Too many screens to navigate.

Some users have reported LFM is not compatible with all host. If your web host uses a modified or non-standard php.ini configuration, you’lll get php errors when trying to access admin area. You’ll be forced to edit the php files or move your site to another host to get this working.

I didn’t grab my own copy when it was only $297. Waaahhhh!!!!! :-(

http://www.amember.com/ * * * * *

Price: $179

Review: This is my recommended membership software for serious membership sites. Stable. Secure (when installed correctly). And fast. Anyone serious about running a membership site should consider aMember as a first option. Lots of features. Payment processors. Access control. Coupon control. And tons more. See full list of features here: http://www.amember.com/p/Main/Features/

Ok, since I love this product so much, what are some of the negatives I’ve experienced? What don’t I like about it?

Expensive. Requires separate license fore each site you own. At $179.95 a pop that can add up quickly. Especially if you have dozens or hundreds of sites. A work-around is to use a single, generic site of your own to handle payment processing for all of your sites. That is not a viable option though if you want to manage access to content on the various sites you own. Amember cannot control access on domains aMember is not installed on.

No built in one time offers (yet). There are free 3rd-party solutions though that require editing php files within amember system. If you can edit html you can edit these changes in aMember.

No membership tiers. Can’t set graduated,membership access levels such as silver, gold, platinum, bronze, etc.

Can’t set ‘trickled’ content on a monthly, weekly, or other time-based bases. It’s all or nothing.

No integrated blog or forum. You will need to integrate phpbb, Wordpress, or some other content management system into aMember if you wish to operate a true membership site. There are several plugins to make the process seamless to your users. Each plugin requires additional setup from you though — and usually additional pricing.

If you need more features than aMember offers and want to save some money, buy aMember now and later upgrade to Puddy’s Launch Formula Marketing after earning enough money through aMember to justify the expense. Less risk of earning back your cash that way. $2,000 is a lot of money to shell out and risk on the front end of getting a business started.

Ok. I lean strongly towards self-sufficiency. I feel I have greater control and direct influence on the outcome of my business. But that approach brings with it some headaches. Mostly having to take time away from marketing and building my companies to put out fires and deal with technical difficulties when software stops working correctly.  I understand this isn’t right for everyone. In those cases hosted membership services, companies that handle all the setup, configuration, security updates, etc etc can make sense too. The downside is hosted services always cost more money out of pocket in the long run than self-sufficiency. But what you give up in cash, you gain in freedom.

I do not have experience using the services of any membership service providers. But by my friend and joint venture mentor Habiba Abubakar, The Profit Diva has. Once I get a link to her recommendations I will add them. For now though, if you are just starting out I recommend staying away from hosted services. They set the decisions for the direction and performance of your company. Plus they cost more.