How Much Does it Cost to Start a Membership Site? (2021 Edition)

Are you trying to figure out how much does it cost to start a membership site?

There are many different factors that will affect the cost of your membership website. You’ll need to break them down into all the different essentials to keep your budget under control.

In this article, we’ll show you how much does it cost to start a membership site.

How to Calculate the Cost of a Membership Website?

To calculate the cost of a membership website, you’ll need to break down your spending into components.

This includes choosing the right platform, subscription addon, payment processor, and other tools / services that you’ll need. All of them depend on your business requirements, budget, and growth strategy.

To keep this article focused, we will break down our membership site cost analysis into the following major expenses:

• Hosting + Setup Costs for a Membership Site
• Membership Payment Processing Costs
• Membership Site Design Costs
• Essential Addons and Extensions Costs
• Premium Tools and Addons for a Growth Membership Site
• Total Cost of a Membership Website
• Tips on Keeping The Costs Down on Your Membership Website

There are several great membership platforms that you can use to build a membership website. Three major players in the industry are MemberPress (WordPress), Shopify, and Teachable.

Shopify and Teachable are SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms. They offer an easier setup initially, but they have limited flexibility and higher costs. More importantly, they charge you based on transactions which will take away a big chunk of your revenue over time.

This is why we recommend using MemberPress, which is the best membership site plugin on the market. They allow you sell unlimited memberships with no extra transaction fees.

It runs on top of WordPress, which is already the best website builder in the world used by over 42% of all websites on the internet.

Plus, you get full control over your membership site with the flexibility to choose your own payment service, integrations, and add any feature that you want.

This lets you control the cost of your membership website and adjust it as your business grows. In the long run, you would be able to make a sustainable business while saving a ton of money.

MemberPress has built-in features to sell online courses, digital subscriptions, and even physical memberships like associations.

Business owners using MemberPress are projected to earn over $600 million in 2021.

Membership Website Hosting and Setup Costs

Just like any other type of website, you’ll need a domain name and web hosting account to start a membership website.

Typically, a domain name costs around $16.99 per year and web hosting plans start at $7.99 per month (paid annually).

This is not cheap, considering that you’ll need to spend money on other components as well.

Luckily, the team at Bluehost have agreed to offer WPBeginner readers a generous 60% discount on hosting with a free domain name + SSL certificate which you’ll need in order to accept payments. Basically, you can get started for as low as $2.75 per month.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

Bluehost is one of the best web hosting companies in the world and an officially recommended WordPress hosting service.

Alternative options: If you are looking for an alternative, then SiteGround is another excellent option. For more options, see our expert pick of the best WordPress hosting companies.

Next, you’ll need to get a MemberPress license which starts at $179 / year for a single site license.

This gives you all the features you need such as unlimited members, no transaction fees, ability to accept payments online, subscription management, email automation, easy course builder, marketing integrations, and more.

After you download MemberPress, you can go ahead and follow our step-by-step instructions on how to make a membership website in WordPress.

Estimated costs of hosting and setup:

Domain and web hosting: Starting from $2.75 per month – $25 per month
MemberPress: $179 – $479 (depending on your licensing plan)

Payment Processing Costs for Membership Website

The recurring revenue model is what makes membership websites a lucrative online business idea.

MemberPress supports both Stripe and PayPal payment gateways that you can use to accept credit cards. You can also use Authorize.Net as a payment method with their Pro plan.

While MemberPress doesn’t charge any additional transactional fee, these payment service providers (merchant banks) do have a payment processing fee, and this is controlled by Visa, MasterCard, Amex, and other credit card companies.

You will have to pay these fees no matter which membership platform you use.

For example, PayPal may charge 2.90% of the transaction amount and a fixed rate of $0.30 USD for domestic transactions. It may also charge an additional 1.50% for international transactions.

Similarly, Stripe would charge $2.9%, a $0.30 USD fixed rate fee, and an additional 1% for international transactions.

The benefit of MemberPress is that you don’t pay them any transaction fees for using the platform. Also your payment processing costs only gets lower as your business grows because Stripe offers lower rates for higher processing volumes.

Whereas other providers like Teachable charge you an additional 5% transaction fee for using their platform on top of the fee you pay for payment processing services.

Estimated costs of payment processing:

PayPal: 2.90% + 0.30 fixed rate. Additional 1.50% on international transactions.
Stripe: 2.90% + 0.30 fixed rate. Additional 1% on international transactions.

Design Costs for a Membership Website

Next, you need to choose a design for your membership website. Luckily, there are hundreds of free and paid website templates that work beautifully with MemberPress.

However, you’ll want to stand out from the crowd with a stunning design that looks professional and well polished.

Not only will it create a good impression of your brand, but it’ll also help your customers easily navigate your website. This results in higher engagement and sales.

There are three design options you can choose from based on your budget. We’ll discuss them in low to high pricing order:

• Free WordPress themes
• Premium WordPress themes
• Custom WordPress themes

Free WordPress themes:

Free WordPress themes come with the obvious benefit of saving money, but they often include limited support and customization options compared to paid or premium WordPress themes.

Premium WordPress themes:

Premium or paid WordPress themes come with a price tag, but include more customization options and priority support from developers.

Pricing for premium WordPress themes usually starts at $30 USD per year. Here are some of the most popular membership website themes:

• Divi – One of the most versatile WordPress themes suitable to make any kind of website including membership sites.
• Astra – Astra is a popular multipurpose WordPress theme that works beautifully with membership sites. It comes with dozens of starter website templates and a 1-click setup.
• Ocean WP – Another flexible WordPress theme that comes with powerful customization options.

For more design inspiration, see our pick of the best WordPress membership website themes.

A custom WordPress theme:

A custom WordPress theme is when you hire a WordPress designer/developer to code a unique membership website theme for your website.

This allows you to add custom features to your website and have a unique design that stands out from other membership sites.

However, custom WordPress themes can be very expensive. The cost would depend on the features you want to add and the expertise of the developer.

A custom theme could cost between $1500 to $6000 for a medium-sized business. An enterprise-level design may cost even more than that.

Estimated costs of membership website design:

Free to $30 for a WordPress theme.

$1500 – $6000 for a custom design.

Essential Addons and Extensions Costs

MemberPress runs on top of WordPress, which means you can add more features to your website by using plugins.

A WordPress plugin is a piece of software that adds new functions to your website. For instance, there are contact form plugins, landing page builders, social media plugins, and more.

There are also plugins made specifically for MemberPress as well.

The majority of WordPress plugins are available for free. Even many paid plugins also have a lite or free version that you can use.

You can try to keep your membership website costs down by using free plugins whenever possible.

Here is quick list of essential WordPress plugins that you may need right away. All of them are available for free.

Must-Have Features

WPForms – Allows you to easily add a contact form to your membership website.

MonsterInsights – Connect your membership site to Google Analytics and see how users find and use your website. This helps you learn how to bring more users and make more sales.

WP Mail SMTP – Emails are crucial for running a membership website. WP Mail SMTP fixes WordPress email deliverability by issue by properly sending emails using an SMTP server.

Marketing and SEO

All in One SEO – Easily optimize your membership website SEO to get more free traffic from search engines.

PushEngage – Easily send push notifications to your users on mobile as well as desktop. It helps increase website traffic, improve conversions, and grow your business.

OptinMonster – helps you improve conversion rates by converting website visitors into subscribers and paying customers.

Bonus Tools

SeedProd – An intuitive drag and drop page builder that allows you to quickly create custom landing pages and design layouts.

Uncanny Automator – Create automated workflows to manage your membership website. This helps you save time and create better user experience for your customers.

RafflePress – Easily run giveaways and contests for your members to boost engagement and grow your traffic.

Need even more features? Here are some of the must have WordPress plugins that you may want to check out. Many of them are free or have a free version.

Estimated costs of addons and extensions:

Free to Unlimited.

We recommend starting out with free versions of plugins whenever possible. This keeps your costs down and you can choose to buy premium plugins later as your business grows.

Premium Tools and Addons for a Growth Membership Site

We recommend all users to start with shared hosting and use free plugins and theme to keep the costs down. This saves you money and allows you to focus on growing your business.

Once your business starts growing, then you can choose to invest some money on extra features and premium tools. Following are a few additional features that you can later add to your website when you can justify the cost.

Email Marketing – We recommend using Constant Contact which is the best email marketing service for small businesses. For advanced marketing automation, you can use either Drip, ConvertKit, or HubSpot.

Live Chat Support – Live chat software helps you convert more users into paying members. We recommend using LiveChat which is the best customer service platform on the market. (Cost: Starting from $16 per agent per month)

Business Phone Service – A business phone number allows you to easily manage business calls using one number. We recommend using Nextiva, which is the best phone company for small businesses. (Cost: $18.95 per month)

Note: All of these additional services are not necessary to build a membership website. You can choose to add them to your site as your business grows.

Total Cost of Building a Membership Website

Now that we have covered the main areas of spending, let’s take a look at the total cost to build a membership website.

Keep in mind that your costs would increase as your business grows or you are able to invest more into it. We have broken down the cost range into three categories.

• Starter Membership Website (Recommended): $212 per year or $17.66 per month (Shared hosting $2.75 / month, MemberPress $179 / year, free plugins and theme).
• Growth Membership Website: $300 – $1000 (WordPress hosting upgrade $4.99/mo, MemberPress Pro $299/yr, paid plugins and marketing services).

For enterprise level membership websites the costs could go higher. They can choose dedicated hosting server, custom design, and hire developers to write custom WordPress plugins.

The best part about using MemberPress to build your membership website is that you are in charge of controlling the cost.

This means you don’t pay for anything that you don’t need right away, and you can still build a powerful membership website.

Tips on Keeping The Costs Down on Your Membership Site

Building a membership website with WordPress and MemberPress allows you to choose how you spend money on your membership website.

We recommend all users to start small and scale their website as their business grows.

Now many users compare their website with already established websites in their industry. This isn’t a fair comparison as those businesses have been around longer and already have a revenue stream to justify spending more money.

As a starter membership community you don’t need flashy premium features right off the gate.

You can start with a shared hosting plan on Bluehost which gives you a free domain + SSL. Then, you can purchase MemberPress Basic license plan and start building your membership website.

For essential features, you can rely on free WordPress plugins and theme. You would be surprised with what you can do using only the free plugins.

As your business takes off, you can start investing on premium features. Even then, you can find excellent WordPress deals and coupons to get discounts on all the top tools and services.

We hope this article helped you learn how much does it cost to build a membership website. You may also want to see our complete guide on how to create an email newsletter, or our comparison of the best webinar software platforms.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How Much Does it Cost to Start a Membership Site? (2021 Edition) appeared first on WPBeginner.

August 26, 2021 at 04:00PM

How to Create an Online Restaurant Menu in WordPress (Step by Step)

Do you want to create an online restaurant menu in WordPress?

Sharing your menu on your website will help convince more people to stop by your restaurant. When people can easily check out the food, drinks, and prices, they’re more likely to place an order or visit.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create an online restaurant menu in WordPress, step by step.

What You Need to Start a Restaurant Website

Before you can create an online restaurant menu, you’ll need to setup a website. If you don’t have a website yet, then don’t worry.

You can easily start a website using WordPress, which is the best website builder in the world used by millions of small businesses, restaurants, bars, and cafes. Over 42% of all websites on the internet use WordPress.

Best of all, you can start building your website without a large upfront investment.

The first thing you need is a domain name and web hosting. We’ve worked out a deal with Bluehost, one of WordPress’s recommended hosting providers, to offer our readers a great deal.

Basically, you get a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, and a 60% discount on web hosting.

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Beyond hosting and a domain name, you also need a WordPress theme. A theme is like a template for your website.

There are tons of great WordPress restaurant themes to help you create a professional website that will encourage your customers to place an order.

If you need help setting up your restaurant website, then see our step by step guide on how to make a website.

Why Create an Online Menu in WordPress?

Creating an online menu page on your WordPress site lets you create a better experience for your visitors and potential customers.

When a visitor comes to your restaurant website, the first thing they usually look at is your menu. If you’re only offering visitors a PDF menu, then you’re making it difficult for them to see the food choices you offer.

By creating an online menu on your website, there’s no need for your users to download your menu. Downloading PDFs can be difficult depending on your customers’ data plans and connection.

Plus, a menu page on your website will be mobile responsive and look good on every device, so your visitors can easily read it without zooming in and out.

Best of all, with a menu page, you can easily edit your menu and even add online ordering. PDFs are much more of a hassle to edit and upload when you need to make any menu or pricing changes.

That being said, we’re going to share two different WordPress plugins that can help you add an online restaurant menu to WordPress. Simply use the quick links below to choose the plugin you want to use.

• Create an Online Restaurant Menu with SeedProd
• Create an Online Restaurant Menu with Food Menu

Method 1. Add a Restaurant Menu to WordPress with SeedProd

We recommend using SeedProd to create an online restaurant menu in WordPress. It’s the best drag and drop WordPress page builder used by over 1 million websites.

It lets you create a stunning restaurant menu using a drag and drop builder. Plus, you can easily edit your menu as it changes and new menu options are available.

For this tutorial, you can use the free version of SeedProd to create your menu. However, a pro version of SeedProd is available that has 150+ templates, color schemes, email marketing integrations, image carousels, social media blocks, and much more.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, navigate to SeedProd » Pages and then click the ‘Add New Landing Page’ button.

This brings you to the template screen, where you can select a page template. There are dozens of templates for different niches and purposes.

To choose a template, hover over it and click the ‘Checkmark’ icon. You can choose whichever template you like, but for this tutorial, we’ll be using the ‘Dinner Sales Page’ template.

This brings up a popup where you can give your new menu page a name. You can also edit the URL of the page. We’re simply calling our page ‘Menu’.

Then, click the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll be taken to the page editor screen.

The right hand side of the page is the preview and can be fully customized. The left hand side of the page has different blocks and sections you can add to the page.

First, click on the page logo.

This will bring up a menu on the left where you can upload your restaurant logo. To add a new logo, you can follow the same process as adding an image to WordPress.

Next, you can change the navigation menu button to go back to your homepage. That way, when your visitors are done viewing the menu, they can return to your website.

Simply click on the navigation menu button, and then you can change the text and link in the left-hand menu.

After that, you can delete the main content section.

Simply hover over the page headline and click on the ‘Delete Block’ icon.

Then, you can do the same for the image, text, and button elements.

Next, you can add a headline for the title of your menu by dragging the ‘Headline’ block over to your page.

Like the other elements, you can change the text size, color, and font with the menu on the left.

After that, you can edit the existing food items and replace them with your own text and images.

First, click on the image and upload your own image with the menu on the left.

Next, click on the current headline to enter your own text.

You can also change the text by clicking on it and adding a description.

Once you’ve changed the headline and text, you can add a price for the item.

Simply drag the ‘Text’ element to your page and then customize the text with the left hand menu.

Then, simply follow the same steps as above for the rest of the items on your restaurant menu.

You can customize all of the sections of the page template.

If you want to add another menu section with the same style, then hover over the element and click ‘Duplicate Row’.

This will make a copy of the same row and add it directly beneath.

Feel free to continue making customizations to your restaurant menu. You can fully customize every part of the page, including colors, sizing, fonts, and more.

If you don’t want to add a photo for every item, then you can easily use a list block to add menu items.

Once you’re done creating your online restaurant menu, click the drop down arrow next to the ‘Save’ button and select ‘Publish’.

Your new restaurant menu is now live for your visitors to see.

Now, you can add your restaurant menu to your navigation menu, and other areas of your WordPress blog.

Method 2. Add a Restaurant Menu to WordPress with Food Menu

This method involves using the Food Menu – Restaurant Menu & Online Ordering plugin. This plugin lets you quickly create an online menu in WordPress.

It also integrates with WooCommerce, so you can give your visitors the option to place an online order.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, navigate to Food Menu » Add Food.

On this screen, you can enter your menu item name, description, and image.

After that, make sure to click the ‘Publish’ button to save your menu item.

To add more items to your menu, simply follow the same steps as above.

Once you’re finished adding items to your food menu, it’s time to add this menu to WordPress.

First, you need to go to Food Menu » ShortCode Generator, and then click the ‘Add New’ button.

Next, you can give your shortcode a title to help you remember the type of menu items you added.

Then, you can customize how you want your menu to display.

We will keep the default options, but you can customize how the menu displays with the settings in the ‘Layout’ section.

Here you can select the number of items to display per row.

In the ‘Filtering’ tab, you can choose whether you want to display a simple menu or if you want to enable online ordering.

To turn on online ordering, simply select the ‘WooCommerce’ radio button. You can also control which items you want to display.

If you’re planning on letting customers add food items to their carts and checkout, then you need to add your menu items as products in your WooCommerce store.

For more details on adding products, see our step by step guide on how to start an online store.

Next, you can customize the information that displays for each item by clicking on the ‘Field selection’ tab.

As you check or uncheck the boxes, you can see a real time preview of what the changes will look like.

After that, you can change the appearance of your menu items by clicking the ‘Styling’ menu option.

Once you’re done customizing how your menu items display, make sure to click the ‘Publish’ button.

This won’t make your menu live on your site yet, but it will save the shortcode that we’ll add to your website below.

Now you need to create a page where your menu will display.

To do this, navigate to Pages » All Pages and then click ‘Add New’.

After that, you can give your page a title. This will appear to your visitors, so you’ll want to name it something like ‘Menu’.

Then, click the ‘+’ icon to add a new block.

Next, type ‘Menu’ into the search bar.

Then, select the ‘Food Menu’ block.

After that, you need to select the shortcode you just created from the drop down menu.

This will insert your menu into your page.

Then, click the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to make your menu live.

You can also add other elements to this page like text, a contact form, your Instagram feed, and more.

Now when your visitors view your menu, they’ll be able to view items and even place an order if you added WooCommerce functionality.

No matter the screen size your menu is being viewed on, it will display your menu items perfectly.

We hoped this post helped you learn how to create an online restaurant menu in WordPress. You may also want to see our expert picks of the best HR payroll software for small business, or our comparison of the best business phone services for small business.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create an Online Restaurant Menu in WordPress (Step by Step) appeared first on WPBeginner.

August 25, 2021 at 04:00PM

How to Create a Short Link in WordPress (The Easy Way)

Do you want to create short links to your WordPress blog posts or pages?

Short links are useful for sharing in your emails, Facebook messages, and even text messages.

In this article, we will show you how to generate short links using a plugin, and how to add the ‘Get Shortlink’ button back to the classic WordPress editor.

Why Create a Short Link in WordPress?

Sharing your web content on social media can build user engagement and bring new users to your website. But pasting in long links or URLs isn’t always the best way.

That’s because some social media platforms will limit the number of characters you can use. A shorter URL gives you extra space for more useful content, which can lead to more engagement and traffic to your WordPress website.

That’s why URL shortener services like Bitly and TinyURL were originally created. They take a long link and make it shorter so that it doesn’t take up as much space.

For example, if you’re using SEO-friendly URL structures, then you might have long URLs that look something like this:

https://ift.tt/2r6LY3v

Our short link for that post saves a lot of space:

http://wpbeg.in/b6xh7G

Note: We’re using a custom domain, wpbeg.in, for our short links, which is a bit more technical to set up and would require you to purchase another domain. We have a separate tutorial on how to create your own customized short URL.

In the past, WordPress made it easy to get a short link to your blog post or page. There was a Get Shortlink button located right next to the permalink area of the classic editor.

However, if you recently started your blog, then you will not see this feature on your WordPress site because it was removed after WordPress version 4.4. WordPress still creates the links, but the button has been removed.

Still, there are a few ways you can get short links for your WordPress posts and pages.

We’ll cover the best link shortener plugin, plus a couple of ways you can restore the ‘Get Shortlink’ button in the classic editor. Simply click the links below to jump straight to each option:

• Method 1: Create Short Links Using the Pretty Links Plugin
• Method 2: Using the Bring Back the Shortlink Button Plugin for the Classic Editor
• Method 3: Creating a Short Link Button in the Classic Editor with Code

Method 1: Create Short Links Using the Pretty Links Plugin

We’ll start with a method that works for everyone. The Pretty Links plugin doesn’t rely on the classic editor and will create its own short link out of any URL.

It works with all links, including pages outside of your blog or website. So, besides letting you share your own content, it’s also the perfect tool for shortening affiliate links.

To get started, you’ll need to install and activate the Pretty Links plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: There is a Pro version of Pretty Links with more powerful features like keyword auto-linking and link categories and tags, but for this tutorial we will be using the free version.

Once you activate the plugin, a Pretty Links section is added to your WordPress dashboard. To create your first short link, you need to go to the Pretty Links » Add Link page.

Next, you need to paste the original URL of the page you want to share into the Target URL text field. A short Pretty Link is automatically created, but you can customize it if you’d like to make it more readable.

Once you’ve created a few short links, you may not remember what they are all for. So it’s a good idea to type in the title of the web page and consider writing some notes of anything you need to remember.

Once you have filled in the Pretty Links form, click the Update button to activate the short link.

You will now see a list of all of your Pretty Links. To copy one to the clipboard, just click on the Copy icon at the right of the screen.

After that, you can paste it into any of your social media channels. Pretty Links will even keep track of how many clicks each link gets.

While pretty links have built-in analytics, you can further improve your analytics by connecting it with Google Analytics using the MonsterInsights plugins. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to properly set up Google Analytics in WordPress.

Method 2: Using the Bring Back the Shortlink Button Plugin for the Classic Editor

This is a simple method of adding back the Get Shortlink button to the classic editor.

First, you need to install and activate the Bring Back the Shortlink Button plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, this plugin will automatically add the Get Shortlink button to the classic editor. To check that it worked, just edit any of your posts.

When you click the Get Shortlink button, it will show you the WordPress Shortlink for your post or page. You can copy the link to the clipboard so you can share it with your audience in your emails and messages.

Method 3: Creating a Short Link Button in the Classic Editor with Code

This method is for more advanced users and uses code rather than a plugin. It adds the Shortlink button to the classic editor by adding a custom code snippet to your theme’s functions.php file.

We don’t recommend this method to inexperienced users because if you make a mistake, then it could break your website. Method 2 above is a simpler way to achieve the same result without needing to use code.

If this is your first time adding code to your WordPress files, then you should check out our guide on how to copy and paste code snippets in WordPress.

We’ll use the Code Snippets plugin mentioned in that guide, so you’ll need to install that first. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item labeled Snippets to your WordPress admin bar. Clicking on it will show you a list of all the custom code snippets you have saved on your site.

Go ahead and click on the Add New button to add your first custom code snippet in WordPress.

This will bring you to the ‘Add New Snippet’ page.

You need to start by entering a title for your custom code snippet. Let’s call it ‘Short Link Button’. After you enter a title, simply copy and paste the code snippet below into the code box.

add_filter( 'get_shortlink', function( $shortlink ) {return $shortlink;} );

When you come across this snippet in the future, you may not remember what it’s for. So it’s a good idea to type something helpful in the description as a reminder.

You can also assign tags to your code snippet. This will help you sort your code snippets by topic and functionality.

Finally, you need to click on the ‘Save Changes and Activate’ button. Once the snippet is activated, the Shortlink button will be added to the classic editor.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a short link in WordPress. You might also like to learn how to get a free email domain, or see our comparison of the best domain name registrars.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create a Short Link in WordPress (The Easy Way) appeared first on WPBeginner.

August 24, 2021 at 05:00PM