Membership Website Software, Billing & Hosting

Posted in: Membership Websites April, last year

The other day I mentioned what to think about when starting up a membership website and how it isn’t as easy as one may think at first. Continuing on from that first article I’m going to explore the software available to run membership websites and the few options available for receiving recurring payments, along with the importance of a good hosting company.

Software available for running a membership website

From the research I’ve done the biggest player with the most trust and credibility with a large user base is Amember. It’s currently on offer for $139.95 and to me it looks like the VBulletin of the membership software world - and at that price there’s little reason to chose a sub-standard, cheaper alternative. It’s just not worth the risk.

Let’s look at some of the key features of Amember:

Automated signups and expirations
Can be used as stand-alone user management program without any payment system
Checks your database to avoid duplicate usernames
User is able to check unique user name availability during signup
Can generate simple usernames and passwords for users (optionally)
The signup form fields checked for completeness. Your custom checking may be simply added
Can protect any files/directories. Your customers never see annoying popup login window again - The login form is completely customizable
Unlimited number of products (subscription types), each with own price, expiration and ANY other parameters. You able to handle any number and combination of products/protected files and(or) directories
Members may have multiple subscriptions simultaneously (for different products) with only one username/password for all them
Automated account expiration handling. Memberships are automatically terminated after expiring. Members will still be able to visit special their member profile pages and renew their subscriptions
Automatically monitor visitors with the same username/password. If the configured limit is reached, the account is disabled instantly.
E-mails the username/password to the customer after signup is completed
E-mails to the customer when (before or after - configurable) their subscription expires
E-mails to customers when they didn’t complete payment
E-mails to customers when they completed first stage of signup
Special customizable pages for members with a list of completed payments, renewal control and links to pro-tected areas
Members are able to change their profile information, such as phone number, address, email and password
Ability to send password by email for members who forgot their passwords

It really is the dogs bollocks (that means frickin’ awesome). It supports over 60+ payment processors including the popular ones like PayPal, 2Checkout and CCBill. You can view the full list here. I’m going to compare these payments processors in a minute.

Amember also offers a free 30 day trial which I tested out. It’s simple to install even for a novice who hates anything technical like myself, and if it was in the least bit difficult to install I wouldn’t even be writing about it and I would hate it like an e-mail form script I tried to install last week and give up on. Yes, Amember is easier to install than a simple e-mail form script. Credit where credit is due…

What you basically do with Amember is create web pages, example www.domain.com/members/index.html - which then becomes a product that you insert in to the Amember administration area. Then you set-up the membership levels so members can access it. You can also set-up other products that only certain members can access, etc. It’s all very easy.

Setting up recurring billing and which payment processor to use

Here we go with my opinions again, but hey, it’s my blog - whaddya expect.

There are only 3 payment process I personally would consider using:

Now, they all offer recurring billing but we really need to take a brief look at each one to see which are suitable, the advantages and any disadvantages.

PayPal

The biggest advantage to using PayPal is that you’re paid instantly - funds are direct in to your account which you can use right away or withdraw to your bank account.

It’s also difficult for subscribers to cancel as you have to dig around in PayPal History, find the subscription and then cancel it from within PayPal. You could say this is a disadvantage, but if people want to leave and are having trouble - why not let them figure it out, and if they can’t, throw an extra month of subscription your way automatically.

PayPal fee’s are low when compared to other payment processors and they only skim off 1.4 to 3.4% off each transaction received.

The disadvantage to using PayPal is the many horror stories lurking around the Internet. Personally I have used PayPal for years and never experienced any problem, but then so have others and that didn’t stop their accounts going under suspicion. Accounts can be suspended for months and funds frozen if your account is under suspicion for any number of reasons.

Using PayPal for day to day sending and receiving payments is fine and if your membership site is only going to run for a few months, but I believe if you’re going to run a proper business that needs to stand the test of time, PayPal isn’t an option here.

2Checkout

2Checkout take 5.5% + $0.45 off each transaction and costs $49 to set-up - but it’s the credibility and safe-guard which makes me sway toward using 2Checkout. There are no horror stories and are well established. They pay every 2 weeks or every week and those in America, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom can have payments sent direct to our bank accounts at no cost. Other countries are supported for wire transfers.

I can’t actually think of a disadvantage - they may take a fair amount off each transaction but that’s a small price to pay.

CCBill

The choice for adult webmasters and those wanting to peddle smut with their membership websites. PayPal and 2Checkout don’t allow adult sites, and CCBill has been the favorite in the adult industry for subscription billing for years. CCBill takes 14.5% off each transaction, which comes down if you’re doing a lot of volume - but the lowest percentage is still 11.5% for up to 50,000 transactions per month.

In this case, the advantage (peddling smut) is also the disadvantage on payment. But this is one of few companies which has a solid reputation and the one I would chose if I were to enter the ‘adult industry’.

Choosing a good host with back-up facilities

If you have a few thousand of even a few hundred paying members, the last thing you want is for them all to lose their usernames/passwords and be unable to access the site, as they will head off straight to the payment processor and cancel their subscription.

Website’s, servers.. they all crash. They all fuck-up sooner or later, therfore it’s crucial to chose a host that offers daily back-up facilities. You can back-up your entire website every day, or hour if you wish. Definately don’t skimp on hosting. You will also require hosting that supports the full requirements of Amember. They recommend 3 hosting companies but Hostgater or another solid host will be just fine.

I mentioned in the previous entry on membership sites that I would talk about making sales on the back-end, but I’ll save that for another article - this one is long enough with plenty to chew on. If you didn’t catch the first entry, read it here.

5:08 pm

1 Comment

Will this program let me create a membership website that i can start blogs on, upload photo’s, my own flash games etc.?
please email me back at becky_strife@hotmail.com

Comment by becky — August 2, 2007 @ 6:06 am