Membership Sites - Some Input

It sucks.. yesterday I had to ask other forums since this one was down and I really didn't get any help.. even on the Joomla forum.

Ok, I downloaded Joomla and I have never started a membership website before.

#1 - Can Joomla be used to set up a paid membership site?
#2 - Is it easy or is it so complicated that only HTML gurus can put it into use?
#3 - Is there anything I must have besides AEC with a membership site with Joomla?

If there's any recommendations on a good/better script to use, I'd like to hear it.

Well.. after looking at Joomla and trying to figure it out after a while, it seems this thing is a royal and complete pain in the ass..

Does anyone know of a good membership script that is easy to customize and easy to integrate without HTML knowledge and isn't garbage? I need one that will support PayPal as well.

Well I've heard that Amember is one of the best membership site scripts (http://www.amember.com/). I think it costs around $180, but it's a great software, worth the price.

If you don't want to spend $180 on Amember, than this is the easiest way to start a membership site:
1. create a sales page with a Paypal "subscription" button that leads to the "download page"
2. get an account at Aweber/Getresponse (you'll need to start a new email list for your membership site)
3. put the Aweber/Getresponse subscription code on the download page
4. the member of your membership site will have to subscribe to the mailing list to get the monthly products
5. if the member stops paying the monthly fee, just delete him from the mailing list

I think this is the easiest way to start a membership site. Now I'll create a PDF report of it, and start selling it at DP... (not)

Corey,

This thread might be useful for you too.
http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...-what-hell-best-membership-site-software.html

Of course, not forgetting old faithful WordPress, which could be used as a membership site platform.

The A weber idea is a good one too.

With regards to J00mla, I think the answer is: it depends. Some folks swear by it, and others have reported problems...plus, it also depends on your skills with php programming, I think.

If you have the time and resources, it might be good to have the same membership content delivered over 2 different platforms, just to compare?

Cheerio

the method that entity is outlining above is best described in j*mmy br*wn's memb*rnaire. i have seen it here before but i think the search function is down now because i cannot find it.

also, Ame*ber is recommended by more than a few and i may check it out, but i am thinking of putting up a couple of sites using wordpress and wp-M*mber.c*m (i think the owner is a member here). looks good and at a reasonable price.

hope that helps.

Hey dude ... i also suggest to go with amember. What you can do with this is also use 3rd party software like various forums etc. that are easily integrated into amember.

Since amember is the most perfect one taking care of the payment stuff you can also (if you need something very unique and specific) create your own scripts around that ... by just integrating the amember database into your scripts to. Works like a charm - the possibilities are endless. If you need help - pm me ;-)

There are some videos available on getting up an running with Joomla in the downloads area. I believe I also saw a joomla 1.5 book.

Here's what I'm doing.

I'm creating a paid members site with Joomla so I can charge an entry to the forum.

1. Used simplescripts for a 1 button install of Joomla onto my hosting space.
2. installed a template (using a rocket theme)

currently I'm tweeking the template but here are the plans

3.Install a forum - fireboard integrates easily, but also looking to use phpbb3 as skins to match the rocket themes are being created (some are actually done) or vbulletin (too many choices)

4. use amember to set up charging for the site

I'm sure a few things are missing in there. I've been hashing it out for a couple of weeks now and reading a lot.

I personally like members sites where I'm able to converse with the other members - not to mention they will do a lot of work for you. The sharing of minds and information. Let members answer other members questions.

In the mean time, I'll include an area/library for members to get materials that are added to the site.

I'm on the latest version of Joomla and hoping the components I need will all get updated as I move along.

Yeah amember is a good choice.. the admin updates it often keeping it up to date and supports a ton of payment processors (around 25)
I've also used hxxp://3w.easymemberpro.com/ Less features only PayPal and 2checkout payment processors integrated BUT have an inbuilt content management system making it easy to add pages ... Great feature if you add products every month .. Also another feature is.. if a member signed up in September and he wants to dwd a product listed on August page ..he can buy access to that page for a one time fee.

Is AMember easy to implement? I was told Joomla was easy and like hell it is.. this thing makes me want to kill Kittens.

I can't get AEC to work.. as in show any payment plans at all, and then even after that's done I have no idea how to add content or anything. The people at Joomla support just don't respond to questions and neither does AEC Support.

So is AMember easy to use and do I need HTML knowledge to run the damn thing?

Amember is fairly easy to implement but you can't really compare it too Joomla as it just handles the membership side of things, ie payment processing, protected areas etc whereas Joomla is a full CMS.

Well, I've got AEC working and I have Community Builder installed (by the recommendations of someone) and now I'm trying to figure out how to edit the Joomla template or just.. edit the site.

Do I need a program or something or how exactly do I edit this thing?

Here is a Component for Joomla 1.0 Native

This Free Software joomla! component allows you to offer paid memberships on your joomla! or mambo powered website. It works together with major components (like CommunityBuilder and JACL) and supports several major payment gateways. Features at a glance:

• Multiple payment processors via our processor API ( Manual Transfer handling, Paypal, Authorize.net, 2Checkout, CCBill, Paycom...)
• MicroIntegration API to attach PHP code to payment plans
• Already features MicroIntegrations for: emails, htaccess, mysql queries, setting of remository, docman or VirtueMart groups, restricting of listings amount of Mosets Tree and many more
• Multiple payment plan options (Paid, Free, Lifetime, Trials, Global free trials)
• An easy and comprehensive front- and backend and easy customization - you will have your memberships set up in a blaze.
• Integration with major components like CB(&CBE) and JACL
• Discount Coupons
• ACL Features for visibility of plans (hierarchical setup of plans)
• Other Features: Global Free Trial, customized pages, easy backend workflow
• Languages currently fully supported: english and german
• Languages currently partly supported: spanish, french, brazilian portuguese and italian
• And its hacking core joomla files with a Mouseclick from your backend - no custom hacking of core files required!


systemex...

EDIT coreygeer posted same time sorry

If Joomla isn't to your liking, try a different CMS. There are plenty of them out there, you just need to find one that works well for you. I have personally used e107 in the past and had no troubles whatsoever. In addition, they have a very good support system as well as extensive forums to assist you with any problems you may have. Better still is the fact that it is completely free/open source and constantly updated.

As for me, I used combination of the two scripts sharing the same database.


Cheers, Zach

Can I edit e107 templates easily without HTML and CSS?

I don't know all this coding shit so I need something that's very easy to customize and put to use.

Like most CMS' you are going to need a bit of HTML/CSS knowledge in order to edit templates in e107. However, I wouldn't be too put off by it. Like I stated previously, this site has a very decent forum system in place and they are able to assist you every step of the way. If you are too overwhelmed by learning HTML/CSS you may wish to try CMS Made Simple, which claims to be geared towards the novice web developer and is also open source/free. Their site is listed below.

For the A*member users:

Would you like to share how you folks managed to integrate A*member with your autoresponders (e..g A*weber)?

I know the script has problems with A*weber integration and consequently, you'll often have to make prospects sign up twice, once for autoresponder follow-up and a second time for the membership site. I'm wondering if there's a similar requirement with other autoresponders or how you folks manage to over come this.

Please share. Thanks.

Cheerio.



:usa:

I didn't get that far yet (integrating aweber and amember) - but that does sound like it could be an issue down the road.

Ok, for coreygeer who started this thread, you can do a membership site with WP as well.

You need to tell us more what you want the membership site to do. Do you want a forum? Do you just want members to be able to pay and sign up and download stuff? Did you see the thread (can't remember where) about the easiest membership site using aweber to deliver your content regularly?

Do you have a basic WP blog? If not, I highly recommend you try one of those first for a week and get your feet wet.

Joomal is an excellent platform to use for a paid membership site. The key is to get the right combination of components and modules. I would have to say that the Amember site keeps better track of my billing and accounts, but doesn't support Community Builder (web 2.0 features).

I used the AEC component because it support community builder.


I have on membership site that uses joomla and Amember.

http://womenaboutbiz.com

Click to expand...

I have another site that uses Joomla and AEC.

http://blackbusinessamerica.com

Click to expand...

It does take time to learn and understand Joomla, but simplistic after you do.
Hope this helps you!

newbyr said:

Joomal is an excellent platform to use for a paid membership site. The key is to get the right combination of components and modules. I would have to say that the Amember site keeps better track of my billing and accounts, but doesn't support Community Builder (web 2.0 features).

I used the AEC component because it support community builder.


I have on membership site that uses joomla and Amember.


I have another site that uses Joomla and AEC.


It does take time to learn and understand Joomla, but simplistic after you do.
Hope this helps you!

Click to expand...

Are you using 1.5? Also, do you have a forum attached?

I'm trying to figure out the right combination of things to use. I've got phpbb3 bridged in - templates to match my site will be available soon.

I'm having a problem finding instructional materials with 1.5.