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Tag: membership site

  • How to Create a Membership Website in WordPress (2023 Guide)

    WordPress is one of the best platforms you can use to build a membership website. With all the themes and plugins available, you have full control over building various types of membership sites. In this guide, we’ll walk through the benefits of a membership site, some prerequisites to consider before building one, and a simple step-by-step process to building your own.

    What is a Membership Site?

    A membership site is a website that provides exclusive, private content to subscribers. This content could be in the form of videos, blog posts, courses, or other perks. When building your WordPress membership site, there are several features that you should include to provide your community with a positive experience. Firstly, your WordPress membership website should have a page that lists and describes the various membership levels and perks that come with each level.

    Elegant Themes Pricing Page

    This will help your community assess the membership type they would like to join. A signup form allows your members to join your website and can be customized to match your membership offerings or collect certain information that you will need from your member.

    A login form ensures that only your members can access your gated content, making it a staple in every membership website. After logging in, your site can give members a place to manage their membership. They can upgrade their plan, manage their information, and perform other maintenance tasks there.

    Elegant Themes Members Area

    The main attractiveness of building a WordPress membership site is providing private content to your members. You can use a membership site to sell courses, downloadable music, software, and more. This exclusive content is only available to those who have created their account and logged in to your website. Now that we know what some of the features of a WordPress membership site are, let’s look at some of the reasons why you may want to invest the time in building one.

    Benefits of a WordPress Membership Site

    Building a membership site is quite a process, but it has several rewards you may want to consider as you embark on this journey. Some key benefits include:

    • Building Community: Establish stronger connections among those that matter most to your business or brand with a membership site. A private site means that those who
    • Establishing a Reliable Stream of Income: You can charge for access to your quality content, making a membership site a viable income stream. Building a modest passive income from your membership site is possible if you have a large community and solid content.
    • Establishing Your Authority in Your Niche: Educate your community through courses, training, and videos on a paid subscription. Demonstrating your leadership and teaching ability is a great way to build your personal brand and can be done effectively with a WordPress membership website.
    • Grow Your Online Audience: When your members sign up for your membership site, you grow your audience online as a highly targeted community. A membership site increases your online audience, which you can later nurture through email, community, and shared knowledge.
    • Increase Traffic to Your Website: Creating a WordPress membership site with fresh content increases website traffic. This increased traffic can be retargeted to upsell other products or increase engagement to ads on your website.

    Now that you know why you should consider building a WordPress membership site, here are a few things to have on hand as you start your quest.

    Prerequisites for Creating a WordPress Membership Site

    Before building your WordPress membership site, these are the tools and actions you should take to ensure that you have a successful website build:

    1. Domain Name: Securing a unique domain name for your membership site is vital to good branding. Domain names are inexpensive when using a good WordPress hosting company like Namecheap.
    2. Web Hosting: Every site needs a host. And membership websites can require more storage and performance. As such, choosing the best WordPress hosting for you is essential. Our list of the best hosting providers would be an excellent place to start your search.
    3. WordPress Installation: To build a WordPress membership site, you must have WordPress installed. Here’s a great guide to show you some tips and tricks for getting started with WordPress.
    4. Theme or Page Builder: Once WordPress is installed, choose a theme or page builder to make your site look beautiful. Look for a WordPress theme that integrates well with your chosen membership plugin. Our Divi theme is one of the best page builders that integrates with popular membership plugins. But there are many other great choices as well. Our list of the best WordPress themes should help you find the right one for your WordPress membership site.
    5. Membership Plugin: Your membership plugin choice depends on the various features you want for your site. You also should consider the type of content you’re providing to your users and ensure that your membership plugin can support them. Our list of some of the best membership plugins for WordPress is an excellent place to start looking. We recommend Memberpress, Paid Memberships Pro, LearnDash, and LifterLMS.
    6. Sitemap, User Journey Map, and Content: It’s always a good idea to plan your websites before building them. Creating a sitemap, planning your content pieces, and drafting a user journey map can help make creating your WordPress membership site easier once you get all your technical pieces in place.

    How to Build a WordPress Membership Site

    With all the necessary prerequisites for your membership site in place, let’s take the plunge and see step-by-step what we need to do to make this a reality. Since we are going to be concentrating on membership for this guide, you may need to check out our complete guide on how to make a WordPress website beforehand. This tutorial will show the critical steps to building a membership site using the top-rated membership plugin, MemberPress. However, these steps will also apply when using other membership plugins.

    1. Install Your WordPress Membership Plugin

    From your WordPress dashboard, hover over the Plugins menu option. Then, click Add New. Since MemberPress is a premium plugin, you must download it from your member portal before uploading it to your WordPress website. Once you’ve downloaded your ZIP file, click the Upload Plugin button. Then, upload the MemberPress ZIP file. Click the Install Now button.

    Upload MemberPress

    Once the plugin is installed, click the blue Activate Plugin button to complete the installation of MemberPress.

    Activate your membership plugin

    With your plugin installed and activated, we can move to the next step, setting up our packages.

    2. Create Memberships Levels

    Your memberships are the backbone of revenue generation for your membership site. To add a new membership in MemberPress, click on the Memberships text link to create your first membership level. Here, you can give your membership a name and description and set up your term.

    Add a new membership

    Your membership term establishes how much you’ll charge your customers, the frequency they’ll be charged, and how long their access lasts. Give your membership a name, add a description, and set your new membership level’s pricing and billing terms. Additionally, you’ll need to set up the types of members that can subscribe to this level. Scroll down to the Membership Options tab. Click on the Permissions tab. This is where you can assign certain member groups within your WordPress site to this membership level. With this setup, click the blue Publish button to activate this membership level.

    3. Setup Payment Method

    Your payment method will be used to process and bill your clients. Popular payment processors for digital products include Stripe and PayPal. To access and add payment gateways to your MemberPress install, click on Settings. Then, click on Payments.

    Add your payment gateway to your WordPress membership site

    As part of the planning process for your membership site, it’s good to have your payment processing account set up and connected to your bank account. You can add multiple payment methods to your membership site. This helps give your community options when paying you for access to your exclusive content.

    Setup Access Rules to Drip and Protect Your Content

    An essential part of a membership site is setting up your access rules. These rules allow you to determine who can access your content, what conditions they need to meet, and how your content is dripped or dripped to your members. In MemberPress, click on the Rules text link from the MemberPress menu to start creating your content rules.

    Set access rules

    MemberPress has over ten rules that you can use to determine what type of content you’d like to protect. These include but are not limited to all content, post categories, courses, custom URIs, custom post types, and more. Additionally, it has four types of access conditions that you can use to determine who has access to the protected content within each rule.

    Once you’ve created the access rules for your content, you’ll need to decide whether to drip your content or have your content have an expiration date. You can set these factors up in the Drip/Expiration box. The Rules pages are where you create the best access conditions that you’ll need for your WordPress membership site. Once you’ve created your membership rules, publish them by clicking Save Rule to make them active.

    Create Members-Only Content

    With your membership levels created and rules in place, it’s now time to create your gated content! With MemberPress, any content on your website can become members-only. Blog posts or courses, custom post types, and everything in between can be protected by the rules set up in MemberPress. As long as your content matches the rules that you’ve set, it’ll be hidden from the public and only available to those who have an active membership to your website.

    Create Your Membership-Specific Pages

    In addition to your members-only content and essential website pages (homepage, about, contact, etc.), a membership site will require pages specific to the membership process. Your membership plugin may generate some pages, while others must be manually created. Example membership-specific pages include:

    • Login Page
    • Registration Page
    • Pricing Page
    • Thank you page
    • Account Page

    Login Page

    Members use the login page to access their profile and exclusive content on your website.

    The default MemberPress login page

    By default, MemberPress uses the ReadyLaunch login page template. However, you can create a custom page on your website to act as your login page by using blocks or a page builder plugin.

    Registration Page

    The registration page is the first entry point into your membership site. While plugins like MemberPress give you direct links to the registration pages of your different membership levels, you may need other tools to spruce up your pages.

    Pricing Page

    Click on Groups from the MemberPress menu to create your first group of membership levels. This will also create a default pricing page where all the pricing plans within said group are listed for your customers to subscribe to your membership.

    Registration page URL for memberships with MemberPress

    Thank You Page

    After a member has subscribed to your website, they are typically presented with a thank you page. This page may show their transaction details, information about their membership level, and the next steps in the membership process. MemberPress allows you to present your thank you page in two ways: through a global thank you page or custom pages according to each membership level.

    Account Page

    Finally, the account page is where your members can update and change their membership.

    The MemberPress account page

    Members can see their active subscriptions on their account page, edit their profile, change their password, and more. Providing your members with a way to make amendments to their account allows them to control their membership while saving you from manually updating their files.

    Tip: Use a Page Builder!

    Using a page builder is a straightforward way to build stunning and high-converting registration, login, and profile pages for your memberships.

    Page builders and creating registration forms

    Here’s an example of the page builder Divi working with MemberPress to create a custom registration form for a monthly membership. Page builders allow you to bring your branding and unique style to your membership site, increasing brand awareness and instilling confidence in potential community members. Many popular page builders have modules and elements like login boxes, registration forms, and more that you can brand beautifully to match your website while creating a visually appealing WordPress membership site for your community.

    Add Links to Your Menu

    With your plans created, it’s time to add your registration page and a login button to your menu. Using a plugin like Login or Logout Menu Item brings this automated functionality to your WordPress membership site. Also, it makes it easy for your members to access their content without using the default WordPress login screen.

    Login links as well as adding your registration link to your website make the process to join your membership easier for subscribers

    Using a plugin that allows the link in your menu to change whether a member is logged in or out adds an excellent user experience. Additionally, Adding the link to your custom registration page is a great way to increase the number of people who sign up to your WordPress membership site, as it is easy for them to sign up and join your community.

    Test Membership Process

    After all your hard work, testing your WordPress membership site is advisable. Testing your process allows you to see where there might be bottlenecks in your workflow and allows you to fix them before showing your site to the world.

    Testing your membership site

    Setting your payment gateway into test mode is a great way to see how your new WordPress membership site functions. To do this, click on the Settings menu item. Then, click on Payments. Switch your payment gateway to testing. This alone can help you test your email notifications, refine your payment process and check if your rules work correctly. For testing MemberPress, you’ll also need to be logged in as a member, not an administrator. So testing in a private browsing page or as a test account is recommended to get the full experience that one of your subscribers will go through.

    Styling Your WordPress Membership Website

    Last but certainly not least, you should style your new WordPress membership site. MemberPress has a built-in styler called ReadyLaunch, where you can set your logo and brand colors. To access ReadyLauncher, click on the Settings menu link. Then, click on ReadyLaunch.

    Style your WordPress membership website with MemberPress and ReadyLaunch

    Although the built-in design functions of a WordPress membership site plugin are helpful, depending on the theme or page builder you’re using, you can use your imagination and design a highly visual membership site for your customers.

    Divi Online Course Layout Pack

    Page builders like Divi, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and more have deep integrations with some of the top membership plugins. Combining the power of a page builder with your membership plugin can help you beautifully style your WordPress membership site.

    For more, check out how to build a membership site with Divi.

    Other WordPress Membership Plugins to Consider

    While MemberPress is a solid choice when building a WordPress membership site, there are plenty of other choices that you can consider when building your website. Always keep the needs of your subscribers as well as the type of content that you’ll be providing in mind when choosing this critical piece of your new website:

    • Paid Memberships Pro: This WordPress plugin comes with its theme, explicitly crafted for membership sites. Enjoy the ability to restrict content based on post type, robust member subscriptions, user registration, custom profile fields, and more.
    • Wishlist Member: Easy payment setup, exhaustive member management, analytics, and more make up some of the features of this popular WordPress membership plugin.
    • Member Mouse: Touted as an enterprise-level membership plugin for WordPress, quickly sell digital products, protect your content, manage your members, and maximize your revenue with one well-supported plugin.
    • Restrict Content Pro: A lightweight solution to drip and restrict your content to your members efficiently. Quickly set up a paywall, provide discounts and coupons, and set up effective membership and access levels to your website.
    • Ultimate Member: This plugin has countless extensions that add almost any feature to your membership site. User reviews, tags, real-time notifications, and more are all extensions you can add to your membership site to enhance your users’ experience with your site.

    Conclusion

    Building a WordPress membership site can be daunting. However, we hope we’ve broken it into manageable pieces with this guide. At its core, a WordPress membership site will bring your community together and can provide you with a way to make money online. Your website’s foundation (domain and hosting) is critical as you build your site. Additionally, your choice of membership plugin can make or break your WordPress membership site. MemberPress is an established WordPress membership plugin with excellent reviews, an expansive feature set, and solid technical support. Building your WordPress membership website with it is a good choice. You can also lean on many alternatives if you require a different approach for your site. With the right tools and a solid plan, building a great WordPress membership website you and your community will enjoy interacting with is possible.

    The post How to Create a Membership Website in WordPress (2023 Guide) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • How to Add Free Trial Subscriptions in WordPress (4 Methods)

    Do you want to add free trial subscriptions in WordPress?

    Subscriptions are a great way to get consistent, recurring revenue for your business. However, it can be difficult to convince people to sign up for long-term subscriptions.

    In this guide, we’ll show you how to get more signups by adding free trial subscriptions to your WordPress website.

    How to add free trial subscriptions in WordPress

    Why Add Free Trial Subscriptions in WordPress?

    By adding subscriptions to your website, you’ll have a more consistent cash flow, fewer payment errors, and fewer payment delays. However, customers often want to try before they buy, especially if you’re selling longer-term or more expensive subscriptions.

    With that being said, it’s a good idea to offer free trials for all your subscriptions. For example, you might give customers a free month’s trial of your subscription box service or create a free one-week pass for your online yoga classes.

    An example of a subscription box with a free trial

    If customers enjoy the free trial, then they might pay for a premium subscription. Even if shoppers don’t sign up straight away, you can still use their contact information to do lead generation. For example, you might send them exclusive coupon codes or target them with web push notifications.

    With that being said, let’s see how you can add free trial subscriptions in WordPress. Simply use the quick link below to jump straight to the method you want to use.

    Method 1: Easy Digital Downloads (Free Trial For Software and Digital Products)

    Do you want to offer a free trial subscription for digital products? Maybe you’re planning to sell subscriptions for online courses, a stock photography website, a digital music store, or something else.

    The easiest way to offer free trial subscriptions for digital products is by using Easy Digital Downloads. This plugin lets you easily sell ebooks, PDF files, audio files, videos, and any other type of digital product.

    Even better, if you’re a SiteGround customer then the Easy Digital Downloads plugin comes pre-installed, so you can start selling subscriptions and digital products straight away.

    In this guide, we’ll show you how to create a free trial for an all-access pass. This pass will look just like any other digital product on your online store.

    An example of an all access pass created using Easy Digital Downloads

    After signing up for the free trial, customers will be able to view, access, and download different products on your online store.

    Customers can simply click on a link inside their account, to see all the products that are included in their free pass.

    An example of an unlimited pass created using Easy Digital Downloads

    To stop customers from abusing their trial, you can set daily download limits, limit the free pass to specific product categories, and more.

    With all that in mind, we’ll be using three extensions to create a user-friendly ‘all access’ free trial. You’ll need to buy the Extended or higher license for Easy Digital Downloads in order to download these three extensions.

    For step-by-step instructions on how to set up Easy Digital Downloads, please see our guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.

    Install Easy Digital Downloads Extensions

    After setting up Easy Digital Downloads, it’s time to install the extensions by going to Downloads » Extensions.

    Installing Easy Digital Downloads extensions

    On this screen, find the All Access, Free Downloads, and Recurring Payments extensions.

    For each extension, click on the ‘Install’ button.

    Installing Easy Digital Downloads addons

    Create a Free Trial Subscription in WordPress

    With that done, you’re ready to create a free all access trial. To get started, head over to Downloads » Downloads in the WordPress dashboard.

    On this screen, click ‘Add New.’

    Adding a new digital download using WordPress

    You can now type in a name for the subscription.

    This will be visible to customers, so it’s a good idea to use something descriptive.

    Creating a free trial subscription using Easy Digital Downloads

    After that, scroll to the ‘Download Options’ section. Under ‘Pricing Options,’ type in 0.

    Next, check the box next to the following option: ‘Enable free trial for subscriptions.’

    Enabling a free trial in Easy Digital Downloads

    Now, it’s time to turn this subscription into a free all-access pass that customers can use across your entire online store.

    To do this, simply scroll to the ‘All Access’ section and check the following option: Convert this product into an “All Access” pass.

    Creating an all access pass for an online store

    Limit the Trial to Specific Product Categories (Optional)

    By default, the free trial gives customers access to all your products. However, you can restrict the free trial to specific product categories. For example, if you create and sell ebooks then you might include some books in the free trial, and keep others for paid subscribers.

    To restrict the free trial to specific categories, simply click on the ‘x’ next to ‘All Products.’

    Limiting a free trial to specific product categories

    After that, you can click on the ‘Type to search categories’ dropdown and start typing in the category you want to include in the free trial.

    When the right category appears, click to select it.

    Creating a free trial subscription for specific product categories

    Set a Time Limit

    With that done, you can choose whether to make the free trial permanent or to set a time limit.

    If you’ve restricted the free trial to specific product categories, then it may make sense to choose ‘Never Expires.’ For example, if you sell digital art and graphics then you might allow customers to download as many watermarked images as they want, forever. However, they’ll need to buy a subscription in order to remove the watermark.

    Just be aware that Easy Digital Downloads also allows you to set a download limit. This means you can use ‘Never Expires’ while also limiting how many items the customer can download.

    To create a never-ending free trial, open the ‘All Access Duration’ dropdown menu and choose ‘Never Expires.’

    How to create a permanent free trial

    Another option is to set a time limit. This works particularly well for digital products that take a while to get through or for products the customer will want to access over and over again.

    For example, if you create and sell online courses then you could offer a two-day free trial, so customers will need to buy a subscription to finish their training.

    To set a time limit, open the ‘All Access Duration’ dropdown and choose from years, months, weeks, or days. You can then type a number into the field that appears.

    Changing the duration of an all access pass in WordPress

    Add a Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly Download Limit

    You can also type in a Download Limit. This can protect your site from customers who might try to abuse the free trial. For example, if you sell Excel or Google Spreadsheets in WordPress, then you might set a download limit so customers can’t download your entire product catalog while on a free trial.

    By default, Easy Digital Downloads has a download limit of 0, which means the customer can download as many products as they want. To change this, type a number into the ‘Download Limit’ field.

    You can then make this limit per day, week, month, or per year using the dropdown that appears.

    Adding a download limit for your free trial

    Adding Variable Pricing to Your Free Trial (Optional)

    Are you using variable pricing on your online marketplace? Then you may want to include specific price variations in the free trial.

    For example, if you’ve created Standard and Deluxe price variations, then you may want to include Standard in the free trial, while keeping the Deluxe version for paying users only.

    Creating variable pricing using Easy Digital Downloads

    If you’ve enabled variable pricing, then Easy Digital Downloads includes all variations in its free trial by default.

    To change this, find ‘Total Price Variations’ and type in how many variations you want to include in the free trial. Depending on the number you use, you’ll see a list of the different variations on your online store.

    Digital products with variable pricing

    Simply check the box next to each variation you want to include in the free trial.

    Customizing the Purchase Confirmation Page and Email

    When a customer downloads a product using their free trial pass, Easy Digital Downloads will show them a Purchase Confirmation page.

    An example of a purchase confirmation screen on an online store

    It will also send a confirmation message to their email address.

    By default, both the Purchase Confirmation page and email contain the following link: Click here to use your All Access Pass. This takes the customer to a page where they can download their free products.

    To change the link text, type into the ‘Receipts: All Access Link Message’ box.

    How to customize a purchase receipt using Easy Digital Downloads

    You can also change the page where Easy Digital Downloads will send customers when they want to download their free products.

    To do this, simply create a new page in WordPress and then add the following shortcode:

    [downloads all_access_customer_downloads_only="yes"]
    

    This will show all the products the customer can download while on a free trial. You can then add other content, such as text, images, a contact form, or anything else you want to include.

    How to offer a free trial subscription using WordPress

    For more information on how to place the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

    After publishing the page, simply add its URL to the ‘Receipts: Link URL’ field.

    Customizing the purchase receipts link for a digital download

    When you’re happy with how the free trial is set up, click on the ‘Publish’ button.

    Create a Premium Subscription

    With that done, you may want to create a premium ‘all access’ subscription. When their free trial expires, customers can upgrade to this subscription and continue enjoying your content.

    To create a premium subscription go to Downloads » Add New.

    You can then type in a name for the subscription and set the price, by typing into the ‘Pricing Options’ field.

    Adding pricing options to a digital product in WordPress

    You can also make this a recurring subscription, add an optional sign-up fee, and more using the settings under ‘Download Prices.’

    With that done, scroll to the ‘All Access’ section. At this point, you can turn the subscription into an all-access pass, add a download limit, and more by following the same process described above.

    When you’re happy with how the premium all-access subscription is set up, don’t forget to click on ‘Publish’ to make it live.

    Remove the Checkout for Free Trial Users

    After creating the free trial subscription, you’ll want to get as many signups as possible. With that being said, it’s a good idea to allow customers to start the free trial without going through the checkout screen.

    Easy Digital Downloads can hide the checkout screen when a customer is claiming a free product, including your free trial subscription.

    To do this, simply go to Downloads » Settings, and then select the ‘Marketing’ tab. Next, click on ‘Free Downloads’ to hide the checkout.

    How to hide the checkout for free trial signups and free downloads

    After that, you can use ‘Button Label’ to specify the text you’ll show when products are available for free download.

    By default, this is ‘Download Now.’

    How to customize the all access download pass

    You can replace this with your own custom messaging.

    Simply go ahead and type into the ‘Button Label’ field.

    Customizing the free download and free trial subscription CTA

    There are more settings that can help you do lead generation like a pro. For example, you can collect the person’s name and email address, even when they’re signing up for a free trial or downloading a free product. However, we recommend keeping things simple, as this will often get you the most signups.

    When you’re happy with the changes you’ve made, click on ‘Save Changes.’ Now, if you visit the free trial product page, you’ll see the new button text in action.

    How to add a free trial subscription to a website

    Create Expiration Reminder Emails

    Free trials can generate leads, but the goal is to convert those people into paying customers.

    With that in mind, you may want to email people when their free trial is about to expire. This will encourage them to buy a premium subscription, so they can continue accessing your digital content.

    ​​Easy Digital Downloads integrates with all the best email marketing services. However, you can also create reminder emails using the Recurring Payments extension you installed earlier.

    To use this extension, go to Download » Settings. Then, select the ‘Emails’ tab followed by the ‘Recurring Payments’ link.

    How to set up recurring payments for online subscriptions

    On this screen, check the box next to ‘Send Expiration Reminders.’

    After that, select ‘Add Expiration Reminder.’

    How to create an expiration reminder for an online subscription

    This takes you to a screen where you can type in an email subject and a message.

    To make the email more personal, it’s a good idea to use template tags. Easy Digital Downloads will replace these tags with real values such as the customer’s name, the expiration date, and the name of their subscription.

    You can see all the available template tags underneath the small text editor.

    Create personalized emails using template tags

    Just be aware that Easy Digital Downloads will send the message to all customers, and not just the people on your free trial.

    When you’re happy with the information you’ve typed in, click on Add Reminder Notice.

    How to add a reminder notice using Easy Digital Downloads

    Now, Easy Digital Downloads should notify customers when their subscription is about to expire. However, sometimes your WordPress hosting server may not be properly configured or email providers such as Gmail might use filters that wrongly flag your emails as spam.

    To get more conversions, your emails need to arrive in the customer’s inbox and not in the spam folder. For that reason, we recommend using a WordPress SMTP plugin and provider to improve your email deliverability

    WP Mail SMTP is the best WordPress SMTP plugin on the market. It allows you to connect your WordPress site with a mailer service. This means your expiration reminder and other messages will always arrive safely in the customer’s inbox.

    Method 2. MemberPress (Free Trial For Memberships or Courses)

    A membership website allows users to pay for premium content, online courses, features, and access to a community. However, these members-only features are usually hidden behind a paywall in WordPress, so visitors can’t see what the membership includes.

    With that in mind, you may want to offer visitors a free trial so they can try before they buy. The easiest way to do this is by using MemberPress.

    MemberPress is an all-in-one membership plugin that allows you to accept payments, add unlimited membership levels, create gated content, restrict access based on different membership levels, and much more. It also lets you create as many free trials as you want, including different trials for different membership levels.

    First, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    You can now add payment methods, create members-only content, design a pricing page, and more. For step-by-step instructions, please see our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.

    Once your site is set up, you’re ready to create a membership plan with a free trial.

    Create a New Membership Level

    To get started, head over to MemberPress » Memberships in the WordPress dashboard. Here, click on the ‘Add New’ button.

    Adding a new membership subscription to WordPress

    You can now type in a title for the membership plan, add an optional description, upload a featured image, and more.

    For more information, please see our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.

    Adding a membership level to a website using MemberPress

    With that done, you can set the price by typing into the ‘Price’ box.

    This is how much members will pay once the free trial expires.

    Creating a paid membership subscription using MemberPress

    You can only create a free trial for recurring memberships. However, if you want to charge members a one-time fee then there’s a workaround, which we’ll be covering shortly.

    With that being said, open the ‘Billing Type’ dropdown and choose ‘Recurring.’

    How to create a recurring membership using WordPress

    Next, you need to set the billing interval for the recurring payment. This is how often your members will be charged once the free trial expires.

    Simply open the ‘Interval’ dropdown and choose an option from the list, such as monthly or yearly billing.

    How to set a billing interval for a membership subscription

    Want to use a different interval? Then select ‘Custom’ instead.

    You’ll now see some new controls where you can set a custom interval.

    Setting a custom billing interval for your membership site

    Create a Free Trial Membership Subscription

    With that done, check the box next to ‘Free Trial.’

    You can now specify how many days the free trial will last, by typing into the ‘Trial Duration’ field. For example, if you want to offer a one-month trial then you would type in ‘30.’

    Changing the duration of a free membership trial

    After that, you’ll need to type in the ‘Trial Amount,’ which is the total cost of the subscription trial period before tax. You’ll typically want to type ‘0’ into this box.

    Finally, you can choose whether to limit customers to one free trial by checking or unchecking the ‘Allow Only One Free Trial’ box. If you check this box, then customers who cancel their subscription and then re-subscribe won’t get another free trial.

    You’ll typically want to leave the box checked, so customers can’t abuse the free trial. However, if you only offer a very short trial then you may want to allow customers to have multiple free trials.

    Choose whether to allow multiple free trials per member

    Just be aware that coupons will override this setting, so it’s still possible to offer multiple free trials to the same customer.

    Create a Lifetime Membership (Optional)

    As already mentioned, you can only offer a free trial for recurring memberships. However, it is possible to create a trial for lifetime memberships, by changing a few MemberPress settings.

    To do this, check the ‘Limit Payment Cycles’ box and set the ‘Max # of Payments’ to 1.

    Limiting the payment cycles using MemberPress

    After that, open the ‘Access After Last Cycle’ dropdown and select ‘Lifetime Access.’

    Now, once the trial expires customers will need to pay a one-time fee for lifetime membership.

    Creating a one-time payment membership

    Publish the Free Trial Membership Subscription

    With that done, you can make any other changes to the membership level.

    When you’re happy with how the membership is set up, it’s time to make it live by clicking on the ‘Publish’ button.

    Publishing a membership level with a free trial

    To see how the membership looks to potential customers, go to MemberPress » Memberships. On this screen, you’ll see the membership level you just created.

    Here, just hover your mouse over the membership level and click on the ‘View’ link.

    Previewing a membership level in WordPress

    WordPress will now show the membership signup form in a new tab.

    Do you want to add a free trial to more membership levels? Then simply follow the same process described above.

    Once you’ve added a free trial to your membership site, you’ll want to encourage visitors to sign up for the free trial. This might mean mentioning the free trial in your email newsletter, creating popups using a WordPress popup plugin, promoting it on social media, and more.

    Method 3. WooCommerce Subscriptions (Free Trial For Physical Products)

    If you want to sell digital products online, then we recommend using Easy Digital Downloads. However, if you want to sell physical products, then WooCommerce is the world’s most popular eCommerce platform.

    By default, WooCommerce doesn’t allow you to offer free trial subscriptions. However, it’s easy to add this missing feature using WooCommerce Subscriptions.

    This plugin adds a new ‘simple subscription’ product type to your WooCommerce store. You can add this product type to any existing item, or create new subscription products. For example, you might let shoppers try a product before they buy it, or maybe you will send them a sample subscription box from your online boutique shop.

    When a customer visits a subscription product, they’ll see a ‘Sign up now’ button instead of the standard ‘Add to cart’ call to action button.

    A free trial subscription, created using WooCommerce

    The WooCommerce checkout page will also show some information about the subscription.

    This includes the length of your free trial.

    An example of a free trial subscription on a WooCommerce store

    Customers can manage all their subscriptions by logging into their WooCommerce account, and then visiting the new ‘My Subscriptions’ section.

    Here, they can see when the subscription started, how much it costs, the subscription status, and more. The customer can also cancel, reactivate, and renew their subscriptions directly from this page, without having to contact you directly.

    How to manage WooCommerce subscriptions

    In this way, a customer who is enjoying a free trial can quickly and easily upgrade to a premium subscription.

    In this guide, we’re going to assume you’ve already set up a WooCommerce store. If you haven’t, then you may want to check out our complete guide to WooCommerce made simple.

    After that, you’ll need to install and activate the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    As soon as the plugin is active, you’re ready to add free trial subscriptions to WooCommerce. Simply go to Products » Add New.

    How to add a new product in WooCommerce

    You can now create this product in exactly the same way you create any WooCommerce product. For example, you can type in the product’s title, add a description, or create a WooCommerce product gallery.

    After entering all this information, scroll to the ‘Product Data’ box.

    Adding product data to WooCommerce

    Here, open the dropdown menu and choose ‘Simple subscription.’

    This adds some new settings that you can use to create a subscription and add a free trial.

    The new Simple Subscription WooCommerce product type

    To start, type in the ‘Subscription price.’

    Then, use the dropdown menus to choose how long the subscription will last. In the following image, the subscription will cost $20 per month once the free trial expires.

    Setting the WooCommerce subscription price

    You can now choose whether the subscription will last forever, or expire after a set amount of time. Just be aware that the expiration length doesn’t include the free trial. This means that if the subscription expires in 1 month and you offer a one-month free trial, then the subscription will last for 2 months.

    Another option is to give the customer lifetime access. To do this, open the ‘Expire After’ dropdown and choose ‘Never expire.’

    Setting an expiration date for a WooCommerce subscription

    Next, you may want to add a sign-up fee.

    Just be aware that WooCommerce will charge this fee no matter whether the customer is buying a subscription or signing up for a free trial. With that in mind, we don’t recommend adding a sign-up fee to products that have a free trial subscription.

    Adding an optional signup fee in WooCommerce

    With that done, you can specify how long the free trial will last by opening the dropdown that shows ‘days’ by default, and then choosing an option from the list.

    After that, just type in how many days, weeks, months, or years the free trial should last. Note that the free trial can’t last longer than 90 days, 52 weeks, 24 months, or 5 years.

    Creating a free trial in WooCommerce

    You can now make any other changes to the product. When you’re happy with how the product and subscription are set up, either click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to make the trial live.

    You can now create free trial subscriptions for other products, by following the same process described above.

    Once you’ve added one or more subscriptions to your WooCommerce website, you’ll want to get as many signups as possible. With that in mind, you should allow visitors to use their preferred payment method.

    By adding the free Stripe Payment Gateway for WooCommerce plugin to your website, you can collect payments through Visa, MasterCard, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and more.

    Simply install the plugin and the onboarding wizard will guide you through the process of adding more payment methods and enabling express checkout.

    The Stripe Payment Gateway for WooCommerce plugin

    Method 4. WP Simple Pay (Free Trial For Custom Services)

    Many freelancers, consultants, trainers, and other business owners sell their services as a subscription. For example, if you run a yoga studio then you might offer a one month free trial of your personalized training program.

    The best way to offer a free trial for custom services is by using WP Simple Pay. It’s the best Stripe payment plugin for WordPress and lets you accept payments, manage invoices, and offer free trials without having to set up a shopping cart, or add products to an online store.

    Note: There is a free version of WP Simple Pay that allows you to accept credit cards, Apple Pay, iDEAL, and other payment methods. However, in this guide we’ll be using the premium plugin as it allows you to offer free trials.

    Set Up the WP Simple Pay Plugin

    First, you’ll need to install and activate the WP Simple Pay plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, the plugin will automatically launch the setup wizard. Go ahead and click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.

    The WP Simple Pay setup wizard

    After that, you’ll need to enter the license key. You can find this information under your account on the WP Simple Pay website.

    With that done, click the ‘Activate and Continue’ button.

    Adding a license to a WordPress plugin

    Connect WordPress to Your Stripe Account

    In the next step, you’ll need to connect your Stripe account to WP Simple Pay. Stripe is a popular payment gateway, and it’s the easiest way to accept credit card payments in WordPress, so it’s a great way to sell custom services online.

    To get started, simply click the ‘Connect with Stripe’ button. You can then either log into your Stripe account, or create a new account if you haven’t already registered with Stripe.

    Connecting your WordPress website to Stripe

    After connecting WP Simple Pay with Stripe, the setup wizard will ask you to configure its emails. You can choose whether to receive emails for payment receipts, upcoming invoices, and payment notifications.

    You’ll also need to enter the email address where WP Simple Pay will send the messages.

    Configuring WP Simple Pay's emails

    Simply click the ‘Save and Continue’ button when you’re done.

    Create a Subscription Form With a Free Trial

    Now, you’re ready to create a subscription form that offers a free trial. Go ahead and click on the ‘Create a Payment Form’ button.

    Completing the WP Simple Pay setup

    WP Simple Pay comes with a ton of ready-made templates that you can use to create ‘buy now pay later’ payment plans, get donations, accept Google Pay in WordPress, and more.

    To offer a free trial, hover over the ‘Recurring Services with Trial Period Form’ template. When it appears, click on the ‘Use Template’ button.

    The WP Simple Pay's subscription and free trial template

    This will take you to the payment form editor.

    To start, you can rename the form and type in an optional description. By default, the description is ‘Try our service free for 30 days,’ but you can change this to anything you want.

    Adding a title and description to a subscription form

    By default, WP Simple Pay will create an on-site payment form. However, you may want to show a payment button instead. When the visitor clicks the button, they’ll see the payment form in a popup.

    To create a popup, check the box next to ‘Open in an overlay modal’ box.

    Opening a subscription form in a popup

    Another option is to host the payment form on Stripe’s site, by opening the ‘Type’ dropdown.

    Here, select ‘Off-site Stripe Checkout form.’

    Hosting a subscription and payment form on the Stripe website

    When a customer buys a subscription, WP Simple Pay will redirect them to its built-in Payment Success Page. If you want to send visitors to a different page, then select either ‘Specific Page’ or ‘Redirect URL.’

    You can then either type in the URL or select the page you want to use instead. For example, you might send subscribers to a custom thank you page, or a page where they can manage their free trial.

    Changing the payment success page in WordPress

    Add a Price to Your Subscription Form

    When you’re ready, select the Payment tab.

    Here you can set the payment mode to either live or testing. Testing mode allows you to complete the purchasing process without getting charged, so it’s perfect for testing new subscriptions on your website.

    Creating a subscription form in testing mode

    If you do select ‘Test Mode,’ then remember to come back to this page and change the mode to ‘Live’ when you’re finished testing.

    Next, you can set the price of your subscription and the currency using the ‘Amount’ settings.

    Adding a price to a subscription form with a free trial

    With that done, you can choose how often WP Simple Pay should charge subscribers.

    Simply open the ‘Billing Period’ dropdown and choose day, week, month, or year. Then, type a number into the field next to the dropdown menu.

    Setting a billing period for a subscription form in WordPress

    By default, WP Simple Pay offers customers a 30 day free trial.

    If you want to make the free trial longer or shorter, then simply type a number into the ‘Free Trial’ field.

    Setting the free trial duration

    Sometimes, you may want to charge subscribers a set up fee. For example, if you’re a life coach then this extra fee may cover the time and effort required to add new clients to your admin system.

    To charge an additional fee, simply type an amount into the ‘Setup Fee’ field.

    Adding a set up fee to a subscription form with a free trial

    With that done, scroll to the ‘Payment Methods’ section.

    Here, you can check the box next to any additional payment methods you want to offer, such as Klarna payments or ACH payments.

    Adding more payment methods to your website

    By offering visitors a choice of payment methods, you may be able to get more subscribers. However, try not to offer too many options, as this can become confusing.

    Depending on the payment methods you select, you may see a ‘Configure’ link. In this case, click on ‘Configure’ and then follow the onscreen instructions to set up the payment gateway or method.

    Adding more payment methods to WP Simple Pay

    Customize the WP Simple Pay Subscription Form

    With that done, you’re ready to build the subscription form.

    Simply click on ‘Form Fields’ to open WP Simple Pay’s form builder.

    Customizing the WP Simple Pay subscription template

    The template already collects some basic information about the customer, such as their email address and credit card information.

    The following image shows how the default form will look on WordPress.

    An example of a subscription form, created using WP Simple Pay

    To customize any of the default fields, simply click select it.

    The section will expand to show all the settings you can customize, such as changing the field’s label or adding some placeholder text.

    Customizing the recurring payment form

    You can also remove fields from the subscription form.

    Simply click to expand the field, and then select ‘Remove.’

    Deleting fields from a subscription form

    Do you need to collect more information from your new subscribers? For example, you might need their tax ID or phone number.

    Just click on the ‘Form Fields’ dropdown and then choose a field from the list. After that, click on ‘Add Field.’

    Adding WP Simple Pay fields to a subscription form

    Finally, you can change the order the fields appear in your form using drag and drop.

    As you’re customizing the form, you can click on ‘Preview’ to see how it will look on your blog or website.

    Previewing how a subscription form and free trial will look on your WordPress website

    When you’re happy with the form, click ‘Publish’ to store your settings.

    Add the Subscription Form to Your WordPress Website

    Now, you’re ready to add the form to your WordPress blog using either a block or shortcode.

    The easiest method is to use a block, so open the page or post where you want to show the subscription form.

    Then, click on the plus (+) sign and type in ‘WP Simple Pay.’

    Adding a block using the page or post editor

    When the right block appears, click to add it to the page or post.

    With that done, open the dropdown menu in the WP Simple Pay block, and choose the form you want to display.

    Adding a WP Simple Pay form to your website using blocks

    When you’re finished, click on either ‘Update’ or ‘Publish.’

    Now, if you visit your website you’ll see the subscription form live.

    An example of a subscription form, on a WordPress website

    Another option is to add the subscription form using shortcode. To get the shortcode, head over to WP Simple Pay » Payment Forms in the WordPress dashboard.

    Here, just find the subscription form and click on its ‘Copy Shortcode’ button.

    Adding a subscription form to your website using shortcode

    Now you just need to paste the shortcode into any page, post, or widget-ready area. For step-by-step instructions on how to place the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to add free trial subscriptions in WordPress. You may also want to check out our guide on how to run a giveaway / contest in WordPress, and the best live chat software for small businesses.

    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 Add Free Trial Subscriptions in WordPress (4 Methods) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 15 Most Popular Digital Products You Can Sell Online in 2023

    Are you looking for popular digital product ideas to sell online?

    In today’s creator economy, there are many opportunities to make money online. You can sell items like music files, videos, blog posts, eBooks, software, apps, podcasts, premium content, and more.

    In this article, we will share the most popular digital products that you can sell online.

    Most popular digital products you can sell online

    What are Digital Products?

    A digital product is essentially anything that you can buy, download, and use on a device such as a computer or mobile phone. For example, ebooks, software, videos, music, online courses, and more can be digital products that you can purchase at an online store.

    They are delivered to you electronically, usually through a direct download in your user dashboard or in an email with a download link inside. In general, you can easily access them anytime or anywhere.

    Why Sell Digital Products Online?

    Digital products have a lot of advantages compared to selling physical products.

    First, you don’t have to worry about keeping inventory and meeting supply or demand requirements. Once you create a digital product, you can sell it again and again.

    This also relieves you of any storage issues. Some physical products need to be kept at a warehouse and may require special storage conditions like refrigeration, which can be costly. On the other hand, you don’t have to worry about storing your digital products.

    Besides that, you get to generate a passive income stream with digital goods and easily grow your sales. They also help reach a wider audience across the globe, as people from around the world can buy your digital products.

    That said, let’s look at some of the most popular digital products you can sell online today.

    1. eBooks

    Sell ebooks online

    eBooks are a great digital product to have, and you can write about any topic you like. The best part, once you’ve created an ebook, you can simply market it and earn passive income.

    Now, if you have a WordPress blog or write articles regularly on any other platform, then you can repurpose the content for your ebook.

    For instance, your most popular guides would already have enough content to be converted into an ebook. Or you can combine several blog posts into an ebook about a particular topic.

    Once you’re done with the writing part, you can then add the ebook to your WordPress site so people can download it.

    You can follow our guide on how to create and sell ebooks in WordPress from start to finish.

    2. Online Courses

    Online course digital product

    The next most popular digital product you can sell is online courses. People are always looking to improve their skillset and learn new things.

    You can use this opportunity to share your expertise and teach other people through a virtual classroom. For example, if you’re a fitness instructor, then you can create an online course and teach people different exercises.

    The best part, you need very little investment and no technical knowledge to create online courses.

    There are many tools in the market that can help you get started in no time. All you need is a domain name for your site, WordPress website hosting, and a learning management system (LMS) plugin.

    LMS software like MemberPress or Thrive Apprentice makes it super easy to create interactive courses without editing code. Plus, you can manage students and course material, offer quizzes, and more.

    You can learn more by following our guide on how to create and sell online courses in WordPress.

    3. Premium Memberships

    Create a membership site

    Just like ebooks and online courses, a membership website is another simple way of making money online. You can sell premium memberships with access to exclusive content and community features.

    For example, you can lock specific guides, cheat sheets, interviews, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and other content behind premium memberships.

    On the other hand, you can offer exclusive entry to different communities, like a forum, Slack channel, or Facebook group, through a membership site.

    What’s great about memberships is that you don’t have to rely on advertising revenue. You can allow your website visitors to support your site and generate continuous income.

    There are many membership plugins and tools you can use to get started. For instance, MemberPress lets you restrict access to content, integrate different payment services, create unlimited membership levels, allow drip content, and more.

    To start selling memberships, you can see our step-by-step guide on creating a WordPress membership site.

    4. Tutorials and Guides

    Tutorial and guides

    You can also sell individual guides and tutorials as digital products. This is a great way to earn more money if you have long articles or multiple blog posts on a particular topic.

    Simply turn your guides into a downloadable file like a PDF document. You can then charge a fee to visitors who are willing to purchase your content.

    For example, let’s say you have a detailed guide on email marketing. You can turn that guide into a PDF file and sell it as a digital product.

    There are many WordPress eCommerce platforms you can use to sell digital products. We recommend using Easy Digital Downloads because it is beginner friendly, offers a shopping cart, easily integrates with payment gateways, and more.

    You can learn more by going through our guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.

    5. Spreadsheets

    Spreadsheets and cheatsheet

    Spreadsheets are another type of digital product you can sell on your website and generate revenue. You can create all types of useful spreadsheets for your audience.

    For example, let’s say you have expertise in search engine optimization (SEO). You can create a technical SEO checklist for beginners and offer that as a paid spreadsheet. Similarly, you can create checklists, templates, calculators, lists, and other types of spreadsheets.

    The best part is that you don’t need any investment to create a spreadsheet. Plus, it helps offer evergreen content that can you use to generate leads and a passive income stream.

    You can check out our guide on how to sell spreadsheets online for more details.

    6. WordPress Plugins

    Create WordPress plugins

    You can also create WordPress plugins and sell them as digital products.

    WordPress is open-source software, and it powers over 43% of the website on the internet. There are over 60,000 WordPress plugins that include free and paid options. This shows that there is a huge potential to create a plugin that generates revenue.

    Usually, you need basic coding knowledge like PHP, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript to write a plugin. For more details, you can see our step-by-step guide on how to create a WordPress plugin.

    You can also hire a developer to help you create a plugin. There are many WordPress developer job websites where you can post an opening and hire the right talent for a specific project.

    If you’re willing to take on a DIY project, then you can also use a plugin called Pluginception. It lets you create a WordPress plugin from the WordPress dashboard. To learn more, please follow our guide on how to create a WordPress plugin using a plugin.

    7. Software and Mobile Apps

    Build an app and software

    Just like WordPress plugins, you can also create software and mobile apps. There are many SaaS (software as a service) products that you can create for any niche. It can be productivity software, workout apps, games, and more.

    Usually, SaaS products have a recurring subscription. This means that you’ll need to generate income on a monthly or annual basis.

    Since creating such software and apps requires specific skills, you might need to hire developers. This process can be expensive because you’ll need investment for creating software or purchasing an existing one ($15,000 and upwards).

    As an alternative, you can convert your WordPress websites into mobile apps and monetize them. There are tools and plugins that can turn your site into an app. For example, let’s say you have a membership site. Converting it into an app will help you attract mobile users and sell it as a digital product.

    On the other hand, you can also join affiliate programs and earn a commission on each sale. You can create a WordPress blog to review different software and apps and promote them as affiliates. Or you could create an online store using affiliates.

    For more information, check out our ultimate guide to affiliate marketing for beginners.

    8. Website Themes

    Website themes

    Similarly, you can make WordPress themes and sell them online. Themes are necessary for every WordPress user, and often users look for themes that offer specific features and customization options.

    There are many platforms where you can sell website themes. Some of these include Enavto, Themeforest, CodeCanyon, and Creative Market.

    You can also list a free version of your theme on the WordPress.org theme directory. From here, you can encourage users to upgrade to a premium version to unlock more features.

    We recommend selling the digital products on your own websites instead of a marketplace like Envato because they charge a large commission on every sale without much benefit.

    You can use an eCommerce solution like Easy Digital Downloads to create your own digital store.

    9. Digital Art and Graphics

    Digital art

    If you’re a graphic designer or an artist, then you can create a variety of digital products and sell them online.

    For example, you can create logos, design templates, original digital artwork, clip art, patterns, brushes, backgrounds, icons, fonts, shapes, and more.

    Besides that, creating assets for different photo editing software like Adobe PhotoShop, Canva, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Photo can also help you make money online.

    To get started, please follow our guide on how to sell digital art and graphics online.

    10. Photographs

    Photography

    Another great digital product you can sell online is photography. Many people look for images that they can use for their WordPress websites and blogs.

    There are different types of photos you can sell. Some of these include stock photos, event pictures, portraits, drone images, backgrounds, and more.

    Now, you can sell your images to different stock photo sites, like Shutterstock, 500px, iStock Photo, Adobe Stock, and more. Each of these websites has a payment structure where they’ll share a percentage of direct sales or give you a royalty fee.

    On the other hand, you can create your own photography website and sell your images there. This way, you don’t have to share the profits with another third party and have more control over your images.

    To help you get started, check out some useful WordPress plugins for photographs.

    11. Videos

    Create videos

    Videos are the next digital products on our list that you can sell online.

    For example, videos like drone footage, stock videos, online training, product reviews, video game reviews, and gameplay footage are some of the ideas you can use to create a video-based digital product.

    One of the easiest ways of monetizing your videos is by creating a video membership site. This way, you don’t have to rely on ad revenue from other platforms and get recurring payments from users who pay to access your content.

    12. Recipes

    Create recipes and cookbook

    Are you a chef, a home cook, or a food blogger? If you do, then you can sell recipes as digital products.

    The food industry is worth trillions of dollars and is very competitive. However, you can find a niche that your audience likes and share recipes to earn money.

    For instance, you can start a food blog and offer premium recipes for subscribers. Or you could combine multiple recipes into an ebook and sell that as a digital product.

    Plus, you can offer cooking courses and other premium content by creating a membership site. We recommend MemberPress for this sort of site, as it’s the best plugin for that on the market.

    13. Podcasts

    Podcast

    Podcasts are audio shows that users can subscribe to. They are generally made up of audio files that listeners can download or stream to listen to.

    There are many topics you can create a podcast on. For example, if your topic is music, then you can narrow it down to a specific genre. Similarly, if you’re into sports, then you can create a podcast on football.

    Another great way of selling podcasts is by inviting industry experts and serving it as a masterclass. You can charge a premium or only offer these podcasts to members to generate income.

    Many podcasters rely on their communities supporting them, whether that’s through a service like Patreon or creating their own membership site.

    For more details, you can follow our guide on how to start a podcast and make it successful.

    14. Professional Services and Coaching

    Professional services

    You can also sell your expertise as a digital product and help other businesses.

    For example, if you’re a copywriter, graphic designer, social media expert, developer, fitness coach, legal professional, translator, SEO expert, offer technical support through live chat, or any type of consultant, then you can offer your services to others for a fee.

    Now, you can sign up for different freelancing websites like Upwork, or create your own site. From here, simply market your expertise on social media platforms and build a following to get more projects and clients.

    15. Research and Data

    Research data

    Do you conduct industry-wide surveys, polls, and research? If yes, then you can create digital products and sell the research data.

    Many businesses are looking for insights into their industry. They want to better understand their audience and find out what they like or don’t like.

    You can carry out research on popular topics, collaborate with companies, or simply run a survey to gather data. After that, you can create a report, add it to your website, and sell it to consumers.

    If you have a membership website, then you can also offer research and data to subscribers.

    For examples, see some of our research articles we offer for free here at WPBeginner:

    Bonus: Plugins and Tools to Market Your Digital Products

    Now that you know some of the most popular digital products to sell online, you’ll also need to market them to your customers.

    Here’s a list of WordPress plugins and tools that you can use to promote your product and boost conversions:

    • OptinMonster – It is the best lead generation and popup plugin for WordPress. You can create different campaigns and use smart targeting rules to promote digital products and increase conversions.
    • WPForms – This is the best WordPress form plugin. You can use it to create an order form, payment form, and more.
    • All in One SEO (AIOSEO) – The plugin helps you optimize your website for search engines. This way, you get to improve search engine rankings, attract more organic visitors to your site, and boost sales of your digital products.
    • MonsterInsights – It is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. Using the plugin, you can track your digital products performance, which files get the most downloads, uncover the most popular products, and track eCommerce revenue without editing code.
    • PushEngage – This is a push notification software for WordPress and allows you to send personalized web notifications to customers about new products, promotions, sales, etc.
    • WP Simple Pay – You can collect online payments on your website using this plugin. The best part, you don’t have to set up a shopping cart to sell digital products while using WP Simple Pay.

    We hope this article helped you find the most popular digital products to sell online. You may also want to see our guide on low-cost and easy online business ideas that make money and the best email marketing tools to promote your digital products.

    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 15 Most Popular Digital Products You Can Sell Online in 2023 first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 9 Best Age Verification Plugins for WordPress (Compared)

    Are you looking for a plugin to set up age verification on your WordPress site?

    Setting up age restrictions allows you to limit users from seeing content due to legal requirements or the nature of the content. You can set up age verification with the right WordPress plugin without editing any code.

    In this article, our expert team have researched and picked the best age verification plugins for WordPress.

    Best age verification plugins for WordPress

    Why Do You Need an Age Verification Plugin?

    If you’re selling products or promoting goods that are age sensitive, then it is important to verify the user’s age before allowing them access.

    For example, many countries have laws and regulations that require websites to verify users’ age. This is common if you’re in the business of selling alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, vape, tattoos, and other similar goods.

    Similarly, different videos and games are not appropriate for minors and require an age gate. You can also add age verification on your membership website if it contains sensitive content.

    A simple way of adding age verification to a WordPress site is by using a plugin. You don’t have to edit any code or hire a developer.

    Plus by using a plugin, you can show a confirmation form or a popup where users can enter their age before accessing the content or buying a product.

    That being said, let’s look at the best age-verification WordPress plugins for different business needs.

    1. WPForms

    The WPForms form builder plugin for WordPress

    WPForms is the best WordPress contact form plugin that is beginner friendly and lets you create all types of forms. It offers a drag-and-drop form builder and comes with over 500+ pre-built form templates.

    WPForms offers a Form Locker addon that allows you to set up age restrictions on your online forms. You can pick age as the verification type for your form and define the age limit. Users will then have to enter their date of birth before they can submit a form on your site.

    Enable age verification in WPForms

    Using WPForms, you can create forms for all kinds of situations. For instance, the plugin lets you create a login form or a registration form and only allows logged-in users to view the content.

    If you’re looking for feedback about your company from a specific age group, then you can create a survey form and add an age restriction. Similarly, you can add an order form on your website with age verification to sell concert tickets or alcohol.

    Besides that, WPForms also offers other features and addons. You can integrate payment services like Stripe and PayPal to accept online payments, allow file uploads, connect email marketing services, and more.

    Pricing: You will need the WPForms Pro version to access the Form Locker addon and set up age verification in WordPress. This will cost you $199.50 per year. There is also a WPForms Lite version you can use for free.

    2. OptinMonster

    OptinMonster

    OptinMonster is the best lead generation and popup plugin for WordPress. It helps you get more leads, grow your email list, and boost conversions.

    You can create stunning campaigns for your site, including age verification popups. The plugin offers a drag-and-drop campaign builder, pre-built templates, and lots of customization options. You can add different elements like images, buttons, videos, and more to your popup.

    For instance, you can create a simple age verification lightbox popup with Yes/No options or show a popup where visitors need to enter their date of birth.

    Create age verification popup

    OptinMonsters also offers fullscreen campaigns, which are great for restricting access to your website or a page until users confirm their age.

    The plugin provides powerful display rules that let you choose when and where to show your campaigns. For instance, you can show your age verification campaigns on selected pages or hide the popup for users that have already verified their age on your website.

    Besides that, OptinMonster easily integrates with different email marketing services and works with eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify.

    Pricing: OptinMonster prices start from $9 per month (billed annually). There is also a free version of OptinMonster that you can use to get started.

    3. Age Gate

    Age gate

    Age Gate is a free age verification WordPress plugin that is very easy to use. Using the plugin, you can easily restrict content based on the user’s age.

    It offers 3 input options to add age verification in WordPress. You can show a dropdown menu and let visitors select an age, allow users to enter their date of birth, or simply offer a Yes/No option to verify age.

    Other than that, you can choose whether to restrict the entire website or select pages based on age. Plus, there is also an option to set different age restrictions for individual content using the plugin.

    With Age Gate, you get multiple customization options to edit the appearance of your age restriction message. For instance, you can add a logo, change the background color, add blur, add a background image, and more.

    Pricing: Age Gate is a free WordPress plugin.

    4. MemberPress

    MemberPress

    MemberPress is the best membership plugin for WordPress. It lets you create a membership site and sell subscription-based products and services.

    With MemberPress, you can add age restrictions to your WordPress site. Let’s say you don’t want members under 18 signing up for a particular membership or course. By setting up an age limit, you can prevent access to content.

    Besides that, MemberPress offers other powerful features. It gives you full control over who can access content, release paid content over time, add payment gateways, and more. You can also create and sell online courses using MemberPress’s course builder.

    If you want to learn more about setting up a subscription-based website, then please see our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.

    Pricing: MemberPress is a premium plugin with prices starting from $179.50 per year.

    5. WooCommerce Age Verification Popup

    WooCommerce age verification popup

    WooCommerce Age Verification Popup is the next plugin on our list. It is a paid extension for WooCommerce stores. If you have a WooCommerce store and you’re selling products like tobacco, vaping, medicines, fireworks, or items that require age verification, then this plugin is for you.

    The plugin offers 4 verification methods where users can simply enter their age, select their date of birth, click a checkbox, or simply select from a Yes/No option.

    Besides that, you can choose which pages the popup should appear on. For instance, you can enable it on your entire website or specific pages like cart, checkout, my account, and shopping page.

    There are also different customization options you can use to edit your popup. These include adding a background image, selecting a color, adjusting the border height, and text size, and more.

    However, if you want more options like prebuilt templates and the ability to add different elements to the popup, then you can use OptinMonster. It also works seamlessly with WooCommerce and offers more powerful display rules.

    Pricing: WooCommerce Age Verification Popup is available for $29 per year.

    6. Age Verification for WordPress

    Age Verification

    Age Verification for WordPress is a free WordPress plugin that you can use to add an age limit to your WordPress site. The plugin is beginner friendly and offers basic features.

    It adds an age verification popup to your site and restricts access to content for visitors that don’t meet the age requirements. Once a user verifies their age, a cookie is saved for 30 days, so they don’t have to verify their age again.

    The plugin offers limited options to edit your age verification box. For instance, you can only add a background image, logo, title text, message text, and edit the yes/no button text using the Age Verification plugin.

    However, there are other plugins on our list, like WPForms and OptinMonster, that offer more customization options. Plus, you get to choose from pre-built templates and drag-and-drop builders.

    Pricing: The Age Verification plugin is free to use.

    7. AgeChecker.Net 

    AgeChecker.net

    AgeChecker.Net is a third-party age verification platform for eCommerce websites. It uses identity networks and a proprietary database to verify customer’s age at checkout.

    The plugin is compatible with different eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and more.

    It adds age verification on checkout pages and instantly verifies 90% of the user’s age in the United States.

    If the data isn’t available in the data sources, then it will ask for the customer’s ID verification. Once a customer submits the required documents, AgeChecker.Net’s 24/7 live team manually verifies it for you. If the customer is underage, they will disable their access to the product or service.

    Other than that, you can customize the minimum age, digital signature requirements, and order blocking based on the customer’s location. Plus, the plugin is compliant with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other federal and state regulations in the US.

    Pricing: AgeChecker.Net has a free WordPress plugin that connects with WooCommerce. However, you will need to signup for their premium plan, which will cost you $25 per month + 50¢ per accepted verification.

    8. AgeVerify

    AgeVerify

    AgeVerify is another WordPress age verification plugin that is free to use. The plugin is super simple to use and lets you create an age-verification message for your website.

    It comes with prebuilt templates that you can use for different types of businesses. Plus, you can edit the age verification text, change the text and color of the button, and more.

    What makes this plugin different from others on our list is that it lets you edit the cookie duration (in hours) for the age verification message. This way, your visitors won’t have to verify their age each time they visit your website.

    Pricing: AgeVerify is a free WordPress plugin.

    9. Easy Age Verify

    Easy Age verify

    Easy Age Verify is an age verification plugin for WordPress that comes with pre-built verification settings and messages for alcohol, vape, and adult businesses.

    The plugin is super easy to use and doesn’t require complex configuration. All you need to do is enable age verification, select your industry, and the plugin will take care of the rest. It also gives you the option to exclude age verification for logged-in users.

    On the downside, you cannot customize the appearance of your age verification message in the free version. However, you can use WPForms as an alternative. It helps display a custom age verification form anywhere on your website.

    Pricing: Easy Age Verify is free to use. There is also a premium version that unlocks customization features, and it costs $8.25 per month (billed annually).

    Which is the Best Age Verification WordPress Plugin?

    Our top picks for the best age verification plugin for WordPress are WPForms and OptinMonster.

    WPForms offers a Form Locker addon that allows you to add an age gate on any type of form and display it anywhere on your site. It offers a drag-and-drop form builder, prebuilt templates, and lots of customization options.

    On the other hand, if you’re looking to add an age verification popup on your WordPress site, then OptinMonster is the best option. It lets you create age verification popups, offers powerful targeting rules to show and track that campaign, and easily integrates with eCommerce platforms.

    We hope this article helped you find the best age verification plugin for WordPress. You may also want to see our post on the best live chat software for small businesses and proven ways to make money online blogging with WordPress.

    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 9 Best Age Verification Plugins for WordPress (Compared) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 13 Best Gumroad Alternatives (Cheaper + More Powerful)

    Are you looking for a Gumroad alternative to create an online store?

    Gumroad is a popular eCommerce platform that lets you sell digital products, online courses, and membership-only content. However, their service isn’t flexible, and they recently increased their fees by quite a lot.

    In this article, we’ll share the best Gumroad alternatives and competitors that you can use to sell digital products and make money online without the high costs.

    Best Gumroad Alternatives - Cheaper and More Powerful

    Why Do You Need an Alternative to Gumroad?

    Gumroad is a self-hosted eCommerce platform where you can upload your products and start selling. You don’t need a hosting service, a payment service, or an online store to sell digital goods.

    While it is beginner-friendly, there are several drawbacks to using Gumroad.

    For starters, the platform now charges a flat 10% fee for every sale. These charges are in addition to the transaction fee.

    Previously, the percentage would decrease as your revenue grew. However, the new pricing change takes a significant amount of your income.

    For creators, this means aside from your local government taxes, now you’re going to be paying a Gumroad tax which simply isn’t acceptable.

    Gumroad pricing

    Besides that, Gumroad doesn’t offer much flexibility compared to other eCommerce solutions.

    For instance, you don’t get features for cross-sell or upsell products to boost sales. If you’re selling online courses, then Gumroad is at a disadvantage as it doesn’t include a learning management system (LMS).

    Other alternatives to Gumroad provide more features for personalizing your online store and providing a better customer experience.

    That said, let’s look at some of the best Gumroad alternatives.

    1. MemberPress

    MemberPress

    MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin that lets you sell subscription-based digital products and online courses.

    It’s a great alternative to Gumroad, as the plugin is user-friendly. You can easily create a membership site, set up multiple subscription levels, and control who can access content and products.

    MemberPress also offers a built-in drag-and-drop course builder functionality to create and sell online courses. Besides that, it includes a virtual classroom feature, which produces an immersive learning experience.

    Another feature offered by MemberPress that you won’t find in Gumroad is automatic drip content. The plugin allows you to release paid content to subscribers over time or once they’ve cleared a particular module.

    MemberPress also integrates with other popular WordPress plugins. For instance, you can track your site’s performance by combining it with MonsterInsights or create your affiliate marketing program by connecting it with AffiliateWP.

    Pricing: MemberPress pricing starts from $179.50 per year with their Basic plan. If you want more features like quizzes and premium integrations, then you can go for the Pro plan.

    2. Easy Digital Downloads

    We recommend using EDD and WordPress

    Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is another Gumroad alternative you can use for selling digital products like ebooks, plugins, software, PDF files, and more.

    The plugin is best for bloggers, developers, marketers, artists, designers, and other creators to sell products online. It offers powerful features and allows you to create beautiful digital goods stores.

    You can start with EDD for free with SiteGround EDD hosting or just try the free version from their website.

    We use Easy Digital Downloads ourselves to sell our MonsterInsights and WPForms software, which shows just how powerful the plugin is. Plus, there are managed hosting services that come with EDD pre-installed.

    Other than that, Easy Digital Downloads offers multiple extensions. You can easily integrate different payment services, email marketing tools, messaging services, and more.

    The best part about using EDD is that it has a software licensing feature. It allows you to sell SaaS products, apps, and other tools with proper digital rights.

    Pricing: Easy Digital Downloads premium pricing plans start from $99.50 per year. However, you can also use a free version of EDD to get started and start selling online.

    3. WP Simple Pay

    WP Simple Pay

    WP Simple Pay is the best Stripe payment plugin for WordPress, and you can use it to accept online payments without setting up a shopping cart.

    It’s a great alternative to Gumroad, as you can sell digital products by simply adding a payment form using the plugin. The best part, WP Simple Pay offers a free version. You can accept one-time or recurring payments directly from your WordPress site.

    With WP Simple Pay, you get 13 payment methods in 135+ currencies spread across 45+ countries. Some popular methods include credit card payments, ACH debit payments, Google Pay and Apple Pay services, and more.

    You can also offer to buy now, pay later payment plans using WP Simple Pay. The plugin supports Klarna and Afterpay/Clearpay, which allow customers to pay in installments. This is great if you’re selling high-value or luxury products.

    Pricing: WP Simple Pay premium plan starts from $49.50 per year with the Personal plan. If you want to add recurring payments or buy now, pay later options, then you’ll need the Pro license. To get started, you can also use a WP Simple Pay Lite version for free.

    4. WooCommerce

    WooCommerce website

    WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It is an open-source platform that you can use to create any kind of digital store.

    For instance, it lets you sell physical products online, set up membership plans, offer digital downloads and affiliate products, create dropshipping stores, and more.

    The best part is that there are many themes designed for WooCommerce. This allows you to fully customize and control the design of your eCommerce store.

    Another advantage of using WooCommerce over Gumroad is that you can use built-in options or third-party plugins to upsell and cross-sell products, recover cart abandonments, offer discount codes, free shipping, and more by using powerful tools like FunnelKit.

    Plus, it easily integrates with different payment services and third-party plugins. WooCommerce also offers premium extensions. You can easily optimize your store for SEO and boost search engine rankings to attract more visitors.

    To create a WooCommerce store, you’ll need WordPress hosting and a domain name. However, many hosting companies like Bluehost come with WooCommerce pre-installed.

    Pricing: WooCommerce is a free eCommerce platform you can use as a Gumroad alternative. While the plugin is free, you’ll still need to pay for website hosting. Please see our guide on how much does an eCommerce store cost for more details.

    5. WPForms

    WPForms

    WPForms is the best drag & drop online form builder, and it can be an excellent alternative to Gumroad if you want a simple way to accept credit card payments.

    It lets you easily build payment forms, so you can accept credit card payments using Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and Square payment gateway.

    Aside from that, WPForms also integrates with hundreds of email marketing services, so you can automatically add your customers to your marketing automation drip campaigns.

    You can use WPForms to accept both one-time as well as recurring payments, and the best part is that it doesn’t charge any additional transactional fees.

    Pricing: While WPForms has a free version, you will need the WPForms Pro plan which costs $199.50 to accept payments.

    6. LearnDash

    The LearnDash LMS WordPress plugin

    LearnDash is one of the best LMS plugin for WordPress and allows you to run online courses. The plugin offers powerful features to manage your courses, add quizzes, run surveys, and easily accept online payments.

    Since Gumroad doesn’t offer a learning management system, LearnDash is an excellent alternative for anyone looking to sell online courses.

    With LearnDash, you get a drag-and-drop course builder and multimedia support to run webinars, videos, and tutorials. The plugin also lets you add badges and rewards using different gamification tools. This helps make your lessons engaging.

    Pricing: LearnDash premium plans start from $199 per year for 1 website.

    7. ConvertKit

    ConvertKit Email Marketing Service

    ConvertKit is a popular email marketing and eCommerce platform built specifically for creators. They allow you to easily sell digital products, run paid newsletters, sell recurring subscriptions, and even set up tip jars.

    The best part is that you get an integrated eCommerce and marketing platform, so when someone becomes a customer, you can send them automated email sequences, targeted marketing, and other subscriber engaging content.

    ConvertKit is a hosted platform so it comes with a landing page builder, custom form templates, and it allows you to get unlimited traffic.

    Pricing: ConvertKit is free to use for up to 300 subscribers, but your pricing will increase based on the number of subscribers you have. To access the CreatorPro tools, you will need to upgrade to the $25 per month plan.

    8. Teachable

    Teachable

    Teachable is another popular course-building platform that lets you create and sell online courses. You can use it as an alternative to Gumroad to market and promote your online courses.

    It is similar to LearnDash and provides a complete solution for creating courses. What makes Teachable different is that it is a hosted platform, so you don’t have to worry about managing any additional software or installing updates.

    Teachable is beginner friendly to use and offers a drag-and-drop course builder. It also takes care of online payments and offers multiple payment options. Other features provided by the service include integration with third-party marketing and analytics tools.

    Pricing: You can get started on Teachable for free, but it will charge a $1 to 10% transaction fee. There are also premium pricing plans starting from $29 per month.

    9. Thinkific

    Thinkific

    Thinkific is similar to Teachable and also a self-hosted platform to sell online courses. It is easy to use and is a fitting Gumroad alternative to creating courses.

    It offers a drag-and-drop course builder that is very easy to use. Plus, you get different themes and templates to get started quickly. Thinkific also allows you to create subscription-based programs, landing pages, and a membership community.

    Besides that, it also easily integrates with 40+ different tools and platforms like MailChimp, Shopify, Google Analytics, and Salesforce.

    Pricing: Thinkific offers a 6-month premium plan for $196.

    10. Payhip

    Payhip

    Payhip is another Gumroad alternative that you can use as an eCommerce platform. It lets you sell digital downloads, online courses, memberships, coaching, and physical products.

    Besides that, it offers a lot of customization, which isn’t available in Gumroad. For instance, you can use the store builder to create a beautiful and professional online business site within minutes.

    If your customers are from Europe or the United Kingdom, then the platform will take full responsibility for complying with the value-added tax (VAT) laws. It will automatically detect their location and apply the correct sales tax or VAT amount to their transaction.

    Other features offered by Payhip include different marketing tools to boost conversion rates. For example, it lets you add coupons, cross-sell or upsell products, order bumps, add referrals and affiliates, and show customer reviews to add social proof.

    Pricing: Payhip offers a free plan that you can use to get started. However, Stripe and PayPal will charge a 5% transaction fee in the free plan. There are also premium plans starting from $29 per month.

    11. Sellfy

    Sellfy

    Sellfy is the next Gumroad alternative on our list, and it helps you create a storefront for selling digital and physical products. It lets you promote your products anywhere online. Simply embed the Sellfy checkout process on your own website and market your digital goods.

    You can also launch a print-on-demand merchandise store using Sellfy. Simply design, create, and sell using different storefront themes. Other than that, you can use it to sell digital downloads and subscriptions.

    What makes Sellfy different from Gumroad is that it includes built-in marketing features like upselling, email marketing, and discount codes. Plus, it offers more customization features compared to Gumroad.

    Pricing: Sellfy offers premium pricing plans starting from $22 per month (billed annually), and you get a 14-day free trial.

    12. BigCommerce

    BigCommerce

    BigCommerce is a popular eCommerce platform, and you can use it as a Gumroad alternative.

    It is a fully hosted eCommerce service that easily integrates with WordPress. You can use it to sell all kinds of digital and physical products.

    The service automatically creates different pages for your store, including a shopping cart, sign-in page, account area, sales page, and more.

    What makes BigCommerce different is that it lets you sell products across various channels like Amazon and social media platforms like Instagram. Plus, the eCommerce solution doesn’t charge any transaction fees and lets you choose from multiple payment gateways.

    Pricing: BigCommerce pricing plans start from $29.99 per month, and you get a 15-day free trial.

    13. Shopify

    Shopify website

    Shopify is the last Gumroad alternative on our list. It is an all-in-one eCommerce solution that you can use to create an online store. It offers more customization options and third-party integrations compared to Gumroad.

    With Shopify, you don’t have to worry about web hosting, security, backups, updates, and caching. It does this for you, so you can focus on uploading products to the site and promoting them.

    Shopify offers pre-built themes that you can use to set up a store. Plus, it makes it easy to manage inventory and accept online payments from a single platform. You can even use Shopify with WordPress to sell products online.

    Pricing: Shopify pricing starts from $1 per month with the Basic plan. However, if you want low transaction costs and advanced features, then there is an Advanced plan costing you $299 per month.

    Which Gumroad Alternative Should You Use?

    After comparing different eCommerce solutions, we believe MemberPress is the best Gumroad alternative. It is a paid WordPress plugin that helps create subscriptions, sell digital products to premium members, and set up online courses without any extra fees.

    If you’re looking for a free alternative to Gumroad, then we highly recommend Easy Digital Downloads. You can use its free version to get started and start selling digital products like ebooks, PDFs, spreadsheets, videos, digital art, apps, plugins, and more.

    If you’re looking for a simple solution that lets you accept online payments without the complexity of creating a shopping cart, then WP Simple Pay is your best option.

    On the other hand, if you’re looking to create an online store from scratch and have full control over it, then WooCommerce is the best option. You get more customization options, online store management features, and integrations compared to Gumroad.

    We hope this article helped you find the best Gumroad alternative. You may also want to read our guide on how much does it cost to build a WordPress website and must have WordPress plugins for business sites.

    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 13 Best Gumroad Alternatives (Cheaper + More Powerful) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Create a Thank You Page in WordPress

    Do you want to create a thank you page for your WordPress website?

    Showing a customized thank you page can help you build a strong relationship with your audience. You can keep people engaged, bring them back to your site, and boost sales.

    In this article, we will show you how to create a thank you page in WordPress, step by step. Plus, we’ll also show you when to display your thank you page such as after someone submits a form, makes a purchase on your site, and more.

    How to create a Thank You page in WordPress

    Why Create a Thank You Page in WordPress?

    A thank you page is a web page you can show to your users when they perform an action or complete a task on your WordPress website.

    For example, you can show a custom thank you page on your online store after a customer purchases a product. This allows you to cross-sell and upsell your best products and offer exclusive discounts on subsequent purchases.

    Similarly, a thank you page can help build an email list and grow your social audience. You can show social sharing buttons to promote your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media channels.

    Another situation where a thank you page is helpful is when a user submits a form or leaves a comment on your site. You can show your most popular posts on the thank you page and drive more traffic to your important blog posts.

    That said, let’s look at how you can easily create a thank you page in WordPress and how to trigger it in different situations.

    Simply click the links below to jump ahead to your preferred section:

    Creating a Thank You Page in WordPress

    The best way to create a thank you page in WordPress is by using SeedProd. It is the best website builder and landing page builder plugin for WordPress.

    The plugin offers drag-and-drop functionality and lots of customization options. Plus, you get to choose from pre-built templates to edit the thank you page according to your liking.

    For this tutorial, we will use the SeedProd Pro version because it offers pre-built templates, email integrations, WooCommerce blocks, and more. You can also use the SeedProd Lite version for free.

    First, you’ll need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you can go to SeedProd » Settings from your WordPress admin panel. From here, enter the license key and click the ‘Verify key’ button.

    Entering the SeedProd license key

    You can find the license key in your SeedProd account area.

    After the verification, you’ll need to head to SeedProd » Landing Pages from the WordPress dashboard and click the ‘Create New Landing Page’ button.

    Add a New SeedProd Landing Page

    Next, SeedProd will show you different page templates.

    You can filter them from the top to view thank you page templates. From here, simply hover over a design you’d like to use and click the orange tick button.

    Select a thank you page template

    A popup window will now open. Go ahead and enter a name and URL for your thank you page.

    Once that’s done, you can click the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button.

    Enter a name for your thank you page

    This will launch the SeedProd drag-and-drop page builder.

    You can now customize your thank you page by adding new blocks from the menu on the left or rearranging the existing blocks.

    For instance, there are blocks for images, text, headlines, videos, contact forms, social profiles, and more.

    Customize your thank you page

    If you click on a block in the template, then you’ll see more options for customization.

    For example, you can edit the text, changing its font, size, spacing, color, and more.

    You can edit existing blocks in SeedProd

    When you’ve made the changes, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top.

    Next, you can click the ‘Connect’ tab and integrate email marketing services. This is useful if you’ve added a contact form to your thank you and would like to collect leads from customers.

    Connecting email marketing services to SeedProd

    After that, you’ll need to head to the ‘Page Settings’ tab at the top.

    Here, click the Page Status toggle to change it from ‘Draft’ to ‘Publish.’

    Publish your thank you page

    Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top when you’re done.

    You can now visit your website to see the thank you page in action.

    Visit website to see thank you page preview

    Now, let’s look at different situations when you can trigger the thank you page so that your visitors see it.

    Show a Thank You Page After Form Submission in WordPress

    After creating a custom thank you page, you can display it when a user submits a form.

    For example, you can show social media icons when a visitor signs up for an email newsletter using a form. This way, they can also follow you on different social platforms and help grow your followers.

    Similarly, if a user fills out a feedback form, then you can show useful guides, videos, or promote your best content on the thank you page.

    With WPForms, you can easily create all types of forms on your website and show a custom thank you page. It is the best WordPress contact form plugin that offers pre-built templates and lots of customization options.

    For more details, please see our guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

    To display your custom thank you page, go ahead and edit a form in WPForms. When you’re in the form builder, simply go to the Settings » Confirmations tab.

    Edit form confirmation settings

    Under the Confirmation Type dropdown menu, simply select the ‘Go to URL (Redirect)’ option.

    After that, enter the URL for your thank you page in the ‘Confirmation Redirect URL’ field.

    Enter your thank you page URL

    Whenever a user fills out and submits a form on your website, they’ll see the custom thank you page you created.

    Show a Thank You Page Upon Product Purchase in WooCommerce

    If you have a WooCommerce store, then you can show your custom thank you page when a customer purchases your product.

    WooCommerce has a default thank you page, but it’s not optimized for conversions. However, you can replace it with your own to get more sales.

    For example, you can upsell products on a thank you page, offer exclusive discounts, display the latest promotional campaigns, and more.

    Thank you page preview

    We have a full guide on how to easily create custom WooCommerce thank you pages that will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step.

    Show a Custom Thank You Page on Your Membership Site

    You can also display your thank you page on a membership website when someone purchases a subscription to access exclusive content or enrolls in an online course.

    With MemberPress, you can easily set up a membership site. It is the best WordPress membership plugin, and you can use it to sell premium content, subscriptions, digital downloads, and more.

    You can learn more by following our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.

    Once you’ve set up memberships, all you have to do is head to MemberPress » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and select the ‘Pages’ tab.

    Choose custom thank you page for membership site

    From here, you can click the ‘MemberPress Thank You Page’ dropdown menu and select the custom thank you page.

    This way, customers will be redirected to your thank you page whenever they complete the registration or subscription process.

    Show a Thank You Page After Comment Submission

    Another situation where displaying a custom thank you page is beneficial is after comment submission.

    When a visitor submits a comment on your WordPress blog, you can take this opportunity to show your most popular articles or evergreen content through a thank you page.

    First, you’ll need to install and activate the Yoast Comment Hacks plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you can go to Settings » Comment Hacks from your WordPress dashboard.

    Next, scroll down to the ‘Redirect first time commenters’ section. Now, click the ‘Redirect to’ dropdown menu and select your custom thank you page.

    Redirect users to thank you page on comment submission

    Save your settings, and the thank you page that you selected will appear any time a visitor leaves a comment for the first time.

    You can see our detailed guide on how to redirect users after form submissions in WordPress for more information.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to create a thank you page in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress SEO guide for beginners and the must-have WordPress plugins for business websites.

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    The post How to Create a Thank You Page in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • Create a Paid Membership Site with ProfilePress

    If you’ve been thinking about starting a membership or eCommerce site to sell digital products or courses, you might be surprised to learn that it’s easier than you think. All it takes is WordPress and the right membership plugin.

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    The post “Create a Paid Membership Site with ProfilePress” first appeared on WP Mayor.