How to Design a \”Membership Website\” on WordPress for Less than $10
Hi, my name is Stephanie and I’m the founder of Simple Simon, a WordPress tutorial site. I’m sure many of you have heard of WordPress, an extremely popular content management system (CMS) used to create blogs and online stores. A WordPress website is fairly easy to set up and can be customized to fit any need or taste. In this article, I will teach you the fundamentals of creating a membership website on WordPress using the HubSpot affiliate program as an example.
Getting Started
If you’re new to WordPress or are looking to create a membership website, the first thing you’ll need to do is purchase a domain and install WordPress on it. You can find free blogs hosted on WordPress.com, but you’ll need to pay for a premium hosting plan to run your own WordPress blog (I recommend Bluehost because it’s one of the most popular hosting platforms currently used by WordPress bloggers). Once you have your WordPress blog installed, you can begin the process of designing your membership website.
Designing the Website
Now that you have WordPress installed, it’s time to start designing your website. The first step is to choose a theme for your site. The theme you select will decide the overall look and feel of your site. There are many free themes available on WordPress. However, it’s important to choose a theme that suits your needs. If you’re looking for a simple and sleek design, you can check out the Elementor demo and choose the Thrive or Avada theme.
These are lightweight, minimalist themes that are perfect for solo bloggers who need a basic but functional site design. If you’re looking to create a more corporate environment for your blog, you can try out the TwentyFour theme or any other from the Divi suite. With the Divi theme, you can build a multi-page retail store or a sleek corporate blog using a combination of boxed and wide layouts. To change the overall appearance of your site without using a theme, you can simply install a header, footer, and graphics from the WordPress dashboard. You can learn more from the Google Fonts site about choosing fonts for your site.
Adding Content
Once you have a functional and beautiful website, it’s time to add content to it. You can begin by creating an About page to introduce yourself to the world in the form of a bio. Many blogging platforms like WordPress support custom posts, which makes creating an \”about\” page very easy. Create a new post and add the following content:
- Your name
- Your blog’s name
- The blog’s URL
- A short blurb about your blog’s purpose
- The date you established the blog
Don’t forget to add an image to the bio. It doesn’t have to be big, just a simple headshot will do.
As for the purpose of your blog, you can choose from a variety of topics including personal experiences, lifestyle, and business-related topics. Whatever your reason for starting a blog, use this page to share with the world how you do it. You can also create a separate page for your latest posts or just select the main page and add a few lines of text.
Configuring the Affiliate Program From HubSpot
One of the primary benefits of a WordPress blog is the ability to use the platform to build an affiliate program. Affiliate programs are popular among bloggers because they’re a reliable source of income for content creators. As a blog owner, you can choose to create an affiliate program for either your own products or those from third-party companies. When a user clicks an affiliate link and makes a purchase (or more importantly, makes a conversion, which we’ll discuss later on in the tutorial), the blogger receiving the traffic will earn a commission.
To set up an affiliate program for your blog on the WordPress platform, you need to follow these simple steps:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard
- Click on the \”Store\” (if you choose to create an affiliate program for your own products), or the \”Products\” tab (if you choose to create an affiliate program for third-party products)
- Click on the \”Affiliates\” tab
- Scroll down to the \”Programs\” section and click on the \”+\” (plus symbol)
- Fill out the details for the program:
- Name: This is the name that will appear next to the link on your website
- Description: This is a short description of your program
- Category: This is the category you’ll choose for the program (optional)
- Show on Homepage: Select this option to have the affiliate link appear on your blog’s home page
- Click on the \”Save Program\” button
- Repeat these steps for as many affiliate programs you want to create. The more you have, the more lucrative it will be for you and your affiliates
- When you’re finished, visit your blog’s FAQ page (Frequently Asked Questions) and click on the \”Contact Us\” button to review your website
You can use a tool like Google Analytics to track the performance of your affiliate program and see how many visitors are clicking on the links you’ve provided. You can use this information to find out which products are most popular and determine whether or not you should continue promoting them.
Finishing Touches
When you’re happy with how your website looks, it’s time to install a few more custom themes to make it perfect. For a multi-page site, you’ll want a different look for each individual page. To do this, install and activate a new theme on the backend of your WordPress dashboard. To change the theme on an individual page, select the page in question in the WordPress backend and click on the \”Customize\” button. When you’re done, save the page and switch to the next.
As a blogger, you can earn a good chunk of change from affiliate sales alone. The key to making this income stream work for you is in creating a healthy amount of content around relevant topics and ensuring that each piece of content is uniquely valuable. If you want to learn more, explore my blog’s income over the last year from affiliate sales alone (before taxes and shipping) using Google Analytics. You can find the web traffic statistics here.