I’ve been doing some research about the best alternative membership software platform to use for some of our clients who don’t want to use SocialSAM as their platform (for whatever their reason may be…eg. they don’t like our look and feel, etc).
Anyway, after a long and exhaustive search…after looking at almost every open source platform out there, I’ve found a pretty good solution. My criteria were:
- Multiple levels of membership with built in eCommerce/Recurring Billing
- Content Drip Capability (with every client having their personal timeline). Unfortunately, Wishlist Member does not have this feature.
- A Forum/BBS system for community members to collaborate – while not requiring them to log on to another system
- Flexible “skin” for better look and feel customization
The solution I found uses Wordpress with Buddypress and Digital Access Pass (DAP).
The beauty (and bonus) I found with this combo is that you don’t even need to pay a monthly fee with 1Shoppingcart/aWeber as DAP comes with its own built in autoresponder/list manager. Of course, it’s not as robust as 1Shoppingcart, but for most people, the DAP sequential autoresponder works great.
The other really nice thing about DAP membership software is that it has it’s own built in Shoppingcart/eCommerce system…so you don’t need to pay for 1Shoppingcart.com fees also.
AND, it has it’s own built in affiliate tracking system, making each of your members an affiliate to your network automatically. Smart.
Anyway, as I was trying to install these applications together, I ran into a lot of complications and problems. I got to say, I take my hats off to Veena and Ravi at DAP. They are AWESOME! These people definitely stand behind their product. I highly recommend their platform and their support is fantastic.
For the sake of helping everyone out, here’s 3 videos giving you specific step by step instructions on how to put these components together. Specifically, what to do, and what NOT to do.
If you need help setting up a membership website, let me do it for you. It will save you hundreds of hours of trial and error headache. We’ll show you how to “do it right”. For more information, come to www.thirdstagebusiness.com.
Enjoy. Please comment.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this solution! Implementing on a few sites right now… Thanks for the research and info. There are so many scripts and plugins out there its nice to have somebody put the pieces together and recommend best practices.
Hey George,
The only thing that I don’t like is the extra work that is involved to actually get the content to drip out.
I always envisioned that it should work just like an autoresponder. So if I wanted to add or more anything around I should just have to change the date in one place on the WP Post.
The solution that we have basically turns your membership site into an autoresponder.
Check it out sometime, you might find it really slick
I want to implement a comment system in a membership site (that uses DAP) that is similar to Kajabi’s comment system. Kajabi’s comment system enables members of your site to have a central dashboard where a member can see all the comments and questions they ever left and answers to their questions when another member (or me as the administrator) answers one of their questions.
So here are my questions…
1) Can I create a commenting system similar to Kajabi’s with DAP and BuddyPress?
2) Do your videos above show me ALL the steps?
3) How much would you charge to set this up for me?
4) I don’t see a “notify me” box to check, so can you please contact me when you have responded to this?
Thanks very much!
P.S. Thanks to Ravi at DAP for telling me about your page here.
Sweet, I actually just asked Ravi about DAP & BP and he pointed me in your direction, I guess your the ‘unofficial’ expert in his eyes now for all things DAP & BP.
Thanks for the helpful post will be watching the vids and hopefully installing my new WP member site this weekend.
Cheers.