how can you create a "membership" website?

[houdini]

Hey everyone! I've been reading posts on this site for the past few weeks...great stuff! I'm a complete novice when I comes to web design (I pretty much know nothing on this topic lol).
I am in the process of creating my muse of an information-base ebook. My muse on about a topic that will interest most people (if you're a sports fan) and there is currently nothing out there like my idea.
Since I feel the info contained in my ebook is pretty valueable I want to create a website in which people need to be a member and log-in (I assuming I can just hire a web designer to create this, right?).
Also, is there a format in which you can display your info for people to ready but it cannot be printed or cut-n-pasted (I know a pdf file cannot be cut-n-pasted but I believe it can be easily printed)? I would like to prevent people from purchasing one membership and then printing out all the info to friends/associates. Is there any way to prevent this?
Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thank you!!!

[PhoenixDown]

Locklizard offers a service which allows you to lock down a PDF file so that it can't be printed or shared but its a pain in the ass for the end user and I dislike it.

I wouldn't worry about locking down the file but focus on ways of bringing in additional revenue through a monthly or yearly subscription to additional information, resources and tools.

[KerriK]

I would suggest that you don't have a membership website. How will people know that your product is valuable if you keep them out! Web traffic is precious and you want to get people to your site and keep them there to get SOME free sports related information targeted to a NICHE market. You Can't compete against established Sports Websites like Fox Sports Net (or whatever, I'm not a sports fan), but you CAN perhaps be #1 for Handicapped Trout Fishermen- or whatever!

So get your niche market to your website, give them some FREE valuable information, get them to opt-in to your free monthly newsletter on Handicapped Accessible Fishing Spots where you tell them about your product every month and get them to trust you so that they will buy it.

Kerri

[shanerbock]

Membership sites can be very good income generators... if its done right and with the right spirit. Good luck to you.

If you are truly looking for a membership site where people have an ongoing membership and interact with one another, you, and gain access to content on an ongoing basis.... check out:
http://amember.com/

its one of the most popular and does all that you need to do... you'll save alot of money, time, and headache doing it right the first time...

If you are really just trying to sell access to an ebook and not let the location of the download be known... then just start out with Paypal as the payment processor and the following software to protect your digital downloads:
http://www.tunza-products.com/linklock/index.html


Once you get your site up... shoot us a link so we can see what your up to and provide advice, etc..

Make it a great day!
shane

[Sven]

Kerri, it seems to me you're spamming this board. Please stop.

[shanerbock]

Kerri, it seems to me you're spamming this board. Please stop.

Agreed.... You have made quite a few good posts with some good ideas... and Its ok to be a big fan of SiteSell.... and it might even be ok to post an affiliate link (like once)... but enough is enough...

If you are an affiliate of sitesell... and you believe in it so much... can you share your website? What is your sitesell website? If you come back and say you dont have one... hmmmmm... Not sure thats going to look very good... I personally dont have a problem with good members posting affiliate links... but you have to be a real user and have real experience... not just trying to sell it like crazy... thats just my opinion.

Shane

[camdengirl]

We got round this one by offering all purchasers a chance to join our affiliate scheme - thereby introducing their own greed in not passing on the ebooks when they could be making money.

We currently offer this via www.payloadz.com which we've found very effective and easy to use.

[padma]

Joomla is a fantastic way to create a community website. I used it to make my community site and love it.

[dking]

Do not forget accessibility; If you add Digital Restriction Management they cant get past in order to actually use the product, you are screwed. It will cost you more to deal with them then you will make.

There is also the possibility of legal liability; And in addition, the blind and disabled are legally allowed to circumvent DRM for accessibility/use.

[Mike Rhodes]

probably the best I've seen recently is www.teachingsells.com (not an affiliate link)

$97/month gets you a ton of really good info - or you can pay $97 & have your rentacoder go to the site, learn how to integrate amember/moodle/paypal ;)

[vanleurth]

I think wordpress is the way to go. Try to find a plugin that allows memberships. There has to be one. You can get a database linked to wordpress from westhost.com

www.micromango.com

[intrepidtraveler]

First, a membership site (seems to me) works best when you are providing CONSTANTLY updated information and TONS of it. IOW, it's lots of work. Seems to be the whole idea of a muse is to use a set-it-and-forget-it strategy.

If you have an ebook that you want to protect, a membership site is probably not the best way to go about it.

There is a program/service called eBook Pro that sends purchasers a link and an "electronic key" to unlock the ebook, which "lives" on the Internet. They have to go to the site to unlock and read it on their computer. You can limit the number of times that the key can be used and you can allow them to print the ebook or not.

This systems also allows you to do things like distribute the ebook free, but only with the first chapter or so accessible. If they want to read further they have to purchase the key.

There is a charge for the ebook compiling software (fairly hefty) and then you have to pay for the electronic keys (fairly inexpensive).

There may be other products that work in a similar fashion, but eBook Pro's the one I'm familiar with.

I've used it and found that unless you have a system that automatically sends out the next key when people order, it gets cumbersome to keep on top of.