Membership websites

When we're talking WordPress, from a technical point of view, a membership site is not very different from a standard blog site. The only thing that sets it apart is the fact that some of the content is protected by a level of access rights. In other words, the content is premium. And if anyone wants to get access to it, they usually have to take out their wallets and pay a small fee.

Even though membership sites might sound like a very niche thing to build with WordPress, there are actually more and more of such sites being launched every year. Many online businesses, especially in the educational niches, have realized that the membership model is one that provides very predictable profits and can be promoted in a variety of different ways.

But let's stick with WordPress as our main topic and leave the marketing issues aside, starting with some technical aspects of building a membership site. The following are the functionalities a membership site can/should...