Setting Up Your Membership Site

Website Setup

Wow!

We've got a hungry market, we've got a winning concept, and we've got sizzling content. Now we need to get our website up and running.

This article is not a tutorial on how to setup a website or even how to install WordPress. I assume you know how to do that.

If you don't it's not tough to learn and there are plenty of tutorials available on the internet – in fact, I've included one as a resource to this article.

I will, however, provide a checklist – just to keep things moving forward this hour.

Step #1: Choose a name for your website.
Here you need to make a list of several different names that would describe what the main objective of your website and its theme is. Put the ones that have fewer than 20 letters in them at the top of your list.

Step#2: Find out what names are available.
Go to Godaddy.com or NameCheap.com and do a search beginning with the names you have chosen that have the fewest number of letters in them. Search until you find a suitable domain name.

Step #3: Register the domain name.
Godaddy.com or NameCheap.com are the two best. I use Godaddy.com but only because I've used them for years – starting when they were the unchallenged leader.

Step #4: Get a web hosting account.
Again, I use Godaddy because of my long relationship with them. But, HostGator.com is probably the industry leader for low-cost, quality hosting.

Step #5: Install WordPress on the web server.
You're going to use WordPress 'cause it is the simplest, most cost effective solution available.

Step #6: Set up payment processing.
Unless you have reason to do otherwise, go with Paypal or ClickBank. You need this
whether you are selling memberships, merchandise or both.

PayPal, of course, is free and all you really need to do is setup a Premium or Business account. ClickBank costs money ($49 for the first product) and requires you to setup products with product pages and “Thank You” pages. ClickBank, though, helps you recruit affiliates – which can greatly increase sales.