Wishlist allows you to add premium content to your existing WordPress site. 

Adding premium content to your website is a great way to add an income stream to your business. You can hide premium content on the site and then only allow access to those who have paid for it. 

Premium content could be a membership community, a course, private or group coaching, or text or video that is above and beyond what you provide for free on your site. 

What is Wishlist and how does it work?

In order to run a membership site on a WordPress platform, you need a plugin to give you this functionality. Wishlist Member is a WordPress plugin that allows you to set up membership access to your website. 

This plugin gives you a membership-based revenue stream by allowing you to set up multiple membership levels with several payment processing options. 

For instance, if you have an online course or a list of how-to blogs that only paying members should see, then Wishlist is a plugin to let you manage this. 

If you already have a WordPress site, then you’re probably familiar with plugins. If you aren’t familiar with how they work, don’t sweat it too much because Wishlist makes it super easy to get started. 

The plugin works best with WordPress versions 4.0 or higher, and any time there is a WordPress update, the plugin is also updated. 

Features and pricing

Wishlist prides itself on being easy to use while giving you everything you need to run your membership community.

Dashboard: The dashboard puts everything at your fingertips to manage your Wishlist plugin and memberships with the dashboard. 

Unlimited number of members and membership levels: With Wishlist you can control exactly who has access to your premium content. You can even create targeted promotions specific to the “level” of membership each member has access to. 

Create “triggers” for targeted posts and audience members: Easily set up a system where certain members receive specific content based on their actions within your site (such as if they try to cancel their membership).

Learn more about your members: Wishlist gives you the option to set up a membership form/questionnaire.

File and folder protections: If you have downloadable files you want protected from certain levels of membership, you have the option to select the exact protections you want. You can even protect certain content or paragraphs within a page, if you only want certain members to have access to this information.  

Control over membership: Wishlist allows you to personally control who is granted access to your membership pages or site with this optional feature. You are given the ability to decide who has access and who does not before they are allowed in.

Easily integrates with popular payment processes and shopping carts: Wishlist allows you to take payments using PayPal, Stripe and more. It also works seamlessly with WooCommerce, ThriveCart and numerous other shopping cart services. 

Create various payment options: With Wishlist, you can set up monthly subscriptions, pay per post, or multiple membership levels so you can maximize payment flexibility. You can also incorporate free, paid, or trial membership levels to give your members as many options as possible.

Integrates with email service providers: If you use a service such as Convertkit, MailChimp, or Constant Contact you can integrate Wishlist with these services. 

Integrates with Learning Management Systems (LMS): Wishlist also integrates with several LMS companies. This is perfect if you also offer an online course. 

Training and how-to guide library: You have access to training videos and how-to guides for not only using Wishlist, but building a membership site and creating various member levels. 

Marketing options: Once you create your membership site, you need to let everyone know! Wishlist gives you marketing tools (such as your email integration) to promote your site and membership levels. 

Total Content Control

Wishlist has a number of features specifically designed for you to control exactly when and what your members see, providing you a great amount of flexibility and ability to upsell members. 

Program drip content to your members. We get it, you love your members, but you don’t want to sit at your computer at a specific time each day or week to send out your information. 

Wishlist allows you to set up a schedule, so you can send out your content at pre-programmed times, which means you can post on your own timeframe.

Allow “sneak peaks:” If you have a member that clicks onto a page they do not have access to (based on the level they’ve paid for), you can set up snippets to give them a preview of what they have access to if they upgrade their membership. 

Archive content: You can archive your content and encourage members to upgrade to a certain membership level in order to access your archived content.

Pricing

Wishlist has three pricing models to choose from, depending on the number of websites you’d like to add a membership option to.

The base price, $147 per year, is for those businesses that only have one URL. You also receive the following:

• Access to all premiums Total Content Control
• Unlimited number of members and membership levels
• Support guides and training
• Video tutorials
• Automatic plugin updates
• Access to customer service

The mid-level $297 per year option has the same features but coverage up to 5 URLs. The $397 per year level is for use with up to 20 URLs. 

There is also a 30-day money back guarantee in case you’re not satisfied with your purchase.

Wishlist member pros and cons

Before you jump into the Wishlist world, consider the following:

Pros:

• User-friendly set up, no coding required
• Complete content control within your site and specific pages
• Easily integrate popular payment processing and shopping cart services
• Numerous marketing opportunities to members for upgrades
• Responsive help desk for customer support

Cons:

• Only works with WordPress 4.0 sites or newer versions
• Although it’s not unusual to pay for a plugin, the pricing options may be out of budget for some
• The wide variety of membership options and functions available may be overwhelming

Who should use Wishlist?

Wishlist Member is appropriate for anyone who already has a WordPress site, and wants to monetize it through membership options.

There are a number of website niche’s that could benefit from hosting a paid membership site. There is really no limit to the number of entrepreneurs or business owners who could benefit from operating a paid site. Businesses offering services such as:

• Coaching or consulting
• Nutrition, diet, or exercise instruction
• Musical instrument training and lessons
• Tutoring and teaching various subjects
• Marketing ideas
• How-to guides
• Website set up and design
• Interior decorating or design services
• Personal finance and budgeting tools

This is the tip of the iceberg for the type of sites that could reap the benefits of a paid membership site. If you’re unsure what business would reap the rewards of a paid membership, think about the items you’ve paid for in the past or ones you are currently using. 

Final thoughts on Wishlist

Overall, if you’re looking for a way to create various membership levels within your website, then Wishlist is a great option to get started quickly. 
Wishlist claims on their website that your own membership site can be up and running within a few hours. If you have been considering how you can monetize your site and earn more money, Wishlist may be the ticket to make your digital entrepreneurial dreams come true.