Membership Software - Who To Do?
Howdy, and apologies for the lack of updates! I’ve been real busy preparing myself for the BBC interview and working on my lil’ Affiliate Marketing revolution/disaster. 
I just found out I wasn’t made to make Camtasia videos… I sound like a goof, get my words muddled up and find navigating round a screen whilst reading of a piece of paper an art I’m yet to acquire. On the site design side of things, it’s looking great though! The content itself rocks socks (even if I can’t deliver it well…), but hey. I’m getting better!
For the membership software, I’ve got my hands on three separate packages and I can’t decide which to use. CMS-Infusion ($4,000), Butterfly Marketing ($1,500), or aMember ($150)? Seeing as I have the rights to all three - I’m at a loss. I originally started using aMember, but truth be told, the backend interface is confusing at best and whilst it might be an overall secure and well made program, I’m considering giving Butterfly Marketing and/or CMS Infusion a whirl.
Both cost in the regon of 10 to 25 (26.666 recurring actually) as much as aMember - but what’s been bought has been bought, and there’s no point not making the most outta them. Butterfly Marketing, whilst powerful and created specifically for Internet Marketers (a great feature aMember lacks), is old and has lots to be desired - even if it does provide a robust, secure interface. CMS Infusion on the other hand (recently dubbed the holy grail of management software) seems to be an excellent choice for me as an Affiliate Marketer however - choc-full of features and ready to boot out of the box, much unlike aMember Pro.
All the same - I’m undecided. I’ll do the cool thing and ask you guys for advice. You can check out the respective product pages and help me make my mind up… Affiliate Defined has not only been a massive investment for me, but also a life-changing experience. Heck - if the whole project falls apart and never launches, I’ll still walk away with tonnes of new friends, a bucketload of new ideas, and least of all, I’ll be a better Affiliate Marketer than ever before!
Who do I personally want to try? CMS-Infusion. Not because of the hefty price-tag, but because of the sheer amount of hype surrounding the product. In one hour, I received an excess of 35 promotions from “gurus” whose list’s I’m on. Why? It’s a high-priced product with great payouts. The actual quality of the product remains to be seen, but from what I’ve seen personally so far, I must admit, it does look pretty darn good.
NOTE: Though I could have easily got myself a few nice ‘thousand dollar cheques’ by including Affiliate links in this post, I haven’t. Why? Simply because I’m asking you for advice, not pitching a product to you. Asides, I blog because I enjoy it, and because you guys do such a service to me by helping me out… All that said, if anyone does want to buy one of the above products, let me know and I’ll send an aff link your way. Hehe…
Post sponsored by: TechRave
June 17th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
I’m all for buying software when it’s needed, but I don’t think it is in this case.
I track all my affiliate stuff just using spreadsheets. Sure, it’s old-school, but it works.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Whilst I see your point - the plan is to ship several thousand units across multiple price-points within just a few days. Thanks anyhow!
Since I already have product access though, there seems no reason not use them…
June 18th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Ahh… Didn’t quite get where you were going with it. Note to self - drink coffee before posting. :p
CMS Infusion is pretty awesome for that kinda level of stuff. However, I’d personally just stick with WordPress myself, and use plugins and self-coding to do it. But then I’ve got the skillset and contacts to do that, and years of tinkering with WP.
Tell you what, tell us exactly what features you need, and then maybe we can suggest better.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
The plan is to set up a password-protected members area, fully integrated with ClickBank, PayPal and various other payment methods. I can’t say all that much more though, other than large amounts of content will be downloaded from inside the members area.
Anyhow - thanks again!
June 18th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Hmm. Personally, I’d still use WP myself, but I’m kinda a special case! Nah, I’d go with Infusion if I were you (I’m guessing you’re not a PHP programmer).
Random question - I’m looking to do a series of 12 teleseminars. Would you be up for being on of the interviewees?
June 18th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Sounds fun! Drop me an e-mail…
D a v i d [at] t e c h z i . n e t
Of course it would all depend on timings, etc. I’m completely booked solid up till August. I guess it would depend on what kind of rights I had to the teleseminar recording too. Would I be able to re-package it for my own purposes, for instance?
June 17th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
There are several membership & affiliate modules for Drupal, which is free and open source. I use it on several sites, including a private site for residents of my community.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:33 am
I plan on using Clickbank.com for the affiliate side of things…
June 17th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Go with what ever you are comfortable with, even if it’s a bit expensive - you will say “thank you” to me down the road
And indeed look at open sourced solutions as well.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:31 am
I already HAVE these software packages though - that’s the point…
June 24th, 2007 at 3:55 am
I have used Amember, I reccomend that one.