In a previous post I shared why I don’t recommend publishing content on Substack and why it’s better to share content on a platform that you actually own, such as a website powered by WordPress.
If you haven’t read that post yet, you can find it here.
In that post, I mentioned that it was possible to create a website using WordPress that allows you to put content behind a paywall and sell subscriptions to your audience so that you can monetise your content.
Today, I want to delve deeper into this topic and to do this, I’m going to share a case study of a website that I developed with this exact functionality.
Let me introduce you to The Home Page
The Home Page is an online homes and lifestyle magazine, featuring inspiring interiors and gardens, stories of home, recipes and more.
I originally worked on their website back in 2019 with Cat from Gatto, and towards the end of last year Ros and Jess reached out to me as they were looking to start selling access to their content. They liked the idea of using Substack but didn’t want to move away from the gorgeous website Cat had designed for them.
The solution: adding a paywall to their WordPress website
I had a discussion with Ros and Jess, and I suggested that we add a paywall and subscription functionality to their existing WordPress website.
That way, they didn’t need to move their content over to a different platform they didn’t even own, and they didn’t have to say goodbye to their beautiful website.
Setting up a paywall
To add this functionality to their existing WordPress website, we used the plugin Paid Memberships Pro.
This plugin allows website visitors to access and read two posts of their choosing each month for free, without needing to be a member.
Once a visitor has read their two chosen posts, they will only be able to see the beginning of a blog post, before being prompted to subscribe for full access. This way, visitors can get an idea of what they’ll gain when they sign up as a member.
This is also great from an SEO perspective as this setup allows search engine bots to crawl every post on the website and index them. It makes much more sense to drive traffic to a website you own, rather than somewhere like Substack.
Adding subscription options
When someone decides to become a member of The Home Page they can choose between a monthly subscription and an annual subscription.
Members have control over their own subscriptions, so they can cancel if they wish, and they can upgrade their membership from monthly to annual.
Mailchimp integration for members-only emails
I connected the subscription functionality to the client’s Mailchimp account, so that when someone subscribes to the website, they are automatically added to a specific audience in Mailchimp. This allows Ros and Jess to email their paying subscribers separately to their non-subscribers.
It’s also possible to configure Mailchimp to automatically email subscribers every time a new post is published on the blog, which is similar functionality to what Substack offers.
And it’s better than Substack because…
✅ The client can sell access to their blog posts and collect email subscribers as well.
✅ The client actually owns the platform their content is published on.
✅ It looks much more unique and on-brand than a Substack profile.
✅ It builds SEO for the client’s own website, not Substack.
Are you ready to outsource your website development?
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