BUILD YOUR NEWSLETTER

Own or Rent? Build your own paid newsletter platform on WordPress

If you're serious about your paid newsletter business – own your publishing platform; don't rent somebody else's. 

A 4-step guide to building a paid newsletter platform.

Step 1
Set up a subscription plan with Memberful
Step 2
Connect Memberful with WordPress
Step 3
Restrict access to paying subscribers only
Step 4
Build and publish newsletters in WordPress

Connect the pieces to build your publishing empire.

Successful paid newsletters like Stratechery and A Media Operator run their businesses on WordPress.

Learn what pieces you need and how to connect them in order to build a paid newsletter empire that matches theirs.

Requirements and Costs

To start, here's an honest look at all the software you'll need to set a paid newsletter up, along with an estimate of how much it all costs.

  • Memberful: $25/month + 4.9% transaction fee
  • Stripe: ~2.9% transaction fee + $0.30
  • Newsletter Glue: $89/year
  • WordPress hosting: ~$5-10/month
  • Mailchimp/MailerLite/Campaign Monitor: Starts from $10

Total: ~$50/month

Note: Everything has a basic free version (except WordPress hosting). So initial set up is closer to $5.

4 steps to setting up your paid newsletter.

step 1

Set up a subscription plan with Memberful

Lay the foundations so that subscribers can start paying you for your newsletter.

Reading time: 5 minutes

Read article
what you'll learn
tap to go to section
  1. 1
    What is Memberful and why you should use it → 
  2. 2
    Create your first subscription plan →
  3. 3
    A quick word about taxes →
  4. 4
    Connect Stripe to Memberful →
  5. 5
    Integrate your email service provider →
step 2

Connect Memberful with WordPress

Activate the Memberful plugin. Add purchase buttons and customer accounts.

READING TIME: 6 MINUTES

Read article
what you'll learn
TAP TO GO TO SECTION
  1. 1
    Activate Memberful plugin in WordPress →
  2. 2
    Add Purchase button →
  3. 3
    Examples of paid newsletter calls to action →
  4. 4
    Add customer account management →
  5. 5
    Create a better subscriber experience with these free plugins →
step 3

Restrict access to paying subscribers only

Restrict your newsletter archive for paying subscribers only.

READING TIME: 5 MINUTES

Read article
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
TAP TO HEAD TO SECTION
  1. 1
    Add new category →
  2. 2
    Bulk restrict access for the entire category →
  3. 3
    Add sales copy (what non-subscribers see when they access restricted content) →
  4. 4
    Manually restrict pieces of content →
step 4

Build and publish newsletters in WordPress

Use Newsletter Glue to build and publish newsletters from WordPress.

READING TIME: 7 MINUTES

Read article
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
TAP TO GO TO SECTION
  1. 1
    What is Newsletter Glue and why you should use it →
  2. 2
    Integrate your email service provider (ESP) →
  3. 3
    Publish your newsletter →
  4. 4
    Put together your new publishing workflow →

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