Contrary to what a lot of internet marketers and membership site teachers tell you, a theme is not very important in your membership site. Now let me explain. I am all for having a membership site that looks good, that looks professional, and that’s easy to navigate, but unfortunately, the majority of membership site creators think that the theme of their membership site is the most important thing and as a result, end up using search for a theme as an excuse not to get anything else accomplished.
Here is something to think about. If you had a membership site with a good-looking theme and no content, would people pay for it? The answer is no. But if you had a membership site with an average-looking theme and some content, would people be more likely to purchase it? And the answer is yes. So, a theme is not really the top priority for you. Is it important to have an okay-looking theme? Of course it is, but it’s not that important to go out and find a different theme every single time you create a membership site. It’s not that important to get a custom theme created every single time you make a membership site.
Personally, I prefer just to reuse my favorite theme. I use a theme called Cutline on most of my sites and it’s a simple black and white theme where I can find everything. So, I just reuse my favorite theme for new membership sites. That way, I can create the membership site quickly while I am still excited about it. Something that’s very important with themes is that they are able to navigate. So, on your theme, can somebody easily search for something? Can they easily find old posts? Can they easily go to an old category? Can they easily leave a comment? Can they easily see what the newest posts are? If you can say yes to all those questions, then you have an easy-to-navigate theme and you should probably consider it.
Personally, I prefer blue or black and white themes with a single right sidebar. If according to your personality, you prefer a two-sidebar or a three-sidebar themes that’s purple, go ahead and use that, but I know what I like, you know what kind of theme you like. Go look at the blogs you frequent and what do those themes have in common, and just duplicate that on your own sites.
But the thing that’s important to me is that WordPress themes and membership themes don’t need to be fancy. There’s no rule that say you have to have a membership site theme that has giant magazine-style pictures everywhere or that has content sliders so that the blog flips around about the different posts better around. Personally, I think these kinds of additions distract people instead of helping them find exactly what they’re looking for.
So, a theme is not really too important with your membership site. You should definitely choose a theme that looks good, but once you found that good theme, reuse it in your other membership sites. Make sure that they’re easy to navigate and avoid a lot of the fancy stuff like magazine style themes or slider style themes.
Now that we’ve gotten that issue out of the way, go ahead and create some content, and market your membership site, and get the first few members.