Did you know that you can utilize the internet dominating WordPress content management system as a full featured Association Management System? It’s true! Many associations are already recognizing the benefits of running their association’s website on WordPress.
Professional associations and trade associations have their own unique needs and systems — including:
1. MembershipWorks
These are not listed in random order. MembershipWorks is the very first plugin I recommend for professional associations. MembershipWorks is truly the backbone of your Association Management system.
MembershipWorks provides the core functionality such as member management, online payments, event management, and a ton more.
Note that MembershipWorks is a paid service. There is a very limited free plan, but in order to fully utilize the core functionality, you’ll need to subscribe to a paid plan.
If you want to take a deeper dive into MembershipWorks, feel free to check out some of our other posts on the subject.
- The Ultimate Guide to Building Association Websites with WordPress and MembershipWorks
- MembershipWorks API: Revolutionizing Member Management in WordPress
- Install MembershipWorks on WordPress: Your 7-Step Comprehensive Guide
- Creating a MembershipWorks Account: Your First Step to a Robust Membership System
- HubSpot vs. MembershipWorks: A Comparison of Association Management Systems for Trade and Professional Associations Integrating with WordPress
- Creating Personalized Member Dashboards with MembershipWorks and WordPress
- Setting Up Your Member Directory in MembershipWorks
- Building an association website using WordPress and MembershipWorks
- Online membership management for professional associations
- Add member billing and easy online payments to your association website
- Register for an event directly from your site calendar
- Online member profiles and directories made easy
Keybridge Web is an official development partner for MembershipWorks — and we’re here to help with any questions or to start planning your new system.
2. MailPoet
Even with all of the social media options out there, email is still the undisputed king of content delivery. If you want to get news or information to your members, send them an email.
MailPoet allows your members to be notified when a new blog post or news item is posted on your website. The plugin can be set to notify users immediately, or via a daily or weekly “digest” email. Your members will receive a beautifully formatted email with images, excerpts, and links to full articles.
In additional, MailPoet can also be used to send out traditional monthly, quarterly, or annual newsletters.
3. Muster Advocacy Campaigns
Do you want to give your members an easy way to contact Congress or state lawmakers directly from your website? Amplify the voice of your organization and its advocates with Muster.
This tool helps craft digital grassroots advocacy campaigns that bridge the gap between your advocates and policymakers, providing a seamless and powerful platform to engage, amplify, and measure grassroots action.
Features include:
- Comprehensive datasets for local, state, and federal officials
- Multi-channel advocacy
- Message rotation
- In-depth analytics
- Submit comments directly to Regulations.gov
4. Elementor Page Builder
Revolutionize your website design with Elementor, the leading WordPress page builder. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows you to design professional pages without needing to code. Elementor gives you full control over the layout and design of your pages, making it easy to create responsive, high-performing websites tailored to your association’s needs.
5. Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms gives your association the ability to create forms of all flavors. Associations have utilized Gravity Forms for officer voting, member polls, volunteer forms, and much more. In addition, Gravity forms includes tons of addons to third parties which enables you to connect into systems you may already use, such as Constant Contact, Salesforce, or Slack.
Summary
This post provides a high-level overview of some of the amazing features in these plugins. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The options for building your association website in WordPress are virtually limitless. That’s why we are here. We can work with you to determine the tools and setup that best fit your association’s needs.
So, if you’d like to learn more about creating your association’s website and AMS with WordPress, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Keybridge. I can be reached at 877-302-2185 (ask for Mike), or at mike@keybridgeweb.com.
