Introducing Paid Access – Transform Your Community into a Social Business

Today we are announcing one of the most requested features on Ning – Paid Access. Paid Access gives Ning Creators new ways to monetize their communities with complete flexibility. You can set a fixed price or ask for donations for site access, premium groups and content within a Ning site.

In a matter of clicks, you can transform your community into a social business. Because Paid Access is an integrated payment system, you can create a seamless charging experience and collect payments in real-time. Members of Ning sites are the most passionate you can find online – they care, participate, and provide their support both on and offline. They create fan fiction in their spare time for Twilight, buy every t-shirt from Linkin Park, and organize grassroots movements to rally support for their cause. These grassroots supporters and avid fans seek new content and a premium experience on over 90,000 Ning sites.

Ning has done the heavy lifting behind the scenes – handling the infrastructure and implementation – so that it is a breeze to set up and use. There are a variety of ways to use this feature:

• Paid Membership: Collect membership fees from a community.
• Paid Groups: Create exclusive spaces for premium members to network, have a deeper conversation, and access special content.
• Paid Content: Provide a destination for members to access premium content such as reports, articles, webinars, videos and music.
• Donations: Ask for member donations to keep your community going or to benefit your site or a cause.

Here is an example of what Paid Access looks like in action:

Charge for Paid Group:

Ask for Member Donations:

With Paid Access, you can easily run VIP fan clubs, publish exclusive reports, create professional networking groups or organize special webinars. There are endless possibilities to take advantage of this feature.

Want to be among the first to try this powerful feature? Starting on June 30^th, we will roll it out to a limited number of Ning Creators to gather feedback before broadening this to all Creators in mid July. Sign up now - the first 20 NCs selected will be able to try Paid Access free for a month and get dedicated support from the Ning Team to help you get up and running.

Over the next six months, the Ning Team will continue to innovate and provide more ways to harness the power of custom social experiences. Check out our Creators Network to learn more about Paid Access and share your thoughts by leaving your comment below.