Subscription, mentor, membership or members’ only sites, whichever you chose to call it they are not always as easy as they sound to create. Make sure you write a business plan for your membership site. This can insure, month after month, a constant-steady flow of income when done properly.
Where to Start?
Anyone can create a membership site but should you? To start, you will need a niche and product to put on your site. Many people have an unrealistic idea on what all is involved in starting a membership site let alone the up keep of one. Most will fail once they experience the reality of the hard work and time involved.
Pick a niche that interests you. This will help in the creation of the product. If you are unfamiliar with or have no interest in the niche you will soon get bored and most likely give up. Decide on what product you will have in your membership site. Will there be ebooks, articles, videos, audios, tools, etc. Keep in mind who will be creating this product, if not you, how much will this cost to outsource? Also, have a realistic idea on how long it will take to create these. Utilize yourself where you are strongest and outsource the rest. This will help with keeping a timeline for the big launch.
Make sure to do some research on your targeted audience and find out what’s hot in your particular niche. Also check out what the competition is doing.
Setting Up Your Membership Site
Starting and running a membership site can be a lot of fun if done correctly. Knowing what all is involved in creating and running a membership site is the key to success. There are some things you’ll want to consider to effectively manage your site. Credit card processing, automated sign-ups and automated cancellations are all things that must be integrated into the site. You should by now have an email list created from when your members opted in for your site. You’ll want to make sure you set up auto-responders to stay engaged with the members of your group.
Free Membership vs. Paid Membership
With a free membership site, members usually get limited access to information that you are providing at no charge. Check out what other people are giving away on their free membership sites. You will find it’s not exactly current or in high demand stuff. It’s usually something you can find on your own on the internet. Most people will join these because it’s nice to have a lot of the information you’re looking for in one place. Keep in mind that the membership is free; this doesn’t mean that you can’t have paid products available to them. The idea behind a free membership site is to get their contact information. This will build your list for future products or for an upgrade to the current free membership to a paid membership that offers full access. Remember, this site isn’t free for you, make sure to have a proper plan in place for how you will up keep this site.
If you are considering a paid membership site, you will have to create some sort of value to your members. If they can find your information quickly and easily for free, you better believe they will. You need to step it up a notch if you are charging people for information. Not too long ago it was unheard of to have to pay to have access to information on a website. Nowadays, we have come to believe that access to valuable information isn’t free…or is it? Almost any information can be found on the internet if you have the time to look long and hard. Most people don’t have that kind of time so they will gladly pay for it.
What Will I Add to My Membership Site?
Turning your hobby into a profitable business is one of the greatest things about starting a membership site. Coming up with current and relevant information will be your toughest feat. You may want to look into using PLR (Private Label Rights) for some or all of your content/products. Make sure you add your personal touch to these items as many people might already be using this same information. PLR is meant to be used as a guideline on topics that you would like to share information on. A lot of PLR that you may purchase will be out-dated or written by someone who doesn’t speak English as their first language. So make sure you are only using it as an outline for what you are trying to express.
Good Luck!
Daunting and complex as the whole process may seem, if done properly, you can make hundreds to thousands of dollars every month with a little bit of patience and persistence. There are many easy-to-use, low cost software solutions to get you started if you don’t have the time to put into it.
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