Genre: Instruction

How To Build A Successful Membership Site If your answer is yes then you are not alone -- perhaps it's just me but I've noticed a growing interest in this area. So based on my experience of running Gain Higher Ground Membership and setting up other membership style sites I thought I'd put together this blog post to help guide you in the right direction. Why Build A Membership Site? Owning a successful membership site is a wonderful thing, here are some of the benefits.... 1. Less product creation worries Although creating a membership site does require a fair amount of work it means that you don't have to rely on perpetually inventing, creating and launching new products. 2. You only have to sell ONCE If you are promoting lots of different products, either your own or by being an affiliate, you need to be in selling and promoting mode a LOT. This is a pain and especially if you're like me and don't really like the thought of selling anyway! Owning a membership site on the other hand means that once your subscribers become members they then will stay with you as customers without you having to pitch to them again. 3. Continuity Income By having a recurring billing structure built in to your product you are (by definition) going to get paid every month, quarter or year. This is really the holy grail of running any business -- constant cash flow. Content -- Go Evergreen! My top recommendation for creating content for your membership site is to try to keep it as evergreen as possible. By this I mean that it should be information that is useful not only today but, next month, in 6 months and preferably in 2 years' time. This way whatever content you do create you, and your subscribers, can reap the benefits from it over a long period of time. Of course, you'll need to update it from time to time but try your best to go as evergreen as possible! When it comes to what kind of content to create then really it's your choice. Use the "Content Mix" (as I like to call it) to ensure that you account for your members' differing preferences for varying types of content. Which Membership Site Software Is Best? 1. Membergate -- Expensive monthly cost but very good 2. Wishlist Member -- Much cheaper and a one off cost but also very good Unless you have specific reasons for not doing so my recommendation is to go with Wishlist Member which integrates with WordPress. You'll also need a good WordPress theme to make your site look attractive and for this I'd recommend OptimizePress . Pricing Start low to launch your site and then increase the price. Not only will this get more members through the door to start with it will also encourage them not to cancel after you raise the price for new members. It's much hard to decrease the price than increase it so keep this in mind too. And take a look at the other membership sites in your niche to get an idea of the correct level of pricing that you can use. I once tested a choice between monthly payment options and a one off charge for 12 month access and found that 79% of people chose the one off payment. So this is something to keep in mind. Obviously, you forgo the luxury of being paid every month but some people are averse to this so by offering both options you are likely to get more people through the door. How To Accept Payments Paypal is the easiest and you can be up and running in just a few minutes. Clickbank or similar solution offers more analytics and features but it will cost you some money to start with plus it takes time for your product to be approved. It doesn't really matter which one but I'd highly recommend either of these choices unless you have a very good reason for not using them. The model works really well as lots of people like being your subscriber and consuming your free updates but some who are more serious will always want to take things to next level so it really makes sense to present them with the option of joining your members site. Retention Once you've got people into your membership site you need to do everything possible to keep them there. Here's a 3 point checklist: 1. Do consistent updates to the members' area content at regular intervals 2. Offer the BEST support you can either via email, on a private Facebook page or via a members' forum 3. Can you offer them tools, software or access to something that they will find useful going forward? This is a great way to keep members So... Building a membership site does take time and effort, there's certainly no doubt about that. However, once it is there it is really a very enjoyable experience running it and well worth the initial effort. Overall, just try to keep things SIMPLE. It's so easy to overcomplicate things, especially when it comes to internet marketing. Are you inspired (or put off!) to start your own membership site?  Please click LIKE if you enjoyed this and let me know what you think in the comments section below... Rob, great info as always. We just took on a client to help them build an online presnece for an offline coaching business and a membership site is the seond phase of the contract. Been a while since I built one, so great tips here, updated for 2012 info here. My partner uses s2member as the software for his membership site. I used wishlist for mine. Thoughts on s2? Hi Rob Thanks for the great info all over your site. Owning a membership site is where I would eventually like to be so looking forward to your IIF course in the coming days. I'm learning to walk first with your help. Thanks Paul Hi Rob Some great tips -- thanks. Putting a new WP site together that needs aweber-style autoresponder integration, but is a 'full' website, not a Blog. Specifically, there's some 'tweaking' required to get info from a database out to a hierarchical membership. We identified DAP as a front runner, which I notice is in your list, and memberwingX, which isn't. Your preference for Wishlist however, has me asking whether we've covered all the bases. What features make Wishlist Member stand out for you? Cheers, Dino Personally, I use Membergate (which is expensive) and Wishlist which is just awesome. I've never used DAP but have heard about certain issues with it hence I went in the Wishlist direction. It's just so easy and robust (and integrates with multiple autoresponders) that I really don't have to look further at this point. At some point I may convert my Membergate site over to it as well Without wishing to crudely plug Gain Higher Ground Membership , one of the live training sessions we did (which is recorded and archived) is "How To Create A Membership Site In 25 Minutes". I literally set one up in that time completely from scratch. So it can be done very quickly as well! Whatever you decided, just remember that it doesn't really matter that much about the software. What is far more important is the marketing and product. Hi, I am keen to start a membership website from scratch and have been looking for a course that deals with this specifically. There are a number of Clickbank products and a few on the Warrior Forum but I have not seen anything that takes you by the hand and step by step. I am not looking for a quick fix but a means to set up a quality content site that will retain it's members. No doubt if I was to join your site I would eventually find the info I need but not I guess in one simple package. Do you know of anything suitable, preferably UK based so that I could have reasonable contact if need be with the mentor. Many thanks, Starting a membership site is one of the best things I've ever done! I don't have a specific course for this I'm afraid but: 1. You'll find useful free information on my blog (this site!) if you search through the past posts. 2. We have some relevant content in GHG Membership including "Creating A Membership Site From Scratch In 25 Minutes Flat". The membership also comes with support from me so I would be able to advise you on the steps.