Paid Membership sites are a great way to create a mainly passive form of income. Once you have your membership site up and running, you just need to keep it updated with fresh content. Setting up a membership site can seem a little intimidating, however. Just take it a step at a time and you’ll soon be ready to launch your new site and get on with the business of making money.
The first step in creating a membership site is making sure you have an audience who is ready to join. Like all types of content sales, you need to find a target market hungry enough to want what you have and willing to realize they need to pay for it.
Search out your market as you would any type of content product. Start by choosing a topic that either you have experience in or have a strong interest in. Do some keyword research to be certain of your market. Use Google’s keyword tool to find out how many people are doing daily searches for your niche. Next, spend some time doing a little research to see how many other paid membership sites are already operating in your chosen field. Just because there is a little competition in your field, doesn’t mean you should pick another topic. Competition can be a good thing- it gives you a benchmark to work toward and beat! However, if there are a lot of heavy hitters in your market, you need to know you’re in for a challenge. Your best research can be done by joining a few membership sites and checking them out from the inside. Mind you, you still need to create your own content and fresh ideas, but you can see what is popular and what isn’t, which can help you choose topics and features in your own site.
As you look at different paid membership sites, take note of the special features they use. One of the most common features is the forum. A forum gives site members a dedicated space to discuss ideas, share information, ask for help and interact in a number of ways. Forums will also allow members to send private messages to one another. As the site administrator, you will set the rules for the forum, as well as interact with the members yourself. It’s usually a good idea to keep forum rules to a minimum, although you will want to notify members of the rules against spam. You will also likely want to set some ground rules regarding tone and etiquette. While a forum is only as good as its diversity, members should agree to a policy of mutual respect and avoidance of abusive remarks.
You can also use your paid membership site to sell additional products and resources to your members. Choose these resources wisely. Your members are already paying to participate in your site, so be careful not to push other products too heavily. Instead, consider setting up a resources section members can check out at their own leisure. Choose only high quality products that offer a good value to your members. You don’t want to violate their good will or trust or you will find yourself losing members.
These steps are obviously just the beginning of creating your membership site, but they are an important beginning. By starting out in the right way, you have a much better shot at ending up where you want to be- at the top of your market, making a great income from your membership site.
Get our Online Paid Membership Site Manual to get started with your own money making paid membership site.
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