Do you have a membership site? They are becoming as popular as ever! Even Inc. Magazine had an article about Membership sites (http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/building-a-membership-site.html)! In the article, it says,
If you’re an expert in something (and you know you are!), and want to go beyond just blogging about it online, creating a membership site can leverage your time significantly—and, if done right, can be a sustainable online business.
There are many benefits to running an ongoing membership site, but when it comes to choosing how you’re going to run it, membership site software can make things even easier and even more profitable! Here’s a quick guide as to why you should consider using it.
Add Content Easily
A number of membership site models are based on adding or updating content, and membership site software makes this task far easier. Rather than dealing with individual clients, and attempting to supply updated information by e-mail or other methods, you can simply add the new content to your membership site and all paid-up members will receive it. Not only will this save you time, it’s also far more secure than sharing files via email.
Easily Manage Payments
Managing the payments side of your membership site is another key benefit. Normally when you have to deal with collecting payments from multiple clients, and at different times throughout the month, it’s hard to know who has paid their monthly fee and who hasn’t. When using one of the many membership site payment options it is easy to manage this automatically.
Build A Community Within Your Membership
One very good reason to use membership site software is the option to include a forum within your membership. Quite a few membership sites maintain their monthly membership fees largely due to the participants’ reluctance to leave the forum. This is especially true if you take an active role within the forum yourself. You can, of course, hire someone else to manage the forum: this can be a useful option if you are planning to run multiple membership sites at once.
It’s Easy
The main reason why people choose to launch their membership with membership site software is because it’s so easy. All you need is good content and a good idea and you can set it up with little to no technical experience, and just a small amount of cash to pay for the software (sometimes it’s a one-time fee, sometimes it means an ongoing monthly cost).
Help is Here
If you want to start a membership site, and simply do not know how to do this, check out, Create Membership Sites for step by step instructions on how to create your own membership site!
This could not have come at a more appropriate time, I was just yesterday looking for ways to turn my husbands site in to a membership site there is so much info out there that I got confused and stop looking so this is right on time. Just another one of the many benefits of UBC connecting with those that provide reliable resources. Thanks for the info. I am bookmarking your page!
Let me know if you need any help with this, Kirsten!
This was a very interesting topic… one I wasn’t familiar with… at least not the proper terminology.
Thanks so much for this timely and practical article. Looking forward to doing some research on this.
So happy your article was one of the two above mine…
seen your post at UBC!
Jean Smith
http://www.wreninthewillow.wordpress.com
🙂 I learn new things ALL the time 🙂 Glad I could explain something to you, Jean!
Hi Paul, thanks for visiting me via UBC. After trying out various options, the Genesis theme I settled on, (and reworked a bit) works really well for me as a photographer. You have some interesting ideas on your post and I’m sure that, for people who want to monetize their WP, it’s probably a very good scheme. Take care. 🙂
The Genesis theme is a great theme! Thanks for stopping by!
Great post!
I’ve helped friends do this and I’ve done this but have other things I’d like to add.
Can you email to discuss how you may help me.
Thanks,
Kathy
Visiting from UBC
Hi Kathy – I have sent you an email. 🙂
I have a membership site for my online program, and I set up a forum for participants, but it was very difficult to get people to use it! In the end, the participants convinced me to switch to a private Facebook group instead, where it was easier for them to interact because they’re already there, can access it from their phone, etc.
I still love the idea of having a forum someday; it could be an amazing repository of information about all things nomadic. But it seems you really have to get a critical mass of people to keep participation up.
I like membership sites as a method to deliver content. Rather than emailing or having protected pages, I can continually add new content, etc. in the Membership Area.
For example, over at, http://WPSiteHelp.com, I can easily add the monthly video trainings to the site. Just recently, I have been adding monthly tools that all the members get. In this way, a membership site is great.
I agree that Facebook is an easier tool for having a Forum. My only concern is that I do not control Facebook. At some point, Facebook can come in and shut down a group in an instant! Hmmm… Sounds like I have a good blog post to write about this.
Thanks, Amy!
Yes, I agree 100 percent; I would much rather keep my content off Facebook, but there’s also no group if no one participates! It’s a catch-22 right now, at least for me.
I agree with you! People love their Facebook 🙂
this is new info to me. worth trying. how much time does it take to recover the onetime costs? does it vary on each individual?
also registered for 28-day tips. hope to learn 🙂
It all depends on how many memberships you have and what your price point is. Software and training will cost about $175. If you have a monthly membership with 3 levels:
Bronze: Free
Silver: $47
Gold: $97
Then you only need a Gold Member and a Silver member and you can recoup your costs the first month. If you only ever get 1 Silver member, you can recover your costs in 4 months.
Of course, I have not valued in your time, hosting costs, any advertising costs, etc.
One last thing, Amar – you cannot have a membership site on marnaik.wordpress.com since it hosted on WordPress.COM – you would need to have a self-hosted site in order to run a membership site.
Membership sites seems to be the latest trends in delivering content. I know I’m working on setting up my group coaching course as a membership site. There are many ways of doing this – from the simple step of using a Facebook group or Google hangout to have a specific software.
Our Parenting 2.0 LinkedIn group is creating a series of membership sites for parents. It’s a great way to learn at your own pace and in your own time.
Great point, Julia. When you have a group program and everyone gets the same thing, a Facebook group or Google hangout works well. If you need different levels and/or you want individual content per person, Facebook will not work as well.