Setting Up Your Own Profitable Membership Site – Four Simple Steps

It’s no secret that the membership model is crazy profitable. That’s why so many big companies like Sam’s Club, Amazon and Apple are setting up membership clubs and sites. It’s a great model because as long as you provide value members will pay you over and over again for months or even years. Plus you get a proven list of buyers to add to your email list.

If you’re looking to add a residual income opportunity to your sales funnel, then check out these four simple steps…

One: Choose A Membership Model

There is no “one size fits all” membership model. What you choose depends on your target market and what you’re selling. Here is a sample of some of the most common membership site models:

• The monthly membership. As the name says, members pay a fee every month to maintain access to the membership products or services. Examples of this model include Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited membership, your local gym membership, and even your cell phone provider.
• The annual membership. Here members pay yearly instead of monthly. Examples of this model include Amazon’s Prime Membership (which I have used for years now) and many credit card.
• The “pay once” membership. Here members pay once and get access to a membership site’s product or services forever. Sometimes you’ll see software or forums operating under this model. While this model doesn’t offer a residual income and gives you the opportunity to market other products and services to the members.
• The free membership site. The idea here is that members need to register for a free account in order to get access to the site so you get a nice list of email addresses. Many social networks such as Facebook and Twitter run on this model. This is also a great way to bring people in then offer an upgrade.
• The multi-tiered site. This is where prospective members choose the membership level that’s right for them such as the bronze, silver or gold membership. Each tier comes with more value (and a higher price). They can then upgrade their membership at any time. This is the model most web hosting companies use.

To get more information on these membership models so that you can pick the right one for you, check this out: Membership Marketers Club.

Two: Set Up the Site

Your next step is to set up your site so it works as smoothly and as hands-free as possible. Here are the two main components you need in place:

• The sales letter.
• The membership site itself.

The sales letter goes on the front page of your site and it includes all the benefits people will receive once they sign up to be members. Your sales letter should include all the components of any other sales letter including:

• An emotional connection to the prospects by telling a story or empathizing with prospects.
• A focus that showcases the top benefits of the site. These benefits should appear in your headline, in your bulleted list of benefits, and even in the P.S. at the end of your letter (where applicable).
• Proof of your claims. This could be testimonials, photos, videos, screenshots, scans or anything else that proves the claims made in the sales letter.
• Risk reduction (a money back guarantee).
• A strong call to action. This is where you explicitly tell people to join along with a good reason as to why they should join now. Of course, you’ll include a payment button right next to the call to action.

Once people complete the order form they’ll be taken to the membership site to register their account. How this part of your site is set up really depends on what sort of membership site you’re running. For example:

• If you send out a set amount of training materials by autoresponder you may have people register by filling out an opt-in form for your mailing list.
• If you’ve set up a more traditional membership site with content you need to protect it from prying eyes. You can use a membership site script or if you use WordPress you can use a theme that creates membership sites like OptimizePress. These scripts and membership themes manage memberships, drip-feed content, protect content and some can even run your affiliate program if you so choose.

Once your site is all set up then move onto the next step…

Three: Create Your Content

If you’re running a membership site that requires content such as a PLR membership site or a training site then you need to create this content before you launch. You can do this yourself if you have the time, skills and desire. Otherwise, you can hire a freelancer to do it for you. Check out UpWork.com or eLance.com to find skilled writers, programmers and other freelancers.

TIP: If you’re setting up a monthly membership site (meaning you need to upload new content every month) then create at least three month’s worth of content upfront. This gives you a buffer in case your site launch keeps you super busy for a couple months.

Last step…

Four: Promote Promote Promote the Site

Once your sales page is up, your membership site is in place and the content is uploaded, it’s time to unleash its awesomeness on the world. Here are a few ways to do it:

• Put an affiliate program in place and offer lifetime commissions to your marketing partners(affiliates). This means that they get commissions on monthly fees for as long as their customer remains a members.
• Do co-promotions with other people in your niche. This means they promote your site and you promote their products or services in return.
• Blog about your membership site. Not only should you be telling your own blog visitors but you can do guest blogging as well.
• Spread the word on social media. You might even create a viral campaign and use Social Share Monkey (www.socialsharemonkey.com) to spread the word far and spread it fast.
• Buy ads. One good place to start is Facebook as their advertising platform lets you really hone in on your target market. You might also try Google AdWords as well as purchasing ads in your niche.

That’s not an exhaustive list of advertising strategies by any stretch of the imagination, but it does give you a good place to start the flow of traffic and lots of new members.

Ready To Get Started?

If you’ve ever crunched the profit numbers for running a membership site then you know it’s very exciting. Just imagine charging people $20 a month to be a member. It would only takes 500 members and you’ll break the magic $10,000 a month income level. And that doesn’t even include the big profits you can make on the backend of a membership site!

So listen, if you like the idea of running a membership site, if you’d like to join other smart businesses such as the likes of Amazon and Apple, then your next step is to get the inside scoop from two guys who run successful money-making membership sites all over the web.

Check it out now at: Membership Marketers Club.

This site will show you how to get your own site up and running fast plus you’ll find out the secrets of extracting the money out of the backend of the site. So get your site set up the right way by checking out the link above right now and hurry because there’s a special offer on that page that may end at any time.