6 Tips to Build a Successful Membership Site

With just a few steps, it’s possible to build a membership website that generates lots of money. However, the Internet is awash with so many dubious  opportunities such that people generally put every online venture “under the microscope”. This includes membership websites, whether it’s a  fee based membership site or  free membership site.
If you want to start a membership based website, then the  steps I have outlined below will prove vital for the overall success of your endeavor.

1)Pick  Niche Market
If you want to build a membership website that will succeed, you will want to choose your target market carefully. Avoid going for generic markets like weight-loss which already has thousands of membership sites. Instead, focus on a niche market that appeals to a specific category of people. For instance, you can start a membership site for 50+ year olds that want to loose weight. Of course, it’s paramount that you have knowledge in the market you are targeting. For instance, you can’t not start a health related membership site if your profession is computing. It doesn’t make sense.

2)Gauge The Market:
Snoop in  various social network sites like Facebook and MySpace to connect with users who may be interested in your niche market. In fact, you can also get new ideas from there. Look for rare information which  people and yet it’s not easily available online and start a membership which provides what rare information. Soon, you will be having thousands of visitors.

3)Draw  A Plan
It’s paramount that you understand what your members will want  if you want your site to last long. Are they want videos or authoritative information. Remember that a membership website should be built around people’s needs so it’s vital that you conduct thorough research to want your members will want.

4)Implement your plan.

Getting started is usually the hardest part in any online adventure. Your ideas may be good but if you don’t act on them, some one will do it before you and you will loose out. Make sure that you have all the articles, videos and audio if need be. They will be critical when  promoting your website.

5)Choose  the right Technology
There are practically hundreds of  membership website programs which you can use to start a membership site. Unfortunately, the majority of people need  membership site setup assistance  to get started. That’s why  our site provides useful  resources  for those individuals  who  would like to have help setting up their Membership Website.

6)Market Your Membership Website

In order to attract members, you will have to market  your membership website. There are various ways to market your website like article marketing,  social networking and paid advertising.

If you Build a membership site, you will soon discover that  running and maintaining a membership website is not hard as it seems.

Drupal For Membership Sites

If you are looking to build a membership site and are considering Drupal, you should give it a try.

When I tried various software in the past, I’d struggled with the coding side of drupal.

However, these Opensource Software programs like Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress just keep getting better and easier over time.  Eventually you find one you like, master how it works and start having fun building membership sites that make money.

With Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress, you do not have to worry because they are free on most basic hosting packages.

To install Drupal and see how you like it, simply use Fantastico on the CPanel of your hosting account.  If you do not know what that it, it is the thing you see when you sign into your hosting account.  It has a dashboard (cpanel) and you find the button that says Fantastico.  Then you follow the wizard to set up your drupal membership website.

If you play with Drupal for a couple of hours and do not like it, then you switch to another one and uninstall Drupal.  No big deal.  Really.  Go give it a try.

How to build a membership website

There are several broad areas that you must consider if you are going to build a membership website.

#1 – You must pick your market.  While it is great if you know a lot about a market, you also have to assess if it is a market that will buy your product and can be effectively marketed to.

#2 – Pick your membership site software.  Do some serious research on membership site software before you buy one or choose a free membership site software solution.  Don’t let free be your number one priority when for less than $100 you can get a solution that is better and will greatly help you improve your product.

#3 – Design your base content – You need to lauch it and then improve it.  What is the base content that you will need to write and what is your publishing schedule?

#4 – Set up your offer.  Get some people into your membership site and then solicit feedback.

Obviously there are a lot of steps in these points, but this is basically how you build a membership site.

How Fast Can I Make Money with a Membership Site?

You might be asking yourself how fast can I make money with a membership site?

The fact is, membership sites are harder than a normal ebook site and will take longer to make money with.

However, membership sites have a great monthly reoccuring revenue, so they are worth the effort as long as you are willing to put in the work up front.

There are several places that you will get slowed down if you are setting up your first membership website.

1. Membership Site Technology.  I went through 6 different technologies until I found the WONDERFUL WP Wishlist.  If you are familiar with Wordpress and you buy that plugin, you will save months of headaches setting up membership sites.  Since I was already using 1ShoppingCart to integrate my membership site, it was even easier.
2. Membership Site Content Creation – It is easy to get lost in too much content creation upfront.  You have to have a core value and then you need to keep adding to it monthly.  People spend too much time here initially before they even know if the concept is going to sell well.
3. Membership Site Marketing – Even before you set up your membership site, you need to set up a blog or basic website to start marketing the domain where your membership site will eventually reside.  Search engines look at the age of the domain and the content and topic of the domain as a way to rank your membership site in search engines.  Start now and get your domain noticed in Search so when you really launch your membership site you are ready to get some traffic.

How fast you can make money with a membership site really depends on how fast and efficient you can master these three issues.  There are some other issues like retention and your sales page, but ultimately they fall into being part of the membership website content creation and membership site marketing categories.

WP Wishlist Member for Membership Websites

In an earlier article, I wrote about my experiences with using six different Membership Site Software Solutions.

Ultimately, I used WP Wishlist Member which is a premium Wordpress Plugin for Managing Membership Websites.

The first thing I love about them is the extensive set of videos they post on their website.  You do not have to wonder if it is going to work for you or not.  They have many videos that show you exactly what WP Wishlist Member does.

Next, they offer a 30 day money back guarantee.  When I bought the premium membership management plugin, I fully intended to ask for my money back if it did not work.  Instead, I found the Membership Website Solution I’d been looking for over a six month period.

WP Wishlist Member was easier for me to use for several reasons.

1. I was already used to Wordpress and it was easy for me to set up and customize.
2. Wordpress is simpler than Moodle, Drupal, DotNetNuke and Joomla.  It is also more publishing oriented than Ning.  And yet it was far less expensive than things like aMember or other premium membership site solutions.

Don’t take my word for it.  Go watch the videos and then buy it and try it – and ask for your money back if it is not the best membership website plugin you have ever tried.

Membership Site FAQ

Here are some general facts about membership websites.  This does not apply to any particular membership site software or membership site service.  Just a general membership site FAQ that is food for thought.

#1  Will I Make Money with a Membership Site?

It is highly unlikely that you will create a great, profitable membership site on your first try, especially if you are doing all the work yourself.  Worrying about membership site technology, membership site shopping cart integration, membership site content and membership site marketing is a lot of work.  Your best bet is to outsource the parts you can and focus on marketing the membership site and guiding the content development.

#2 What Membership Website Software Should I Use?

Because it is hard to build a profitable membership site on the first try, we suggest not going overboard with expensive website membership management software.  You can get the single licence of WP Wishlist for under $100 and you can get many wordpress templates for free to use for your membership site.

#3 How Do I Market My Membership Site?

Marketing is something you get better at over time.  You need to build and test different landing pages for membership sites and try different advertising avenues.  It also helps if you use a Search Engine Strategy to generate organic search results.  If you target your niche market that is likely to join your membership site, this should produce regular members.

#4 How Do I Retain Members in my Membership Site?

The first thing you have to do is understand that you will not retain members forever.  I have seen statistics that membership sites have an average membership retention of about 4 months.  However, it really depends on your offer and what your membership site contains.  For example, we have a much longer membership site retention at the Virtual Marketing Assistant network.  The reason is that it produces regular job leads for the members and has tools people can use, like blog posting to a blog network and a directory where people can review the virtual assistant profiles.

What other questions do you have about membership sites?  Leave your question in the comments below.

Secrets of Membership Websites

I do not think that there are “Secrets” to many things.  Instead, I think there is True behind the hype.

Membership Sites are not an easy way to get rich.

Instead, they are a great way to build residual income that can keep growing.

And eventually, if you get the right combination of niche audience, good content and sharpen your membership websites marketing skills, you can eventually make a good living running multiple sites.

The secret?  The secret is that it is work, it does take time and it is not a get rich quick scheme.

If you want a secrets besides this, invest in the membership website tools that are not too expensive but are better than the free membership website tools.  The free memebership website tools will only make you spend too much time figuring things out.  Look to the right to see what membership website tools I recommend.

Wishlist Member Setup for Wordpress

We get a lot of visitors to this site that need help setting up the Wordpress Wishlist Member Plugin.

First, they really do have great videos on their site that make it easy for anyone to add the Wishlist Plugin to Wordpress.  It should not be a technology issue.  It does take time to configure and get working just the way you want, but that has more to do with your shopping cart and how you want your membership site to flow.

Wishlist Member Setup for Wordpress

I offer our Membership Site Setup service not because it is my primary money steam, but because I have gotten better and better at doing this and I can save you time and hassle and put those membership site skills to use.

If you are thinking that there are people out there that will set Wordpress and Wishlist Member up cheaper for you, you are right.  Have fun hunting them down and working with them, then firing them and finding another.

Personally, I would rather work with someone that feels like they better do a great job because they value you as a client.  But that is just me.

Remember, you can do Wishlist Member Setup for Wordpress yourself.  It just depends on how much you value your time and if you want to work with a professional with experience working with Wishlist Member and Wordpress.

Wishlist Member – Website Membership Plugin

Have you thought about having your own membership site?

About a year ago I launched my first paid membership site.

And relaunched 6 times in total. Painful.

The reason? Never happy with the software. Finally, via hard lessons, I decided simple is better and I set up a Wordpress Membership Site with Wishlist Member.

Finally, a solution I love.

If you are someone that has considered premium content membership sites as something you might want to do, go watch the videos on the Wishlist Member Site.

I bought the multi-site license, and not only do I make money from membership sites, but I also set up free private membership sites as bonuses for clients and team members. It is a great upsell item and easy to maintain.

Talk about adding some buzz to existing products!

Watch the videos and see how easy the tech part can be.

Membership Website Script vs Software vs …

What are you looking for?

• Are you looking for a Membership Website Script?
• Are you looking for Membership Website Software?
• Are you looking for Membership Website Plugin?
• Are you trying to find Membership Website SAAS?
• What about a Membership Website Widget?

All these different terms get used in different ways by people, making it hard to know what you are looking for.  Here is a quick guide to Membership Website Scripts and other terminology – just so you know what you are looking for.

Membership Website Script

The word script usually refers to a third party tool where you place a few lines of script (code) in the footer of your membership website.  Typically it is independent of whichever Membership Website Software System you have chosen.

Membership Website Software

Membership Website Software is usually a full content management system that may be specifically designed for membership websites or it may simply have the features to make it a good option for membership websites.  Examples are Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal and Moodle.

Membership Website Plugin

A plugin is much like a script, but it is designed for one particular platform.  So a Wordpress membership website plugin will only work in Wordpress.  The good thing about a plugin over a script is that it is designed to be easy to install and configure within your membership website software.

Membership Website SAAS

SAAS stands for Software as a Service.  This is a more expensive option because someone is doing the work, development, support and hosting of your membership site for you.  However, a good Membership Website SAAS will free you up to create great information and market the membership website.

Membership Website Widget

Membership Website Widgets are pieces of code nearly the same as a plug in.  Widgets have special properties that make them easier to set up and move around in your membership website software.  Not all membership site software supports widgets, but those that do make it much easier for non-tech people to customize the tools and interfaces.