In the last lesson we talked about some of the best reasons
why you should start your own membership site. In this lesson we are
going to go over a handy checklist that you can use to set up your
membership site.
Starting a membership site is easier than you think. Although there are
a lot of requirements involved, you can breeze through them all with this
simple checklist. Once you get through this list you'll be in prime
position to launch your own membership site and start gathering a
consistent monthly income from your site.
– A domain name
Your first step is to get a domain name. Use the most popular keywords
in your niche and add a community-oriented suffix like club, group or
team. For example, your classic car membership site could be hosted
at www.classiccarclub.com.
– A website
Your website design will have a big impact on how your members use
your website and how often they come back. You'll need a welcome
page, a blog, a downloads page and perhaps a forum, depending on
the nature of your membership site. If you want the best look for your
membership site, consider hiring a professional designer who can give
you a consistent look from start to finish.
– A sales letter
Your sales letter should convince visitors why they should join your
membership site. Some would consider it to be the most important part
of your site because it gets people in through the door. The sales letter
needs to emphasize the benefits of your membership site as well as
mentioning the features. Build desire to become part of the “in crowd”
within the membership site and you'll make the decision easy for them.
– A payment processor
You won't make any money with your membership site unless you have
this set up properly. While many people use Paypal to process their
monthly subscriptions, you can also use Clickbank, Paydotcom or
Ejunkie to process your payments. These three options are your best choices
if you want to have an affiliate program for your membership site.
– A membership site script
A membership site script will keep your website secure. The script will
build a registration form into your site, which will allow paying members
to sign up and access the site. It will also keep visitors from accessing
your content without paying. Thanks to membership site scripts you
don’t have to hire a coder to set up a custom script for you.
– An autoresponder program
You'll want to keep in touch with your members and let them know what
is going on inside of the site. Using an autoresponder e-mail list is a
great way to keep people active in the site. You can send out a new
message each time there is a content update, or you can e-mail a
weekly newsletter. Place an opt in box on the welcome page that
members get to after they've successfully subscribed.
–Some good content
Before you launch your site, you should have several articles, reports
and other forms of content available for your members to enjoy. If you
plan on having a certain amount of updates per month, you should have
at least twice as much content when you start. This way the members
know that they'll be getting quality from you in the future. Write the
content yourself or have a ghostwriter do it for you.
–An editorial schedule
Just like traditional newspapers, your membership site needs an
editorial calendar. You don’t want to scramble around each month trying
to get your content together. Plan ahead at least a few months of
content and get it prepared before you need to post it.
By following these steps, you'll be ready to promote your membership
site and start earning monthly income.
Click here to access lesson 3. We will be talking
about choosing the right script to power your membership site.
Don't forget, if you have any questions or need any assistance please
feel free to contact me at anytime. I am here to help.
