There are very few cases where the bulk of your expenses won’t come during the creation phase of your membership site.  The problem that most people face is that they don’t have an unlimited budget, which means that they will need to prioritize where their money will go.  Doing this effectively may be what makes or breaks the future success of your membership site.  If you are never able to get it off the ground, then the chances of long term success is next to none.  Staying within your budget is critical, but there a few places where you shouldn’t skimp.  Here is a quick look at the the areas that provide the highest return on your initial investment and why they should be a priority from the beginning.

1. Membership and Affiliate Management Software

If there is one thing that you should not hesitate to invest in, it is your membership management software and affiliate management software.  Not only will it set the tone for your site, but in some cases, will also dictate what you can do.  There is nothing worse than starting to see success, only to find out that you have to change software in order to do what you want.  The same is true for affiliate management software.  Since WordPress has become the most popular CMS for membership sites, the most widely used and well developed options tend to be WordPress plugins.  Not only does this eliminate any potential integration problems, but will also allow you to leverage the power of WordPress to create a unique membership environment.

2. Website Design

Website design can be expensive depending on your needs, but this is another area that you should definitely spend whatever it takes to get what you want.  Another benefit of using WordPress is that you can either customize a premium theme or get one designed for you.  Plus, since WordPress was designed to be very easy to use, you can save money in the long run because you will have minimum maintenance costs associated with your design.  This is especially true with WordPress because you can add content and update the look yourself, unlike with some other CMS options.

3. Content – Inside and Out

The final area that you need to invest in is your content.  This is not only the content within your members area, but also your promotional materials such as landing pages, squeeze pages, and affiliate marketing tools.  It doesn’t matter how great your site looks, if it doesn’t actually offer any content.  In most cases, it is worth the additional expense to hire content creators that will work with you over the long term because they can ensure that all of your content inter-connect well.

You might be thinking that this short list covers every potential expense and that you don’t have anywhere to actually limit your initial investment.  The truth is that if you recruit and utilize affiliates for your membership site, you can spend a fairly small amount on advertising and promotion, not only in the short term, but long term as well.

In the end, by investing into these 3 key areas right away, you can set yourself for long term success.  Plus, minimize long term expenses related to promotion and website maintenance.

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of different types of membership sites that have become popular. One of the most recent trends is to create a website that is freely accessible by the public but a forum that is only for paying members. Another spin off the same concept is to create a forum that is available to everyone while have a sub-forum that is for paying members only. The big question lately has been whether or not this type of membership site model will be sustainable over the long term. Here is a quick look at some of the reasons that forums will likely be an effective membership model for a long time.

1. Interaction

One of the biggest reasons that forums will likely always be a great membership model is because of the personal interaction that forums are built on. Most people sign up for a membership site because they need information or training about a particular topic be it internet marketing or raising goldfish. The benefit that a forum offers is not only the direct training materials that can be added, but also that the members can ask all of their questions. As an added bonus to the owner of the forum, in many cases long term members will often answer questions, which means that useful content and value is being built by the members themselves.

2. Unique Content

Another reason that many people will always pay for a forum membership is that they will get access to content that isn’t available anywhere else. The individual and collective conversations that take place on a forum are unique and cannot be found anywhere else online or offline. One of the biggest problems that many internet marketers have is that they create a product or training course to be the core of the membership program, only to find out that someone has taken that information, recreated it, and is now selling a competing membership. With forums this is much harder to do, which means that your forum will always be able to offer a unique value proposition to the members.

3. It Easy

If you are currently considering a variety of different membership site models, then you may be looking into a subscription based forum because it seems like the easiest to create. This perception is absolutely true. With very little effort, a powerful and profitable private forum can be created. More important, maintaining the forum is fairly easy and can be done by either providing free memberships to moderators or simply outsourcing the comment moderation duties.

There are a growing number of reasons that a private forum is an effective membership site model that will likely be around for a long time. If you are having problems deciding what type of membership site to start with, a private forum may not be a bad idea. At minimum, it definitely has the staying power to be profitable in the long term.

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If you are thinking about starting a content based membership site, making the right decisions at the very beginning can save both time and money down the road. It is easy to get bogged down in the details like what color palette is best for your niche and how much content are going to release per month, before you get too focused on the little things, it is important to create a solid foundation that will allow your membership to easily expand and upgrade in the future.

1. CMS

Choosing the right CMS is critical to long term success. There is nothing worse than having to deal with security or stability issues because your CMS is not working out. Another problem is that some content management systems are not very admin friendly, which means that you will be spending a lot more time doing menial tasks such as uploading content and integrating new features instead of promoting your site and gaining new members.

2. Payment Processing

Another important issue that needs to be decided early is which payment processor you are going to use. This is important for several reasons. First, it is important to choose a payment processor that is compatible with your members. While it is definitely possible to use multiple payment processors, this can confuse some less internet savvy members, which may prevent them from signing up in the first place. Additionally, it is important to make sure that you can integrate your payment processor into your website and your CMS easily.

3. Creating a Member Database

As a membership site owner, it is important that you create a solid member database. It should be able to provide you with real-time data in customizable reports. Plus it is important to keep in mind that your member database will hold sensitive information about your visitors, so it is vital that it is kept secure at all times. If your member database gets hacked, you could be putting your members information at risk. They trust you with their information and betraying that trust, even if it isn’t your fault, can kill your site.

4. Design Interface

You will probably be making small tweaks and changes to your website design over time. With a poor design interface this can quickly become a time consuming task. By choosing a solid, flexible design interface from the very beginning can easily save hundreds of hours over the lifetime of your site.

5. Planning Your Revenue Streams

Successful, profitable membership sites make money in a variety of ways, not just by collecting membership fees. It is important to look at the different streams of income that you will be using because it can affect a number of aspects such as your website design, your overall layout, your membership fee, and much more.

When creating a membership site, planning ahead is key. By answering these 5 questions right away, you will be able to ensure that you have a long term game plan that can be carried out.

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There are a lot of decisions that need to be made before you launch a website. You need to decide on the overall design, the content, the niche, the membership price, and much more. However, there are 3 technical questions that absolutely must be answered before you launch a membership site. If you do not address these issues as soon as possible, you will likely have a big headache or two down the road.

1. Initial Investment

Just like with any business, you need to decide how much you can afford to invest in your membership site before it becomes a poor use of your funds. This is important to decide early because it could mean that difference between hiring a handful of content creators or having to write the first few months of content yourself. It will also help you decide how much you can pay for a website designer, hosting, the membership management software (such as the Magic Members Plugin), and the like. If you never create a budget or set a limit on your total investment, then there is a good chance that your membership site will soon be underfunded and never really get off of the ground.

2. Who is Your Troubleshooter

It is an unfortunate fact of working online that at some point, you will need some to troubleshoot any technical issues that arise This could be something as simple as your website design not being easily integrated into your 3rd party payment processor or it could be much worse. Regardless of who is in charge of the technical aspects of your membership site, you need to make sure that they are brought into the loop as soon as possible. For example, if your go-to troubleshooter is most comfortable with WordPress, but has never worked with Drupal, then you probably don’t want your membership site to be using Drupal as the CMS. If it is, you may need to switch your tech person or switch your CMS. Either way it will cost you extra time and money.

3. Upgrades

One thing that will always hold true is that the internet is always changing and this includes the software on it. At some point, the software and CMS that your membership site is using will become obsolete or just outdated. When this happens you will need to upgrade your software. This is a problem that happened to many WordPress membership sites after WordPress 3.0 was released. This is because they did not design their site, template, or use plugins that were immediately compatible with WordPress 3.0. You need to make sure that you have a plan for every upgrade that you plan to do. The most common way to deal with this is to be simultaneously running a test site parallel to your main site. Then you can do all the testing that needs to be done before you put your main website in danger.

There are a variety of other technical questions that will need to be addressed as well such who will be in charge of monitoring and maintenance. However, these 3 issues are absolutely necessary to address before you really get started creating your new membership site. Otherwise you will be setting yourself up for future disaster.

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Most people will only visit the sales page of your website once, maybe twice if you are lucky. While your sales page may list all of the benefits of joining and all of the quality content that they will get access to, it probably doesn’t tell them why to take action right now. Some of the tactics that have been used for years are becoming less effective such as: This membership is normally $149 but for a limited time it is only $49. Moreover, they still don’t really create a sense of urgency.

So how do you make people sign up RIGHT NOW?

The first thing that you need to do is offer a download that address a problem that your visitors are currently having. People are all about instant solutions, so why wouldn’t you give them one. The best part is the download could be a product or report that is already part of your membership site. People love to comparison shop, but if you give them a reason to make a decision immediately, they normally will.

Another great way to get people to sign up for your membership site immediately, is to having an adjustable price point. This is rarely used, however has been reported to be shockingly effective. For example, members 1-100 pay $29, members 101-200 pay $49, members 201-300 pay $59, etc The key to this working is that you do actually have to raise your prices. Since you can be charging $1,000 for a membership to a $40 site, you need to set it up so that it caps at your goal price. Once you have met the goal price, you will need to find another way to create a sense of urgency. One way to do this is to create a coupon that is valid for 48 hours. Instead of paying $100, they can get a 50% discount for the next 48 hours. This will make them take action immediately.

There are a variety of other options available and in the end, it will take some testing to find out which one will work for your membership site. It doesn’t really matter which one you use, the key is to use one. You sales page visitors will likely never come back, so make sure to give them a reason to sign up now!

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You need a membership site of your own. You may never have thought of having your own membership site, but it is a strong customer attractant and is in some ways easier than the typical affiliate sites.

Building the customer list is a goal of affiliate marketers. Having a membership site is a great way to get that list built up fast. A list is basically what a membership site is made up of- people who are interested and want to come back again to see what is offered. People can join the site for several different reasons. They may want a newsletter you are offering, they may be happy to get several things they want all in one convenient place, or they may just love the font you use. Whatever the reason they join, the members can be charged a small monthly fee to keep getting access to what you have to offer. This will generally include articles, services available to them, some type of customer service for questions ad problems, and a forum to tie it all together.

Meeting you monthly income goals becomes much easier when there is a steady stream of paying members each month. That can be in addition to your affiliate sales, or it can be used in place of them. Some affiliate marketers find that they enjoy building their membership site more than trying to keep several different affiliate sales sites going. A membership site is a brand, and can be marketed more easily than several smaller sites.

Some membership sites also use their own affiliate marketing programs to attract new members. A commission or a flat fee is given to members who bring in new paying members. That can also be accomplished by simply waiving part of the membership fee for members that recruit. This costs the site owner nothing and brings in new members at a exponential rate. Using a system such as this, getting large membership numbers can be done more quickly and with less expense.

Membership sites are also a safe way to protect against sales slumps. A month with low sales will be cushioned by a steady income of monthly membership fees. And if there is a problem with your smaller sites, such as a loss of search engine rankings or a product that bites the dust, the larger site is there to step in and make up for that loss in income.

There are also free membership sites that set up the same basic format, but try to attract more members by not charging fees. The income with those sites is in getting the largest list possible to market to in the hopes of sales. A free membership site may not bring in the membership fees, but it will likely attract more members. Whether you want to charge to enter your own web kingdom or not, having a membership site is a strong marketing technique that can help brand your information and your products.