If you’ve ever thought about developing a membership site but were too afraid to take the plunge then this article will help you decide if you should or not. I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re just starting an online business however if you’ve been building an online business for several years you’ve probably got valuable content sitting on your hard drive or content that can be further developed. Many membership sites go belly up after several months so make sure you have the right motivation, passion and commitment to to take care of your members by offering them original content and helping them with their problems.
Top 10 Benefits of Building a Membership Site
1. Recurring income
Instead of constantly trying to sell new products charging a monthly fee to members generates recurring income. For example if you charged only $10 a month but have 500 members you would generate an extra $5000 per month.
2. Build long-term relationships
People purchase products from people they know like and trust. When a person becomes a member you have the opportunity to build a long-term relationship with them. This means they’ll come to trust your expertise and advice to help them build their online business.
3. Help others
When you help others in life it produces a good feeling inside because you are not just centered upon yourself. Instead of just building up your own business you’re helping others to build their business. This helps multiply your own success.
4. Share your expertise
With the Internet it’s easy to find free information and advice however it’s difficult to trust it will actually work. You could spend months or years acting upon false advice therefore wasting a ton of time and money. Subscribing to a membership site enables you to receive expert advice from the owner and other members of the community.
5. Build an online community
The Internet can be a lonely place as most of the time working you’re working by yourself building your online business. Becoming a member enables you to belong and contribute to an online community of people that have similar interests. You benefit from the ideas of others.
6. Interactivity
When a marketer sells a product you don’t often hear from them again until they have another product to sell. Belonging to a membership site enables you to interact with like-minded people and receive answers to your most pressing problems.
7. Build your online reputation
As your membership grows so will your online reputation because subscribers will automatically turn to you for advice and trust your recommendations.
8. Easy set-up
You don’t have to be an expert programmer these days to start a membership site. Using a combination of WordPress (a content management system) a membership plugin and a reliable web host you can easily create a membership site in a short period of time.
9. Inexpensive
Here’s a breakdown of the costs for setting up a basic membership site:
WordPress template…………….Free
Domain name registration …….$10.00
Membership plug-in…………….$29.99
Web hosting…………………….$90/year
Total…………………………….$129.00
The costs will be much higher if you get a customized website designed however the cost can easily be absorbed by charging recurring membership fees. Your greatest investment will be the time it takes to develop new content and take care of your members.
10. Generate natural affiliates
There will be some natural attrition of members because it is hard to satisfy every member plus they’re constantly bombarded by new opportunities arriving in their e-mail box every day. One great way to generate new members is to offer an affiliate program that enables them to earn affiliate commissions by getting others to join your membership site. If you take good care of your members by offering great content and providing solutions to their problems they’ll become natural affiliates by getting others to join.
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