Creating a membership site is a great way of encouraging people to actively engage with your business. However, it also takes a TON of work to set up a membership site, so you want to be sure to do things the right way and create a site that people want to join.
In this episode of 5 Business Rules, Monika Jansen and I will walk you through five tips that can help you establish a top-notch membership site. Spend 4 minutes watching the video or read on for the tips.
Research your audience
The first step is to ask if demand even exists for your potential membership site. Do people want what you’re thinking of offering? What exactly do people want help with? It’s one thing to provide members with information once, but what reason do they have to keep coming back?
Deliver a lot of value
You need to think about the value your membership site is providing. If you promise members access to four or five things and every time they go in there’s only one or two available, then you’re failing to meet their expectations. People may stick around for a couple months, but if you don’t deliver enough value they’re going to cut and run.
Charge a fair price
You must determine what the market is willing to bear and what’s considered reasonable. What will your ideal member pay to join?
Just as you don’t want to charge too much, you also don’t want to charge too little and lower your brand in the process. $9.99 per month may be a good amount to charge as an introductory offer, but if you don’t charge more once you’ve established your value you could actually be devaluing your brand.
Give your members plenty of options
People like to consume information in different ways. Some people like to live-chat or read, while others prefer to watch videos when exercising or listen to podcasts while commuting. To appeal to all of these individuals you should make all of these options available to members.
You can also offer a tiered membership, where people who want all the bells and whistles pay for a higher level of access than those who just want one thing.
Let your first few members in for free or at a discounted rate
Initially you just want to get people in and using your membership site, so that when paid members come along there’s something going on. The last thing you want is someone paying for access to your site so that they can participate in live chats and forums, and then end up disappointed because there’s nothing but silence.
Still not sure how to create a membership site that people will want to join? If so contact us today and we’ll do our best to ease your concerns.
