Continuing our articles on Membership Sites we are now taking a look at the most suitable types of membership platform.
Membership Platform?
Once you have chosen your overall topic then it is time to consider your overall platform.
A membership site platform is simply the type of membership website you intend to offer, whether it’s free or paid as well as how you plan to deliver the goods and communicate with your subscribers.
To begin with there are many different options available to you and depending on your niche market you will need to determine what is likely to work best. One thing to keep in mind is that it’s important to thoroughly evaluate the platform that your competitors are using. The reason for this is an obvious one; people get used to certain things and not everyone adapts easily to change.
If subscribers are used to logging into a traditional membership platform where they enter in their username and password to access content on a monthly basis, you might want to stick to this format simply because it will save you a lot of time and work explaining how a new concept or format works to the same subscriber base.
That doesn’t mean that your actual content or your overall sales funnel should be a replicated version of a competing site. In fact, I am going to show you exactly how to ensure that you are getting the most out of your membership site, while competitors are consistently allowing leaks to cost them thousands in lost profits.
What we are talking about now however, is in evaluating the layout and platform of competing sites, such as whether they are offering a free membership site with upgrades, a traditional site, and so on.
For now, let’s take a quick look at the different formats that are most common within the membership industry:
Traditional Login & Access Format
This is where a subscriber creates an account, chooses a username and password (or your system assigns one automatically to them) and then logs into a protected members area where they can download or view restricted content. This material is available only to paid members and subscribers are able to pay for access on a regular basis (weekly, monthly etc). These types of membership sites have no end date, they can continue for many years to come provided that the content continues to be updated. This is by far the most popular platform for membership based sites online.
Fixed Term Membership Format
A fixed term membership site typically only runs for a specific period of time before terminating. With a fixed term, members can either pay a flat fee to access the entire length of the membership site, or they can choose to pay in specific intervals (6 months, 12 months, etc). This works best for markets where developing ongoing content may be difficult, or for membership webmasters who are more interested in creating a batch of content that recycles, rather than having to consistently create new material or updates.
You can also choose to run your fixed term membership sites using autoresponder services, eliminating the need for costly membership software. In fact, just by using an email marketing program you can create your short term membership site and set your content to be delivered automatically through your autoresponder service.
Email based Membership Format
This is where you use an autoresponder service, as just mentioned to power and run your entire membership program. You can choose a fixed rate/term format, or even a traditional membership site, provided that you consistently add new material to your outgoing email sequences. Using the email based membership format, you can get started relatively quickly and easily just by subscribing to a reliable autoresponder service and injecting a series of emails set to be delivered on specific times and dates, as each subscriber signs up for your service.
The downside to an email based membership site however, is that it is often harder to create a community feel to your membership site, which can be a huge benefit in retaining subscribers. If a member joins your website and meets other subscribers and becomes used to constant interaction via a community forum or private area, they are far more likely to log in regularly and stay subscribed in order to continue gaining access.
If you do decide to use the email based membership format, consider offering your subscribers with an additional bonus of being able to access a private members only area. This area could feature a private forum or chat area, that allows your subscribers to interact with one another as well as with you directly.
There are benefits to many of the different membership formats we’ve just covered. With traditional membership sites, the benefits are in being able to build an ongoing community, where you can build and grow a solid base of customers on an ongoing basis. With fixed rate/term membership sites, the benefits are in the simplicity of its set up. You only have to create a specific batch of content that recycles as new members join and previous subscriptions expire after each member has received the material.
Regardless of the format you choose, you will want to make sure that you have the following check list of items prior to launching your membership site:
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Ready Made Content
This is where you either have 2-3 months of content available to members right away, either by allowing access to all of it instantly, or the current months content available with two months of archives being sold as an upgrade. You could fill your membership site with fresh material using reports, articles, interviews, audios, videos, ebooks, graphic packages and so on.
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Bonus Packages and Special Offers
Provide your members with a combination of bonuses, whenever possible. Once again, these should be exclusive to your website and relevant to your topic. You should have at least one unadvertised bonus package featured within the members center. This is a package not listed on the sales page and not advertised elsewhere. This is where you over-deliver and give them more than they thought they were paying for. This will help address buyers remorse immediately after someone subscribes to your website.
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1 or 2 Back End Products
You want to be able to acgieve the most out of your membership site and in order to do so you need to create 1 or 2 back end products that can serve as upgrades, add-ons or special “member only” deals. You want to present this to your subscriber immediately after they join your site and are still in buying mode. Make sure to create a simple process where they can either upgrade their membership account to gain access to extended downloads, or they can simply purchase directly, using a digital delivery processor to ensure that the content is sent independently to each member who purchases it.
After choosing your membership format, you will need to determine exactly how you intend to deliver your content and material to paid subscribers.