"Membership Site Start Up"STARTING YOUR MEMBERSHIP SITE Choosing Your Theme Choosing the theme or subject for your members-only website is a matter of personal choice and preference. Some member only sites provide mentoring or coaching, some contain useful articles or information in a particular field or product, some publish the results of tests and studies, some provide access to libraries and other reference information, some contain reviews, some provide specialized service, and some act as a meeting place for people with a common interest. The theme of your membership website needs to be something that you are passionate about or something that you have a great depth of knowledge about in order for people to be willing to pay for access to your site.
When the dot-com bubble burst, it didn't take long for the big companies to realize that there were huge amounts of money to be made by charging people for access. Such businesses as Consumer Reports and The Wall Street Journal are making millions with subscriptions to their websites.<.p> There are thousands of little guys making big bucks off membership sites as well. You won’t believe some of the themes of these paid for membership websites. There are such topics as “short people, music lessons, paintball, dating services, financial, fitness, marketing, and work-at-home directories. There really isn’t any subject that somewhere in the world there aren’t people who would be eager to join a site to learn more about. The key to getting people to pay for access to a website, is to provide specialized information, coaching, teaching, instruction, data, or a service that is hard to find anywhere else, or would be time consuming for them to find on their own.
The bottom line is that you should choose a theme or subject for your paid-for membership website that is something you are proficient at or that you are passionate about. Membership Software and Scripts When you set out to create a paid for membership site, the first thing you will need to do is to buy a domain name and get a website. This is easily done and there are several places on the Internet that sell, register and host domains. One such site is Site Build It,which I started with. Once you have done this, the next thing you need to do is find membership software and scripts needed to build your website.
The things you need to look for when you are shopping for the software and scripts to build your website are automated signups and expirations, automated account expiration handling, an auto responder, and any other features that your website would require. You may not even be aware of all the tasks that can be automated with the right software. Tasks that take a lot of time to do by hand can be handled automatically with software and that will free up a lot of your time to do the creative things that make your.
Website Profitable. One very good place on the Internet to get the software and script that you need is Site Build It at about $299 annully: This software is designed especially for Organizing Your Business, enrolling affiliates, and safeguarding your products.
You will need specific software and specific scripts for the type of membership website you are setting up. Be certain that you enroll in the one that will provide the services that you most need to make your membership website successful. Using Autoresponders Be sure when you get the auto responder for your membership website that it includes a membership system. All autoresponders do not have this feature and it is the one that is most important to you. Remember that there are autoresponders and then there are membership based autoresponders. You want the later.
All autoresponders will automatically respond to email with your preset messages. All auto responders will allow you to send out preset newsletters and sales letters. However, all auto responders do not have membership systems that allow your guests to create an account and contact support about some issues and allow you to verify their email address. All auto responders are not set up to allow subscribers to join any lists from a members sign up box and, also, allow them to unsubscribe from mailings at any time. You certainly need an auto responder that will allow you to: Membership sites need to be able to use their auto responders to update their member lists or their email promotions. An auto responder that has these features is what a membership site requires. An auto responder that doesn’t have these features is of little use to a membership site.
In order to comply with today’s anti-spam laws you need an auto responder that allow you to update your member lists and your email promotions. It also needs to have a feature that makes it easy for a member to elect to be un-subscribed and when a member does that to automatically remove them from the mailing list.
Deciding on Your Membership Model
The model you decide upon for your membership site is of the utmost importance and the one you choose depends upon your objectives. There are basically two types of membership sites. There are free sites and there are paid for sites. The two types of membership sites have one thing is common. Their memberships are made up of people who share a common need or have a common interest. You can, of course, buy a domain, set up a website and not charge for memberships but choose who to admit and who not to admit. Or you can just set up a site on an already established network. Two examples of free membership sites are Group sites on MSN and groups on Yahoo. It costs nothing to set these sites up and there is no charge at all for a person to join. There are no paid administrators or moderators. Each site sets its own rules for how to join and the code of conduct for the site. The site topics are many and varied. There are many “support” sites for those with health problems or concerns and for those who have suffered the loss of loved ones.There are sites for those who are passionate about crafts like quilting or wood working. There are sites for those who love to travel. There are sites for different age groups from teens to seniors. The sites include chat software and a limited amount of space for posting pictures, documents and links per member. The free sites do not have such things as access to specialized data or lists. They don’t give access to such things as music lessons. Paid for membership sites are set up by businesses or individuals with the objective of making money by supplying hard to find information, access to specialized data or lists, or instruction in various fields. Membership sites are owned and operated by people who either own the sites or who are hired by the site owners to monitor and administer them. The topics for paid for membership sites are even more varied than the free sites and certainly more specialized. Deciding what Content to Use The decision of what content to use on your membership site should be based on your site’s theme or main topic and all content should be relevant to it. There are four different kinds of content that you can use. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The four types of content are: written, video, audio, and web-based software solutions. The one type of content that all websites use to some degree is written content. The written word is still the primary way of transmitting information on the Internet. What kind of written content you use is, of course, dependent upon the theme of your website. Articles, e-zines, reports, graphs, charts, etc. can all be valuable and relevant content. If you can write your own written content, it will be much better for you. If you can’t, there are many places on the Internet that can supply articles, e-zines, graphs, charts, and reports for you.
Audio content is a real attention getter. Adding music…a catchy jingle or a relevant song to your website is a great content addition. It isn’t really hard to do and, if you can find relevant audio, it is a good idea. Audio that provides relevant and timely information should be your main objective. Adding video content will help you provide information to your members. Every website provides some kind of information. The object is to make the information your website provides to your membership more valuable than what other like websites are providing. Remember, though to never use technology only for the sake of technology. It needs to be a valuable addition and fit your needs.
Some membership websites can benefit from web-based software being used on their sites. Integrated content management systems (I-CMS) assist in managing enterprise documents and content. This software is particularly useful to sites that need constant updating of information. Choosing Your Publishing Schedule You have a membership site and people who have paid to join your site depend on you to provide relevant and timely information. They have a right to expect that information to be updated on a regular basis because they may be depending upon it to make decisions. You should state upfront what your publishing schedule will be so that members know when they can expect to get fresh information. When you are deciding what your publishing schedule will be for your website, keep in mind the kind of information you will be supplying to your membership. If it is information that changes hourly, then you are going to need a RSS feed. Information that needs to be updated on a daily basis will most likely require a content management system. For weekly publishing of content, you can do that yourself but a content management system can make it a lot easier. When planning your newsletter, you need to decide how often your e-zine will be sent out to your subscribers. Essentially, you need to create a schedule and stick with it. But how often should you publish? How much is too much and how often is not enough? When it comes to frequency, the usual choices are daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. • Monthly -doesn’t seem often enough. Your members may forget about you and where your website lives on the Internet. Suggested Membership Site Themes When you are deciding on the theme for your membership site, it is best if you can choose a theme that concerns something you are really interested in…even passionate about. Remember that you will be spending a lot of time keeping your membership informed, keeping your website interesting and keeping relevant and timely content on your website and in your e-zine that you send out regularly. If you choose to start a membership site about… say… dogs. Just dogs in general won’t attract many members. You will need to choose a specific breed… and possibly even narrow it down further. Instead of Poodles, your theme should be; Tiny Toy Poodles, Miniature Poodles, or Standard Poodles, for example. Millions of people are dog lovers and the theme of a specific breed of dog should do well. If you are really into video or computer games, start a membership site devoted to one specific game… not just video games or computer games in general. People all over the world and from every walk of life get really involved with a specific video or computer game and love to talk to others about the game and give each other hints. There are thousands…maybe millions…of people who love certain crafts and hobbies. However, those who love to quilt aren’t interested in wood working so your membership site should be about a specific craft or hobby. Professionals like to talk to other professionals in the same field. Each professional field speaks their own language and find the same things to be interesting, informative or funny. So if you start a membership site for professionals, you should get a good response. A membership website with the theme, ‘Resell Rights’, should do well, also. This kind of site will need to be kept updated on a regular basis.
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