Membership Website Script

Perhaps you have heard about how lucrative membership sites can be? Perhaps you belong to several successful membership sites and would like to join this online business model. You can make a lot of money by owning a paid membership site. You can have steady income for years from just one membership site. Membership sites come in automatically as long as the site is running.

In case you are unsure of what a paid membership site is, let us review:

You may have heard them referred to as member only sites, membership sites, subscription, or even mentorship sites. All of these sites have one thing in common and that is that a member has to pay to have access to the content of the site. These sites all bring in a steady flow of money month after month, year after year and can be on a variety of different topics. Some membership sites provide useful information on a particular topic, some sites mentor members in a particular field while others offer information such as review or articles about a particular product. Other membership sites provide specialized services or act as a gathering place for the members who all have a common interest. No matter what type of site it is the one thing all of these sites have in common is that all of the members are only entitled to the information if they pay for it.

People gladly pay for information online because the information is easily accessible, can be specialized to a particular topic or product or can be about mentoring them in a particular field of interest. The site offers something of special value that is not offered anywhere else. This is why people are willing to pay for membership in these sites, to obtain valuable information that they feel they can't get anywhere else. People pay for this information because it would be time consuming to gather the information on their own, or because the information is difficult to come by.

Just a few years ago, most people did not have to pay to access information online; it was free for the taking. Membership sites did not become popular until a few years ago, so the field is pretty wide open yet for new membership site owners.

Membership sites are springing up that are focused on all sorts of unusual topics and some common topics too. Topics of membership sites can range from business, to hobbies, to products, marketing, fitness and weight loss, dating and other social topics, even cultural websites.

Now that you know a little bit more about membership sites and the need for them it is time to learn a little about how to start a profitable membership site.

Your first step in starting a membership site is to choose a topic. The topic should be something that you are passionate about, have some expertise in, and are viewed by others as having knowledge about the topic. Sit down and make a list of all the things that you have interest in, your hobbies, your vocations, any business training you have had, or even what you do when you have free time. Are you a consultant, speaker, or mentor to others on any topic? Once you have narrowed down a topic it is time to set up your members only site.

Setting up your membership site:

You will find many software programs and tools to help you set up your membership site. Basically you need a Website, hosting, and 3rd party services to help you with the administrative tasks of running a membership site. You can find all of this in one place by using membership management software systems. These systems automatically do all the administrative tasks involved in running a membership site. Using a system can reduce your workload greatly.

Google the terms "membership site" and discover all the software systems available. Look them over carefully to see what benefits they offer. Choose one that has a good support system, knowledge tools, and a forum for asking questions and getting good advice from knowledgeable individuals who are currently running or who have previously run successful membership sites.

The creation process can be a long one when a successful membership site is the goal. Using the right membership software can decrease the number of headaches you will experience and save you time. The right membership software will help you to run a more reliable membership platform, will allow for automated sign ups and payment plans.

One way to assure yourself that your choice of membership software was a good one is to test the customer service department before making the purchase. If you are not satisfied with the level of technical know-how or personal service than it is probably not a good idea to buy the software. When assessing the management software ask the following questions of the company: How long have they been in operation? What is their track record for reliable products in the past? Download any available user reviews and read them carefully to get an idea of what you might expect after you make your purchase.

Features are very important when it comes to buying the correct membership site software. Speak with the manufacturer of the software if you have any questions about the features. You probably won't use all of the features of the software but of those that you do use if you contact the manufacturer they can explain better what the benefits are and how implementing them can help your membership. Usually when you go for the more expensive membership software there will be a lot of bells and whistles regarding features that you will more than likely not use, so be careful to stay within your budget and only get the software that contains features that you will use.

Make sure that you are checking the compatibility of the software with your Website hosting account before making the purchase. Typically you will need a PHP server to host the management software for your site. Most management software will not run if the server is not PHP so check with your hosting company before buying the software to be sure that it is PHP. You can find out if it is PHP or not by checking your control panel (CPanel).

There are many tasks that a membership site owner must do that the membership software can make easier by being automated or at least being of good quality including answering member questions via email, sending alerts to the members concerning the status of the site, verifying IP addresses, approving and renewing memberships.

Check to see if your membership software is in an easy to use format that will not require you to know technical knowledge. Choose automated software over having to do tasks manually you will thank yourself when your site grows larger!

Besides seeking out management software reviews you can also ask other membership site owners which management software they use, most are glad to give recommendations unless they are in the same niche you are.

With the right management software, your set-up should be painless and your membership site should be up and running in no time.

Individuals who are wishing to start their own successful membership site will have to choose a topic or niche for their membership site. It can be challenging to pick a topic because you want to make sure that you can provide continuous quality content on the topic you choose. The right topic can ensure your success or determine your downfall. One key to choosing a good topic for your membership site is choosing an interesting topic.

There are some important keys to picking the right topic such as making sure that you choose a topic that you are an expert in. Everyone is an expert in something. Sometimes we are an expert in something that we have been interested in since we were kids such as a hobby.

If you are not sure at this point what your interests are then make a list of everything that you like to do. Make a list of your career choices that you have made so far, what jobs you have had, what hobbies you have enjoyed over the years, what do you do in your spare time? What culture do you belong to? What is your religion? Is there any service that you currently perform in your community? What kind of lifestyle do you participate in? As you consider all of these things and write down everything about the above you will start to see some developing topics.

Now you should have a list of topics that you can look at and narrow down some more until you have a working topic or niche for your membership site.

When selecting a topic make sure you have one that has a broad appeal but has the ability to be narrowed down into a smaller niche or even a sub niche. You want to be able to specialize your information on your website. You don't want your information to be available on the Internet. Your information should be unique and not easily assessable online.

The more specialized your topic, the higher membership fee you will be able to solicit of your members. Be careful though not to make your niche so specialized that you will not be able to find enough interested members.

Your goal for starting the membership site is most likely to generate an income that is ongoing, so you will need to have a topic that will continue to interest new members. Your topic needs to be broad enough to attract crowds of people but yet niche enough so that your content will be specialized and attractive.

Do not rush through choosing a topic; this is one of the most important choices you will make regarding your membership site. Take your time deciding about your topic. Do your research to determine that your topic is a hot one that will command attention.

Communication is a key component of every phase of your membership from getting your visitors to the offer, and your membership site to communicating with the membership about new content added to the site and funneling members through the process of getting acquainted with the site and using the site.

The most popular means of communication online is the email list. Yes, you do use other means of communicating to get individuals on to your list such as offline advertising, pay per click advertising even a blog; the email subscription offer is what brings members to your site. The emails you send out feed your people more information than other methods. It is this information that convinces people to join your membership site. The email list becomes your bread and butter. It is the primary means of communicating with those who are your prospects. An email list allows you to build trust and value for your talents and your expertise. The emails you send allow you to build a relationship with those on your list. The only way around this is to have relationships with others who have huge email lists that can promote your membership site. It is still all about communication.

When building an email list you need an autoresponder service such as AWeber or GetResponse if you are serious about building an email list.

Other means of communicating with your potential members include using a blog or classified advertising. Pay per click advertising, an email list and a landing page or squeeze page used to sign people up to your membership site is a good communication combo.

Joint ventures are an excellent opportunity for reaching far and wide when building a list. You will need to either have a prior relationship with those involved in the joint venture or be able to convince them of the benefits of hooking up with you in the joint venture.

Your email list is an excellent communication tool not only because it gets the information out to lots of people but it can also be used to pre-sell your offer and to pre-qualify individuals who would be more likely to join your membership site. If you pre-qualify prospects then you will have fewer refunds to issue later on. Pre-qualifying creates a more stable membership.

In order to reach your prospective members you need to communicate with them where they hang out. You need to be able to reach your prospective members and to convince them of your worth. This may involve testing the waters and ask for feedback as you go. Communication is so much more than just sending out your message it is also about listening to how your message is being received. Proper communication is a two-way process. The model for Internet marketing communication would look something like this:

An offer made by email that detail what benefits your reader would receive if they say yes to you, you reader taking in the information and giving you feedback in the form of a reply or action that you have requested.

One thing that makes your membership site stand out from all the rest is your combination of features that you have to offer to your members. There are certain features that are pretty standard for most membership site and then there are advanced features that may be unique to your membership site. Features can create the atmosphere of your membership site.

Standard features are those features that most membership sites have because they carry with them common needs of all membership sites such as having Login ID or passwords to protect certain areas of the site that are private and for members only, or automated renewal reminders that go out so that members won't be surprised by the arrival of the date to renew their membership, and also content formats and membership subscription types, as well as the ability to handle account suspension and cancellations. Other standard features include the ability to handle data exports and reports.

Advanced features include the ability to have Real Time member tracking, and the ability for members to be able to initiate account creation and a responsive shopping cart system.

Payment features should include the ability to accept payment from payment services such as PayPal, or major credit cards. The website should be able to integrate a shopping cart as well as a forum so that the members can interact with each other.

Your shopping cart should have features that your membership will need especially if you have an international membership such as flexible tax models, the ability of members to manage their User Accounts, having the ability to manage their shipping address, and have the shopping cart in multiple languages.

Since most membership sites have content in various formats, products, tools and resources it is important to have catalog features that can encompass all that your membership will utilize as they grow as well as the things that administration will need as the membership site grows. These features may be the capability to have an unlimited number of products and categories, the ability to search for products, resources and tools, the ability to handle downloadable products.

There are also membership sites that offer both free and paid memberships so this is a unique feature. Free members can start to use and understand the value of the site before deciding to become a paid member.

One area of features that definitely makes a membership site unique is what the site has to offer as far as specialized content such as articles, ebooks, audio and video materials, forums and chat rooms or a discussion board. What kinds of resources and tools are offered on the site for the members to use that enhances their experience?

Are you interested in starting a membership site but are unsure of what your topic of the site should be? Most of us are experts at something whether that something is a hobby such as golfing, playing tennis, knitting, or reading there is a membership site that would suit our interests and our abilities. Someone who is good at playing golf can start a membership site that teaches the fine art of putting. The site would contain valuable information about selecting the right putting iron. The site might have articles on golfing or ebooks on famous golf courses. The site could sell physical products like golf balls and tees. The membership site may have a forum where fellow golfers could discuss handicaps, and golfing techniques, or golf shoes.

When designing your membership site you may decide to visit similar membership sites that are already up and running to see what they are offering so that you can make your site unique. In our golfing example the future membership owner may decide to read golf magazines and visti book stores to locate current books on golfing. The owner may decide to join golfing ezines or do some social networking. All of these things will help the new owner to investigate the demand for the golfing niche and help to determine what can be done to make the new golf membership different from what is already out there.

After doing initial research the site owner will want to conduct a keyword search to be sure that the market or niche is not already too saturated. Competition is healthy as long as the newcomer can think of something that can be offered that is better or unique.

On the other hand make sure that your niche isnot too small because the profits won't be enough.

Once you have chosen a niche and are confident that there is a big enough demand for what you have to offer you will want to decide on all of the services you will be providing to your members. You want to be different from your competition yet provide valuable information, mentorship or products.

Membership sites can offer all kinds of things to their members such as affiliate opportunities, articles, blogs, free articles for members to reprint, discounts on products and services from 3rd party companies, ebooks, forums for members to share information and ideas, interviews with experts in the field, seminars, software, and tutorials on the topic.

Successful membership sites are constantly adding value to the site by adding new products and services, introducing new tutorials or seminars, providing new resources or giving members new ways to communicate with each other as new technology is developed.

Membership sites can generate income in many ways. They generate income from membership fees, ad space, sale of products, by developing proprietary technology and then selling it or charge a fee to the membership to use it, and marketing services and products to the membership. The successful membership site owner will recognize a need within the membership and fill it thus successfully making lots of money.

Is a membership site right for you and can you make good money with the site?

Individuals who run successful membership sites know how to keep site members coming back, stay in contact with members, send special offers to the membership to add to sales, knows how to give incentives like coupons, and discounts to encourage spending and also knows how to sell advertising on the site to others as another source of revenue.

Memberships generate income to site owners because the site can enhance a current business or service, encourage customer loyalty.

Any business is all about making money and membership sites can make any business more profitable when a membership site is connected to it. Membership sites can generate multiple streams of income once a base membership is established by selling affiliate products, money from AdSense and other ad sales. Ultimately the site can even be sold for a profit down the line such as the recent sale of YouTube.

Anyone can set up a membership site and begin to generate multiple streams of income from the sale of the subscriptions to the sites, to products and services, to teleseminars and coaching. There are many possibilities and the sky is really the limit when it comes to the income generating potential of membership sites. When you have a membership site you have a ready audience for the marketing of any future products or services. Your membership will come to trust you and to be eager for your next product or service. With every resource, every time you offer fresh content you are building up the seeds for future sales from your members. Members will also begin a cycle of saying yes to your offers to the point that they will eagerly be waiting for your next offer.

A membership site is right for you if you have a current business, or profession and want a platform to sell to of responsive individuals eager for your next offering.

Membership sites generate income from within the membership, from outside advertisers, from the subscriptions, and from the sale of additional products and services sold to the membership. Membership sites often have several different tiers of membership with each advancing tier being of higher value and higher subscription rate. A member may join at the free level become involved with the site, enjoying the free benefits and learning how valuable the site is and is exposed to the higher levels of content that are available only to those who pay the higher fees. The member will eventually decide to pay for the next tier, and then a higher tier after that. The site owner will receive income from the same member multiple times.

You have been doing a lot of reading about membership sites and know the value and potential of running one. You worry though that despite the possibilities you may not be as successful as others. How do you know if running a membership site will be right for you?

There are so many factors involved in running a successful membership site that you are right to question if you will be able to be successful at it. Not everyone is able to run a membership site the correct way. Some do fail, just like any other business. There are so many questions a new membership site owner may have such as do I have a good enough topic? How do I control the access to the site? How do I integrate billing? The fact that the income is residual, ongoing and monthly has a lot to do with the fact that the idea of running a membership site is so enticing to online marketers.

Perhaps the most important key to your success as a membership site owner is that you must be perceived as being an expert in the topic of the membership site. You also must be respected in the field. Not just anyone can make a go of running a successful membership site. To be a success the owner of the membership site will have to have a background in the industry, knowledge, and industry contacts. The owner will also have to be a good salesperson, as they will have to sell the benefits of the site to prospective members.

A membership site is not just something that you can put together and forget about and expect it to continue to bring in revenue for you month after month. You have to actively promote, maintain, and add to your membership site on a daily basis. You need to post new material, interact with site members, tend to customer service issues, and stay up-to-date on industry news so that your site projects the current trends in the industry.

You will know if a membership site is right for you if you can address all of the issues outlined above and with confidence say, "yes I can!"

Membership site ownership will be right for you if you feel passionate about the topic of the site, have a great deal of knowledge about the topic and are viewed as an expert in the field by others interested in the topic. You can become an expert or at least present an era of being an expert by utilizing business forums and forums on the topic and posting informative posts about the topic. It will take time to build up a following of those who look up to you as an expert but it can be done.

Is running a membership site right for you? By the time you have read this article you should know the answer to this question.

Most individuals looking to start a membership site understand that they need to have a topic for the site. The site will be successful if the topic revolves around a niche that you have some knowledge or expertise at. The site will also be successful if the niche is one that lends itself to fresh content and one in which the members will need to keep coming back for more fresh information.

Niches not to choose for a membership site:

A niche that would not be good for a membership site that needs fresh content and a reason to return would be the topic of quitting smoking. The goal of someone who desires to quit the smoking habit is to be successful at quitting, and once they are successful there would be no further need for the member to return to the site would there?

Another bad idea for a niche would be one that is a "how to do" site in which once you have the information it would be difficult to provide fresh content. In order to avoid this problem your niche should not be too narrow. A membership site about how to make Snowmen would be hard pressed to come up with fresh monthly content but a membership site that revolves around the Winter holidays would indeed have fresh content every month because of all the possible content variations.

Good examples of niche membership sites that lend themselves easily to fresh, quality monthly content are: Earning online cash for the new internet user, or a membership site that revolves around investing in the stock market.

When doing research on niches for membership sites make a list of all the things that bring pain or sadness to an individual and then make a second list about all the things that bring pleasure or happiness to people. Brainstorm for a while on these two lists and you will soon have many good ideas that you can research.

One of the most valuable true statements about finding a niche for a membership site is that you have to know your market. An idea for a site may sound good, may even be one that you are interested in; but if the market demand is poor than it will be a dead site. You have to understand what your members need in the niche you are contemplating. Will you be able to provide enough fresh content each month to address the needs they will have in that niche?

One obvious point that must be made is that the niche you decide on must be one that can be served online, if you choose a niche that can only be done strictly offline you may not find enough interest.

When deciding on a niche look towards keywords to see if there are membership sites already in existence on the niche you are considering. Use keywords that people would actually use when searching for your topic.

Try doing a survey to gage the interest in your chosen niche. One useful tidbit I learned about in college was the fact that there is a site that helps you design surveys called SurveyMonkey.com You want to be able to gage if the niche you are thinking of using will actually be one that will bring in members in large enough numbers to allow for the success you envision for your membership site.

You've worked hard planning and designing your membership site. You are close to being ready and now it is time to think about how you will launch your membership site. You want your site to be successful and know that the launch period is critical to that success, so you ponder the question: How do I have a successful launch of my membership site?

The answer may depend on what your membership goal is: If you have a goal of 1,000 members than make it a paid site right from the start and promote the heck out of your site. If you will be using backend products and an affiliate program than you would be better off starting out with a free membership for say the first 1,000 who join or have two tiers of memberships the first being free and more benefits if you become a paid member on the 2nd tier.

A good launch will rely in part on word of mouth by posting in business forums or forums that revolve around your topic.

Another way to launch a membership site is to have it follow as the backend of a successful product sale. In your thank you email to your customer thanking them for their recent purchase after you talk about the benefits of the product they just purchased, you mention the additional benefits they could enjoy by joining your membership site. You have already built a relationship with them through one successful purchase; they are more likely now to listen to the benefits of another offer you make.

Make sure that you are offering real value and promote the heck out of this value so that your potential members will begin to sense a need for your site.

You will have a successful launch if people know who you are and respect you in the field your membership topic revolves around. A successful launch may hinge on your preparation. Months before your launch you need to start teasing your prospects about what is coming so that they start to become curious. Give them a tasty tidbit of what they can expect once they join your membership site.

Start a blog about your topic creating the image that you are an expert in the topic. This also works well with forum postings. Make sure you answer questions about your topic in several well-known forums on the topic with a signature mention of your upcoming membership site.

An email list is essential to the membership site launch. The email is a primary source of communication in the online world so makes good use of it for priming your customers about the upcoming launch. If you don't already have a list start building one a good year or two before your membership site.... yes, a membership site is not something you just throw together it takes real planning and preparation. A responsive email list can make the difference when it comes to a successful membership launch. If your email list members are used to receiving quality content from you they won't even blink an eye when you mention that you have a membership site, they will be biting at the bit to join, expecting more quality content from you. You really need to form a relationship with your prospective members and an email list is an excellent way of forming relationships. If you don't have a list yet, don't panic if you have several free reports that are packed with rich content than you can build a list in approximately 3 months of sending quality emails.

Two good email autoresponder services are AWeber and GetResponse.

Marketing your membership site is all about the perceived value of your site. Members will look at your content and your features to determine value. Members are willing to fork over a membership fee if the perceived value if equal to or higher than your fee. Content is critical when determining membership site value.

Decisions you make regarding your content will make or break your success. There are really only two decisions that you need to make regarding your content: What content will you deliver to your site membership and how will you deliver this content? When making these decisions regarding content keep in mind what your capabilities are and what your members will respond favorably to.

What kind of budget do you have to work with? Can you afford expensive multimedia equipment? Expensive equipment is not necessary. You can still produce quality content with amateur audio and video producers. Your content may differ from other membership sites depending on what your topic is and what your members are looking for in content. Some sites offer teleseminars, or e-lessons, phone consultations, or articles and ebooks. How capable do you feel about producing the above kind of content? Look at what you have previously produced to guide you. Can you provide private coaching? If you have a membership forum ask your members what questions they have on the topic of the site and then set up a teleconference where you answer their questions.

A forum is a great way of staying in touch with your membership so that you can understand their need for content. Make sure you have qualified moderators to answer member forum questions.

Use videos to do tutorials. Make the content personable.

You may also consider a physical product to offer your members such as a book, CD or DVD. Watch out for the expenses involved in producing and shipping physical products though. Physical products have a high-perceived value and you may do very well offering them. Not all of your members will learn in the same way so offer a variety of media such as audio, video, text and physical products.

When it comes to content you want to "over deliver" on the value in order to keep your members happy. In order to know if you are successfully over delivering you will need to have a feedback system in place.

Value and Pricing:

There is definitely a relationship between perceived value and the pricing you can command of the members of your membership site.

The fee you will be able to charge will be determined by the perceived value of your membership site. This can't be stressed enough!

When determining value think about your resources, how much work you intend to put into your site, and how much time you have to put into your site.

There is a broad range of membership site fees from the very low (under $10 a month) to the very high such as $50,000 a year!

In order to have a high perceived value you will also need to have a great offer that you market to your prospective members. You will want to spend a lot of time honing your marketing efforts especially your offer. If you are not a good writer, hire someone to craft your offer for you. Your offer is THAT important, do not skimp on creating your offer. The offer should sell the benefits of your membership.

If you have similar memberships out there being offered by others what type of content are they offering? Is your content of superior quality? What are they charging as a membership fee? What works for other similar membership sites? Do your market research and know what is and what isn't working before you launch your site. Do not undervalue your site's content. If you price your site too low others will perceive it as low value. Value is sometimes equated to financial investment. Charging more than you initially think may make your offer seem like a better value to your prospective members.

Know who your target audience is and tailor your offer to them.

When just starting out you may have to have an initial entry-level fee in order to bring people into your sales funnel and then provide a higher level of service at a higher price. You can always adjust the price as you go along. As you tweak your site you will eventually find the right pricing.

The members of your membership site are your bread and butter. They are your income so pleasing them and keeping them coming back to your site is where the income is. Without your loyal members you will not have future income. If members are not happy with their membership you will lose them which means lost revenue.

There are many things a membership site owner can do to keep pleasing the members including providing a constant stream of fresh site content, creating a community that members will feel comfortable being a member of, and paying close attention to providing valuable customer support. It is also important to educate your members on how to use the site and how to enjoy what you have provided for them. Making them feel at home on the site will give them satisfaction in the fee that they just paid to become a member of your site.

Not all members will enjoy the same type of format. Some members enjoy getting information via the email, and others love to explore the member areas, others like watching and listening to videos. Still other members prefer the physical products such as audio, DVDs, and CDs. Some members like to know what is in store for them and like scheduled content, scheduled teleseminars or tutorials.

A quick way to add content to your site is to have a fresh supply of articles. Articles are usually low cost, are easy to read and you can place several new articles each week on the site.

If your topic lends itself to tutorials these are easy to do in the video format. With a video you can verbally give information as well as to visually show the members what you are describing to them. This is a very effective form of training, and can cut down on member frustration. A member that avoids frustration is a pleased member who will continue to pay future membership fees.

A successful membership site is always adding new content, giving real value to the members so that they know that they are receiving continuous information. Site owners will want to over deliver to the membership so that they will always be well pleased with what they are getting out of the site.

If you create a community spirit among members they will be more likely to continue to return to the site where they will spend more money. If members feel that they receive real value for their money they are more likely to return and spend more at your site. You form a community by providing a forum, or a chat room.

Forums are places where discussions take place that can be opportunities to share. When you have a new forum it can be difficult to get the first posts to appear. There are ways to get around the initial hesitancy to post. You can hire individuals to post for you to get your forum started. These hired posters will get threads started and possibly to make additional comments if the members are hesitant to start posting. Another route instead of hiring posters you can give free memberships in exchange for posting a certain number of quality posts each week. The site owner can also start threads, or add to the discussion. A good way to get discussion going is to ask questions. Ask for opinions about something that may be a current or controversial subject for the site topic. You can also bring up the subject of forum posts in your articles that you submit each week on the site to encourage members to post.

Make sure you have links to the forum in all areas of your site.

Most forum software allow for member polls or surveys that are wonderful ways of getting members to be active in your forum.

Chat rooms can be inviting to some members. Make sure they are secure and for members only. Promote chat rooms in your newsletter or in articles. Have monthly topics or teach a class in the chat room in order to encourage members to use the chat room.

When it comes to building loyal customers who would you rather build, a responsive email list or a 1,000+-membership site?

If you are talking about a paid membership site than the members are motivated to be there because of having to pay for the privilege. They are therefore going to be motivated to participate in what you have going on in your site including any products or services that you have for purchase. Most email subscriber lists do not require payment to be on them, do not necessarily result in someone actually opening up the email, and they may not be motivated to be on your list only motivated to put their name and email addy into the boxes provided in order to get some free ebook or report.

One neat benefit of a membership site with an affiliate program over a email subscriber list is that you can attract some decent SEO traffic from all of the member affiliate who post banner and links on their sites or blogs back to your membership site.

If you offer a free subscription email versus a free membership site the individuals signing up for the free membership site will have a higher perceived value than the free subscription.

One big plus that a membership site has over the opt-in email list is that with a membership site when members visit the site there is no question as to whether or not your offer gets in front of the members, it does. You don't have the same assurance with the opt-in email list because as stated earlier in the article, there is no guarantee that your emails get opened and read, especially if you built your list on giving away something for free unless you have given them a really good reason to read your emails they grab the freebie and run after subscribing to your list.

A real kicker would be if you used your subscriber list to entice list members to become membership site members. That is of course if you have a responsive list.

A paid membership site has a built-in recurring income and the possibility of selling backend products or services to the site members, where your email list is where you don't earn anything unless someone takes you up on an offer that you have emailed to them. If you happen to be promoting someone else's product to your email list than you are just getting a commission and probably not as much as you would make with that same member on your membership site list.

Now, to discussing the work involved in email lists versus the membership site:

The email list requires that you load posts into your email autoresponder that ultimately sends out the emails to your list. If you load up all your emails at the beginning of the month, your work is essentially done as any other work such as handling unsubscribers is done automatically by the autoresponder software. You do have to answer the occasional question from a subscriber especially if you have an email list that you have encourage active participation and feedback with. The membership site on the other hand involves a lot of work. If you have a service-based membership site you will need to be sure that you constantly provide a quality service and upgrade or increase your service offerings to keep your members happy and paying every month, quarterly or yearly. If you have a content-based membership site, you have to delivery fresh, new content every month in order to keep them happy about the value of the membership site.

There are many ways to get email subscribers and how you built your list can determine how responsive the list members are to offers you make. You can build a list by participating in JV giveaways, article marketing, or Pay-Per-Click (PPC). As discussed earlier those who join your list through JV giveaways are just as likely to grab the gift and not open any of your emails unless you have made sure that they understand the value in doing so right from the start. Subscribers that have been harvested by using article marketing or PPC are much more motivated to open your emails because they opted into your list out of a need or because you motivated them and they have seen value in becoming a list member.

There are many pros and cons that can be mentioned for both the free membership site model and the paid one. Basically with the free site you will attract more members and have no recurring income but you can make money as you cross-sell to them. The paid membership will yield fewer members than the free one but you will have a recurring income through membership fees. The paid site will have a higher drop out rate than the free one and the paid site is more difficult to upsell to because they have already paid for content.

To understand fully which model is better for your particular membership site you have to analyze your content or service to see how valuable it is, know your market and know how well your backend products will sell. If you have weak backend products than the paid membership will be better. If you have a narrow niche than the free site won't work.

One solution is to use both models, the free and paid. You can entice the larger numbers to your membership site by offering a free 1st tier and then increase the content and tools for those who want to upgrade to the paid 2nd tier of membership. This way members can try out your site and get a feel for how valuable the content is and then when they learn to trust that what you have is consistent quality products or service they will be confident enough to pay for the 2nd tier of your membership site.

With a free membership site you can generate an income through ad revenue.

Look towards your closest competitors to see if they are paid or free. If you have a close competitor that is free and you come along, as a paid site unless you are offering superior content and can promote it well prospective members will probably opt for your competitor's free membership site.

You will need to test your market to discover what your prospects respond better to the free model or the paid one.

Your content will ultimately be key in determining if you can successfully have a paid membership site. High quality content that is fresh and consistent will mean real value to your customers and they won't mind paying the monthly fee.

Most successful membership sites have found that the best solution seems to be having a limited free option for members with a quality package of goodies for paying members. Whether you will do best with a limit on how many free members or if you will have a time frame limit for the free membership depends on your market, your content and your upsell products as well as your competitors.

There are many factors to building a successful membership site but one that you can't ignore is the technical requirement of your membership site. There are many issues that the technical aspects of your site address such as how to protect your membership resources from the public's eye? How do you take and process payments from the membership, how do you deliver membership resources? What type of content will you need on your site such as forums, chatrooms, webinars, audio and video capability? How will you communicate with your membership? Are you going to have affiliates and if so, how will you handle tracking of their referrals, promo tools, and how will you pay commission?

You have lots of options when it comes to web technology. You may find it just a little challenging though to come up with just the right combination of web tools to meet the needs of the site and its members.

You will want to make your choices carefully to be sure that what you decide to go with will mesh with any membership site software programs that you will be using such as an email program that is able to integrate with your software program.

You need to password protect your materials for the site to be sure that only your members and not the general public have access to them.

Some of the more popular membership site software programs that you may consider are aMember Pro, iSubscribe, Membership Client Pro, MemberGate, and also VisionGatePortal. You of course will be using your price range to eliminate those that do not financially fit into your plan. Other than price you want to look at benefits and support. Look at plug-ins and how they will integrate into forum software programs or WordPress blogs if you anticipate using blogs (highly recommended). Whatever technical systems you decide to go with you need to find out what the technical challenges might be using the system so using free trial periods is great for this. Make sure the system has a dedicated software company that can support the system. Make sure you investigate fully all of your options, as for advise from business forums and evaluate any new membership systems that are developed so that you can access any improvements that they have made.

Figuring out payments is your next big hurdle.

PayPal is a wonderful payments processor because of its simplicity and how well it integrates with most membership software programs. AWeber and PayPal go very well together.

Other payment possibility is 2CheckOut and Paymate. You always want to have backup payment processors in case your main choice encounters problems. 2CheckOut does not have a subscription option. Paymate also does not have a subscription option. Clickbank recently launched a subscription option and may be a reliable backup for Paypal or used as your main payment processor.

Another way to go for handling subscriptions is PayDotCom, which has a subscription feature. It also has a in-built affiliate program, for those wishing to use affiliates.

You could also go the merchant solution with a local bank. It is wise to have two payment options. People do prefer to use Paypal. PayPal also has a fully-fledged merchant option that you can brand as your own.

Other technical issues like audio, video and forums.

You must offer ways for your members to interact to initiate member loyalty. It is easier on you if everything can be integrated with your membership site directly so that members don't have to create a second user account in order to use the forums, but you may just have to do this. Check into your membership site software to see what the plug-ins are you may find that they offer features such as live webinars, teleconferences, chatrooms which are almost as popular as forums.

Affiliate Management:

If you are going to have an affiliate program you may want to spend considerable time investigating affiliate scripts before committing to one. You can find a standalone affiliate program or use one that comes with your membership site program.

Some of the more popular affiliate management software programs or sites are:

Clickbank

Post Affiliate Pro

iDevAffiliate

AlstraSoft Affiliate Network Pro

All of the above programs have great features and statistics because they are dedicated affiliate scripts. Check them out and ask questions before deciding.

If you want a full customer relationships management system (CRM) you may want to consider Infusionsoft. There are a ton of features that may make for a challenging start for you and it is not cheap! If you want an all-in-one solution that also provides tracking than Infusionsoft just may be what you need.

If you need both a shopping cart and an affiliate program that has the capability of offering a digital delivery service, ad tracking and your normal features than you may also want to check out 1ShoppingCart. However it does NOT handle membership management, but you can plug it into any membership script that you are using.

Once you have made all of your technical decisions make sure that you set it up, and test every function carefully to make sure that everything is not only functioning properly but integrating well with other features when necessary. Your technical aspects of your membership site are a crucial part of the success of your site, so spend the time you need in order to get it right.

There are many things that the success of your membership site will hinge upon, one of them will be the tool you provide your membership.

One type of tool that is needed for a successful membership site is the tool for communication. The tools you choose to use to communicate with your members will depend on your target market and on your resources. Email marketing is the communication tool of choice. Your email list may be your main means of communicating with your members.

Front-end channels such as a blog, forum, pay per click advertising, social marketing or even offline advertising may be useful tools of communication when your membership site is first starting.

There are two types of tools that you will need, those that are for building and operating your membership site and those tools that you make available to your members to use.

What tools you will need for building or operating your membership site include a domain name and a hosting service and a topic for your membership site. You will also need a constant supply of fresh content for your membership site. The content can be articles, ebooks, software, CDs, DVDs, music, videos or physical products. The media you use on the site to communicate with your members are tools and may include audio, and video. The software you use to operate your membership site is also a tool. You will also need to have an autoresponder and a financial gateway to accept payments. You may require an HTML editor, a FTP client and a graphics editor.

Membership management has a lot of tools associated with it such as the software that automates the membership application, membership renewals, an online member portal, and member directory.

Communicate with your members using these tools: a blog, email or discussion forums. Maintain an up-to-date members list with a contact database.

Tools that your members may enjoy are a chat room and a forum for them to gel together as community and share information and stories, videos to view information about your topic, content can sometimes be a tool for your members if they can use the content. A good search box script can even be a tool for your members to find things more easily on your site.

Just about everyone on your membership site becomes a tool that the members can use to access the content that you have on the site or to communicate with you or other members. The online forms, the payment processing, the security measures that you take to ensure that the financial transactions your members make are secure are all tools. Even the catalog that you use to showcase your membership products becomes a tool.

Tools are all those things that make building, or operating your membership site possible as well as all the scripts, software and modules that are used to the many automated processes from membership application to commission payouts, to membership fee handling and content distribution are all tools that management and members utilize continuously as the membership site is used everyday.

Membership site owners like other business owners have concerns about running or managing their business. Their concerns may be about setting up the site or administrative needs or they may be about the members, they may even be about financial issues of the site.

Set-up Concerns:

The concerns a membership site owner may have include deciding on a title for their membership site that will draw members, tell what the site is all about and attract search engines. They also are concerned about designing the site logo or slogan and all the other site graphics in such a manner that will add to and not distract from the site. They are concerned about being able to produce quality content for the membership site that will give great benefit to the membership and may include articles, ebooks, interview transcripts, and also software. They are concerned about the possibility of hosting a site community such as a forum or chat room to give the members a place to share information and stories about the topic of the membership site. They may be concerned about the site's navigation, and the ability of members to search for information, the ability to have relevant links, and other key elements of the site such as index and table of contents. The site owner may also be concerned about back end products, how to use the site as a promotional tool and how to make sure the members are getting the benefits they expect from the site so that they will remain loyal to the site. You may be worrying about the type of payments you will be accepting. Will you offer monthly, quarterly, or yearly memberships or all of the above? Will you have a free membership version or paid only? If you have both versions, you will need a password-protected area for the paid members. What are your security concerns for the site?

Member Concerns:

Should the members contribute in any way to the content? How will I attract new members? How will I keep my members happy and loyal to my site? How can I receive feedback from my membership so that I will know what is working and what isn't in time to make necessary changes to the site before members become disenchanted and leave? How can I design my site so that members will feel that they are a part of the site?

The Financial Concerns:

A membership site owner may have several financial concerns about the membership site for instance am I offering the payment options that my members use? Is my site secure enough for credit card transactions? Am I offering all the payment options that members may be interested in like monthly, quarterly and annual payment choices? Is there a way to find out why members cancel and offer reinstatement so that I don't lose revenue?

Site set-up, member concerns and financial concerns are the major concerns of the membership site owner. Concerns may change as the membership site ages. A membership site owner must always be on top of the needs of the membership community addressing the membership concerns as well as ownership concerns. Understanding what the concerns are, brainstorming solutions and applying the right solutions will help in making your membership site a success.

When you are new at setting up a membership site there are tons of questions. Knowing what key features will benefit your ability to run the membership site will save you headaches, time and money in the long run. Read this article to discover some of the key features any successful membership site should have.

Perhaps one of the biggest regarding saving you time and frustration is having automatic member sign up (registration) for new membership site members. You don't want someone who joins at 2 in the morning to have to wait until you wake up in order to complete the registration, be activated so that they can enjoy the membership site benefits. When someone decides to join your membership you want him or her to be able to feel good about the decision right from the start and automatic member sign up allows them to have instant access to the membership site so that they can immediately enjoy the site and feel good about their membership purchase.

Automatic payment, and automatic activation for paid accounts goes along with the first reason. If everything is correct with their signup regarding registration, and payment you want them to have access right away to the goods and services they paid for as soon as the payment has gone through. This can only be done with automatic process systems.

You should have a welcome email with pertinent membership site information contained in it. A lost password feature should be prominent on the sign in page and also in the welcome email to assure the new member that they will always be able to access the membership site that they just paid for.

Membership sites that offer an affiliate program having a multiple tier feature allow members to make more money faster. Affiliates also need a great compensation (pay) plan as reward for promoting your membership site. Making sure you have an adequate payment system is one feature you should not skimp on. You should make sure that the payment to your affiliate is instant such as instant direct payments. This also frees you up from book keeping and tax reporting duties. You also want to be sure that the payment feature is secure, so there is no possible way to "cheat" their way into your membership site. Does your payment system support the most popular payment options?

Does the script come with a "plug 'n play Website template?

Make sure that the script is not a difficult one to install and run and that there is plenty of technical support in case you do run into any problems.

That brings us to one of the most important features of your script and that is support! A script pales in how good it is the moment the support fails you. A good way to discover before you buy how good the support is? Call support and ask some pre-purchase questions about the script. Do you receive "canned" answers or do they take the time to really explain things to you? There response to you will tell you a lot about how important they think customer support is to their product.

Make sure you have a good FAQ pages, lost password pages, registration pages and login page features.

It can seem overwhelming when you first brave the waters of membership site ownership. Many individuals brave these waters because of the prospect of making excellent continuous revenue. The big bucks do not come without a lot of planning and hard work though. There are many things that you will need when first starting a membership site.

There are many benefits to owning a membership site including loyal and responsive customers, the opportunity to have all of your products in one place, having a profitable site that others (affiliates) will help promote for you, continuous weekly, monthly, or yearly income and also the opportunity to eventually sell your membership site business at a premium price.

If you have the right tools it isn't difficult to start your membership site. You do need to know though what market you are going after, and you have to have a steady supply of quality content, products and services as back-end sales, a forum, chat room, and customer support.

Having a membership site means that you don't have to have many business Websites to keep track of but only one site that you can have all of your products and services on.

Once you start and successfully run, one membership site, you can start additional sites for even greater profit.

To start your membership site you need to know what you need, how to build and how to manage the site. You will need to choose a theme or topic, decide on membership software and scripts, decide on which autoresponder you will use, decide on a membership model, decide what types of content you will use and what your source of content will be, is your membership going to be free or paid? What if any audio and video products will you are using? Are you going to be using an affiliate program to help promote your site if so, how will you manage your affiliate program? Will you become involved in Joint Ventures (JVs)? Decide on what help desk and forum scripts you will be using. Will you have a shopping cart on your membership site if so will it be on another server or on your server? What resources will you make available to your membership?

As you can see you have a lot of decisions to make and many things to plan before you can launch your membership site. Speaking of launching, that is another thing that you need to plan. Some individuals start doing things to make a smooth launch one to two years before they start the membership site such as building a responsive email list.

While in the planning stages of your membership site it is a good idea to get advice from those who have launched successful membership sites before you. You can locate these individuals by becoming a member of a business forum. Read threads about membership sites, ask questions and be open to the suggestions of others while keeping in mind the results of your own research. Seek out successful membership sites and explore them to see how they are set up and what tools they provide for their members. Not all sites are the same and a lot will depend on your topic and your financial resources. You can still get a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't by looking around at successful membership sites.

There are many reasons why membership sites are hot right now. Many people are discovering how profitable membership sites are and the word is spreading.

The main reason why membership sites are so popular right now is that they are a very easy and profitable way to sell information online. The information can be in any form such as software, articles, games, and ebooks, even music. Membership sites allow access to this information through a password-protected site. Pay-for-content is a really hot revenue vehicle. Content is king and people are really willing to pay in order to get good content. Those who own the membership sites earn recurring income from those who subscribe to the site. Did you know that Americans spend over 2 billion dollars a year on online content?

Membership sites continue to produce income month after month. The ones that make the most income are those that have hot topics, give unique content, use viral marketing to start a snowball of subscribers, have a site that is easy to use, with tons of valuable content.

Features and advantages of a membership site include the presence of a forum where people who have something in common can gather to exchange ideas. Forums are excellent places to learn from others so you don't make the same mistakes.

Individuals can find sources of unique and reliable content that is valuable.

The interaction between members is also valuable because it allows the members to become attached to the membership site so that they continue to find value there and keep on coming back.

A good membership site will provide at least the basics about the particular niche topic that the site revolves around.

The membership site should help members to reduce their learning curve on the given topic of the site.

Members should find all they need about the topic inside the membership site.

The membership site should allow members to do things much faster and easier because they are using the site.

The members should not have to go out and buy additional resources, as the membership site should provide everything they need on that particular topic.

A good membership site will utilize Adsense to either generate decent revenue or in order to reap rewards for providing unique content to its members.

Good membership sites provide revenue and value while providing knowledge to those interested in that particular topic or niche. Membership sites can make leaders rather quickly if they have excellent content.

Most people are suffering from information overload and need a place to find reliable, quality information amidst the hoards of questionable information that can be found online. People want to be able to save time when they need information and instead of spending hours even days researching a topic they can turn to a membership site where they can find in one location all the information they are looking for.

Membership sites can also save people money because the membership is often offered products or services at a discount.

People join membership sites because they save time and money!

People also join membership sites to be able to share with others who enjoy the same interests. You can learn a lot from other people sharing stories of how they grew such and such a plant or played a great game of golf. People join book club sites and cooking membership sites to enjoy learning new things and sharing hobbies that they have in common with others. Most membership sites have forums or chat rooms that facilitate a "community setting" that encourages members to chat with each other.

People join membership sites for the opportunity to share with those who have a common interest so that they can learn from others and have an online community to be a part of.

People also join membership sites to improve skills or receive an education. There are many mentorship or tutorial membership sites online that offer members the chance to learn a new skill or improve an existing skill. Many business membership sites show individuals how to run a business online or how to work from home. Knowledge is powerful and many members agree that membership sites are one of the best ways to increase your knowledge on most any subject.

People join membership sites to increase their knowledge about a subject or to learn a new skill, even to earn a living by gaining valuable information from those who are already earning a living doing something that are willing to teach others.

Some people join membership sites because of the bonuses, or prizes that are given to members for being part of the membership site. Some sites offer discounts to members, or give monthly awards even run regular competitions. Membership sites are always finding new ways to reward members for being loyal and participating in the workings of the site.

People join membership sites for the extra rewards and goodies that membership site owners often give to members as a way of saying thank you for being a part of the membership.

Sometimes membership site members are given the opportunity to earn money through the site like when they participate in affiliate programs run by the membership site.

People join membership sites for the opportunity to make money through what the site offers.

The reasons people join membership sites vary but could be to save time or money, share common interests with others, be a part of a community of others who like what they like, increase or gain knowledge, because of the extra rewards, bonuses, discounts, or prizes and also some people join membership sites in order to make money.