Probably my most favorite online business model is the monthly membership business model. You create a site around a topic that people want to learn about and charge a monthly fee for them to access it.
Now there are soooo many different ways to do this, but the reason why I love this model so much is because it allows you to create a MONTHLY INCOME. Membership sites are what pay my monthly bills.
Car payment
Insurance payments
Mortgage payments
Ultilities
Etc…
The memberships that I run and own pay my bills each month giving me the freedom to do other things that make me money, and that's just “gravy” money. That's the money I get to spend anyway that I want.
If you don't have a membership site setup yet, you need to get started right now because it is THE way to generate the money you need each month to cover your bills.
Let's say you have $5000 a month in bills. If you setup a membership site and only charge $19.95 a month you only need about 250 members in your membership. That's not a lot of people, and that's VERY attainable!
So let's look at the steps to creating your own membership site… Please note I'm assuming you already know what niche you want to be in. If not then creating your own membership site might not be for you just yet. If you want ready to go membership sites then make sure you get on my list at http://www.ReadyToGoSystems.com where you can learn about our “membership sites in a box” that you can get.
1. What are you going to offer and how often?
What are you going to offer in your membership site? Lessons, tutorials, discounts, service, forum access, mastermind group, personal coaching, etc
How often are you going to update your membership site? Weekly, every other week, monthly?
Example: In the next few months I'm starting a membership site called DFYProductsMonthly.com This will be a membership site where we setup X amount of digital products a month for people. This will be a service that we deliver monthly.
Once you get this down everything else will come together for you! It's truly the hardest part!
Sidenote: Need ideas for a membership site? Then check out this post >>> http://backpackbusinesslifestyle.com/19-membership-site-ideas-to-cash-in-on
2. What are you going to use to get your membership site built?
I use OptimizePress to build all of my membership sites and it's the only thing I currently recommend to use. They have tutorials and everything on how to build your membership site. If you don't have techy abilities then you can outsource the creation of your membership site and it wont cost you an arm and a leg. Maybe a finger, but not an arm and a leg. 🙂
One you've decided this then you need to move forward with getting your membership site built and setup. That includes getting a domain name and hosting, the scripts you need, etc.
3. Create your initial “stuff”.
Depending on your membership will depend on the “stuff” you're giving your members. I recommend having at least some initial “stuff” in there and then depending on your delivery schedule always stay ahead incase you get behind.
For example if you're doing a monthly membership. Make sure you have at least 2-3 months of “stuff” ready to go for your members, and always stay ahead.
4. Create your marketing system.
Basically if you're doing JUST a membership with no upells or anything (it's totally okay to start with no up sells/down sells and or “levels” no matter what the “experts” tell you) then this will basically be a sales letter. You can either take a few days and totally submerse yourself into learning about creating sales letter copy and create your own or you can outsource this.
I also recommend having an affiliate program for your membership site so you can have others getting members for you. Yes, you'll make less on members that come from affiliates, but you'll get MORE members, and in the long run make more money.
5. Create a launch for your membership site.
There's a ton of information out there on launching your product. Take that information and apply it to launching a membership site. There's a lot that goes into this, but by doing it you can get a lot of members in quickly giving you a good surge of cash!
6. Manage your membership site.
Once you've done a launch and you have your initial members you need to continue managing your site. Keep adding “stuff” according to your delivery schedule, interact with your members, keep giving them “bonuses” to keep them paying you, etc.
7. Continually promote your membership site.
Of course you'll need to continually promote your membership site so that you can grow your membership base, and your income. You can do this by continually driving traffic to your sales page, and getting affiliates to promote your membership if you setup an affiliate program.
Just remember… The moment you stop promoting your membership site is the moment your income stops growing!
Yes, I know it seems like a lot of work, and I'll be honest. It is, but it's worth it! When you can count on money coming in each and every month to keep your bills paid you'll find some serious freedom. You're time will become YOUR time, and there are so many additional income streams you can add on and those become your “gravy” money. The money you get to spend on things you want to. 🙂
Okay so that’s it for today…
Over the next several days we’re going to talk a lot more about you creating your own membership site. We’re going to cover how ideas for membersip sites, how to actually build your membership site, what you can put into it, how to promote it, and so much more!
I wanted to create this initial post though so you have a complete overview of this online business model. Please please please leave questions you have about what I covered below so I can continually update this tutorial with information that helps you to actually put this all into play!
Here’s to wishing you a healthy, happy, and wealthy life!
Liz's Motto: Let's all get healthy, happy, and wealthy!
Liz Tomey is a crazy redhead with an entrepreneurial spirit that shines out in everything she does. Her teachings have helped many create online businesses that fund the extraordinary lives they love. Since 2004 Liz has created and successfully ran many different online businesses in several different niches and shares her passion for online business in hopes to change the lives of those who are searching for a life they truly want to live!
“Her magnetic personality, her vast knowledge for online business, and her vibrant passion for your success will put you on the right path to living the life of your dreams.” – Redmond Lawthorne
Hi Liz,
There are two types of membership sites that can be built. There is the fixed term membership site. This type of site is probably the easiest to build. A fixed term membership site only has the members paying for fixed number of payments.
Example… The member may be required to pay each month for twelve monthly payments. That means after one year the payments stop. This also means that content is only monthly for twelve months. You only need to supply twelve months of content.
The members are allowed to continue to login to the membership even after their membership term has ended. New members always begin with month number one.
Usually after the member has finished paying the goal is to move the member to another of your memberships. Plus your site is completely built so you can concentrate on adding new members.
The other type of membership is an unlimited term membership. With this kind of membership there is NO stopping point. So, the members continue to pay until they cancel their membership. After cancellation the member could just have access to the content they have paid to have access to or the member could be denied access completely.
There is no stop to the required building and adding content to keep the members paying. This means there is no point at, which you can just concentrate on adding to the membership base.
Depending on the content the new member may begin at month number one or the member may begin at the current month they join the membership. They will not have access to the content that was available to members who have joined before them.
Occasionally they are allowed to pay an additional monthly fee to gain access to each previous month of content.
Each of the two types of memberships have advantages and disadvantages but it is imperative that you decide which type of membership you are going to create at the very beginning.
I hope this has been helpful,
Steve Yakim
Hi Liz!!
I am a big, big fan of your work and I absolutely love your “down to earth” attitude that makes it easier to level with you (for me, anyway).
I ordered a plr cash class from you once a year or two ago. I just loved it..at first. When I started watching several of the videos of you actually putting some of these plr products together, I started becoming overwhelmed with all of the different sources and the amount of information that was included with the plr cash classes.
I use a Chromebook to do virtually everything. So, using Windows (which it appeared that you were using) wasn’t an option for me. Also, I am not sure what is wrong with me but when I see all this info and a million ways to utilize it, I FREAK and BAIL!
So I cannot begin to fathom what these membership sites entail.
Is there something more simplified for a person like me? I took a great interest in your “RTG Sites” but again, I figured that it will wind up being too much for me to handle. I have no skills other than being able to write fairly well. I have thought quite a bit about what it is I have a passion for and the only thing I could think of is helping others. So, my life has been a pretty rocky road, if you recall, I sent you a personal email a while back detailing a portion of it. (sorry, lol)
I have delved into blogging, life coaching, and thought about having a “Dear Abby” site where I offer my insight and wisdom on life experiences as well as answer people’s requests for opinion based advice. Maybe make a forum for the members to help each other too. I think selling ebooks that I created myself would be easier, however, I think the market for that is oversaturated!
Speaking of the “market”, I enjoy learning about marketing, I also have an interest in copywriting, I just don’t get why it’s said to be so difficult and pays a lot of money. I think it would be quite simple and should pay a lot of money because I have come to know that time is valuable! Therefore, if it only takes someone an hour of their time, mixed with their expertise, you almost can’t put a price on that so yes, it should be a good amount of money to purchase it.
Well, as crazy as it sounds, I don’t know what else to say except that I admire your work ethic and personality and will always follow you and share your offers with others regardless of whether or not I can actually do them myself because you deserve it! Hope this comment finds you having a blessed day:)