- Hey everybody, this is Roberta Blake of robertoblake.com
helping you create something awesome today.
So as you guys can tell, I'm on the go a lot.
Especially lately.
And one of the things that I've learned over the years
is how important diversifying your income,
having multiple revenue streams is and so in this video
I want to talk to you about
some of the ways that I make money online
and I want to specifically focus on online subscriptions
and membership sites because this is something that I think
a lot of you could do.
I just don't think a lot of you know
what platforms you can use,
how much to charge,
how to set up your membership site,
how to keep people in month to month,
and how you're gonna provide actual value to them.
Let's start with a quick explanation
on what a membership site is and how to run one.
A membership website is a private website,
usually with exclusive content, exclusive access,
or some other bonus material and members pay
a monthly membership.
If you have a setup like that then it's very similar
to what I experienced when I grew up in the Boy Scouts.
We'd have Boy Scout meetings and we'd have to pay
membership dues and those went toward the activities
that we participated in as Scouts.
So that was something that we understood,
that being part of this group,
being part of the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts,
that we were gonna have to pay these fees
on a regular basis.
A membership site is pretty much the exact same deal.
In fact, my friend Amy Schmittauer
runs one called Vlog Boss Elite.
And what I like about this membership group
is for me there are some things as a small business owner
that I always like hearing the perspective
from other people on but it's also a great networking group
and I've even actually had the pleasure
of working with some of the people from that group,
interviewing with them on their podcast,
inviting them to be guests on my channel.
So there's a lot of things that you can get out of this
beyond maybe training or even exclusive content.
Membership groups are also a really good way to be a part
of a serious community that's vetted.
And because these people are paying money every single month
you know that they're at a different level in their career.
So that could be actually a benefit
that you offer to your group members
or if you're thinking about joining in a membership group,
knowing the type of people that participate in the group,
the type of business owners or the type of creators,
or whatever it is that you're looking for,
knowing that that's the right fit,
the right group of people,
the right community to network with,
that's actually pretty important.
In terms of what fees you can charge, they vary
and they vary from group to group.
Some charge 59 a month or more.
Some do a 29 or 30 dollar a month model.
That's on that I feel is probably the most practical
because it's easy to qualify the value of spending
1 dollar a day to participate in something like this
and get access to the resources, the content,
and the community.
If you're going to run a membership group
one of the things that I insist that you do
is focus on the community that you're building.
Establish your rules and guidelines, your culture,
but also make sure the value proposition is clear.
Make sure that people understand what it is they're getting.
Are you going to be doing training webinars,
live webinars once a month?
Are you gonna do group mastermind calls?
Are they gonna have more access to you
for one on one questions?
Are you gonna do live Q and As?
Are there gonna be free downloads?
What's the value of these free downloads?
What would it cost if I have to buy these things outright?
One of the tips that I'll give all of you
for starting your membership site
is if you wanna charge 30 to 60 dollars a month
for a membership site,
or even 100 dollars a month for a membership site,
then consider making sure that in the upfront resources
in terms of exclusive content and downloads
that there's like 500 or 1000 dollars or more
worth of value just in that alone
because that's gonna keep people enticed
and it's gonna be worthwhile for them to join
in the first place if they can see that.
You also need to make it clear month to month
what is it from a participation standpoint
that's worth sticking around for.
Because you don't want a high churn rate
on your membership site.
So let's talk about some of the platforms you can use
for doing your membership site.
There are three main platforms
besides building your own website
and using a Wordpress plugin that I'm going to suggest here.
Wordpress is fine if you already have an established website
and you just wanna add a group membership to it,
but the reason that I'm kind of against this one
is because there are some hidden costs and expenses
that go with that.
So while you might think you're saving money,
a lot of times you're not.
Not to mention that it's complicated,
there's usually some level of coding involved,
and I don't like it being tied to the main website.
I just feel like it causes too many problems.
So the three membership site platforms that I advocate for
at this point are gonna be
Kajabi, Thinkific, and Teachable.
With Teachable one of the interesting things is
it is very cheap and affordable and has a free level option
both for membership sites and for courses.
What I like about Thinkific is that you can customize it
to look exactly like your existing website if you want to.
So that's definitely something that's very practical.
But what I like about Kajabi is how seamless it is,
how fast it is, and how like
just quickly you can move
in terms of the integration and the features.
I also like that I just feel it's feature set
is the most robust because you have everything you need.
Landing pages, email marketing,
and so that's the one that I chose to use
both for my membership site for Awesome Creator Academy,
for my mentoring program, and for the upcoming courses
that I'm gonna be releasing
like my personal branding course.
So that's why I chose Kajabi.
It is the more expensive option,
but for me the fact that at that price point
I know that they're not taking any of my profits
and I get these features, that was attractive to me
and I also like that they have a six week development cycle
for upgrades and features that they wanna add to this.
So that's kind of where my decision came in.
And if you guys wanna use Kajabi as well,
I have a 15% discount code for you.
So just go to robertoblake.com/kajabi.
I'll also link it in the description for you guys.
This is not a sponsored video.
Again, I'm talking about the other platforms here.
I just want you to know that this is the thing
that I chose to spend my money on
so maybe that helps you guys with making your decision.
But if you need to start with something super affordable
or free then Teachable and Thinkific
are both wonderful options.
And if that's where I was in my career
then I probably would have started with them
at the free tier versus the 14 day free trial of Kajabi
and then paying all that money.
The other thing that I think is interesting to note here
is just remember, these platforms also let you sell
online courses.
And one of the benefits that you can offer your members
is a discount on your upcoming products
and your online courses if they're a recurring member.
So that's just another marketing and selling point
that I would use as far as your membership site
and what you're offering.
Some final thoughts.
If you're gonna run a membership group of any kind, again,
make sure that the value is there
and take feedback from your existing group members.
I would also recommend
that you get a couple of different things in place.
I would set up a private Facebook group
for a community forum in real time.
I would get zoom.us so that you can do mastermind calls
and live streaming.
So that could be really important
and that could be super helpful.
And I also recommend that you get
a couple of payment systems.
I would go with Stripe, Paypal, and Venmo,
and maybe Square
as all of your potential ways of capturing revenue
because that could be valuable to you
and that could make things easier.
Also I think that FreshBooks is good
if you need to do additional services
outside the membership group and invoice your customers
or clients for them.
For that I definitely recommend FreshBooks
and it is what I'm using when I invoice my clients
for consulting and one on one and things like that.
So just something to think about.
I'll leave links to all the resources that I use
for my membership site in the description down below.
Just make sure that you're offering real value.
And I would say don't skimp on the exclusive content.
Make sure you're uploading enough of the exclusive content
to the website portion so that people feel like
it's worth it month to month.
Make announcements in your private Facebook group
about what is coming out on the exclusive membership site.
Engage with people, be there, have a consistent schedule.
Maybe do something like office hours on a regular day.
Maybe schedule live Q and As to be on a specific day.
Et cetera.
And then as far as getting people into your group,
make sure that you're doing things online
that can help you recruit.
Maybe you do webinars for free.
Maybe you run some ads in Facebook or Instagram.
Those things are always helpful
so just make sure that you have an active approach
for your recruiting and bringing people into this group.
Make sure that they're people who are, you know,
putting it out there through word of mouth
and then if you're gonna sell online courses,
which I'll talk about in another video,
consider some type of affiliate program.
And all of these platforms offer that.
So again, the main platforms that I recommend are
Kajabi, which I use, Thinkific, and Teachable.
Again, I'll like to these things
in the description down below.
And remember, if you wanna use Kajabi, I have a link
for my discount version where you get 15% off.
So definitely feel free to take advantage of that.
It is an affiliate link.
I do get something out of that.
But you guys get 15% off so that's just helpful.
Again, choose any platform that you think fits your needs.
Compare all the features.
Let me know in the comments if you want me to do a video
where I actually compare each of these three systems
and what they have to offer and give you my perspective.
Again, you know which one I'm using
but I'm not opposed to using the other ones
and I might work something out where I actually
use them if even if it's not something major that I'm doing
cause I'm doing all my major stuff on Kajabi.
I might put something over there
as far as maybe a free or a discounted course
just so you can see how I use those platforms.
Anyway, like this video if you like it,
don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome stuff on the channel.
As always, you guys, thanks so very much for watching
and don't forget, create something awesome today.
Take care.
(techno music)