Hey everyone!
Jason here, digital marketing consultant.
And in this membership video, why membership sites rock and seven actual tips to help you
launch and grow your membership website, timestamp table of contents, along with some other helpful
links to put together your membership websites, including what software to use some more ideas
beyond what we're going to talk about and specifically how to structure your membership
website to maximize your sales and conversions.
So with that, let's go ahead and jump in.
The very first tip I have for you, is a series of membership ideas.
So if you're still trying to figure out what type of membership you can put together, here's
some actionable ideas.
And of course I recommend starting with one of the first three, if you haven't already
gotten started with your membership content, or if you don't already have a large library
of content that you're trying to figure out how to monetize.
So the very first one is just a quick and dirty course.
This is one of the easiest and fastest ways to get started with membership websites.
You're looking at about two to three hours of content, and you're probably going to charge
anywhere from $47 all the way up to a $100.
And this would be a one time fee.
Because you wouldn't be providing any ongoing support.
You would just provide a couple of video modules and maybe one or two PDFs at most.
And this is a very fast way to get started with membership websites.
And of course you can always expand and grow from there.
And speaking of expanding and growing, the second idea we have for membership websites,
is a full blown course.
So you're looking at five to ten hours of content, with something like this and you're
going to have a lot of guides, a lot of PDF downloads and blueprints and walkthroughs
and bonuses to really help people get the results that they're looking for.
We'll talk more about results in tip number two.
And the third membership idea I have for you, is the mini products.
So this is excellent if you don't have anything yet.
And when we talk about validation, this would actually be the next step beyond validation.
And that is you create a quick and dirty product that you're only going to sell for 7 to 20
or 30 dollars at most.
That helps with just one solution and the video's probably going to be under an hour,
of course, it does actually need to be valuable.
It shouldn't be the same type of content you throw up on a blog or a YouTube channel.
Now the next types of membership ideas that we have, are going to be great if you're looking
for something that's going to provide reoccurring revenue, because these first three are great,
if you're just doing a onetime fee, remember not all membership websites will actually
provide reoccurring revenue.
If you want reoccurring revenue, you actually have to be putting in work on a monthly basis
to justify charging someone, for a monthly fee.
So the first one we have is, a monthly coaching mastermind.
This is also doable if you want to do a private Facebook group, although I don't recommend
that when we get to tip number six and what you can do here, is essentially give people
the opportunity to have direct contact with you or direct contact with your team, so they
can ask questions, or you can just put together an educational webinar, that you release each
month.
What's very important with this style though, is that the information needs to be real time,
right?
So if you're putting together a health program, it doesn't make as much sense to use this
type of model compared to putting together a digital marketing or a stock program, where
people need to stay up to date with the current digital marketing trends, or they need to
stay up to date with whatever's going on in the stock market.
That would make a whole lot more sense than creating a monthly membership website, where
you're trying to keep people up to date with the latest health trends.
And if the idea of getting on a webinar kind of freaks you out.
Well, then the next idea I have for you is a email newsletter.
So again, you want to focus on providing up to date information, summarizing all the information
that's out there, kind of 80/20 it, for the people who are subscribed to you.
And you can use a membership website as a archive.
And the final one, if you're still not quite sure what to do and you’re freelancer or
agency owner, then you can actually put together a membership website, to help with onboarding
clients and provide clients a place to go for resources, that you kind of have to email
clients over and over and over again.
So that does it for tip number one.
I know that was a lot for the beginning of the video.
We have six more to go.
And the second tip I have for you, is focusing on results.
So something that's really easy to misunderstand what the membership website is thinking of
all the different things you could do, especially if you're doing a monthly reoccurring revenue
style membership website, where you're throwing in a lot of pieces of content.
It's important that no matter how much content you're putting in, whether it's a $7 product,
it's a monthly mastermind.
It's a full blown implementation course, that's like $1,500, that there's one result that
you're helping people achieve.
And you really want to, at least in your mind articulate that.
So it's very easy for you to sell your membership website.
Because simply saying, “Hey, my membership website is like the Netflix of” fill in
the blank of your marketplace is, has been played out way too much.
You need to be able to say, “It's like the Netflix of XYZ”, Whatever your niche is,
and it's going to help you achieve ABC.
So whatever that result is, you really want to be clear because that's how you're ultimately
going to sell your membership website, not by just saying you're the Netflix of your
niche or industry, and you have a ton of content in there.
You need to tie it to something your students and customers actually want to achieve.
Now tip number three, deals with term.
This is something that we need to talk about, but not every single person, who joins your
membership website is going to want to pay a monthly fee or be engaged with your membership
website for the rest of time.
So now that you know what the result is, you need to decide how long does someone need
to be a part of my membership website in order to be successful.
And so this is a little pie in the sky, but just bring it back down to earth.
When looking at the first three ideas, when we're talking about a mini course, a simple
front end product, or even putting together a full blown course, those three all have
a time limit where it's going to take them a specific amount of time to be successful.
So, if someone only needs a week or two then creating a small course makes sense.
Whereas if someone's going to need three to six months to see success, then it makes more
sense to charge more and create a larger library of content.
Now, deciding your term will also help you figure out what type of pricing model you
should do.
So for example, if someone is able, going to be able following your advice is going
to get the results that they want within a month or two, then it probably doesn't make
sense to try and set up a reoccurring membership website, just make it a one time course.
You're going to be a lot more successful and make a lot more money, versus something that's
going to take years.
Well, getting the latest stock tips, is always going to be something someone needs.
So putting that in a membership, that's charged on an annual basis or monthly basis makes
a lot more sense because you're always going to need that new information.
Whereas if you're just trying to help someone lose a specific number of pounds, probably
makes more sense just to put together a one and done membership payment.
Now tip number four, is validation.
So if you haven't put together any membership content together yet, you are ahead of the
curve.
Do this before you do any work, putting together a membership website.
Let's make sure people actually want your membership content.
They want your idea.
So the best way to do this, is to quickly validate the big result, that you're going
to deliver in your membership content.
And you can do this using a landing page and something called a lead magnet.
So all you'll do, is you'll drive, you'll create a landing page that says, “Hey, I
have a free PDF or free audio or free video that walks you through how to do ABC.”
ABC should be very close to the result that you want to help people achieve, with your
membership website.
And then you drive traffic to that landing page.
And you see if people actually enter their name and email to get the free PDF audio or
video, and the more people that enter in their information, the more you know that, yeah,
this is something people want, but if you drive traffic to it and nobody asks for it,
well, then you just saved yourself a ton of headache from making a membership website
and making content around something that nobody actually cares about.
And what's great is whether it succeeds or fails, you're building an email list which
is going to make selling your membership site, when you finally do figure out what to make
your membership site about significantly easier.
Now tip number five, is adding something called an upsell when you sell your membership site.
So irrespective of what type of membership site you're putting together, you can always
offer more value, more content, more packages, more services to help them achieve their results
either quicker or just help them achieve the result and them doing less work, you're doing
more work.
So I have two upsell examples here for you.
The first one is, how can you do more work for your customers?
So if you started with a small course then something you can do, right after they purchase
the course say, “Hey, I have this larger implementation program, that not only helps
you walk through ABC, but it actually goes all the way XYZ.”
So it's a natural progression.
Another thing you can do, if you're already offering something that includes a more hands
on approach, is just offering a consulting call or business services.
Another thing you can do, is something called a package.
So what you can do, is you can do the exact same thing we just talked about, but then
bundle things together.
So you could offer another course and some consulting calls, or you could offer some
business services along with an implementation program, or just give a discount on a future
implementation program, which is a cool little hack, where you don't actually have to have
the implementation program done.
You can just have a video right after the checkout page.
And most software, checkout software will allow you to do this and just say, “Hey,
I'm really excited that you joined this membership.
It's definitely going to help you achieve XYZ.
And if you really want to take it to the next level, I'm actually in the works of putting
together this giant implementation program.
And I'd love for you to be a part of it.
So go ahead and click below to get the discount now.
And you'll be one of the first people to get into the beta” And saying something just
like that, allows you to actually pre-sell something, that you haven't built yet.
Now, of course, if you get a couple of sales during your episode process, you better actually
put together whatever program you're talking about, but it's really cool because again,
you're validating something before you are building it.
Now I want to run through a quick example of why upsells are so important.
So let's say you're doing a small front end offer and it's $25 and you have 10 customers
go through it.
Well, 10 customers buy.
So your average transaction value is $25.
It costs 25, 10 people bought it's 25.
But if later on, you add in a couple of upsells, let's say the first upsell is $50 and the
next upsell is $200.
Well, all of a sudden you have more chances to increase your average transaction value.
So let's say one out of three people take you up on the $50 offer.
And then one out of 10 people take you up on the $200 offer.
All of a sudden your average transaction value has gone from $25 all the way up to $60, without
you having to drive more traffic.
And again, you don't necessarily have to start with upsells.
You can always add upsells later, or if you just want to make some quick cash, you can
just add consulting calls as an upsell, because it's not going to take you any time upfront
to create, but it will take you more time when someone actually buys.
But Hey, it's going to increase your transaction value very quickly, without you having to
create a whole nother membership site, or course.
Now the sixth tip I have for you, is use WordPress to build your membership site.
I know there are a lot of fancy softwares out there like ClickFunnels, Kajabi, and Teachable,
just to name the top three, that allow you to put together membership sites on their
servers.
But it's very important that your membership site is on WordPress on your own server, because
it's going to be, what's keeping the lights on and you don't want, what's keeping the
lights on, on some other company's server, that you have no control over.
And speaking of building your membership website, I highly recommend using Thrive Apprentice.
There is no affiliate link in the description, you can go check them out, ThriveThemes.com
and they have a great plugin, that makes it very easy to put together any type of membership
website that you want using WordPress.
Now, my final tip for you, tip number seven, is even if you ignore using WordPress and
you go with one of those other solutions is to keep it simple with your membership site.
It is so easy to be looking at designing your membership website or looking at other membership
websites and go, “You know what?
It would be really cool if” dot dot dot whatever comes after it, would be really cool
if, don't do.
Your membership website does not need to have anything custom, anything fancy to be successful.
You can always add that stuff later, but having a place for notes or quizzes or whatever crazy
idea, cool crazy idea you have.
It might be crazy, might be cool.
It might be both, but whatever that idea is, that you think is super important to making
your membership site different from everybody else.
9.9 out of 10 times 9.9 out of 10.
Well, I guess you can't have a ninth of a person.
So nine out of 10 people I've talked to, when they talk about whatever this new feature
is going to be, it just did not wind up mattering in the grand scheme of putting together the
membership website.
And it will ultimately wind up delaying, you launching your membership website and doing
everything else that is significantly more important.
So thank you so much for watching.
I sincerely hope you got some value out of this video.
If you did, go and hit that like button and subscribe for more in depth membership, I'm
talking over myself, for more in depth membership website tactics and strategies, just like
the ones covered in this video.
And until the next one, keep building the business you love.