Ever wanted to set up a member site but don’t know how get started? Membership sites are AWESOME because you make a sale once and get paid over and over again.
But…
Membership sites suck because you have to create a never-ending stream of content.
It’s kind of like being chained to your content stove, cooking up new and exciting dishes every week without duplication, forever.
Can you really create 3 years, 5 years or 10 years’ worth of fresh content? And for that matter, do you really want to create that much content in the first place?
There’s an easier way, one in which you can set up your entire membership site in just 7 days if you put in the effort.
Day 1
Realize you’re going to make a finite membership site of one year. This means you only need 52 weeks of content, versus, say, 520 weeks of content for a 10-year site.
If you prefer, you can even use an autoresponder to send the content, rather than building an actual membership site.
Because there is an end to the membership, people tend to stay members longer – often for the entire year. With conventional membership sites, people tend to drop out faster. This means you’ll make more money up front.
You’re not going to create the actual content yourself. Instead, you’re going to use PLR content. If possible, buy one big package of PLR so that you have enough content for all the lessons, and the lessons stay consistent.
Today you’ll choose your topic and shop for PLR. The types of PLR you find might even dictate your topic to some degree. You’re looking for a large amount of QUALITY stuff, not junk.
What if you find the perfect content, but there’s only enough for a shorter period of time? It’s okay to adjust the length of your membership accordingly.
Maybe it’s a 16-week course on how to write sales letters, a 6-month course on how to drive traffic using social media, or a 9 month course to help people lose the weight and keep it off forever.
Day 2
You now have your PLR content and a good idea of how long your course will run. Today you’re going to break your content up into the appropriate number of lessons, placing those lessons in the correct order.
The size of lessons should be consistent, if possible. If you have a really big lesson, you can often simply break it into two (part 1 and part 2), as well as combining a couple of small things into one lesson.
Each lesson should build on the previous lessons and lead to future lessons. Without this continuity and clarity, people will get confused and leave the membership early.
Once you’ve got the lessons in order, check one more time to make sure it all makes sense.
Day 3
Create bonuses.
You can create these out of the PLR you already have or purchase additional PLR. These might be reports, checklists, worksheets, videos or anything else that compliments and improves upon the course itself.
Plan to send out a free valuable bonus at least once a month to improve member retention.
Day 4
Write your own introduction and conclusion for each lesson.
The introductions should whet your member’s appetite for the content to follow. The conclusions should get them anticipating what’s to come in the next lesson.
For example: “Watch for next week’s lesson, where I’ll finally reveal the simplest and fastest way in the world to lose those final 10 pounds and look like you’re ready to win a bodybuilding contest.”
As you’re going through the material, change the chapter titles as needed.
Add in subheads throughout the material to break it up and make it easier to read.
If you choose, you can tweak the material to add your own voice and use your own writing style.
You can also add in your own examples, tips and stories if you like.
Consider adding pictures and graphics to make it even more interesting and valuable.
Proofread everything, even the content you don’t change.
Day 5
There are two things to do today, one of which is easy, and one might take more time, depending on your experience.
First, create the emails that you will send each week with the latest membership installment. This can be as easy as copying and pasting the lesson’s introduction into the email, along with the link to the membership site or to directly download the issue.
Second, write your sales letter. It doesn’t have to be long, but it does have to capture their interest, overcome their objections and answer their questions. If you’ve never written sales copy before, you might consider hiring someone to do this for you.
Shortcut: If you chose a PLR product that includes sales copy, you might be able to use that sales letter with just a few tweaks.
Day 6
Choose backend offers to increase your income. These are offers related to your membership’s subject matter.
You can insert these offers…
- Within the emails you’re going to send via autoresponder announcing each new lesson
- Solo emails sent out between lessons
- Inside the pdf lessons as full page ads
- Inside the pdf lessons inside the content
- Inside the membership site itself, if you have one.
Ensure your backend offers are highly related to the content of your membership site, and that they are high quality and truly useful to your subscribers.
To make these offers convert even better, offer “member only” discounts and time-sensitive offers.
You definitely want to sell these offers, but you don’t want to appear pushy. Your members have already demonstrated they trust you by subscribing to your site.
Recommending products to them is a natural extension of this mentor/mentee relationship you’ve established, so don’t be afraid to enthusiastically promote products that will truly help your members achieve their goals.
Day 7
Set everything up. Depending on what you have in place already, this might take longer than a day. For example, if you don’t have a website yet, or you don’t have an autoresponder, then there’s going to be a learning curve as you discover how these things work.
Things to do:
- Save your lessons as PDFs.
- If you haven’t already, do market research to determine how much to charge for your monthly membership.
- Get a domain name and web hosting. Try to choose a catchy name that matches your content.
- Choose a payment processor for recurring billing, such as Paypal or ClickBank.
- Set up your sales page.
- Upload your PDF’s to your website.
- Upload your weekly emails to your autoresponder.
If you take one day at a time, you can do this. Of course, if all of this is new to you, it might take you longer than 7 days, but that’s okay.
Just set a deadline for yourself and then be sure you’re making progress each and every day to reach that goal.
And keep your eyes on the prize. Once you have this membership site set up and ready to go, you and your affiliates can sell it for a long time to come, reaping the residual income for years.
