Why membership sites are the best ways to earn online and how to build them

For decades since internet marketing began, membership sites have been perceived as gold mines for massive profits in the shortest amount of time. And the reason is because you do the job once as an owner and get paid over and over again by people who are interested and want to keep learning from you. Or they like to use the resources and tools on an ongoing basis, as they needed them to run their own online business.

The question is, despite knowing that membership sites are the best and fastest ways to earn, why do so many people put off getting one of their own? The most common reasons I found out are because of their feedback on surveys, as they are non-technical. They have no idea how to build a website let alone membership. And, on top of that, it takes a lot of work and time, which is true, since you have to continuously provide value in the form of content, tools and resources to those who want to remain members. Even if there are free programs like Mark Ling’s AffiloBlueprint, the same principles apply, as most marketers want to not only make more sales, but also get more leads. Because for them and me too, each subscriber is worth a dollar and each paying customer is worth two dollars and more depending on what you buy.

The way I see it, creating memberships doesn’t have to be that difficult. You just have to enroll in courses on these, learn and implement and then you are good to go. Over the last 9 years since I started my internet marketing journey, I have invested in numerous membership courses. In addition to AffiloBlueprint, I have access to Omar Martin’s My Unfair Advantage, Adam Short’s Niche Classroom, and Dave Guindon and Chris Guthrie’s AmaSuite. They all consisted of a set of 20-40 video tutorials, PDF manuals, software applications, and other resources.

Although there are many themes around creating membership courses, the one I’ve been using for the past 5 years is Optimize Press. Designed and founded by James Dyson from the UK, it is designed for building blogs, landing pages, sales pages, and membership sites. It is also the most expensive, but in terms of quality and customer support, they are among the best. Having learned and implemented what they teach in their video tutorials, I have built many landing pages, sales newsletters, and membership sites in multiple niches. In addition to internet marketing, I have other topics such as health, personal development, and technology.

So with that being said, how do you create a membership site?

You may be surprised if I tell you the answer.

Which –

You don’t start by building a membership site.

Instead, he started by finding a profitable niche.

As in forums and Facebook groups where you can search related to what interests you or you have problems but you managed to overcome them.

So what you need is to connect with those groups of people by introducing yourself and getting to know each other, building rapport and understanding them like you normally make friends. Find out your interests, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses before compiling them in your notebook. And after those, you kind of know what they’re looking for.

I hear a lot of people talk about finding, knowing, and targeting their market first before starting any business. Which is true. And in Internet business, the ones I mentioned earlier are those markets.

Then use those points you compiled and write a series of articles about them. Then put them together in Microsoft Word or Open Office before saving as a PDF eBook.

Once I’ve done that, the next thing I’m going to do is copy and paste the content from those articles onto PowerPoint slides. At the same time, I’ll be signing up for a 30-day trial of Camtasia Studio to make and produce video recordings just by reading and adding more stuff to those slides.

When it comes to videos, there are two ways to go about it. The first is a direct video series of 10-20 that will be best for low to mid-priced online courses. But if you’re looking for high-priced training programs, I’ll recommend 10-20 modules with each module covering a series of 10-20 other videos. The first module can be about niche and keyword research, while the second and third deal with finding profitable affiliate programs and creating engaging content, etc.

Once I have the PDF guide and videos, I’ll add other bonuses as resources. These can be interviews with other experts in the same niche, software tools, and additional video series and PDFs.

When it comes to building the site itself, I’ll be referring to creating Optimize Press subscription pages, sales offers, and membership sites. Instead of using posts, I’m going to focus more on pages and do some configuration and add plugins to improve the look and feel of the membership site.

I’ll also add a menu at the top so customers can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. Under Videos, there will be more pages, each dedicated to a video on a particular topic.

Finally, I will be purchasing Wish List Members to allow certain customers to log in with their username and password which they will receive via email and redirect after signing up from the sign up page they will be directed to after securing their copy.

In terms of pricing, members can choose to pay monthly or annually. They can also cancel at any time if they do not wish to continue as a member.

Finally, I will invite you to join my Facebook community group where you can interact with each other and even do business together.