Posted May 26th, 2008
by Joel
There are certain types of tools that you will need to build and operate your membership website. There may also be tools that you need to make available to your site members as well.
Obviously, you need a domain name and web hosting services. The domain name should state what the topic of the site is, so do not select this until you’ve decided on what topic of membership site you will have.
When it comes to web hosting, however, you have numerous choices. You may not require a great deal of disk space, depending on the content that you have in mind, but you will most likely require a great deal of bandwidth, depending on the number of members you expect to have, and how they will use the site.
On the other hand, you do need a great deal of both bandwidth and disk space if you will have a lot of media, such as audio and video on the site. Consider the content that you will be using carefully before selecting a web hosting package. Also, since your members will be paying for access, the web hosting company should have at least a 99% uptime guarantee, and you do want it to move fast – so consider a dedicated server, as opposed to shared hosting.
You will need software to either create or manage your membership website. This comes in two flavors, basically. First, there is software that simply manages. It creates the doorways to your membership site, and handles billing for you. It may do numerous other things as well, but as for the actual pages that make up your membership site - this management software does not provide that.
Then there is software that includes all of the bells and whistles. It will not only help you to easily create your pages, it will also provide overall management and make maintenance much easier. Features that you may want to look for include;
- The ability to bill customers, automatically
- Automated signups and expirations
- The ability to create various subscription types
- Logging of IP addresses, so that when it becomes obvious that someone is sharing their account information with non-members, that account is disabled.
- The ability for the administrator to email members
- Automated password recovery
- The ability to add content pages, with the use of preset templates.
You will also want an autoresponder. One may be included in your membership software – but make sure that you have one so that you can easily communicate with your members.
Obviously, you need a way to accept payments, and a way to bill members automatically each month. Most membership software and management software have this ability, but will only work with certain services. Find out what they are.
If your membership software does not handle content pages for you, you will need an HTML editor, and an FTP client to upload the pages that you create. You may also need a graphics editor to create or edit graphics.
I will write another blog post about the tools that your members may require. So look for that post as well.
Posted in Membership Sites
Posted May 24th, 2008
by Joel
While many membership sites are actually communities of people that share an interest, many are not community driven at all. In fact, many of the newer membership sites do not have any type of communication between members at all. Instead, each member interacts with the website – not with the other members.
But which option is best for your membership site? This is a decision that needs to be made before you go any further, because this decision affects other decisions down the road.
This greatly depends on your content, and the importance of your site members communicating with each other. For example, there is a successful membership site that caters to those who are looking for joint venture partners or deals. Obviously, the site members need to communicate with each other, and have the tools necessary for that communication provided.
There is also a membership site that is completely content driven, where no communication with other members is needed or provided. Both of these membership sites are successful. They deliver the content that they were designed to deliver, in a way that satisfies the members.
Again, which one will be better for you? First, determine whether or not communication between the members is necessary. Next, determine whether or not communication between the members is beneficial. There is a difference here between the words necessary and beneficial.
It is easier to create, operate, and maintain a membership site where there is no communication between members. But on the other hand, you may greatly increase the value of the website if there is communication. With a website where members are able to communicate with each other, you will also find that you don’t need nearly as much content to make the site valuable to the members.
Overall, sites where the members are able to build a true community usually command a higher monthly fee than those that do not. So, while building a non-communication site is easier, if you can’t see any other reason for the members not to communicate, go ahead and make it possible.
One reason for not making it possible for site members to communicate is privacy. Some topics are sensitive, and people simply will not want others to know that they are a member of the site. They do not want to communicate. Take this into consideration.
Otherwise, if you will be building a community based membership site, you need to determine how that community will interact with each other. There are numerous options, and you can employ all options or one or two. This choice is yours.
Posted in Membership Sites
Posted May 21st, 2008
by Joel
These days, it seems that everywhere you look there are membership sites. There are membership sites for every topic you can imagine – or so it seems. Don’t be fooled! There is still plenty of room for more membership sites, and many topics that have not been adequately covered in terms of membership sites.
A membership site is a site that caters to a specific group of people. Those who wish to access the community pay either a one time fee, monthly fees, or yearly fees. The owner of the site ensures that the content stays up to date, and that fresh content is added on a regular basis, to make sure that he or she retains those members.
The amount of money to be made from a membership site varies greatly, and depends on the number of members, the price of membership, the cost of maintaining and operating the site, and of course retaining members. The average membership site costs about $20 per month, but there are those that command a much higher price.
In fact, depending on your content and your niche, you could charge upwards of $97 per month, per member. There are even those that charge higher prices, for highly targeted information that cannot be acquired from any other source. The more exclusive your content is, the more you can charge. It is as simple as that.
At one time, it took a great deal of technological skill, and a great amount of money to build and operate a membership site. That is no longer the case today. Technology has made great advancements, and starting a membership site is easier and less expensive than it has ever been. Today it is easily done, and easily affordable. In fact, once the site has been built, the way that it operates is mostly automated.
Posted in Membership Sites
