Choncé Maddox — May 18, 2020 Thinking of starting a membership site or program? This is one of the best ways to continue offering value to your audience and collect payments on a more consistent basis. So how do you start a membership program online and what do you offer to keep people enrolled?
Choose to Solve a Problem or Obstacle That Needs to Be Maintained Over Time
Your membership program should really speak to solve a common problem or obstacle that your audience has. This problem should need to be maintained over time meaning the solution is not just a one-time fix.
For example, if you are looking to train people for a new career field or help them get healthy and lose weight, these are things that will take time to achieve. Plus, once this goal is met, the next step is often maintenance and growth.
Focus on making your membership program topic compliment people’s lifestyles as they work to reach certain goals.
Be Clear and Realistic About What People Can Expect
When you’re trying to determine how to start a membership program online, one of your first steps should be considering what people can expect when they sign up. Will you be providing exclusive online course content? Will you be doing a live Q and A weekly or accountability coaching?
Make sure you’re clear and realistic about what’s included in membership so you can set realistic expectations. Also, be honest about what you can provide on a consistent basis. You may even want to ask your audience what they’d like to see in a membership program
Choose Your Platform Wisely
There are so many different platforms you can consider when setting up your membership site. You can choose to go the self-hosted route and present your membership site right on your website. If you have WordPress, you may be able to set up password-protected pages to create a membership site. Or, you can even create a private Facebook group and collect monthly payments from members.
Focus on keeping your membership site user-friendly and carefully research all of your options beforehand. Members should be able to easily access content and communicate with you on the platform.
Integrate a User-Friendly Payment System
Find out how you’re going to safely and efficiently accept payments with your membership program. There are many different payment processors to choose from whether it’s PayPal, Stripe, or another payment system.
Just watch out for fees and keep that in mind when pricing your membership program.
Continue to Market
Realize that while a monthly membership can provide consistent income, people will likely come and go as they please in terms of signing up and canceling the membership.
To keep the group consistently growing, make sure you have a marketing strategy. Consider advertising all the benefits of joining the program, sharing testimonials regularly, and marketing to email subscribers.
Summary
If anything, starting a membership site is something that can provide you with a lot a lot of value to your audience while providing you with recurring dependable income. Just make sure you plan well in advance and structure the membership program to be beneficial for everyone.
Continue to poll your audience to assess their needs and provide the solution in your program.
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