Having a website is already a good enough way to earn a passive income. But, when you’re concerned about seeing the sales rise, you’re going to have to work a little bit deeper than that. It’s going to take quite a long time before your website gains the followers that it needs for you to earn more money. When it comes to running websites, one of your best options is to create a membership site.
But, what exactly is a membership site, and how does it function? As its name suggests, it’s a website that requires a subscription for you to be able to access its content. In creating this site, you’re placing the full content or some exciting posts in the restricted areas. That way, only members who sign up for it will be able to read through it. In simpler terms, it means that users need to be members of your site for them to view the exclusive content.
That said, here are some of the best ways for you to earn money, through building membership sites:
1. Optimize Your Knowledge And Position Yourself As An Expert
When you’re building a membership site, it’s like you’re making your website very exclusive. Not everyone will have access to it unless they sign up to become members. In doing so, you’re keeping your knowledge exclusive as well. Hence, it creates that effect of being sought after, as you’re now looked up to as an expert in that field.
Especially when you meet the following criteria, all the more that you should take advantage of earning more by creating a membership site:
- You run your own business, or you’re already an authority in entrepreneurship, and many people keep asking you about your trade secrets
- You’ve been given specialized training on your job, and you’ve become an expert, hence you’ve got a lot to share about the subjects that you’re well trained in
When you do this, however, make sure that the membership is indeed worth it. As internet users will now have to pay to read your content, do keep it packed with knowledge. You wouldn’t want to waste a single penny of your subscribers, else the negative feedback will start coming in, and they’ll also decide instead to sign out of your membership.
2. Create A Strong Online Community
Apart from imparting your knowledge with membership sites, take it one step further by creating a robust online community. When your subscribers already feel like they’re getting good enough content from your website, give them more. Create forums or groups that your subscribers can become members of. Generally, Internet users will love having this sense of belongingness and camaraderie with friends that they can trust and talk to online.
Within these core groups, you can even sell more. There, you can promote any events that you may have. Perhaps you may also promote products that you’re paid to sell as an affiliate marketer. The options are now limitless for you. Because your followers are happy with what they’re getting from your exclusive membership, they’ll also be more than willing to subscribe to what you’re selling.
After all, when your subscribers already position you and see you as a person of authority in that particular field, they’ll no longer hesitate to spend even more, so they can also use what you’re using, or get a test for themselves of the items that you swear to be great.
3. Cultivate A Strong, Loyal Following Of Customers
With membership sites, it’s easier for you to cultivate a strong and loyal following of customers. Because these people paid to read what you’re writing or sharing about, there’s very little chance of them leaving your site for another one. They will stay simply because they don’t want to waste their membership.
Hence, while they’re members of your site, keep giving them what they want. Post content regularly. Sell items frequently. Make your followers feel that the subscription they paid for is indeed worth it.
When you have this kind of strong following, not only do they increase your earning potential by paying more for your products or visiting your site often. But, they’ll also be more than willing to promote your site themselves. Don’t look down on word-of-mouth. When they share how fantastic your website is, how your content changed their life, how you’re selling products that speak to its promise, you’ll see your followers multiplying like rabbits.
The point here is in your effort to ensure that you create that value for your customers. Give them so much more than they first expected. Not only are you giving yourself that potential to earn more, but you’re also effectively changing the lives of people and the businesses that they run.
4. Create A Well Defined Business Plan
When you make that decision to have a membership site, you will be giving birth to a new business. This isn’t something that you can do on a whim, or without putting much thought into it. At the very least, you’re going to have to create a well-defined business plan. That way, you’re sure that your membership won’t just flop. You’ll have clients coming in regularly, putting in a steady stream of new followers every month.
Remember that your goal here is to earn money. How do businesses earn money? By putting in all the effort that they can afford to give. Do the same before you put your membership site fully up and running. That way, you’re able to ensure its earning potential.
To help you have a good start, here are questions that you should first solve:
- What are the goals of your membership site, apart from earning extra income?
- What pricing structure are you going to use: weekly, monthly, semiannually, or annually?
- How many new members do you need each month for you to achieve your financial goals?
- How are you going to go about creating your membership site? Wordpress? Kajabi? You may already have heard about Wordpress, but now you may also ask yourself, what is Kajabi? What’s its difference from Wordpress, and which is better?
- What are the topics that you’re going to post and talk about in any given period?
- Can you continue with providing excellent content to your subscribers in the long run?
Conclusion
When you’ve already got a website up and running, congratulations. That’s a good enough start. Especially when you already have quite a steady following coming to your site. But, if you’ve got an entrepreneurial mindset and you wish to earn more, don’t just stop there. Go one step further and turn your website into an exclusive one. In doing so, you’re welcoming members who pay for the subscription to your site, hence you’re able to earn more. Building a membership site isn’t going to be easy. But, with the tips enumerated above, you’re one step ahead of this endeavor.
