8 Tips for Setting Up Your Membership Site

One of the benefits of setting up a membership site is that it provides you with a recurring monthly income. Many marketers run successful membership sites, but before you head off to create one, there are certain things you should take into consideration.

1. Setting up a membership takes planning, it is not something that you want to suddenly advertise. When members join they want to see content available in their member's area.

2. Use a notepad or calendar and schedule out what you want to offer. Are you running a tutorial type site, a how to site or are you offering reports and articles on a certain niche or topic?

3. It is advisable to have 3 months of content ready before you launch your site. This way you aren't scrambling each month trying to get all the content ready. You will free up time so that you can concentrate on attracting members.

4. If you currently belong to a membership site, study it and see what you like and what you don't like. Can you improve yours or use some of the same things in a similar way?

5. Consider how you want to display your content. Will it be dripped fed depending upon the date someone joined? Will you just add content on a certain day each month, regardless of someone's join date? Will you remove older content or leave it on the site?

6. There is literally a ton of membership software that you could use. This is often the hardest thing to decide upon. Take the time to research what software is available and look at the benefits and features as well as the price.

7. Decide if you want to run an introductory special. This could be a ridiculously low price for new members or you may want to run a lifetime option. If people purchase a lifetime option you should commit to having the site up and running for at least two years. Otherwise people may want a refund.

8. As you run your membership always ask members for their input. Then be willing to change what you offer based upon their answers. You may find your members want to have monthly webinars or a coaching type of call.

As you can see there really is a lot to think about when it comes to opening up a membership site. Consider all your options carefully and don't forget to plan and then plan some more.