How To Launch A Membership Site – Part 1: Build Your Preeminence
This is the first part of a series of articles reviewing the steps to launch your own membership site online. The inspiration for this series comes from my recent experience launching Blog Mastermind. I will recount my journey leading up to the present, approximately one month after the successful release of my blog mentoring program, which uses a membership model.
I’ve been a huge fan of the membership business model because it creates a dependable income stream. I like this for the obvious reason – your cash flow is more consistent – but also because the reliable income lets you invest serious time and energy in your customers, because you are well rewarded on an ongoing basis for doing so.
Compare this to a one time product sale, where your inclination might be to make a big bang, generate the majority of your sales during the first few days – weeks at best – and then watch your income drop to a trickle. Once the income drys up you have little interest in improving your product and most marketers move on to their next product rather than nurture their current customers.
While some commodity or essential products always have demand, when you enter these markets you face intense competition, often based on price, and you don’t want to compete in a market where the lowest price wins, because unless you have the systems of Wal Mart, you don’t make money.
I like the stability, the sense of running a real business and the pleasure of constant interaction with your clients, that comes from managing a membership site. It’s certainly not easy work – I’m definitely working a lot harder now than I was before – but the role is very enjoyable and the intrinsic rewards – the positive feedback and the ongoing relationships – make it a fantastic business to be in.
It’s taken a long time for me to get to this point, with several stalled starts along the way and much learning too, but I’m pleased to say that I feel a great sense of comfort with my current position. Now let me pass on to you what I have learned in the grand tradition of the Entrepreneur’s Journey….
