How To Build A Membership Website
Once you’ve decided that providing memberships is the best way to manage your business, whether that’s for building access to a coworking space, access to events for an alumni association, or monthly dues for church membership, chances are that you’re going to need a website. So what do you need in order to build that website, increase your membership, and reduce your overall time spent on things like administration?
Keep it simple
The last thing you want while running a business is additional administrative tasks, another software to learn, and more connections to break between your marketing channels. Investing in a software system that is designed to make your life easier is the best way to go.
Create content in real-time
You don’t need an entire library of content in order to launch your site. Plan live events like webinars in the future that are for members only. You’ll check off two boxes with this one; record it as content for later members, and boost your community engagement by allowing attendees to connect with one another through the platform.
Level up
Determine different levels of membership. Basic memberships will probably be your cheapest and most abundant option, but a premium membership may allow for exclusive content. You’ll also want to decide if you prefer recurring monthly or annual membership fees or a one-time activation fee, or some combination of the two.
Price it out
Regardless of whether or not you’re offering different levels of membership, settling on what you’re going to charge can be a daunting task, and your choice should reflect your intent with your membership website. If your goal is building a following regardless of income generated, keep your options free or very low cost. If your goal is revenue, try and price things relative to what people are already paying for similar information or services. Remember that there’s no one right answer, and it may take some experimenting to find the cost that works best for you and your members.
Done is better than perfect
As the saying goes, done is better than perfect! You can continue to tweak and test and change little items across your site for days or weeks, but it won’t do you any good if it’s sitting there unpublished! Get your site live and make changes along the way. Ask your members how they feel about the site and membership options; they’re your most valuable resource for feedback!
If you’re looking to create a membership site but need a little help getting started, is here to help. Start a 14-day free trial and see if membership management software is right for you!
Originally published at https://www.joinit.org.
