Imagine setting up a membership website in just one day.
Now imagine that day is today, and if you’re thinking that could be a tad impossible, then I can assure you it’s true..
Every man and his dog knows about membership sites nowadays. You’ve probably heard of instant memberships sites, or autoresponder membership sites. These are generally fixed-term membership sites in a micro-continuity format. For example, a 26 week membership on 26 different methods of traffic generation, or a 52 week membership site on building a membership site. (Clever huh)..
BTW, that last one sold a lot of memberships which stumped me just a bit. Here was a membership site on how to QUICKLY and EASILY build a micro-continuity website – but you had to wait an entire year to get all of the information. Yet it sold really, really well. My point here is if that can sell well, so can lots of other topics.
So what are the benefits to instant membership sites…
They’re easy to create. You don’t need a lot of content up front and you can do it with just a website and emails. Though membership software id useful.
Having said that, you don’t need expensive software. You can either deliver content through your autoresponder, use a WordPress membership plugin. Obviously I’m biased towards using EasyMemberPro.
You can launch your site really quickly. Because you don’t need a lot of upfront content, you can launch much faster – in fact, if you already have the content, you can launch within a day.
You create your content once then get paid over and over again. Since the membership is fixed term, you know exactly how much content you need. Once it’s created, you’re done, finito, though if you’re like me, you probably like to fiddle with improvements etc.
Low investment means low risk. Even if you don’t have the content yet, it doesn’t take you much time or money to get the first couple of weeks worth.
Higher retention rate. Because the membership is a fixed term with a specific goal, member retention is higher than in a traditional membership which tends to meander on just a tad.
So where do you get the content?
If you’ve created products of your own, you might already have the content. For example, do you have a product you can break down into weekly modules? Let’s say you’ve got a book on buying distressed properties. The thing is people get so overloaded with information they become paralyzed and don’t actually take action. But if you break down your book into actionable steps, you’re creating real value for your members. Week one, do this. Week two, do that. Show them step by step what to do and how to do it and they’ll love you for it.
If your product(s) aren’t enough to fill a 6 or 12 month membership, you can use them as the starting point. Perhaps use your existing product to cover the first few weeks and then expand from there.
Or you might sell your product as you usually do, but also include a trial $2 membership. After the trial they pay the regular price.
You can also outsource some or all of the writing. Hire someone to write your first four weeks of content, or modify existing PLR content into something great. Another possibility – team up with others in your niche and interview each other on various topics within your expertise.
You’re looking to make a big promise and then fulfill that promise. For instance, if you’re teaching people to make their own beer at home, by the end of the course they should be highly knowledgeable and experienced in making home brews.
Create an outline of what they will learn and action each week, then create the content for the first couple of weeks. In your sales letter, tell them what they will accomplish by the end of the course, as well as giving them an outline of the curriculum.
Then in each lesson, tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them, give them the action steps to take that week (if any) and be sure to tell them what they will learn next week and the week after. This way people will want to stay subscribed for the term of the membership.
Now seriously, take a look at the products you’ve created as well as the PLR you already own. Do you have the beginnings of an Instant Membership? If so, you could literally have it up and running in the next 24 hours if you put your mind to it…
