This article shares 5 things to include in your membership site. It takes about six minutes to read.
Many people want a membership site of their own but are confused about what to put in there. Sometimes this confusion gets so strong that they give up on having a membership site of their own!
That’s a shame because having a membership site of your own can be one of the most profitable things you can do online.
I know because I own over 40 of them and help clients create their own membership sites too.
First, it’s natural to have questions about what to include in your membership site.
After all, once you commit to having a membership site of your own, the sky is the limit! For example, you could add …
- Video lessons
- A community
- Blog-type posts
- Comments on those posts
- Allow members to talk to each other
- Include YouTube videos
- A downloads area
- Written lessons
- And much more!
Some of the things on the list above are very good ideas and should be included.
Others can doom your membership site to be time-consuming for you and less-than-satisfying for members.
So, what should you include in your membership site?
I believe there are five main ingredients to always include in a membership site.
By the way, these are not just Charlie Page ideas. Top membership sites in major niches (health, wealth, relationships) all have these five elements included too.
Top names you know include these five things in their membership sites too.
Those names include …
- Dr. Weil
- Frank Kern
- Ryan Deiss
- Tony Robbins
- Dave Ramsey
- And many others
Having a membership site of your own is smart business. Including these five things in your membership site will be even smarter.
1 – Video Lessons
The Internet is quickly moving to a video-first medium.
While the web has been about the written word for many years (it all started with plain text) that fact is changing.
Consider this statistic from Forbes about the future of video online.
No matter which statistic you choose – from 80% of ALL content to the startling statistic that 95 percent of consumers retain communicated information through video, while only 10 percent retain information from reading – video is where we are headed … fast!
In a recent dispute with the EU, YouTube reported they receive over 400 hours of video uploaded every minute of every day.
For these reasons, and more, it is vital that your membership site contain video, and plenty of it.
The good news is this – you do not have to appear on camera in order to be effective with video!
In fact, it has been widely reported that old-style “follow the text” sales videos outperform “talking head” videos, unless the talking head is someone highly recognizable like Tony Robbins.
The same holds true with teaching content inside a membership site. Most membership sites exist to teach something.
And a talking head video cannot do that nearly as well as an “over the shoulder” video where you are demonstrating how to do something.
2 – Written Transcripts
Here is a lesson I learned the hard way … not all of your customers will have the ability to watch video.
I’ll never forget the email I received from a person who wanted to learn from me but could not see to watch the videos I added to the site.
From that day forward I have always included written transcripts for my videos.
In addition to being the right thing to do for customers, you get some great side benefits as well.
Written transcripts make great …
- Bonus items to include in your membership offer stack.
- Written content for your blog.
- eBook and report raw material.
- Tools for affiliates to promote your membership site for you.
- And more.
I use and recommend Rev.com (not an affiliate link) for getting transcripts.
One interesting thing about Rev is that they can transcribe any video, including those you find on YouTube.
I will often surprise consulting and coaching clients by having their publicly available videos transcribed to reuse the best points in their new marketing.
It’s an idea almost none of them think of and almost all appreciate.
3 – Audio Downloads
It’s easy to overlook getting audio files from your video files but it’s incredibly important to do so.
The great news is this – you do NOT need to re-record your video or make any changes at all!
All you do is pull the audio from the video you already made for your membership site and save it separately.
You save this file as an MP3 (the most common type) and then let members download it.
Once they do, they have your teaching on the go! That means they can learn from you at the gym, in the car, on a road trip, or while working around the house.
It’s a win for everyone and easy to do. Check your video program (Screenflow, Camtasia, etc.) for help.
Just like transcripts, you can use audio files as …
- Bonus items to include in your membership offer stack.
- Written content for your blog.
- eBook and report raw material.
- Tools for affiliates to promote your membership site for you.
- And more.
Unlike written transcripts, you can also repurpose your audio into podcast content.
And that is a powerful way to work!
4 – Easy Access To Help
This one is simplicity itself – always make sure your members can reach you when they have a question.
There are many ways to do this.
- An email link to your personal email (good when just starting)
- An email link to your support center
- A real-time chat box for live questions
- A form members can use to ask a question
- Comments on each lesson to be used for questions
My best advice here is to start simple and stay that way if possible.
While you want to give the highest level of service possible, you can’t be expected to hover over your site 24 hours a day and provide instant answers.
Find a method that works for you AND serves your members well until you can outsource it.
One more tip – if you get the same question more than 3 times, make a video answering the question and post it inside your membership site.
So much better to prevent a problem than to solve a problem.
5 – Offers
This one might surprise some people but I believe it to be true.
Responsible membership site owners will selectively promote products to their members.
It’s the WAY that you promote that makes all the difference.
Here’s what I mean …
When you promote products and services you know will benefit your members and do it from a place of making a recommendation, you serve members.
When you fill your site with ads for the latest product launch that pays you well but has nothing to do with the content of your membership site, you don’t serve them as well.
I have found over the years that member, both of paid sites and free sites, appreciate sincere, experience-based recommendations.
In fact, they often ask for advice and recommendations, which can inform what you do or don’t promote within the site.
Conclusion
Running a membership site, paid or free, can be one of the most profitable things you can do online.
With a membership site of your own you get to serve people at a higher level. You make friends. You build your list. You empower others to grow.
And you build a strong and profitable business.
And those are all beautiful things indeed!
