LESSON #32: How to Build a Membership Website

By | February 7, 2009
325 Comments

Within the past several lessons, I’ve covered a handful of different ways to build a website.

Today I’m going to talk about building a membership website…

(Watch this video…)

Join my coaching club

Main points:

  • Membership website = a website that contains a member area.

  • Memberships can be free, paid, or both.

  • Free membership sites: Often used for building a database of members, which can then be monetized in other ways. (Ex. facebook.com)

  • Remember, “the money is in the list”.

  • Paid membership sites: A membership fee is charged. It could be a one-time fee or a recurring membership fee.

  • Using recurring membership fees is a great way to add continuity to your business model.

  • Continuity = Cash Flow = Financial Freedom

  • Membership area is an ideal way to provide ongoing products/services.

  • (see video for behind-the-scenes of one of my 6-figure paid membership sites)

  • Multi-tiered membership sites: can give you the best benefits of both free and paid membership sites. (Grow a big list while generating income)

  • (see video for behind-the-scenes of one of my multi-tiered membership sites with over 30,000 members)

  • Tips for choosing a membership site script:

    – Get one that will install on your own domain.

    – Get one that is popular… there’s safety in numbers.

    – Make sure it will support your payment processing method.

    Possible choices:

    Membergate – high end solution with a great reputation. Runs about $4k-$30k.

    Amember – this is what I use for my paid membership sites.

    Butterfly Marketing – this is what I use for my multi-tier membership sites.

    Marketing Website Generator – This is a souped up version of Butterfly, made by my friend and programmer Nick Temple. Highly recommended.

    WordPress Wishlist – a membership plugin for WordPress (not shown on the video).

    Monthly Income Formula – A complete step-by-step home study course for setting up a membership site, including the script, ALL for much less cost than any of the scripts above.

    Action steps:

    1) Decide if you’re going to create a membership site.

    2) If yes, choose a script to run your site, and buy it.

    3) Install the script, or pay someone to install it for you. You can post projects and get scripts installed as cheap as $10 at Rent A Coder

    In the next lesson I’ll be covering WordPress!

    As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂

    Have a great day!

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    • 325 thoughts on “LESSON #32: How to Build a Membership Website”

    2. Eric Post author

      Depends how you built your website. Is it HTML? If so, you could simply create a banner and insert it into your page using the code to embed an image, and hyperlink it to another site. Or you could create a box using an HTML table, like I’ve done in the sidebar of this website for the “Featured Program”. Or if you’re using WordPress you could use an advertising plugin or sidebar widget.

      Reply ↓
    3. fidel pavot

      HI, ERIC THANKS AGAIN FOR THE LESSONS.I HAD SEEM DIFFERENT MEMBERSHIP SITES, BUT I NEVER THOUGHT OF FORMING A MEMBERSHIP SITE,MAYBE, BECAUSE OF LACK OF INFORMATIONS ABOUT IT, BUT AFTER
      TAKING YOUR LESSON I CAN UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS AND BENEFIT THAT IT HAS. YOUR EXPLANATION IS SO CLEAR THAT EVEN A KID CAN UNDERSTAND IT.

      Reply ↓
    4. Terri

      Orrrr….to further support this point, you may wish to try out
      The Social Sam Network

      Its free to get started and is scalable as you add more subscribers.

      I would appreciate Eric having a look as well to see if this is another link you could provide your subscribers on this topic.

      Thanks!
      Terri

      Reply ↓
    5. Terri

      Hi Eric, I don’t know if this was answered elsewhere on your blog, but have you heard of Social Sam and, if so, I’d love to get your opinion on it. Myself, I like it because it is scalable and very affordable in the beginning ($7.95)

      Also, I must commend you. You are one of the few people who answers all the questions on your blog….awesome!

      Cheers,
      Terri

      Reply ↓
    7. Jorge Dutra

      Hi Eric, Have not been around for awhile. Got side tracked but I am enjoying the lessons. I ask that once the 100 lessons are done, can we get together to do something online! JAD

      Reply ↓
    9. Lester

      Hi Eric

      Understand that having a membership site is truely profitable in the long run with recurring income. but problem is where do we get all the contents to entice the members?

      How do we differentiate ourselves from others, who are also running membership websites?

      Cheers

      Reply ↓
    10. Eric Post author

      As far as where to get the content, the same principles of lesson #45 would apply here:

      -create it yourself
      -have others create it
      -partner with an expert
      -have contributors
      -recycle content
      -public domain
      -PLR
      -outsource it

      An example of one of my membership sites is http://www.dailyma.com

      I’ve partnered with an expert on it. He creates the content for the member area, and I do the maintenance and marketing.

      How you differentiate yourself is by providing something unique, or delivering the material in a way that is more helpful to your members.

      Reply ↓
    11. Michael Gibbard

      What are your feelings about using sub domains and editing them with the html editor on HostGator? Mike

      Reply ↓
    13. Mario Finkbiner

      Eric,

      Just want to Thank you for All your informative information. Based on your style of teaching & educating, I felt very comfortable purchasing TradingProSystem.

      Will keep you updated on my progress.

      btw I was upselled !

      Reply ↓
    15. steerpike

      I see that you do not have a date stamp on all your lesson posts. I have no idea how recent were your comments and those from your followers.

      Reply ↓
    16. Bob McCormack

      Hi Eric, I would like to say that this is probably the best and meatiest lesson in a while. I very much enjoyed the whole lesson.I am totally afraid that if you continue on like this I am going to be forced to learn something.
      Thank you.
      Bob

      Reply ↓
    17. Dave

      Hi Eric,

      Hope you are doing well. With respects to the topic of Membership Sites- if you were going to create a site similar to Gigmasters (www.gigmasters.com), what solution would you use? Or put another way, how would you go about it?

      And yes, I have an idea in my mind for a similar site and am seeking the best solution.

      Thanks for your help!!!

      Best,
      Dave

      Reply ↓
    19. Micah

      The date stamp is definitely missed. But, it’s important for beginners to start at lesson one. The date stamp can actually cause beginners to seek the most current tips, when they really need to progress through the training.

      Reply ↓
    23. Byron

      Alright Eric

      I do hope that you are well 🙂

      I tell you one thing you are one of the most hardest people to get hold off.. Lol.. Me and Jeff Wellman (friend of Paul Counts) has been trying to get hold of you for weeks to email me in regards to some questions that I have about PLR products 🙂

      Reply ↓
    25. Paul Woodall

      Eric,

      Great job on the tutorials. I am blown away by all the good content and your marketing savvy.

      One question about your Monthly Income Formula offer. Does it come with the Amember pro membership script; or, the one you mention in your video? It seems like on the sales page for MIF, it refers to setting up the Amember pro script.

      Thanks

      Paul W.

      Reply ↓
    26. Eric Post author

      It does not come with the Amember script, it comes with a different script that IMO is not as good as the Amember script, but it’s a cheaper alternative.

      Reply ↓
    27. Beaner

      I just installed the wordpress plugin S2member for my membership site. Seems to work great so far. And it’s free. The have a S3member Pro version with extra features, but for right now the free version is working just fine for my purposes.

      Reply ↓
    31. Nombulelo

      Hello Eric.
      Thanks a lot again. I may have got left behind as far as getting my website up and running but I treasure the lessons and have them safely stored to work through at my pace. Your lessons are a first for me and a treasure that has put me on track to succeed. Bless you Eric!

      Reply ↓
    32. Nathan

      I don’t know if you post this but..
      Know your own weakness is another lesson I learn the hard way.
      my grammar is bad and to hire a person to proofread it before sending it off takes time.

      So I m doing the SWOT homework.
      that is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

      Plato said: “Know thyself.”

      Thanks for posting this.

      Reply ↓
    33. Jim

      Hi Eric,
      Really enjoy your honest, down-to-earth instruction. Which Membership site do you think is best for a relative novice who only wants to spend a maximum of $200? Amember or Monthly Income Formula? I already have my product and bonus pages created. I want to easily put these pages into a membership site that is simple to use and will protect my content from thieves. Thanks.

      Reply ↓
    34. Micah

      Hello Jim,

      While Monthly Income Formula will certainly get the job done, Amember might be the best option, since it is in your price range. That is what Eric uses for his membership websites.

      Reply ↓
    35. abdul

      Hi Eric

      i am stuck in my IM learning as i am newbie..

      have you share on Autoresponder? i would like to know more about ‘Get respond’.

      thanks

      Reply ↓
    37. ollie

      Hi Ive seen some membership softwares used for mostly wordpress sites-I tried wordpress and I hate it.Too much problems with that platform than using wysiwig platforms.Are those membership softwares usable on non wordpress sites?

      Reply ↓
    38. Mike G

      Hi Eric. I am very much thankful you presented your lessons here for free. I am in the process of building my member site right now. Im a complete newbie. I have joined a MLM business (offline) and noticed that it gets harder to reach or communicate to my distributors. I want to sustain my group so I decided to give them a free membership site which will create a community for us. I also want to give them tools to advertise online (very much same as Mike Dillards affiliate website (mymagneticoffice.com) in which Im a member of it. I noticed that every product of Mike Dillard has its own unique links and every time i change my username, all the product affiliate links changes as well with my new username. I know this seems to be a silly question but how do i create the same? I understand that every product affiliate links have their own domains. And also their are some sort of monitoring table system like how many prospects i have, how much commissions i got and even campaign tracking tables. Can I ask you how to do this kind of good stuffs like Mike did in his affiliate programs?

      I will really appreciate it.

      Thanks so much!

      Mike

      Reply ↓
    39. Eric Post author

      Hi Mike, It’s a good idea to create a membership site for your distributors. I’m not sure which software Mike Dillard is using, but I’m guessing if you contacted his helpdesk they could tell you. Basically you need a membership site platform with a built in affiliate program. Most of the ones I’ve listed above DO have this, although not all of them use the username in the affiliate URL (some of them use a numerical affiliate ID). Virtually all of them have reporting options in the admin panel where you can see your prospects, commissions, etc.

      Reply ↓
    40. Eric Post author

      I personally think WordPress is one of the most user-friendly content management platforms available. But yes… there are membership site scripts that you can use with non-Wordpress sites. The one I use and recommend is Amember. You can use it to create a membership area on any type of website, and any type of content.

      Reply ↓
    41. Mike G

      Thanks so much Erick. I have been scanning your recommendations and products. I could use them. I am looking forward to enroll in your coaching program. Keep it going. This is a great site!

      Reply ↓
    42. Hauser

      Hi Eric,

      Your Training Rocks, Do you happen to have a table of contents for your training. I always come back to use the training but cant always remember what lesson is what. lol.

      Also do you have a preference on a plugin for member site for wordpress.

      Thanks
      Ryan

      Reply ↓
    43. Hauser

      ok i just read a couple of posts for your member site thanks,

      Also what lesson number is your outsourcing video. I use Odesk a lot but wanted to possible try others

      Reply ↓
    44. Nedra

      I am so much enjoying this journey even though it has many challenges. With your guidance, I am equipped to take on these challenges with your great lessons. And, I look forward to them, daily. I know, I am being redundant…but that is because it applies -smile-

      Reply ↓
    45. Ravi Jayagopal

      Hi Eric,

      Wow, almost 300 comments, and I can’t believe I didn’t find your site earlier.

      I wanted to invite you and your readers to stop by at DigitalAccessPass.com (DAP), a membership plugin for wordpress.

      We sincerely feel that anyone’s quest for the best membership plugin would be sadly incomplete without having at least checked out what we have to offer at DAP 🙂

      So we would appreciate it if you would consider including DAP in your list above.

      Appreciate the opportunity to comment here.

      Cheers!

      – Ravi Jayagopal
      Founder & Co-Developer, DigitalAccessPass.com

      PS: Would love to have you join our affiliate program. Do ping us via email if you’re interested. Thx!

      Reply ↓
    48. Mike G

      Hi Eric. Mike here again. I would just like to ask your recommendation or anybody in the forum on what software is good or better to use if I wanted to build a WP based membership website and integrate the following:

      1. Members Personal Information

      2. A list of all prospects that have opted in to my lead capture pages with the prospects name, email address, phone #, date created, emails opened, status, follow up and source capture page where the prospect opted in.

      3. I can setup campaigns to help my members organize and track their sales. For example, They may want to track an ad placed on blogs and an ad placed on another website.

      4. Link Builder Creator.

      5. Option to change username and password.

      I know this is lot but I really appreciate you are helping me.

      Everybody is welcome to reply to my post.

      Thank you all so much. God Bless

      MIKE G

      Reply ↓
    49. Mike G

      Eric, I just realize, i don’t need to ask you this. Its all over the place. I saw easymember pro features. Its a great product. its what im looking for.

      Reply ↓

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