Why Would Somebody Want to Join Your Membership Site?

Let's consider the six key benefits for members themselves - which of course you'll use when promoting the site to prospects.

1. Manage cash flow

If you offer a monthly membership for a high-value resource, it can be a lot cheaper than members paying the full price for a bundle of products. It also allows them to consume the information at their own pace.

It also helps members' cash flow to know exactly what money is coming out of their credit card account each month. They don't have to decide to spend money each month.

2. Be in a community

On-line communities have become particularly important and interesting since Facebook and MySpace became popular. Some people join a membership site primarily so they can be part of a community of like-minded people.

Don't create a broad membership site like Facebook or MySpace, which is open to everybody. Instead, create a niche community for your target market - for example:

* My First Step Community www.first-step-community.info is for infopreneurs (speakers, trainers, coaches, consultants and other information experts) to learn about leveraging their expertise).
* David Penglase's SalesCoachCentral www.salescoachcentral.com is for salespeople and sales managers.
* Alicia Curtis' yGenClub ygenclub.ning.com is for smart, ambitious Generation Y people.
* Tony Fountain's The Wonderful World of Auctions fountainandco.ning.com is for the real estate industry - and even within that, the niche market of auctions within that industry.

Be warned: One of the biggest traps with membership sites is that their owners expect members to jump in enthusiastically and engage in the community features (forums, chat rooms, etc.). This generally doesn't happen as fast as you'd like. So don't assume that people will automatically take part in the community, and don't be disappointed if the take-up is slow.

3. Make one decision

In the same way as you only having to market once to your members, they only have to make one decision to join. After that, you deliver value to them automatically. They don't have to make a decision each month about whether they're going to buy this month's teleseminar, download this month's e-book, and the like. All the material is available for one price.

This might sound odd, but it is useful for some people to have just one buying decision, rather than going through the exercise of choosing new products each month.

4. Get increasing value

In general, the longer somebody is a member of the community, the more value they get.

For example, in the First Step Community I keep adding resources every month - at least one teleseminar recording, a few e-books, an on-line tutorial and another audio program. So for a member who pays $70 per month, the value they get for that investment keeps rising.

5. Opportunities for learning

A membership site gives your members an opportunity for learning. Of course, this is true for any products and services they buy from you. However, with a membership site, this is even better - for two reasons, both to do with timing:

* First, because members can access the resources when they need them, they can learn at their own pace, rather than buying the things you happen to be promoting at the time.
* On the other hand, you do keep adding resources according to your own timetable. But because members don't have to pay for them, they might learn something useful that they wouldn't have paid for separately.

6. Save money

Finally, of course they save money, because you give them discounts, special prices and members-only offers.