When is the right time to begin your own membership site?
It certainly is a popular business model. In fact, it is my primary business model. But, to answer this question, we first re-frame what it means.
See, most people associate the phrase “membership site” with monthly recurring revenue. You bring on members and they pay you every month – or perhaps annually. THAT kind of membership site isn’t one that I recommend people dive head first into. Recurring monthly membership is something which is suitable only once you have a PROVEN market and you’ve actually sold many things to them already.
I launched many courses separately before I re-engineered everything into a monthly membership.
But, what IS a membership site, really?
Does a membership site have to include recurring billing?
Well, in essence, all a membership site is is a site where people log in in order to access something. It has restricted access… to something. At the core, that is ALL it is.
So, almost ANYTHING you sell online could include access to a membership site. Even if you were selling a one-off front-end offer, you could deliver it via a membership site. Even if you were providing a service, you could administer parts of it in a membership site.
The pricing model is a completely different thing.
So, from that perspective, I think most of my readers should be looking into starting a membership site pretty early in the process… even if recurring billing is something you can explore later when the time is right.
I’ve said many, MANY times that a blog is not a business. But, there is one thing that can turn a blog into a business…
Turning it into a membership site.
By doing this, you turn your blog into a storefront. There are other reasons, as well. In fact, there are 6 reasons why you should turn your blog into a membership site.
In short, by structuring your blog in this way, you are turning it into a business platform. A selling platform. Not just a collection of blog posts.
Inside the Lab, one of the most popular courses in the library is the Membership Site Blueprint. This course covers the gamut of how to turn your blog into a membership, starting with the beginner basics and moving all the way into marketing, retention (if you’re doing monthly billing), etc.
This Blueprint is one of the few courses from The Lab that I offer separately without a Lab membership, however it usually costs $67. But, for the next few days, I am offering it as a FLASH SALE for only $10.
– David
