Many people mistakenly believe that their membership site income only comes from the monthly subscriptions that they receive. This is far from the truth.
While there is certainly a bulk of monthly income that streams in from the rebills, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
What you have to realize is this: you members are customers. That makes your membership database a customer list.
Now, I’m not a proponent of bombarding your customers with a whole slew of offers day after day. I don’t believe in becoming an offer harlot where you do nothing but blast out offers for the sake of making a buck.
These are your CUSTOMERS. And as such they should be treated with regard.
But, at the same time, there are several different ways that you can make backend income from your membership site without blasting out an “offer of the day”.
Here are some ideas to help you turn your site into a profit-pulling machine.
1. Promote affiliate offers.
Affiliate marketing works really well within the membership site model because you’ve built up trust with your audience. They’ve seen your monthly content and know that you offer quality. They will trust your recommendations because you’ve offered good content in the past.
Choose affiliate offers that tie directly into popular topics within your membership site.
Re-read that last statement. It’s all about relevance.
Ebooks, video courses and short reports will add value for your members and boost your backend sales, but primarily as an ENHANCEMENT that is related to your content.
Post an article to your membership site members with good content and a link to the recommended product.
*TIP* What I have always found to work best is to promote an offer that “fuels” the content. Example: If I posted content that shares “7 Ways To Make Money With Ezine Articles” I might promote a software program that automates the distribution of ezine articles. If I shared content entitled, “7 Ways To Use PLR Videos To Up Your Profit” I might promote an offer that supplies members with PLR videos.
The offer becomes an extension of the content without competing with the content.
2. Sell advertising
You can charge a small fee per month to existing members or outside advertisers to display their text ads or display ads on your site. You can display advertising in the sidebars and just under the header of your membership site.
Search for advertising directories to list the advertising space and add the offer to your signature file in forums that you visit.
Create an “Advertise On This Site” link on your site pages. Mention advertising in your newsletter, etc.
You’ll start to see advertising dollars start to roll in the more you publicize the offer.
3. Offer personalized coaching
No matter how much instruction you provide inside of the membership forum, there will always be people who will want something a bit more hands on.
You can offer exclusive one on one coaching for members who want that extra help. You can charge this as a one-time fee or as a additional monthly subscription (sort of like a membership site within a membership site).
Alternatively, you can offer teleconference calls for membership site members for a small additional fee.
4. Sell your own advanced products
There are bound to be topics within your membership site that deserve special attention.
You can make backend sales by creating products around these topics and offering them to your members.
For example, if you’re running a membership site on weight loss you can create a special report on the best exercises to do to blast through a weight loss plateau. Offer this at a special price to your members.
You can also sell the same report at a higher price to non-members to drive traffic back to your website to grow your membership.
For even greater results, sell licensing to the report so other people can sell it to their lists and thus promote your membership site that is mentioned inside the report.
The ideas are limitless.
Again, the key is to make the special report fit with the content itself. It’s never a replacement for the content you share. It’s an extension of it.
5. Turn membership site content into individual products
Once you’ve built a good amount of content within your site, you can start using the content for other purposes. Package up your articles on a specific topic and sell them as a special report. You can even sell resell rights to the report so that your membership site’s name and link is distributed widely around the ‘net. You can do this with several different sections of your website to make some backend income and get new members for your website.
With one or several of these techniques you can create several streams of income from your membership site and attract new members.
Again, I want to emphasize that you should always take care of your members. Don’t treat them as bottomless pits that you want to continue dropping offers into. Present additional offers sparingly and strategically as we’ve mentioned today.
You’ll keep your members happy — and you’ll be happy as you make more money.
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