Category: Grow a Home Business

    Eight Ways to Provide Value to Members

    Getting people to join your membership is only half the battle. Getting them to stay is the other half. The best way to do that is to offer exceptional value to them once they join. Some of the value you explained to them on your sales page where you mentioned the benefits, but some should be left as a surprise for after they’ve joined. Remember, the key to member retention is to under promise and over deliver.

    1. Offer a Knowledge Base – A searchable knowledge base is an excellent way to provide value to your members. You can add to it over time, as questions are asked via email and on forums and in group message boards. Being able to have answers at their fingertips will keep them coming back.

    2. Host Free Educational Videos – Within the knowledge base it will help if some of the more complex information is provided in video form. When you show people how to do something in this manner, they will want to come back and will therefore keep their memberships active. This is especially true if your videos are produced in as close to a professional manner as practical.

    3. Host a Members Only Directory – People like doing business with other members, so if you can provide a members only directory that lists people’s websites, specialties, and offers, they will enjoy that benefit immensely.

    4. Have Members Only Offers – When you have a membership, pushing out a new product to them first, with a huge discount, is another great members only offer that you can do on a regular basis. Not only that – it’s a great way to test out your new products.

    5. Monthly Group Calls – It’s not hard to use a system like Free Conference Call to conduct a live call once a month or even more if you want. It’s amazing how something as simple as spending an hour on a phone call once a month will help with member retention.

    Link to Free Conference Call – https://www.freeconferencecall.com/

    6. Offer Specialty Groups – If you have a larger membership, breaking it down into specialty groups will help people stick around longer too, because they will feel catered to. You want each member of your group to feel special. A good idea is to have small, five-people “mastermind” groups, complete with weekly call and a special forum.

    7. Host Members Only Events – Another great way to provide value to your members is to have members only events such as in-person events, meet-ups, and webinars. You can also use these to allow each member to invite one new person to help expand membership.

    8. Offer Member JV Opportunities – People love working together with like-minded people. Provide them new ways to join together to make new offers, do new things, work together in ways they may not have thought about.

    You can be assured that your members will be happy with their membership if you give them just a bit more than what they thought they would get. Fortunately, you’ll be able to actually interact with and ask your members via the message boards or other groups you form. So, it’ll be easy to give them more than they thought they were getting.

    Categories: Membership Tags: Tags:

    Eight Tools and Software to Help You Build Your Online Community

    One of the ways to increase sales, spread brand awareness, and develop new ideas for products and services is to offer your audience an online community to become part of. By making yourself available to a community online, you can find out in advance what types of things your audience needs to solve their problems. Online communities will literally put you on the cutting edge with your community.

    1. Facebook Groups – This is a great entry level, free way to start an online community. Start your community here and then invite them to more excusive paid memberships for an upgraded next level of community.

    Link – http://www.facebookgroups.com/

    2. AMember – This software enables you to set up members only communities, subscriptions, secure shopping carts, and more for your niche community. People like feeling protected from others and this is a safe way to start a private community.

    Link – http://www.amember.com/

    3. AWeber – It might seem odd for this to be included in community building but if you think about it, it makes complete sense. You need a way to communicate with a lot of people at once and AWeber is one of the best autoresponder services available for the money. You can send newsletters, email blasts and other information to members who sign up to get information.

    Link – http://www.aweber.com/

    4. vBulletin – This is forum software that offers either a self-hosted version or a cloud version, so that you can have a powerful and easy to run message board or forum for your audience to congregate and discuss issues in a members only setting.

    Link – http://www.vbulletin.com/

    5. WordPress – You can build a membership website using WordPress and some plugins like Paid Memberships Pro, or bulletin boards like bbPress, among others. While these are relatively simple, you may need some professional assistance ensuring security and the right server capacity.

    Links:
    WordPress – http://www.wordpress.org/
    Paid Memberships Pro – https://wordpress.org/plugins/paid-memberships-pro/
    bbPress – https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress/

    6. Hoop.la – This is an all-in-one online solution for your online community. One really good thing about this is that it’s a hosted system that you own. However, it can be pricy for this full-featured online community software solution.

    Link – http://www.hoop.la/

    7. NationBuilder – This is an online community builder that is fully featured; you can charge a membership fee, email members, and more through one dashboard. This can act as your entire website without the need to integrate a lot of other software.

    Link – http://nationbuilder.com/

    8. SocialGO – This cloud-based community building software has the ability to create a forum and even charge for the membership to the group. It is full featured and reasonably priced.

    Link – http://www.socialgo.com/

    Building an online community is a great way to build relationships that will translate into referrals, true supporters and fans that will help you expand your business and keep your business running through the test of time.

    Categories: Membership Tags: Tags:

    Eight Resources to Include in Your Membership 

    Creating a membership site is an exciting process, but it can be hard to think of what to include in your membership. Most memberships have similar offerings, and you should at least stick to the basics. But, don’t stop there. The more you can pack into your membership, the more in demand your membership will become.

    1. Glossary – This could be a list of terms, as well as a list of resources for the members to better understand the terms used in the content, information products, videos, and forum. Let them know up front everything that you can.

    2. Message Board – The most popular membership websites have a forum or message board for members to speak to each other as well as to the leaders and coaches who are running the membership site. It builds community, and some people will stay long past using the other resources just for the message board if it’s active.

    3. Permanent and Temporary Content – You want both permanent and temporary content to continuously flow through the membership site. Some content should be around all the time and some should drip in based on where the person is in the membership. This will keep people at your membership and wondering what’s coming up next.

    4. Videos – Including video is always a good thing in a membership site. Whether it’s a “how to” do something, interviews, courses, or something else, video always livens up a membership site. You can use PowerPoint and your own voice to product videos easily.

    5. ECourses – Learning how to do something is a good reason to join a membership site and if you have a few courses that your members can get a certificate for finishing, all the better. It will make them want to stick around.

    6. Information Products – At least once a month, include a full-fledged new information product for the membership to use and implement. Information products can include eBooks, video, eCourses, and more but can also be sold individually on their own outside of the membership.

    7. Checklists – People love having checklists that they can follow along with to get things done. You can include checklists about how to use the membership as well as checklists about how to do something your niche wants to do. There are so many options for you to fill your membership with useful things for your audience.

    8. You – The most important resource to include in your membership site is you. You must be directly involved with the forum, with making videos, with writing content and as a cheerleader for your members. That’s why they are joining, after all.

    Filling your membership with useful and unique resources will become your goal and passion as your membership grows. You’ll get ideas directly from the members, so don’t worry. The important thing is to get started with a minimum and build as you go to make your membership more valuable with each passing month.

    Categories: Email Subscribers, Membership Tags: Tags:

    Eight Reasons Memberships Earn

    Memberships are part of our everyday life even when we don’t realize it. It’s a business model most people are comfortable with. You can join memberships for massages, chiropractor care, medical practices, gyms and more. It’s obvious the concept is lucrative. But, how do memberships really earn and why?

    1. People Love Feeling As If They Belong – Being part of a community of people who enjoy the same things you do is a very special feeling. They say birds of a feather flock together, and memberships prove this point over and over again. You can have a very small niche and still attract members in enough numbers to be profitable if you price the membership right.

    2. You Offer Unique High Value Products – No membership is complete without at least monthly new products or services added to the membership to keep the members interested. The products need to add value to the consumer to the point that they say, “Wow, this is awesome.”

    3. You Participate in the Forum Personally – The forum is the lifeblood of any membership website. Without a forum you will have very little opportunity to keep your audience excited to pay the membership fee month after month. Mostly, you should spend time on the forum every single day.

    4. The Content Is Regularly Updated and of Exceptional Quality – Aside from products or services, the content that your members consume is important too. You need to update content daily with a blog post, plus contribute more content each month such as white papers, checklists and so forth.

    5. You Know How to Over Deliver – It’s easy to get carried away with marketing words and make your audience feel as if they’re going to get more than they are. This is a huge mistake. Membership sites that make money deliver far more value than the person joining believes they’ll get.

    6. Startup Costs Are Low – All you need to start a site is a way to make sales pages, landing pages, membership site software like aMember.com, and social media pages for the membership site, plus an email autoresponder and forum software like phpBB.com. You can install it all yourself or hire someone, and be up and running for $500 to $1500 dollars with monthly ongoing expenses between $100 and $500 dollars.

    7. You Can Charge More People Less for Superior Value – The other attraction people have to memberships is that it is a way to spread the cost of resources over many different people. Something that might cost thousands a month for one-on-one work will now cost just a fraction of that when you spread that cost over many members.

    8. You Offer Unannounced Extras – The real trick to memberships is keeping the consumer interested, and you can do that with unannounced extras that make your customer want to see what comes each month. Make these really special and super hyper-focused on the audience, and you’ll have a winning combination.

    Earning money from membership sites is easier than other methods of earning money online, but you do have to continuously wow your audience to keep them interested, plus devote a fair amount of time to marketing the membership.

    Categories: Membership Tags: Tags:

    Developing Exclusive Content for Memberships

    One of your first jobs when having a membership website is to keep it full of exclusive, relevant content. You might want to add a blog post each day, but only add eCourses each quarter, with a new white paper or report every month. If you’re not sure what type of content your membership needs, consider some of these.

    * Exclusive Interviews – You can use Skype and a plugin called Pamela to record interviews. Or do them live as an event withYoutube Live, record them, and use them in the membership later. You’re killing two birds with one stone in this manner.

    * Instructional Posts / Videos – Teaching your members to do something happens to be an important part of having a membership website. You can do instructional posts and videos and a combination of both. If you do any how to blog posts, you can also make a video out of it and vice versa.

    * Case Studies – A case study is an important aspect of a membership site. It enables members to see stories of those who have succeeded with the methods or issues that your membership website is about. A case study can be written in the form of a report, or as an interview.

    * Member Profiles – People love seeing profiles of others who are part of the group. You can have members fill out their own public profiles in text, but you can also encourage each member to make a short video about them to include.

    * User Generated Content – One of the biggest driving factors in most membership websites is a group or community of some form such as a message board, or a private Facebook group. There are pros and cons of both. If you have a message board on your website, you own the content and always control it. If not, you don’t.

    * Curated Content – All the content you share doesn’t have to be original. You can also include content that has been created by other people in the form of curation. A simple blog post that provides a short description of the content, why it’s relevant, and a link to the original content is a great way to share important curated content. Hint: Some affiliate programs allow you to link to any page of the website and get credit for sales.

    * Infographics – An infographic is an excellent way to share important data with members in a way that is understandable. If you have any data-centric blog posts or articles, try turning that data into an infographic and put it with the text content to help increase understanding. If you make the infographics sharable (watermark them), you can even attract new members with them.

    * Motivational Memes – People often join membership groups to commiserate with, and be motivated by, like-minded people. Creating a daily meme with a quote that is relevant can make members feel connected.

    * White Papers – A white paper usually explains a hard concept to grasp with a lot of research and images. The paper describes the problem, and then recommends several solutions that are popular, including your solution which is highlighted more than the others.

    * Courses – ECourses, or “drip” courses, are not that difficult to add to your membership website if you have the right software. These are courses that your members can sign up for which are included in membership, or can be offered at a discount to members over what you charge the public. You can host the courses yourself if you use aMember.com, rainmakerplatform.com or another membership option. You can also put them on a system like CourseCraft.net.

    Creating new content on a regular basis is crucial to maintaining a profitable membership website that provides value to the members. The value of the content is what will encourage members to stick around. You don’t have to add massive content daily, but you should add something on a regular and planned basis.

    Categories: Membership Tags: Tags:

    Nine Creative Ways to Personalize Emails

    Depending on the email marketing software you use, it’s important to learn all the features that it has so that you can use it to its fullest potential. You might not even be aware of all the things your email marketing software is capable of doing. If you aren’t sure, consider seeking out someone who is an expert with your particular software choice so that everything can be set up to be the most effective and the most personal in nature.

    1. Craft Interest-Targeted Email Messages – Use the software to capture the information needed to personalize and craft email messages toward what your subscriber wants to know about. This is an important way to move your subscribers enough to purchase from you. Capturing the right information will enable you to point your subscribers to products and services that they want.

    2. Create Geocentric Messages – It is likely that your email software allows you to capture location-based information from subscribers. This location-based information can be used for a variety of purposes, from marketing events in their area, to encouraging them to visit your location if you have a local bricks-and-mortar business.

    3. Let Them Define What Information They Want – Sending a poll or checklist to subscribers that lets them define what information they want to get is a good way to find out exactly what your subscribers need and want to hear from you.

    4. Acknowledge Purchases Made – Each time a purchase is made it’s important to acknowledge it with a thank you, but to also move them off a list that keeps promoting that item. If they feel like you’re harassing them to buy something they already have, they won’t respond to well when you market something new to them.

    5. Encourage Social Sharing – Put social share buttons on appropriate email messages so that your subscribers can help you get more people to sign up for your email marketing lists. This is a type of personalization that encourages them to share with their friends, but also encourages them to friend, like and follow you on other social channels.

    6. Insert Predefined Fields – Most email programs allow you to insert different predefined fields. For example, if you have a website that is devoted to selling art, you could send a questionnaire to your audience asking them what their favorite style is. Then the software will not only trigger the right emails to go out based on that style, but it will also mention the style within the email message. If they don’t fill it out, it will insert some other value that you choose into that predefined field.

    7. Use Date Insert Fields – It’s important for many of your emails to be pre-crafted, but you can make the email message look as if it was just created by using the date insert field. Then the email message looks timelier. With that function, in conjunction with special sales pages that also show the current date, you can personalize by keeping everything looking current.

    8. Use Retargeting Technology – When someone visits your website, or buys something, it’s important to use the technology available to you to retarget them for buying something more. When your user receives your email and opens it, a software program can be used to install a cookie that will then allow specialized ads to be delivered to the user when they visit various webpages.

    9. Ask for Reviews for Products Purchased – Whenever a customer buys a product, send them a thank you message and then a series of follow-up messages. One of these can be a request for a product review, after giving them enough time to try and use your product or service. The form they fill out for the review will also ask for more information about them that you can use for further targeted marketing.

    Even though most consumers are savvy enough to realize that a lot of email marketing is automated today, they still respond better to more personalization than less. Therefore, if you want to compete with others it’s imperative that you use your software to its fullest potential by using as much personalization as it’s capable of.

    Categories: Email Subscribers Tags: Tags:

    Creating Copy for Different Stages of Prospect Awareness

    Anytime you create copy it’s important to consider who your audience is. You’re always going to have new people, middle-of-the-road and advanced users. As you write various types of copy you will need to address the needs of these different levels of users based on their awareness of your products.

    Newbies

    When writing copy for someone who has no idea about you, your products or services, the copy has to educate, inform, engage and inspire. The types of copy you may want to write for a newbie are informative and educational like white papers and how-to articles. You want to tell a story that weaves in your why with your audience’s why, while at the same time educating them. Because remember – it’s all about them.

    Intermediates

    Other people you will have to write copy for within your niche are those who know about you and your products (as well as why they need them) but who haven’t actually purchased from you yet. They’ve done their research, understand their needs and what will solve them, and now are trying to decide who will fill their needs. If you want to be that person they buy from, you’ll need to explain why you are the right one for the job.

    Advanced Users

    Finally, you’ll also need to write copy for those who have already purchased from you. If you want to increase the lifetime income of each customer, this type of copy is very important too. The type of content you will write for these prospects makes assumptions about the knowledge they have about how great your products are, as well as the next thing they will need. It assumes they trust you due to the prior purchase, and it assumes they know their problems and that you have the solutions. You simply need to offer it to them.

    Types of Content

    You can write content in all its forms for any stage of prospect awareness, but the words that you use will be different.

    * Newbies – You’ll need to word everything from a teaching mode without being condescending. A great way is to use testimonials, how-to videos, and educational emails and e-courses to help your newbie prospects learn about the problems they share with others, the solutions that exist and why yours is better.

    * Intermediate – These prospects need to receive reassurance, as well as proof that you have the solution that they seek. They know that they have a problem, they know about all the solutions that exist, so now you have to show them how your solution is the best. You can do this via testimonials and stories that demonstrate your product’s effectiveness.

    * Advanced – This copywriting is all about getting current customers to buy from you again. You can accomplish this by sending them information about new products that you offer. But you can also engage with them about how they use the product they purchased. This will not only remind them of how well made and perfect your product is, it will also instill trust about other products and services.

    Creating copy for people at any stage of awareness takes an understanding of your audience as a whole, as well as your products in general and in particular. You’ll need to be able to create regular content for each stage of awareness, and then be able to break it down clearly for anyone at any stage.

    Categories: Marketing Tags: Tags:

    Conditioning Your Prospects and Customers

    When you have prospects and customers, it’s important to stay in touch as often as possible. Get them on your email lists, segmented according to where they are in the buying cycle so that you can target your messages accordingly.

    * Tell Them What to Expect – When someone buys from you or signs up for one of your email lists, send a thank you note with an explanation of what to expect from you in the future. How often will they hear from you? What about? Make some promises and assurances to them.

    * Do What You Say You’ll Do – It’s very important that you do whatever you said you’d do. For example if you say you will send them a newsletter every Friday, send them a newsletter every single Friday. If you skip days or switch the days, they may be confused. A lot of people actually forget they signed up for a list and when you don’t stay active they will report you for spamming them.

    * Remind Them of What You Said – Periodically, within other messages, be sure to remind your prospects and customers about your previous promises and assurances. This will help them remember who you are, and what you said. It will build more trust.

    * Let Them Know When You Follow Through – When you do something you said you would do, tell them. “I told you I would send you an update on my xyz product, as promised, here it is.” This again, reinforces the point that you stick to your word and can be trusted.

    * Ask Them for Input and Opinions – Once in a while invite your prospects and customers to submit their ideas and input. If you have a new product idea, tell them about it. Ask them what they think. Ask them what they’d pay for such a product or service. Ask them if they would like to see something from you that you’ve not delivered.

    * Tease Them about New Products – Never pass up an opportunity to give them some hints and small bits of information about a new product, service or event. As you hint about it, make them really want it by explaining what’s in it for them.

    * Thank Them for Buying – When someone buys something from you (or answers any call to action), be sure to thank them. The thank you is always a nice thing to do, plus it gives you just that little bit more real estate to give them more information about you and your products and/or services.

    * Follow Up Regularly – Even after someone has purchased, and you’ve thanked them, it’s not over. It costs a lot less to create a repeat buyer than to turn a lead into a buyer. Cultivate your relationship with buyers even more consistently than you do leads and prospects.

    Using the pattern of telling them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them will do wonders for all your marketing. Most people need to hear things multiple times before it sinks in. The more you stick to your word and the more value you can provide your audience, the more they’ll look forward to whatever you offer them.

    Categories: Marketing Tags: Tags:

    Ask Your Audience What They Would Like to See

    Generating topics for videos is something you will need to do if you’re going to produce regular videos for your audience. The best way to accomplish this is to ask your audience for ideas about the types of videos and what subjects they want you to cover. There are different ways you can ask or find out what your audience wants to see.

    * Warm Them Up – Most audiences are used to the one-way communication that most people provide to them. They get emails, they sit and watch a presentation, and they read blog posts. But they aren’t used to real engagement. You need to start small, warming them up by always ending every blog post, every social media post and so forth with a short question.

    * Encourage Interaction – Reward people who engage with you by thanking them, and by acting excited about their contribution. Give them a prize or a percent off coupon for coming up with such a great idea or question.

    * Send an Email – Use your email list to your advantage. When you are trying to come up with ideas, shoot them an email to ask for their input. Make it fun for them to respond by inviting them to a free Facebook brainstorming group, or offering points toward products and services for good ideas.

    * Stalk Discussion Groups – Remember that your audience lives in other places besides only on your lists, your groups, and your discussion boards. Go to other places where they like to hang out and read the discussions. Any question they ask can become fodder for a new video.

    * Conduct a Survey – A really good way to ask questions of your audience is to send a survey. With a short survey you can also get a little extra information about the group, plus input into what types of videos they’d like to see. Make it worth their while by promising and delivering a surprise at the end of the survey.

    * Ask on Social Media – Go straight to your social media accounts to ask questions of your audience. You can also send a poll via social media, or you can post an infographic with information and a question such as: “What is the next video you’d like me to make?” If you can give them a couple of choices to choose from, you’ll be more likely to get more answers.

    * Have a Contest – Let the audience pick the topic by giving five topics you want to talk about, then let them vote on which one they’d like to see most. The winning topic gets made, and the ones who voted on the winning topic get invite to submit more questions and maybe ask a question live at the event.

    * Frame the Question Right – You want to lead the choices in a certain direction so that you know you can make a video about the topic. For example, maybe you are confused about two different options; post only those two options. Or maybe you know the topic, but you want to know what they need to know about the topic; approach it that way instead.

    Asking your audience directly is one of the best ways to choose a topic for your next video. Don’t be afraid to ask them. It doesn’t mean you don’t know anything, but it does mean that you care about what your audience needs. They’ll appreciate being included.

    Categories: Marketing Tags: Tags:

    Ask for Feedback from Viewers When Video is Uploaded

     

    As a business,  you want to get feedback from your visitors as to what they like or dislike about a video that you have on your website or if they had gotten value from it’s information. If they give you negative feedback then you can edit the video  according to their feedback.

    Any time you put up a video you need to get feedback from your viewers so that you can improve it each time.  The best way to get feedback is to just ask. It’s amazing, but when you take the extra step to ask for feedback, you’ll be more likely to get the feedback you want. You can even be specific with the type of feedback you want. For example, if you got new sound equipment you can ask, “Let me know if you like how this video sounds.”

    The more specific you are when asking for feedback from viewers, the better and more useful the feedback will be.

    Here are some tips.

     

    Make an Intro Video  where your website address and any tagline is highlighted.  If you use a streamlined method of creating a video by making a similar intro to each video you post, you’ll create a professional vibe that will help the viewers feel more comfortable leaving feedback.

    Make an Exit Video – Your exit portion of each video should be similar or the same too. This is where you ask for likes, shares, and comments for your video. Being able to insert this exit video will help you remember to ask for feedback.

    *Embed Other Videos – You can embed links to more of your videos, even including forms for specialized feedback if you want extra information about what your viewers like or don’t like about your videos.

    *Ask for Likes – Always ask your viewers to like your videos. Sometimes you might want to tell them why they should like them instead of just enjoying them without clicking like. They might not realize that it helps you keep providing videos to them.
    *Ask for Shares – A good type of feedback is when someone shares your video. All feedback doesn’t have to be a comment; instead a share means, “I liked this enough to share it with others and it has a lot of value.”

    *Ask for Ratings – When you want thumbs up for your video on YouTube for example, you need to ask. People are more likely to vote something down than up. Many people watch a video without any action. Ask for the action and you’ll be glad you did.

    *Ask Viewers for Topic Ideas – A great way to get feedback and engagement from your viewers is to ask them for new ideas for topics that you’ll cover in the future. People love having a say in what they watch, so give it to them.

    *Ask Viewers to Critique the Quality – Sometimes, you want the content to be beside the point, but you’ll have to be specific. Ask your viewers how they like the quality, especially if you did something different or purchased new equipment.

    If you really want feedback you’re going to have to ask for it, every single time you post a video. People will only comment on what they want to if you don’t ask for specifics. If you are good about giving feedback with other video creators, you’ll establish a good relationship with them and they’ll do the same for you.

     

    Categories: video Tags: Tags: