Tag: membership

    How to Increase Income with Your Inner Circle

    Creating an inner circle is almost a no-brainer when it comes to generating income for your business. You can charge for the inner circle, or you can use the inner circle as a product-generating test audience. It’s up to you how you choose to conduct business, but one thing is for sure – inner circles can increase your income substantially.

    * Offer Exclusive Webinars – When you have an idea for a webinar, try it out on your inner circle first. If you have a paid group, offer them a steep discount, or offer the webinar free as part of the monthly fee. You can then sell the recording of the webinar as a product to others, or use what you learned to improve the webinar content for a wide open audience in general sales.

    * Offer Private Training – A really effective inner circle often offers training either included or at a discount to members. Training can be anything from an email course to a video drip course, depending on the technology you offer. It can be an add-on to the initial membership or it can be offered for free or for a low price to the inner circle.

    * Have Members’ Only Sales – When you have members, push out everything you ever sell to them first, with a members’ only price, for a limited time. This is a great way to get testimonials, feedback and ideas for improvement before general release.

    * Host Value-Packed Teleseminars – A great benefit for a paid membership is a monthly teleseminar based on a particular topic of interest for your audience. Let’s say you’re an organizational coach. You could have a call that is all about the best ways to organize a closet. You can even have special guests.

    * Send Special Offers to Members – Your members want to feel special. If you know about a product or service that is exceptional and relates to them, you can promote it to them even if you will make affiliate income. It’s okay; if you are a high producing affiliate, talk to the product creator and ask for a special discount for your audience.

    * Host Elite Small Group Coaching Sessions – You can upsell your inner circle members to a smaller inner circle, such as a mastermind session with a small group of five or less individuals. You can lead the call and charge a premium for your time. Say the session is for one hour on FreeConferenceCalls.com, you allow five in a group, and you can offer a limited availability of four groups a week charging each person $29.97 or more each week to attend. This will increase your income by $600 or more a week.

    * Offer Special One-on-One Coaching – Your most expensive asset is your one-on-one time. In the example above, you’re making $149.85 an hour. For private coaching you should at least double that fee for one-on-one access to your expertise.

    * Create Products Especially for Members – Periodically ask your members what types of products or services they need. Then work hard to produce at least something that they’ve asked for. If you’re not sure what to go with, just send out a survey and let them pick one thing from the other.

    An inner circle can earn money in so many ways. Just staying connected with your target audience in a close way will help you create so many more products and services for your audience that you may not have considered. You’ll have, right at the tip of your fingertips, the ability to ask your audience in a direct manner what type of products or services they want. Then you can test them on that audience first before opening them to the general public. Inner circles are a win-win for you and your audience.

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    Offer Exclusive One-on-One Opportunities

    When you have a membership, you want to add value when you can. One way is by offering one-on-one opportunities. You don’t have to include this offer in the membership price, but you can offer it as an upsell opportunity for a more expensive form of the same membership.

    Some of the types of one-on-one opportunities you can offer are:

    * In-Person Coaching – You can agree to meet people who are local for one-on-one coaching opportunities. For example, if you have a membership website about exercise, you can offer a membership upgrade for local people for in-person personal coaching to help people with their workouts.

    * Skype or Telephone Coaching – A great way to offer one-on-one opportunities is to offer coaching by phone or Skype. You can offer an upgraded membership option which includes whatever level of calls you want to offer, from a simple hourly rate with open-office hours, to a serious coaching relationship over a period of time such as six weeks where there will be real work done.

    * Email Coaching – Allow upgraded members to email you once a day for quick answers to easy questions. Be sure to make these limited to a simple answer, which can also be used to upgrade the member to more coaching opportunities.

    * In-Person Events – Have events that only members are invited to, then offer upgraded versions of the event where you will meet with those paying members for 30 minutes or one hour before, during and after the event.

    * Speak at Their Events – Agree to speak at your members’ events. Provide one opening a month, with a 90-day registration so you’ll have warning and can arrange your schedule. This can be an exclusive opportunity for top-of-the-line members.

    * Host Webinars – If you have a top affiliate for your group, offer to host a webinar for them where you’ll speak about the memberships for them, and they will get to use their affiliate link to make a big payday.

    * Guest Blog – For exclusive upgraded members, who are at the top of their game, offer them the opportunity to have you write a guest blog post for them to put on their website to help promote something.

    * Joint Venture Opportunities – You may have some stand-out members whom you identify as great people to form limited JV partnerships with. Offer this to only your most active and exclusive members who have proved themselves as movers and shakers.

    As you see there are plenty of things you can do to ramp up your membership and make people want to become more exclusive and a cohesive part of your membership. When they know there is always a rung higher that they can join, they will strive for it. This is most especially true if you have a valuable membership.

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    Promoting Memberships with Small Reports

    If you want to promote your own membership or someone else’s membership that you’re an affiliate of, you can do it in a lot of ways. You can write blog posts, reviews, eBooks, and share on social media, and so forth. But, you can also promote memberships using small reports. There are a lot of different ways to create small reports that are good to use in this way.

    * Use PLR – Small reports are wonderful uses for PLR. PLR means private label rights. These are articles or other content that you can rewrite and reuse as if it’s your own. You can purchase PLR from a reputable company like AllPrivateLabelContent.com. You change them a bit, add your affiliate links, and you’re done.

    * Combine New and PLR – Combine several types of PLR plus something new and relevant to your audience to create a report in which you place an affiliate link to the membership you’re trying to promote.

    * Write Something New – Take one problem that people who may join the membership have, and either define it or solve it with the small report. Offer up the group as additional support to help them maintain their solution or solve more problems that they may have.

    * Make Brandable Reports – Create a report that is designed for your affiliates to edit, make their own and brand with their affiliate links. Affiliates like promoting products that are easy to promote, and nothing makes it simpler than providing them with the raw materials to create their own report.

    * Use Pictures, Facts and Stats – A good use for pictures, facts and statistics is to compile them into a small report that has pictures, graphics, and images. The more you can spell out the benefits of a solution, the more likely someone is to want to join a group. What better way than a small report with pie charts?

    * Hire a Writer – If you don’t want to write the reports yourself, you can hire a contractor to write the reports for you. A short report is usually about 4000 to 4500 words long. You can usually hire someone from 12 dollars per page and up. So budget about 120 to 200 dollars for your short reports.

    * Give Them Away – Use the report to give away for free. You don’t even have to collect an email address, since the report has links for the membership. More people are likely to download the report if they don’t have to give any information.

    * Exchange Them for Email Addresses – Another way to do it is to give away the report for an email address. They’ll get the marketing inside the report, plus they’ll be signed up for your email list that is targeted to the people who downloaded the report.

    * Encourage Sharing – When you are using a report to promote something like a membership, you want the people who download it to feel free to share it with everyone they know. If you make it interesting enough, and able to stand on its own enough, they will share it.

    Promoting memberships with small reports is a very effective way to get people to come to your membership. You can give them a discount based on which report they are coming from, for example, whether from an affiliate or from you directly.

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    Promote Memberships with Kindle Books

    The way to really catch your membership on fire is to make it one that is mentioned a lot by others, and to make it popular through a published book. Kindle makes it easy to publish books. Anyone can write a book and publish it and have it live within a few days. Plus, your book doesn’t even have to be that long to promote it and publish it via Kindle.

    * Teach Something to Your Audience – If you have a membership program, then that means you also have knowledge about something that other people want to know. You can write a book; it doesn’t have to be long. 30 or 40 pages is enough. Teach them something tangible that is related to your membership.

    * Write a Book of Case Studies – If you have had the membership for a while, you can create an anthology of stories from the members with their permission. People will clamor to include their success story in a book. Just be sure to get a signed statement of permission to print, and you’re golden.

    * Tell Them Multiple Ways to Find Solutions – In the book, don’t just include your membership as a solution. Include a variety of them, but mention your membership too. You don’t want the book to appear overtly promotional.

    * Give Clear Examples of Success  – Using your members as a source, include clear examples of people who have experienced success using the methods explained in the book. Even if they used these methods outside of the group environment, the important thing is that they used the methods.

    * Let Your Book Stand on Its Own – Your book should not be a 40-page sales letter; it should be able to stand on its own as an interesting and informative book. The message should be clear in the book and they should not have to join the membership to get the whole story.

    * Give Away Something Free – In order to get them interested in the membership, give away a free month of membership for purchasing the book. That will help keep an influx of new members so that your membership is active. Plus, if your membership is good, they’ll stick around longer.

    * Start an Affiliate Program – If you want other people to promote your group in a book, it’s important to start an affiliate program. Your members will come up with book ideas all on their own, to promote your membership.

    * Encourage Others to Promote in Their Books – Give the idea to your affiliates to write a book to promote the group. Encourage this by actively promoting authors who include your affiliate link and group mention in their book to your group.

    Promoting memberships with books doesn’t have to be just your own memberships. If you are part of any group that has an affiliate program, you can write a book that includes the information about the membership, as long as it’s relevant to the topic of the book.

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    Nine Ways to Promote Your Membership Program

    You’ve built an awesome membership program and now you need to get members. Members will bring in regular income on a monthly basis that you can count on. But, first you have to get the attention of your target audience. You do that by promoting your membership program in a variety of ways.

    1. Social Media – Not only should you post information in your updates about your membership, but you should also put information about your membership program in your profile. On LinkedIn, for example, you can even put videos and other information for viewers to see so that they can get more information.

    2. Blog Posts – Create a lot of blog posts leading up to the launch of your membership program. Discuss problems, solutions, and how your group fits in. You can put the posts in different formats like videos to get even more reach.

    3. PPC Ads – Social media like Facebook is a good place to run pay-per-click advertisements about your membership, because you can laser target your audience using the tools provided.

    4. Affiliate Marketers – Let other people market your group by setting up an affiliate program. Offer your affiliates all the tools, graphics, emails, posts and more to help them promote your membership.

    5. Webinars – A popular and effective way to promote your new membership program is to have a webinar that offers some solutions for the problems of the target audience. At the end of and throughout the webinar, promote the membership program as an extra form of help.

    6. Email Marketing – Using these other venues, get people onto your email list. Then send them a series of emails educating them about their problems and how the membership is the solution.

    7. A Great Sales Page – Your sales page for your membership is very important. There are a lot of tools you can use to ensure that you create a good sales page, like LeadPages.net or InstaBuilder.com.

    8. Magazines – You can put advertisements in specific magazines that have to do with your niche. Trade magazines often have cheaper advertising costs than popular general magazines, so look for the right niche magazine.

    9. Personal Networking – Whether in person or online, networking is an important component of helping spread the word about your membership program. Tell everyone you know that you have it when the opportunity comes up.

    Promoting your membership program is imperative if you want to get enough members. You can’t build it and expect them to automatically find you. You have to be proud of what you’ve created, and get your membership program to more people who are in your target audience by promoting it.

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    Networking with Members

    When you join a membership group, the whole point is to network with members, and the whole point of doing that is to build relationships. People like to buy from people that they trust, and the way to build trust is to network with people enough that they can get a good idea of what type of person you are. Even if you’re an introvert, you can network with members successfully.

    * It’s All about Them – Just like your “about me” page is really written with your audience in mind, and all about them, so is networking with members. It’s about them, not you. This can actually take a lot of pressure off your nerves when attending membership meetings.

    * Don’t Sell Anything – Networking meetings are about building relationships, not about selling. Yes, your ultimate goal is to get more clients and referrals. But to do that, focus on just making connections and getting to know people.

    * Make a Good Impression – Don’t show up at meetings in your jammies even if you work from home in them. Instead, dress in a professional way depending on the type of membership you joined. If the typical dress at the meeting is a business suit then you need to wear one. If it’s more dressed down, that’s great; but always present a clean, professional appearance that will please your ideal customer.

    * Have Business Cards Ready – It might seem old-fashioned, but the business card is still available and a popular way to share information when networking. You need to have cards with you at all times because you never know when you’ll meet someone who needs the information you have. Don’t fling your card at people, but when an opening comes up – such as they ask, or you ask for theirs – then you can trade cards.

    * Practice Your Elevator Speech – Some people claim the elevator speech is too old-fashioned and “canned.” However, if you don’t practice talking about what it is that you do, framed in the language of benefit to your audience, you will be lost and so will your audience.

    * Be Ready to Answer Questions – Not only should you know your niche well, but you should know how your audience likes to hear about your niche. In this way, when they ask questions you can always frame the answers in terms of benefits for them. Remember, you don’t “do data entry” – you save time for your customer by doing those tasks that they don’t want to do.

    * Make Out of Meeting Dates – This means that you want to continue building the relationship outside of the meetings. This is a great way to take the networking to the next level. Arrange luncheons to learn more about the person and their business, and move forward. You are going to want to refer others too, so getting to know them is imperative.

    * Go to Meetings Regularly – Once you join, it’s important to be an active member. Joining and getting on a list isn’t going to help. Participating, showing up, and being an active member will do wonders for you.

    It’s important to remember that networking with members is all about building relationships. It’s not just about going to a meeting, sitting there while everyone else talks, and “doing your time” then going home. You need to get out of your comfort zone and truly network. But, simply by making it more about them than you, you’ll be able to do it well.

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    Membership Software That Works

    When you are deciding on technology for your membership site, it’s important to consider not only technology that works, but also technology that works for you in the way that you want it to work. What features do you want the membership software to have? What is your skill level with troubleshooting technology? Who will you hire if you don’t have the skills? There is a lot to think about when choosing membership software.

    1. NewRainmaker – This software is software as service (SAS), meaning it’s running from the cloud. You don’t do anything but set it up, kind of like you would WordPress. All the plugins and functionality that works best with membership sites are included, such as affiliate management, drip technology, and forums. This software includes a monthly fee for hosting, tech support and use of the software.

    Link – http://newrainmaker.com/

    2. aMember – This is an add-on to your current website. If you use WordPress it works very well with it. It also works with other types of website builders. It includes affiliate management, drip technology and more. You will need to purchase separate software to have a forum. They will install it for you for a fee and provide great support. It’s a one-time fee and upgrade fees yearly. You’ll have to pay extra for tech support if things go wrong.

    Link – http://www.amember.com/

    3. iGrOOps – This is another hosted solution where you pay a monthly fee for using the system. They provide all the upgrades, updates, and hosting. You simply use their template system to create your membership site. It has all the bells and whistles but it cannot be made to look like your current site.

    Link – http://www.igroops.com/

    4. EasyMemberPRO – They promise anyone can set up a membership site, and connect it with your current software quickly and easily. It also has a lot of what you need with a profitable membership site, including affiliate management. There’s a one-time fee with one year of free upgrades.

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

    5. WishList Member – This is a plugin that works with self-hosted WordPress websites, turning your current site into a membership site with all the bells and whistles except that if you want a forum you have to purchase software for the forum.

    Link – http://member.wishlistproducts.com/

    6. MemberGate – Another hosted solution with a monthly fee but one that offers every bell and whistle you can imagine from forums, to video hosting, to drip technology and more. The look is slightly dated for the choices of templates, but you can use your own coder working with them to change that if you want to spend the time and money.

    Link – http://www.membergate.com/

    7. ONTRAPORT – This is a very high-end solution (with a high-end price). But, if you plan to run a six-figure business, this is a great solution that offers managed membership without having to ever worry about technology. It will also work with your current WordPress website.

    Link – https://ontraport.com/features/

    8. SiteManPro – This is a great solution if you want to sell digital items and run a membership solution. You can use this to automate the entire thing. It can work with your current WordPress site. You will need to get separate forum software if you feel you need one. It integrates easily and works as it states.

    Link – http://www.sitemanpro.com/

    9. Smember

    Remember to write down the features you want your membership site to offer, as well as to take into consideration your level of technological skill as you pick a membership software solution. It might cost a few dollars, but you can’t make any money if you don’t make a choice and get started.

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    How to Make the Most of Your Membership

    When you join a membership it’s imperative to find a way to make the most of your membership. When you spend money on something, you need to do so with a business mindset of how much your return on investment will be, and how you will ensure that you do get that ROI you believed you would get.

    * Join the Right Membership – Joining just any membership is not going to work to help you expand your business or your knowledge. You need to be choosy about which memberships you join based on the results that you want.

    * Read the Materials Provided – Every membership provides some sort of welcome material, plus a newsletter of some kind. Make sure that you read all the information, because you never know when an opportunity will occur that you want to take advantage of.

    * Take Advantage of Any Opportunities – Often members and the group will have opportunities that enable you to show what you can do. Even if you have to do some things free or for a discount, it can help you get the word out. Go to educational events; even if you know the information, you never know what can happen.

    * Volunteer – When you join a group you need to be willing to volunteer your time toward the efforts of the group. This is why it’s imperative that it’s the right membership so that their goals align with your own values and goals. Take the time to join in with the group and do your time as leader, or host, or take part in the charity work that the membership does.

    * Get Involved – Outside of volunteering, when you show up at a meeting, offer your thoughts and opinions. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and get involved, because there are likely other people who are thinking about the same things you bring up.

    * Go to Every Meeting – Of course things happen, but it’s important to make the time to go to the meetings because that’s where the relationship building happens. Sure, it’s nice to get a link back to your website as a member, but without the relationships to back it up, it’s not going to do very much good.

    * Get Prepared before You Go – You want to appear professional at every meeting and interaction with the members of the group. This is how they will judge you in terms of wanting to work with you or recommend you to someone else. Keep in mind that even if the members who show up aren’t the right clients for you, they may know the right clients for you. Set a good impression from day one.

    * Give Out Marketing Materials – Get a professional business card made, and even a brochure if it’s relevant to your business. For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you might want some examples of how awesome you are in your brochure.

    Memberships are wonderful ways to network with potential new clients and get referrals to new clients, as well as a great way to learn new skills. But, you must choose the right membership to join, and make an effort as an active member to reach your goals.

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    How to Determine the Cost of Your Membership Site

    One of the most important aspects of starting a membership site is to determine how much the membership will cost members. Like with any product, there are many factors that go into pricing – issues such as the cost of the technology, cost of the products, time spent on the membership each month, the number of members you believe you can keep, and the profit you need to earn. Let’s look more deeply into these issues.

    * Cost of Technology – First, figure out what technology you plan to use for the membership. Include the cost of upgrading and maintenance, and everything that may need to be paid for to keep the membership going in terms of the technology.

    * Cost of Products – How much will it cost you to maintain your commitment to fill the membership with content? For example, if you’ve promised a full information product monthly to do with this niche, how much will it cost to produce?

    * Time Factor – How much time do you plan to commit to the membership each week and what is your time worth? For example, if it’s going to take a couple of hours a day, you need to count that in the cost.

    * Membership Equilibrium – How many members do you think you can get? Your audience may consist of thousands of people, but thousands aren’t going to join or stay members. More than likely 2 to 5 percent of your audience will join if the price is right. Most will only stay paying members for four months.

    * Profit Desired – After expenses, how much do you need to earn? Will this be your main source of income? If you know that it will be, and you know that after expenses you’d like to make $2500 a month from the membership, this will get you closer to the right pricing point.

    * Audience’s Ability to Pay – Your niche audience has an income and you need to know that information, including how much income they can spare to spend on something like your membership.

    * The Value You’re Offering – Even when people think they cannot afford something, if it offers a lot of value, they’ll come up with the money.

    * Your Niche’s Popularity – If your niche is super popular, and there are many other people doing the same thing, you may need to consider how you can differentiate yourself. But, if it’s really popular, that means more people to join your membership too.

    * The Competition – Is anyone offering the same thing you’re offering? If so, how much are they charging and how busy are they? If you can spare the money, join a few of your competitors’ membership programs to find out how it’s working for them and how you can do it better.

    Pricing the membership program you’re offering has many factors involved, but you’ll be really glad you gave it thought before just slapping any price on it. Consider all factors, including your competition, and you’ll get started off on the right foot. Remember, you can always raise or cut prices based on what happens after your grand opening.

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    How to Choose the Right Membership to Join

    One way to move your business to the next level is to join inner circles, mastermind groups, and other types of memberships. These groups help you make contact with people who may want to use your services or buy your products. Or they might simply offer a “water cooler” type environment to help you socially and educationally.

    It can be difficult to know which memberships you should join. Here are a few tips to point you in the right direction.

    * Know Why You Are Joining the Membership – There are a variety of reasons why you may want to join a membership. Sometimes that reason is to find new clients, and sometimes that reason is to expand your network of colleagues. This is something often done by people who work from home and also who work at jobs such as an association of bookkeepers or a networking group that comprises only one member from each industry. Which kind you want to join is something you need to be clear about.

    * Ensure That the Group’s Mission Aligns with Your Values – Check out the membership materials to ensure that the group’s mission fits in with your own ideas and values. There are many mastermind groups and memberships that will not, but there are some that will be right on the mark. Being in a group that’s on the mark is going to be more beneficial to you because you’re going to be proud to be part of the group.

    * Make Certain That They Are Active Memberships – If you can get a trial membership, that’s a good way to check it out before joining. You want to make sure that the members are active and that they are really doing things. There are many memberships where people just join to get on a list, but that’s not going to serve you very well. Make sure you’re involved with a membership that is active.

    * Determine What the Member Perks Are – Every group and membership has some sort of benefits and perks for joining. For some it’s educational opportunities, for others it’s a social type benefit such as weekly luncheons. There are even some that offer less expensive liability insurance or health insurance, depending on the state you’re in and the rules. Check out the benefits and perks as you narrow down your choices.

    * Make Sure It’s in Your Budget – When it comes to your business, joining a membership is tax deductable as a business expense. However, you want to make sure that you get a return on your investment. Think about the cost of the membership, what benefits you should get out of it, and whether or not that helps your business and bottom line.

    * Talk to Current Members – Interviewing members is a great idea because you can find out what they think about the membership. Ask them the right questions, such as what they have got out of the membership this year in terms of return on investment. Ask them how involved they are.

    * Talk to Past Members – If you can talk to people who used to be members and aren’t any longer, then that’s really great. Ask them why they left; it might be due to being too busy to be involved or some other reason, and the membership may still be wonderful.

    * Consider Whether You Will Truly Participate – There is no real point in joining a membership if you’re not going to participate, because only in participation will you get the benefit of the membership. Joining in and volunteering is how you’ll prove your trustworthiness and abilities.

    A membership is a wonderful way to gain knowledge, make connections, and boost your business. But, you have to choose the right type of membership for your goal, plus remember that you must dive in and participate to get the results that you want to get.

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