How To Plan And Research for Membership Site

Three Best Practices for Market Research

The worst thing you can do is go through all the work of setting up a membership site, only to find out no one is interested in the topic. That’s why you’ll want to do your market research. Here are three best practices to follow:

Use multiple methods to do your research, but remember that the best predictor of future buying behavior is to look at past behavior.

Look for gaps in the market. Is there a particular subniche or topic that no other expert has fully claimed or specialized in?

Avoid relying on surveys. What people say they’re going to do and what they actually do often tends to be different.

Next…

Three Characteristics of a Good Topic

Got a topic in mind that you think would work well delivered in a membership site format? Check that it has these three characteristics:

It’s focused enough to attract a targeted market, yet broad enough for a membership site. Typically, you deliver many months’ worth of content, so be sure you have enough information to cover across multiple lessons.

It’s a pressing problem or “obsessive” hobby for your audience. If the audience is lukewarm about the topic, they’re not going to stay members beyond a month or two.

It’s something that you’re knowledgeable about and find interesting. This will keep you motivated to keep running your site. Plus, it helps establish you as an expert once members see how knowledgeable you are on the topic.

Here’s the next thing to know…

Three Dos and Don’ts for Picking a Model

One of the steps in planning your membership site is to pick a model, such as an ongoing site, a fixed-term membership site or a vault-style site. Check out these dos and don’ts:

Don’t pick an ongoing membership site model if you can’t plan out a couple years’ worth of content.

Do consider where your membership will fit into your sales funnel. For example, a vault-style site may be a good entry-level offer, while a fixed-term site may make a good core offer.

Do create a list of pros and cons for each model to help you make the best decision. For example, if you’re teaching a process that takes months for the user to complete, then a fixed-term membership would be a good choice.

Next…

2 Tips for Profiling Your Customer

One of the keys to creating great content (and great sales copy) for your membership site is to understand how your customer thinks, how they feel, and what they want. To that end, follow these two tips:

Gather basic demographics with a Google search. E.G., search for “dog owner demographics,” and then gather data from well-known research organizations.

Spend time talking to your audience. The best way to understand how they think and feel is to do what they do, and talk to others about their experiences. E.G., if you’re targeting bodybuilders, then join gym to both become a part of the niche and to talk to your audience.

Here’s the next tip…

#1 Tip for Creating an Awesome Membership Site

What makes a great membership site? To answer this question, join popular membership sites, and then reverse engineer their success. Ask yourself:

What do you like about the site?
What could you use improvement?

Then use your answers to ensure you create a great site for your customers.

Three Survey Questions to Ask Your Audience

You shouldn’t use survey questions as a standalone method for gathering market research data, but surveys can help you gather insight into how your audience thinks and feels. To that end, here are three open-ended questions to ask your audience:

What are your biggest [niche/topic] challenges?
What one thing would help you the most to [get a good result]?
What tools would make it easier for you to [get a good result]?

Next…

The Key to Running a Smooth Membership Site

The #1 key to starting and growing your membership site is to NOT try to do everything yourself. To that end, always be on the lookout for ways to automate your site (such as using a good membership site platform) and ways to delegate/outsource the tasks you need to do.

For example, don’t get tied to your computer sending out new membership content. Instead, use an autoresponder or a membership site platform or plugin to drip-feed content to your members automatically and on a schedule.

Which brings us to the next point…

What to Do When You Get Stuck

If you’re new to creating a membership site or even new to online marketing in general, then there are times you’re going to get stuck. For example, maybe you don’t know how to install a membership site platform (like aMember), or maybe you don’t know how to create a video for your members.

What should you do when you get stuck? Outsource. Go to a site like upwork.com and find a pro who can do the work for you, which will keep you moving forward and on track.

Creating a Schedule to Keep You on Track

Creating and launching a membership site is a big process. To keep you on track, you’ll want to create a calendar or schedule. You can break it down this way:

List all the tasks you need to do to start your membership site (this is your master list).
Estimate how long it will take you to do each task.
Set a deadline for EACH task on your list.
Decide which tasks you’ll outsource.
Break your master list into the tasks you need to do each month.
Break your monthly lists into weekly tasks.
Use your weekly task list to create your daily to-do lists.

Now on any day of the week you can check your to-do lists to see if you’re on track to get your site up and running on your desired timeline.

Ask These Two Questions Before You Begin

Before you set up your site, ask: