Part THREE of the 10 Ways to Make Money Online Series
The third method for making money online that Jimmy D. Brown shares in his free report is to set up your own membership site (pages 11-13). In the first two methods that Jimmy suggested - Creating Info Products & Affiliate Marketing - the focus was on building a list of buyers. Specifically people who purchased a specific product from you, or from a merchant through your affiliate link.
This third method actually goes hand in hand with one or both of those ideas, giving you an opportunity to capitalize on the niche mailing list you created.
Imagine this scenario...
You create your own info product. You either set up a sales page to sell your low-cost report, or you set up a squeeze page to give it away for free. That's method #1 for making money online. And by the way, I prefer to sell short reports in the lower price ranges ($7-$27) to build a list of buyers in my niche.
You can include affiliate links within your info product, wherever you recommend specific resources. But you can also follow up with your buyers or subscribers by email and recommend related products as an affiliate. That's method #2 for making money online.
Now you have successfully made money on both the front end and the back end, as a publisher and an affiliate. You could simply continue to publish low-cost reports or promote affiliate programs that your readers need or want (an active income model)... or you could move on to method #3 for making money online: start your own membership site on the topic (a passive income model).
I wouldn't normally consider a membership site to be a passive income model. Traditional membership sites require very high maintenance such as ongoing coaching or frequent interaction with your members. However, Jimmy teaches a new model in his Membernaire program that could work in practically any niche - and truly is a passive model. For details, see my Membernaire Review.
Whether you choose the Membernaire model, or a more traditional membership site model, this is a great next step in your quest to make money online. Jimmy gives you 3 membership site ideas on Page 12 of his report, and more than 20 creative ideas for various niches in his Membernaire program.
Note: You do not have to target the internet marketing or online business niche to start and run a successful membership site. This method can be used in practically any market.
Using Jimmy's example, a membership site with 500 members at $20/month equals $10,000/month in revenue. A membership site with 1000 members at $10/month would earn you the same.
The basic steps are:
- Choose a hungry niche
- Find out what they're buying and what they want/need
- Set up a membership script & payment processor
- Set up your squeeze page and sales page
It's those last 2 steps that stump you, isn't it? You might be thinking ahead to the marketing, and how to promote your new membership site - but that's actually the easy part. Once you're set up you can recruit affiliates and JV partners, create lead generators (such as squeeze pages or low-cost reports), use article marketing and social media, etc. The only real reason you haven't done this yet is because of the technical hurdles, right?
If you're shaking your head "no" and still stumped on choosing a market or a topic, see this link and this link. Read everything, do the steps, jot down some ideas, and then come back when you're done. Or if you're taking the Membernaire course, watch for the free bonus in your first few emails that gives you 20 very specific membership site examples targeting primed markets.
Also see: Brainstorming Your Membership Site Ideas
My top recommendation would be to use the Membernaire model - it just doesn't get much easier (or have more passive potential) than that. Period.
Consider all of your options, start brainstorming some ideas on how you can implement this method, and let me know what questions come to mind. Post them below and we'll do a full Q&A here in the comments section.
Best,
p.s. Put some serious thought into this method for making money online. A membership site can be highly profitable, and a great combination strategy when combined with info products and affiliate marketing.
See my personal review of Membernaire here.
About Lynn Terry
Hi! I've recenty read a lot about membership sites on Yaro Starks blog, and it really can rock! It's just building your first successful memberships site, thats difficoult. Any ideas, how to make the process easier?
Membernaire makes the process incredibly simple. But if you want to go a more traditional route then my advice would be to first put some careful consideration into what you want to create (and how you ultimately want to spend your time long-term). Then build around that concept one step at a time.
I am an avid follower of Yaro's blog myself, and he really is big into membership s ites as a serious online money making endeavour. I haven't heard of the Membernaire program yet, but am heading over to go and take a look at Lynn's review straight away. The bottom line is that there is some serious value in membership sites if you get it right, so iot makes sense to spend a bit of money to tap into the knowledge pools of the experts.
Hi Lynn,
Will you be making the recording of today's webinar available to those of us who missed it. I'd love to hear more about membership sites but couldn't make it today. Please...!!!
I will 🙂 I'll send it out via email in the next 48 hours. You should receive it if you're subscribed to the webinar notification list at http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/webinars.htm
You're awesome!
I just sent the replay link out via email - Enjoy!
I agree Lynn is awesome and rocks. Always generous too. I hope I get to meet her. Who are your mentors Lynn?
Hi Carol,
There have been many people who have influenced me along the way. I almost hate to start naming names, knowing I will leave some out, but I'll start with: Rosalind Gardner, Nicole Dean, Dan Thies, Karon Thackston, John Reese, Darren Rowse - all have had a strong influence on my work over the last year or so.
Hey Lynn, great resources!
I am wondering about that script you have and how it compares to Amember. Does it have incremental delivery so that you can drip content over the course of a year inside a WordPress blog for instance?
It sure would be great if someone would offer a good alternative to Amember as it's a major technical hurdle for non-techies and still a fair pain to deal with even for techies.
Thanks for the incredible job you do getting great info out to the world 🙂
be well . . .
P.S. I've gone through the entire Membernaire program with Jimmy and it's some of the best info I've ever found. Just finished my year with him about 2 months ago and am putting his ideas into action even now.
No, it doesnt really compare to aMember, more like Butterfly Marketing. In fact, its practically identical to the Butterfly Marketing script. It's really great for building a member base around a product or a teleseminar for example - or creating a basic traditional style log-in membership site.
OK, that's cool and good to know.
There a lot of things for which Amember is total overkill and not at all necessary; this sounds like a great option for those instances. (Quick note: I use and recommend Amember and meant only to suggest that competition in the market is good for everyone. 🙂 )
The price is right so it's worth it just to give it a try. Very kind of you to make it so accessible . . . I look forward to reporting my wild success with it 🙂
You're referring to Simple Member, right? If so, keep in mind that products I offer personally are always free to Elite Members of SSWT 😉 You'll find the download link in the private forum!
LOL! Yes I was and I just bought it! But no worries, I'm always happy to support your work.
And I was curious to see how the checkout process worked and whether that was a process I liked. That was actually worth $17. Ya, I know, I'm weird like that 😉
Verdict? Very nice checkout process, worked like a charm.
Alright, I better get back to work.
Cool - it's a process I use a lot 😉
Hey Lynn!
Quick question. Hope you can help. I signed up as an affiliate with Beginning Blogger. Got in and got the ads and links set up. However, I'm trying to write a sales page and I can't seem to find a price for the thing! The only price I've seen is your "special deal." The home page for Beginning Blogger looks unfinished.
Any help?
Thanks,
Bob
Off topic for this particular post on Membership sites lol
Bob - if you read my post on Beginning Blogger you'll see that it's an exclusive special offer. The course doesnt actually become available until Monday, June 1st. The regular price is $39.95. You can start promoting on Monday morning 😉
Thanks, Lynn!
Sorry to take the post off topic. The banners went up on my blog on Sunday night and so did my sales post on my blog. Thanks for the help.
Bob
I agree that finding a hungry niche is the first and basic step! Thanks a lot for sharing your insights.
Thanks for the advice. I did look on the inernet I guess I just didn't look in the right place. Rich I may be looking your site up in a few months too. Thanks