We’re back for Part 5 (the final installment!) of our latest WordPress Website Design series – How to Create a Membership Website!
So you’re just about ready to launch your membership website, right? Your site is set up with the WishList plugin. You’ve set your price point, and it’s connected to your shopping cart and email system. Your high-value content is ready for your members, either all at once or monthly. You’re ready to go – except – you need a sales page on your website to drive potential members to your membership site!
Creating a sales page for your membership website
Obviously, you need to include what your membership site is about, what a person gets with a membership, the price, and any testimonials you can offer. Go out there and look at other membership websites to see how they’re structuring their sales pages, and then you can pull some ideas that would be a good fit with what you’re creating. Remember, don’t plagiarize their content – write your own! But you can pull ideas from those different membership models based on what you’re seeing online. Once you have all of that in place, you’re ready, set up, and prepared to go market this thing!
But how do you do it? While I don’t have the space to go into great detail here, I’d like to offer some ideas that will help to jog your thinking and inspire you to make valuable marketing choices.
Marketing your membership website
I firmly believe that live webinars are the best way to sell anything, including your new membership website. Why do I love them? One reason is that you can have live interaction with potential members. You can build a Q&A section into the webinar and use PowerPoint presentations. You can even walk them through the website, so they can see exactly what they’re about to buy into.
A webinar is a great tool you can use to build up the value of your membership site and showcase your passion and enthusiasm. These are all good things that are going to influence the buying decision – usually in your favor!
If there is some reason that you believe webinars won’t work for you, fear not! There are other ways to reach out to potential members:
- Weekly live or recorded Q&A sessions
- Free video training sessions for opt-in clients
- Facebook ads or some other form of paid advertising
- An affiliate marketing program for visitors
I know that some of this may be going right over your head about now and believe me, I understand. I’m always available to help you work through these things and develop strategies to help you market your site more effectively. Just get in touch with me, and I’ll be happy to go over pricing and set up options with you.
Using video to market your membership website
Whether you choose to use Q&A sessions or video training, understanding the power of video may be critical to your success. Sure, not every strategy works for every entrepreneur, but online video is one of the truly effective tools for marketing your new website – and your business.
A great way to get started would be to use Jeff Walker’s product launch formula. Just Google Jeff Walker and go buy his book called “Launch,” and follow that sequence. Essentially, you’re going take people through a series of training videos and, at the end of those training videos, you’re going to offer your audience a membership to your site. Jeff is seeing phenomenal conversion rates with that process…..and you can too!
Using advertising to market your membership website
Targeted advertising can be expensive, but Facebook ads are pretty reasonable ….. and they target your audience for you!
Affiliate marketing of your membership website
Can you imagine how great it would be to have dozens of people in your niche marketing your membership website for you? The beauty of affiliate programs is that you have more than just you working on your behalf to promote your membership site. Sure, you pay them a commission, but just think of how much work they’re saving you – reaching people you would likely never be able to reach.
I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m spending so much time on marketing your membership website when you want to focus on the creative process instead. It’s because I know that, as entrepreneurs, we get so excited to create, create, create, but when it comes time to market, sell, and sustain, a lot of people freeze there because they haven’t done it enough to gain confidence and see real results with that.
But, there are structures out there that are working and, if you push yourself a little bit outside your comfort zone and test these things, you’re going to get into a model that really makes sense for you. You’ll find ways to get the results you want with consistent income. That’s important because that’s really what I want for my clients and my audience – consistent income and security. That’s what I’ve always had a focus on in my business, and I’ve never been off on that in a single month. It’s been very consistent for me, and I know that would give you some security and comfort!
Would you like me to help you build your own Membership Website? Get in touch with me today and apply for that 45-minute free strategy session. Then, I’ll get to work on your behalf, supporting you and keeping you motivated in every way I can!
If you thought these tips were helpful, please help me share them on your favorite social network by using the share buttons below! Thank you for your support!
xoxo
Amber Vilhauer
