Membership Building Articles. Here are articles written by administrators who have successfully built membership sites. Do you have a successful membership site? Would you like to be a featured contributor to "MembershipSiteBuilding.com"? Let me know!
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Do you have a membership site? Did you ever think of starting one? Online groups, or membership sites, are an amazing way to bring a group of people together that share a common interest. This podcast is a light-hearted look at a serious industry
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Membership site owners often ask us for advice on charging membership fees. Should I start charging right away? Do I have to charge? Should I give away some free memberships? Will people pay a million dollars per month to join my site? While there are no universal answers that will apply to every situation, there are some factors to consider in answering these questions. Join us as we discuss factors, and answer questions from our live listeners.
Thanks for the very useful podcast. More than anything, it confirmed some of the assumptions I'm making about making my site's memberships free for the introductory period, until I get critical mass.
I think the most important point was that it's easy to start free and raise the price when it feels right; but it's not so easy to start at any price, and then reduce it later, causing potential heartburn with anyone who joined at the higher price.
Thanks to Ryan for making the "intentional gaff" on changing iGroops' monthly pricing mid-stream, in order to ensure that we don't forget what happens.
Hi Bo, Hi Ryan,
Slightly 'left field' comment on this podcast...
You have a Share This widget at the bottom of this entry... I'm wondering how this works regarding access.
For example, if the Share This widget has resulted in a link posted at Twitter or Stumbleupon - will people end up with the 'Membership Required' page if it was a 'members only' article?
And conversely, if its an 'open', public article, will they be able to get staight into it?
I think I know the answer already (yes and yes) but just want to clarify.
Many thanks
Claire :o)
Three comments: First, excellent discussion of pricing. Second, one strategy is to have a free site for customers, and charge vendors who might want to sell to those customers. The customers would be limited access (but with access to all the content) and the vendors would be full access. Give the vendors access to the profile page, and create a directory for the vendors, divided by product type, geography, etc.
Third, I really like the idea of an "infinite" monthly charge. Otherwise, the members must make a new buying decision annually. Of course, an annual fee brings in good dollars up front. But, a monthly fee can stay under the radar of the customer's threshold for resistance.
Great discussion about charging. I like the final point you made about using the free membership site to monetize in other ways.
I think there may be opportunity for me as a new membeship site creator to offer a free site so I can find more people who may want to purchase my existing and new services. Plus, I could use the iGroops tools to sell a particular webinar or teleconference to my free members. Later, I can gauge people's purchasing power and offer memberships based upon the content and services they buy.
