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Create a Membership Site: The Most Effective Ways

Create a Membership Site: The Most Effective Ways - “I want to create a membership site where people can fill out a form and pay online to get access to my community and resources.”

This is what Lily, the membership manager of a small Library Association wanted to accomplish.

After doing some research online, she felt lost. All the articles she came across advised her to integrate Wordpress plugins, create code, or hire someone who knew how to build a membership site. Unfortunately she didn’t have the know-how or the budget to do any of those things.

Create a Membership Site

Luckily, I happened to meet Lily in an online forum and showed her the easiest way to create one all by herself. In just a weekend she had an amazing membership site setup for her association and in just a few days, two new people had registered and paid for a membership online.

If you’re like Lily and want to build a membership site for your organization (but don’t have the technical expertise or resources to do so), you’ve come to the right place.

What is a Membership Website

The most successful membership organizations use their web site to help grow, engage, and retain their members, while saving time and money on administrative tasks.

If you’re looking to setup a site for your organization, here’s a simple way to understand what one does. Imagine the membership manager’s role at a professional association. This person must:

Register new members and event attendees,
Process monthly dues, donations, and event payments,
Update member profiles,
Email members with event invites, reminders, and monthly newsletters,
Distribute resources like courses, industry reports, and other materials,
Act as the contact person when members have questions, or need help.

A membership site does all the above and more, online. That’s because members can enter information (like contact details or payments) into it, and then the site talks with a contact database to update their information automatically.

What is a Membership Website

Once your web site is set up, it will run on its own with minimal effort, where it will:

Register new members and event attendees online. Payments and contact details are instantly and automatically processed through a contact database.
Automatically email invoices, event reminders, renewal reminders, and overdue payments warnings.
Update a robust, searchable contact database.
Collect donations.
Send out emails and newsletters to different groups of members.
Grant instant access to member-only resources once a member pays.
Plus many more features.

On top of all this, if you include the right pages and information on your web site, it can actually help you grow members by itself. I’ll explain more of this in later steps, but overall, a good site can save you about 20 hours a week or more in administrative work.

That’s because it runs like a machine in the background, processing and updating information while you can focus on other tasks, like creating value for your members and running events.

If you’re ready to setup a site for your organization with all the above features, here are the five steps that will guarantee your success.

5 Steps to Create an Amazing Membership Website with No Technical Expertise

If you're looking to build a membership site, there are 5 main steps you need to complete. Here they are:

5 Steps to Create an Amazing Membership Website with No Technical Expertise

Step 1) Plan out Your Membership Model

Before I explain how to build a site by yourself, some prep work needs to be completed ahead of time. The organizations that do this prep work end up saving hours of time in the setup stage.

The first thing you need to prepare is your membership model.

What is a Membership Model?

A membership model is simply how and why people join your organization and what they get in return. I’ve seen organizations with unclear models waste their time creating web site features no one uses and pages no one clicks on.

To avoid this, you’ll need a well-thought out membership model which answers three main questions:

What value do members get for joining? Usually paid memberships get access to monthly newsletters, member directories, online courses, workshops, industry reports, networking events, and discounts on conferences and other events or merchandise.

If you know the exact reason members join your organization, you should try your best to offer that value online.
What are the different membership levels? Free, Individual, Group, Student, and Professional levels are some of the most common levels I’ve seen. Take a look at some of the membership levels of The Kapole Chamber of Commerce below.

You can see how they’ve clearly laid out their pricing structure, and what each level gets access to.
What are the different membership levels?
What events do you have coming up? If you have a set calendar of events for the rest of the year, you can enter them into your new web site all at once. The advantage of this is two-fold. One, it saves you time from constantly going into your web site to add events later on.

Two, visitors to your web site can see your whole calendar of events and sign up far in advance, increasing your cash flow upfront.

If you’ve got clear answers to the above questions, you’ll have a good guide to the types of pages and features you’ll need to implement on your web site. There’s only one thing more you need to prepare to drastically reduce the setup time of your new web site.

Step 2) Clean Up Your Contact Database

One of the biggest advantages of a membership site is that it connects with your contact database to automate payments, registrations, and other information.

While it can be a pain, taking an hour or two to clean up your current contact database can save you twice the time afterwards (I’ve seen Excel used most often).

Organizations that don’t do this end up spending hours removing duplicate entries and double-checking dates and payments after their web site and database are connected.

To clean up your contact database, here are some things to look for:

Remove duplicated entries
Standardize City and State names (ex. “Washington” for all entries, instead of “WA”, “Washington”, “Wshngtn”, etc.)
Standardize dates for join date, renewal date, etc.
Standardize names for all membership levels.

If you are using excel, here’s a sample of how your cleaned-up spreadsheet should be laid out.

Here’s a sample of how your cleaned-up spreadsheet should be laid out.

Once you’ve got a well-thought out membership model and a cleaned up contact database, you’re ready to create your membership site, which brings us to the next step.

Step 3) Use This Easy Software to Build a Membership Website in Seconds

While there are many paths you can take to build your site (you can build a web site from scratch, hire a freelancer, integrate membership-plugins for wordpress, etc.), my recommendation is to use something called membership management software — an inexpensive (and sometimes free) software that exists to assist those who don’t have any technical expertise, but still want an amazing, robust membership site. Once you select a membership management software, it can create a pre-populated one for you in minutes.

What is Membership Management Software?

Membership management software is a type of software built to save membership organizations time and money when it comes to member management and administrative work.

On one hand, it will allow you to create a professionally designed membership site in a matter of minutes — complete with member-only access pages, an events calendar, a join us page, member directories, and more.

The best part is that anyone without any technical expertise can use it, because of its easy-to-use, drag-and-drop tools.

In the GIF below, I'm using Wild Apricot's membership management software to drag and drop a membership application onto the web page I'm editing. Any other feature you'd like to include such as a member directory, slideshow, or subscription form can be added in the same way.

Wild Apricot's membership management software to drag and drop a membership application onto the web page.

On the other hand, membership management software also automates and eliminates most of a membership manager's administrative work, such as processing registrations and payments, designing newsletters, automating reminder emails, and summarizing finances.

Here’s an overview of the main features a good membership management software should offer:

Overview of the main features a good membership management software should offer.

The #1 Membership Management Software to Use

The #1 membership management software on the market, used by over 20,000 membership organizations is called Wild Apricot. The best part is that you can try it for free.

Once you've started your free trial of Wild Apricot (or the provider of your choice), there are a number of pages you’ll need to setup that are proven to attract and convert new members online. I talk about which pages those are in the next section.

Another software option to consider is MemberClicks. While Wild Apricot is perfect for many small organizations, MemberClicks builds integrated membership management software solutions specifically for small-to-midsized professional associations, trade associations and chambers of commerce.

MemberClicks offers intuitive association management systems, learning management software, event management solutions, and job board software, built to save time, save money, grow membership and increase revenue.

Step 4) The 8 Pages You Need to Attract and Convert New Members

Research reveals that 74% of visitors feel frustration when web pages don’t reflect their interests or expectations — unfortunately frustrated web site visitors leave and don’t come back.

In order to discover what information visitors (who are potential members) are looking for on your web site, I studied hundreds of membership web sites and spoke with dozens of membership managers. Here are the four most important things your web site must have:

Your organization’s purpose, mission, and values: Visitors want to know these things to see if they align with their personal values and needs before they will consider becoming a member.
Access to specialized information and resources: This is your chance to show web site visitors how you’re creating value for your industry that can’t be found elsewhere.
They want to see you have a thriving, engaged community: One of the top reasons people join membership organizations is to be part of a community of like-minded individuals. If you can show this on your web site, you’re one step closer to getting a new member online.
They want easy ways to pay or join online: Many older membership sites ask visitors to download, print, and mail in PDF membership forms.

Unfortunately this slows down the registration process and actually creates holes that many potential members slip through (printer problems can stop someone from becoming a member). Offering online registration and payments for events can drastically increase your new member conversions, because the process is simple, quick, and people actually expect it.

To offer these four things in an easy-to-find way, most membership sites organize themselves around eight different pages. When done right, these pages help attract and convert your website visitors into members. Here are those pages:

(Note: membership management software makes it easy to create these pages. If you choose Wild Apricot, we even have pre-loaded templates that have these pages already setup for you.)

1) Homepage

This is the first page your website visitors will land on, so think about what information you want them to see right away. Many nonprofits put their main call to action on this page (like, “Join our organization”), along with news, featured members, upcoming events, and lots of pictures.

2) About Us

This page is where you tell the story of your organization and the people who guided the nonprofit to success.

Most nonprofits include their mission, vision and values on this page, as well as profiles of the founder and the current board members.

3) Join Us

This page has all the information about what a new member might need to know before joining your organization as well as the online form to join.

4) Donate

This page has all the information about what a potential donor needs to know before donating to your organization as well as the online form to donate.

5) Events

This page is where you list all your events. The best way to do this is by posting a calendar showing the dates and times of your upcoming events. It’s also a good idea to list some benefits of joining one of your events.

Remember to allow online registration and payments so visitors can register for your events with ease.

It’s relatively simple to create this page using membership management software, just like the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, which actually used Wild Apricot’s software to create their website and events page.

6) Resources (if applicable)

If part of the value your nonprofit creates is from publishing resources, this is the place to host them.

7) Members-Only Area (if applicable)

There are quite a few reasons why you would have a members-only section set up on your website. In some cases, this type of section may be needed for privacy and security reasons, preventing the release of confidential information.

In other scenarios, a members-only section might host exclusive resources, or a member director for paying members of the organization. Just seeing the "Members-only" tab on your website is enough to entice some potential members to join your organization online, knowing they'll get instant access to these things.

8) Contact Us

This page includes basic contact information for your organization. You can also choose to include a newsletter signup here that covers the benefits of receiving your monthly membership newsletter.

The above eight pages will give you a great starting point to building your online presence and attracting new members online. If you’re looking for extra tips on how to design your website like the top nonprofits, I’ve written a full guide on the 22 features the top nonprofit websites have.

There’s just one last step to get your organization’s current members connected through your website.

Step 5) Upload Your Contact Database

There are three main benefits to uploading your contact database into your membership management software, thus connecting them with your website:

You can automate dues, payments, and reminders online, saving hours of work each week
Member profiles will update instantly once a current member interacts with your website (ex. registering for an event)
It’s quicker and easier to communicate with members through automated emails and newsletters

Membership management softwares make it simple to upload your entire membership database in a matter of minutes, especially if your current database is in Excel.

Below is a GIF showing how easy it is to import contacts using Wild Apricot as an example.

How easy it is to import contacts using Wild Apricot

After you import your contacts, the next step is to map out the matching fields from your contact database to Wild Apricot’s fields.

Now that all your contacts are uploaded into Wild Apricot, it’s a good idea to email them to let them know about your new website and that you’ll be accepting online payments now.

Congratulations! That is the final step to complete your site. Now you can sit back and relax, the membership management software will help you keep an up-to-date website and take care of all your administrative work now: registering members, event attendees, processing payments, and updating member records.

If you'd like to see how some organizations have built their websites using membership management software, I've included three examples below.

People Also Ask About Create a Membership Site

People Also Ask About Create a Membership Site:

How Do I Create a Membership Website?

Creating a membership site is one of the easiest ways to increase user engagement.

While website content remains one of the best ways to engage your prospects, you can also boost user engagement by offering memberships.

This increases the likelihood of them returning to your site, browsing longer, and purchasing more. Memberships can also add lines of revenue if you charge subscription fees.

Offering memberships may seem difficult, especially because the most famous examples include giants such as Amazon and Costco. But you can easily create a membership on your own site in a few ways. You can use a dedicated membership website builder.

Before we explore some of these different tools, let’s take a closer look at what a membership website is and how it differs from a subscription website.

What is a Membership Website?

A membership site offers members exclusive access to gated content as well as other members-only perks.

Many businesses, nonprofits, clubs, and associations have membership websites.

A membership website is often conflated with a subscription website but they offer different experiences.

Membership Site vs. Subscription Website

A subscription website is defined by the financial contract it requires. A membership site, on the other hand, can require a subscription but it doesn’t have to.

To put up a gate for members or subscribers on your site, you can use a dedicated membership website builder or a multi-purpose CMS with the required features and extensions.

Now, let’s take a look at how you can create a membership website so you can reap the benefits.

There are several ways you can create a membership website, which will vary depending on the platform.

First, be sure to have a site up and running. If you don’t, you can set up a website with WordPress or build a site from scratch using Wix, YourMembership, CMS Hub, or Morweb.

Once you have a website, you can offer memberships in five easy steps.

Step 1: Decide on Your Membership Model

Before ever installing a platform or plugin, you’ll want to create a membership model where you decide what you’ll offer and how much you will charge per year.

To create your membership plan, you only need to answer three questions:

What will you offer to your members?
What membership levels will you offer, if any?
How much will you charge, if at all, and how frequently?

Barnes & Noble’s famous membership model offers 10% off on all purchases.

Next, decide on the levels of membership, if any.

Amazon, Ulta, and Barnes & Noble have only one membership offering, making it simple to join.

Last, decide on pricing, if any. Sometimes, it’s worth making membership free, as it can help you create a long list of marketing qualified leads.

Step 2: Create Members-Only Content

Now that you’ve created a robust membership model, it’s time to create the gated content, pages, courses, events and other items you plan to offer to your members. Creating the content before ever publishing your new membership option will ensure that you delight, not frustrate, your customers.

Perk-based membership models might not require the creation of gated content.

However, don’t publish any membership pages just yet. Before you do that, you’ll choose a CMS or install a membership plugin, which we’ll cover in detail below.

Step 3: Choose a Membership Platform or Plugin

Now that you’ve brainstormed your membership model, established pricing, and created the content, it’s time to choose a platform or plugin.

If you’re on WordPress, compare membership plugins and choose the one that best meets your needs. If you’re on another platform, integrate a membership offering by toggling the platform’s already-integrated settings or choosing a third-party provider.

If you’re on Squarespace, for example, you have options such as MemberSpace and Membership Works that can integrate seamlessly with your website.

Regardless of the option you choose, a great membership plugin or platform will have the following features:

Contact segmentation: Your chosen platform should allow you to segment your contacts into members and non-members, and offer further capabilities for segmentation if needed.
Gated content: For any membership model to work, gating content is essential. It will differentiate your website visitors from your members. A membership platform should give you the option to selectively gate content based on membership status.
User and member pages: Your platform should allow you to create membership-related pages and forms.

Some nice-to-have, but not required, features include:

Automated workflows: Whether it’s used to send welcome or renewal emails, an automated workflow feature can help you save time.
Payment provider integrations: You might not need this integration if you’re offering membership for free. If you are, this is an important capability to look out for.
Engagement analytics: This might not be required because you might be tracking engagement using another tool such as Google Analytics. However, some membership platforms can give you even more granular data. YourMembership and Bold Memberships both offer this feature.
Third-party integrations: You won’t need third-party integrations if you choose an out-of-the-box option such as Subhub or CMS Hub. But if you’re using a plugin or an extension, it should integrate seamlessly with your other marketing tools. MemberPress, which is a WordPress plugin, integrates with Zapier so you can connect it to your other tools.
Membership levels: If you’re offering different membership levels, you’ll need a plugin or platform that supports different levels and price points.

Step 4: Publish Your Members-Only Pages

If your membership platform doesn’t come with a pricing page option, or you don’t want to build a pricing table from scratch, consider installing a pricing table plugin.

Step 5: Announce Your New Membership Offering Through Social Media and Email

You have your membership model, exclusive offers, membership platform, and pricing page set up. Now, it’s time to get people to join!

Announce your new membership to your social media followers, email contacts, and blog subscribers. To boost conversion rates, consider offering a limited-time reduced membership price.

Now that you’re ready to set up your membership site, it’s time to explore some of the best membership website builders and platforms that can help you do that.

Membership Website Builders

CMS Hub
MemberPress
Wix
MemberSpace
Wild Apricot
YourMembership
Morweb
Weebly
Subhub
Membership Works
WishList Member
Memberful
Bold Memberships

Below are a variety of different solutions for creating a membership site. There are CMS platforms with out-of-the-box features for creating member-only content. There are extensions for creating membership-based content that are compatible with different CMS platforms and website builders. And there are dedicated membership website builders.

1. CMS Hub

Whether you’re giving product updates to your current customers, pricing offers to prospects, or web pages in different languages to a global audience, you can create all types of membership-based content with HubSpot.

2. MemberPress

MemberPress is a premium WordPress plugin that makes it easy to create and manage membership subscriptions and sell digital download products. With MemberPress, you can grant (or revoke) access to your posts, pages, videos, categories, tags, feeds, communities, and digital files to members based on their membership status.

3. Wix

You can’t personalize a registration email or create a multilingual membership site, for example.

4. MemberSpace

MemberSpace is a third-party tool for creating membership-protected content on Squarespace, Webnode, WordPress, and other sites.

5. Wild Apricot

Wild Apricot is a website builder designed especially for membership sites. Using Wild Apricot, you can create multiple membership levels with benefits that scale up at each price point.

6. YourMembership

YourMembership is a membership website builder that offers everything you need to create and run a site.

While there’s no pricing information available on YourMembership’s site, its competitor Wild Apricot estimates that YourMembership charges $2500 in set-up fees and $6000 in total in the first year.

7. Morweb

Offering a drag-and-drop editor, responsive themes, and highly customizable modules, you can create and customize a basic membership site without coding.

8. Weebly

You can set up a membership site out-of-the-box with Weebly.

ou can add a simple signup form to your homepage, offer one-click login to members, and create membership tiers.

While Weebly does offer a limited free plan and multiple premium plans, membership features are only available at the Professional and Performance tier.

9. Subhub

SubHub is a simple solution for building and running a membership site. You can create multiple membership levels, accept credit card payments, set up recurring subscriptions, offer promo codes, and drip content on your Subhub site.

10. MembershipWorks

MembershipWorks is a membership software that’s compatible with WordPress, Squarespace, Weebly, and HTML static sites.

With MembershipWorks, members can sign up and renew and update their profiles on your website.

What sets MembershipWorks apart from other dedicated membership solutions is its timeline feature.

Timeline is integrated with MembershipWork’s billing and event systems so payments, membership renewals, and event registration is automatically recorded.

11. WishList Member

WishList Member is a premium plugin for transforming your WordPress site into a fully functional membership site. Once the plugin is activated, you can protect your content with one click, integrate with any of the 20 supported payment providers, and view membership statistics and data in your dashboard.

You’ll also be able to create an unlimited number of membership levels and make each level a free, trial, or paid membership.

12. Memberful

Memberful is membership software designed to help you create a community while driving revenue.

That means, you’ll be able to sell memberships on your site but you’ll have to share members-only content through one of Memberful’s email newsletter or discussion forum integrations.

13. Bold Memberships

Bold Memberships is an app that you can purchase to add and sell memberships on your Shopify store.

You can create an unlimited number of membership tiers, charge recurring fees, and view analytics right in your dashboard.

Creating a Membership Website

Offering a membership on your website is one of the best ways to enrich your users’ experience. Using any of the dedicated membership website builders, CMS platforms with built-in functionality, or extensions above, you can increase engagement and add additional lines of revenue on your site.

How Can I Create a Membership Website For FREE?

Lots of membership sites require the ability to receive recurring payments and create various levels of member access, so I’ve highlighted platforms that make this easy.

With some website builders, you’ll have to use third-party plugins to incorporate membership features into your site.

1. Wix – The Best Membership Features Available on Any Plan

Alternatively, if you want to put lots of exclusive content on your site, you can use the Wix Members Area tool to create login bars, registration forms, and user account pages.

2. Squarespace – Easy-to-use Integrations with Powerful Functionality

Squarespace doesn’t have built-in membership features, but thanks to its excellent third-party integrations, you can still use it to create a great membership site.

The most popular integration is MemberSpace, which is just as easy to use as Squarespace itself. Combining these two tools is a beginner-friendly way to monetize your site content through paid membership subscriptions.

If you’re looking to create a more modest membership site for a small number of people, you could try the MembershipWorks integration instead.

3. SITE123 – The Easiest Way to Build a Completely Private Membership Site

SITE123 is all about making website creation as quick and easy as possible. It turns out that this goes for membership websites too.

With SITE123, you can restrict site access to “members-only” with one simple click. The catch? This applies to your entire site. Any non-members who reach your website will be prompted to sign up for an account.

Here are some of SITE123’s standout features for membership websites:

Extra security: Choosing the “confirmed members only” option allows you to vet all new members before giving them access to your site.
Forum insights: Site admins can monitor comments in the forum dashboard and see member engagement with different topics by day or week.
Recommended discussions: Visitors will be shown relevant forum threads based on their past engagement. They can also jump quickly to the discussions they want to see using the forum search feature.
Basic SEO tools: SITE123 gives you control over meta tags, sitemaps, and 301 redirects so potential members can find your homepage on Google.

4. WordPress.com – The Most Membership Plugin Options

You can start with the free version and add more advanced features as your site grows (think analytics, automatic billing, and coupons) by upgrading to the premium version, starting at around $150 a year.

Here’s some other perks worth knowing about if you’re using WordPress.com:

Dedicated forum plugins: Peepso and BuddyPress are two free options. You can use them alongside your membership plugin to create a private area for members to hold discussions.
Learning management plugins: LMS by LifterLMS is a free plugin that lets you run online courses on your site. Alternatively, you could opt for paid plans from MemberPress or Digital Access Pass.
Monetization: WordPress themes feature prominent, well-designed blogs ideal for monetizing your content with ads or affiliate links.

5. Weebly – The Best Built-in Membership Options

Whether you want to develop an online community, create a customer portal, or provide exclusive content and courses, Weebly can help you get your membership site off the ground with no third-party apps, integrations, or plugins required.

Your site can support up to 100 members with the Pro plan, or unlimited members with the Business plan.

Weebly’s ease of use and built-in membership features make it an ideal choice for small businesses or nonprofits who need to set up a membership site.

Here are some other useful Weebly features for membership sites:

Member imports: You can upload a spreadsheet of contact details to automatically create accounts for current members. This is very useful if you’re switching over from another platform or bringing your organization online for the first time.
Dashboard stats: You can view key metrics like traffic and page views to see how your members-only pages are performing.
Streamlined logins and registration: Adding a login form to your site is as simple as checking a box. And visitors can register or sign in right from whatever page they’re on: a popup login allows them to enter their details without losing their place.

What else can I do with My Membership Site?

Providing exclusive, members-only content is a great way to make your members feel valued. This can increase both registrations and member visits.

How Can I Make a Membership Website For FREE?

You can make a membership website for free using Wix or SITE123.

On SITE123, you can create a fully private website on the free plan by making all pages password-protected.

How Much Does it cost to build a membership website?

Most membership sites will cost anywhere from $210 per year to $11,200 per year to maintain. The low-end is if you build it yourself, use the cheapest hosting, the best-priced membership site software and use a payment processor that only charges per transaction.

The high-end includes the most expensive hosting, membership site software and payment processors.

Here’s a breakdown of how we came up with these numbers:

Domain: $10-$15 per year
Hosting: $8-$300 per month
Membership Site Software: $97-$5,000 per year
Payment Processor: 3%/transaction – $200 per month

This does not include the cost to have someone build your membership site for you. Here’s what that would look like:

What a Web Developer Would Charge to Build Your Membership Website

The low-end is if you hire a freelance web developer on Upwork (as an example), they charge $20/hour and it takes them 20 working hours to build your site (which should be more than enough). Here’s an example of a freelancer just like this:

What Membership Site Software Costs

Of course, the biggest consideration when it comes to cost is the software you choose to power your membership site. Again, the pricing here can fluctuate wildly:

MemberGate: $5,000 one-time fee
Kajabi: $399 per month
Podia: $790 per year
WishList Member: starting at $147 per year

And, this is the most important piece of software for your membership site.

How Do You Create a Profitable Membership Site?

Membership sites are a recurring revenue miracle. Set it up, and watch as it starts raking in piles of money.

Maybe it is, because most membership sites are not an overnight success.

Let’s take a journey through the 7 distinct profitable membership site stages… so you’ll have a business that’s built to last.

Stage 1: The “Gotta Have It” Factor

The necessary first stage of growth – weeding through the profitable membership site ideas – will determine the extent of success achievable by your membership.

Just because your newest brainchild looks and smells like a membership site…doesn’t mean it’s going to attract the right people.

Study what works and design your course or membership site the right way. For success. #membershipsite #profits

Popular membership sites and online courses (like Marie Forleo’s B-School, to name one of many successful examples of membership sites) stand a head and shoulders above their direct competition.

Why?

They fit their niche like a glove.

If you master this first stage, it means you’ve nailed the basic questions:

Who’s in my target market? What are they looking for?
How is your membership site perfectly suited to solve their problems?
Is your membership program priced too high (or low) for their income or spending level?

Is your membership site wildly appealing to your niche? Or is it stuck in a “me too!” cycle?

Stage 2: The Perfect Model

The best membership site ideas require an equally stellar mode of presentation.

Some membership owners throw together a couple amazing video courses inside a membership site and watch the fireworks happen.

Stage 3: A Real Membership Community

Are your membership subscribers able to connect and invest emotionally with others on this journey?
What steps are you taking to build and foster a sense of community inside your membership site? What can you do to increase this sense of belonging?

Stage 4: Steady Growth

Membership sites are a long-term plan.

Since you’re in the membership site biz, one of the highest performing strategies out there is The Login Optin™ Strategy. It uses a more substantial free course as the “lead magnet,” and a membership site as the trap.

How are you attracting more people into your membership site funnel?
List building is an evergreen project and doesn’t end when you launch.

Stage 5: Tech Systems, Automation, and Functionality

A membership site that made it through the first four stages might look something like this:

A high-performing membership site with the perfect offer and format for clients. Subscribers are engaged and interacting with each other. New members continue to arrive thanks to the Login Optin strategy which simultaneously builds the email list and sells your courses or membership…

Time and energy are poured into the membership monster. Cheap or duct-taped tech systems (used to get the site off the ground running) are falling apart with the volume of users. Everything now has to be custom-coded, and it’s become an entirely frustrating, expensive venture.

While cheap (or free) tech solutions might seem like a great option, they won’t allow a membership site to make it through Stage 5.

Tech Systems & Functionality

Upgrading a membership management plugin – or switching hosting providers – might be a hassle. But opting for one of the higher quality membership site platforms might be the only way you can move beyond this stage.

Automation

Membership sites that require a lot of manual hand-holding are unable to scale.

But the good news is that upgrading your tech systems – from membership management plugins to email marketing systems – will allow you to take advantage of the dream most membership site owners have:

Total Automation

Is your membership site build to scale, or is it limited by the tech side of things?
If you haven’t hit this point yet, but have a membership program that’s projected to grow at a healthy rate, take the time to identify whether your current software setup will allow this growth to continue. It’s easier to upgrade a site of 400 members than it is to upgrade one with 4,000 members.

Stage 6: Members Who Stick Around

Some sites are on the low end with a customer lifetime of only 1-3 months.

This is a huge hurdle, and one all successful membership sites have to face and address at some point in order to become fully, solidly profitable.

Content Releases
Community and Relationship Building
Content Optimization Through Gamification
Monitor and track user progress throughout your online courses and membership site.
Set a Membership Limit

Stage 7: The Explosion of Growth

The last stage to achieve in the evolution of your membership site business is the explosion of profits.

It’s what happens when you’ve navigated your site through the first six stages… then optimize it all so that it can literally sell itself.

Is Your Membership Site Built To Scale Profitably?

Once again: success with your membership site doesn’t (usually) happen overnight.

Equip your team with the right training – and your membership site with the right software.