This is the second post in a series on “How to Start a Membership Site” that continues on through the week.  To get the entire series, be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed.  And to get started with your own membership site, check out this great video series.

So you’ve decided that starting a membership site is the right thing for you to do.  At least, I hope that’s what you’ve decided.

But what type of membership site are you going to start?  What will best serve your niche?  How can you become one of the premier sites by offering amazing content on a regular basis to your customers?

Getting a membership site setup is one thing, deciding what exactly is going to go in to that membership can be an even more daunting task.  It’s not just as simple as saying, “Hey, come check out my new membership site.  It’s really cool and you’ll get lots of stuff.  And it’s only $27 a month!”

But what are you giving people for their $27?

That’s what you have to figure out first.

Here are 4 membership site models that, I hope, will get your creative juices flowing.  There are a million different models you can use, or you could come up with a new one, or modify an existing model.  It’s your site, do what you want!  Just be sure that your audience accepts what you are doing and that you’re going to make money.  If not, skip it!

Model #1 – Monthly Training

This is a popular model in the internet marketing space, but can easily be transferred to other niches.  Suppose you are one of the world’s leading experts on knitting.  Do you think that there would be people out there in the world that are willing to pay a monthly subscription to get more tips on how they can knit better?  You better believe it!

Any niche that brings out someone’s passion is a good fit for a training membership site.  If you can help people by showing or telling them how to do something, you’ve got a great start for a membership site.

Do your training however you see fit.  Audio, video, email, PDFs, you choose.  I will tell you that video is very hot right now, but there may be  some niches that don’t transfer well to video.  Training sites are always a great model for a membership site.

Model #2 – “Blank” of the Month Club

Do you remember the Book of the Month Club?  How about the Cake of the Month?  Could you create something like this for your niche?  Absolutely!

Maybe you have a site on productivity.  You could create a new productivity tool, check list, or anything else that will help your members be more productive and release it each month.  A software of the month club.  If you’re in our previous knitting niche, maybe a project of the month.

The point is, you keep your members involved and waiting for what is going to come next month.  It’s like getting a gift each and every month, only they’re paying for it.

Model #3 – Forum

One of the oldest sites still online is the forum.  While many of these sites are free, it’s pretty easy to create a paid forum site.  You could create a special area of your forum site for “private coaching” or “expert advice”.

If you have an existing forum, this is the easiest way for you to add a membership model to your existing site.  If you’re just starting a forum, it might take you a while to build up enough traffic to make your forum site profitable.

Model #4 – The Exclusive Group

Have you ever joined a club that you paid a fee for so you could get a discount on products and services?  Many small businesses will create these types of memberships to get their best customers to spend more money.

Think about this scenario:  a popular local restaurant starts a “premier club”. People pay either a monthly or yearly fee to enroll.  As a member, they enjoy perks like call-ahead seating and a 20% discount on all meals.

Do you think that people would pay to be a part of this club?  Just think about it for a second.  You’ve got your best customers paying you a club fee and they’re probably coming in more often spending more money at your restaurant since they get a 20% discount.

Could you come up with something like this for your niche?  A club that gives people access to your products/services at a discount?  Early access?  Members only products?

People want to belong to something, and if they have to pay to belong they feel a bit more “exclusive”.  Cater to that feeling, everyone wants to be someone special.

Now that you have some ideas for how to organize your membership site, you can learn how to create a membership site faster and less expensive than you though possible.  The offer for this fantastic new product is only available for a short time before the price goes up.  Get your membership site off the ground right now and start creating a recurring income for yourself and your family!

How to Start a Membership Site

See you next time, world changers,

Mike Paul

How long have you been on Twitter?  A month?  Six months?  A year?  Two Years?  Have you really figured out how to use it yet?  I mean, really figured out how to use it?

I know you probably know how to log in to Twitter, follow some people, put up a few little “tweets” and then walk away for the day.  But have you really figured out how to use Twitter to your benefit?

There’s a lot of you out there that think you have.  I know, I see you on Twitter everyday.  I get a number of DMs from you that are all pretty much the same cookie-cutter message, just coming from a different person.

They all generally say pretty much the same thing:

“Want to know how I got x amount of followers in x amount of days?  Follow my NEW system for exploding your Twitter followers and raking in the dough at imreallyjusttryingtogetsomeofyourmoney.com!”

Have you seen those tweets before?

Have you been one of the people sending them?

Don’t feel bad, I’m just as guilty as the next person.  I’ve sent some very similar tweets myself.  And I feel like crap about it.  I really do.  But, I plead ignorance.

See, I just didn’t know any better.  I didn’t know that just sending out a bunch of links to my followers would do me more harm than good.  I didn’t know that I needed to provide a lot more content, really good high-quality content, to my followers if I really wanted to get anything out of my Twitter relationships.

Because, after all, that’s what Twitter is all about.  Building relationships, not just collecting up a bunch of people that you can send self-serving little messages and links to.

Not that you can’t send those self-serving links, but they can’t be your focus.  Your focus has to be something else.

Your focus has to be on providing value.  Being a character.  Being a friend.  Being a trusted, knowledgeable, and devoted friend that people can reach out to and feel comfortable with just saying, “Hey!”

See, there’s a right way and a wrong way to monetize your efforts on Twitter.  And for those of you that are reading this that believe that you shouldn’t try to make money with Twitter or any other social network, I understand your side of the story.  I’m not trying to convince you to my way of thinking.  Please, stick to your guns and don’t let anybody tell you how to run your social networking.

But please don’t hold it against me if I believe you can use Twitter to make a boatload of cash.

But there is a right way and a wrong way of doing it.  Most of us have been stumbling around in the dark for the last several months doing our darndest to figure it out and really doing more harm than good.

Thank God, we’ve finally got some help.

Perry Belcher and Ryan Deiss are hosting this little “social media party” this Wednesday night.  I’m gonna be there.  We’d love if you’d come and join us.

We’re gonna pack this virtual house with 5,000 people.  Yep, 5,000 people.  And if you’re ready to learn how to actually start making some money with Twitter and other social networks, please come be a part.

Oh, yeah, don’t worry about having to pay to get in to the party.  I’ve got that taken care of for you. I’ve got people.

You just register right here for the webinar this Wednesday night, July 22nd, 9 PM Eastern time.  (That’s 6 PM for you folks in dreamy California and 10:30 PM for the fine, friendly folks up in Newfoundland.  Those of you that may be located on the other side of the world, you’ll have to figure it out for yourselves.)

Bring a pad, a pencil, and most importantly, and open mind.  Perry and Ryan are going to change the game this Wednesday night.

I’ll be there watching.  Won’t you?

Here’s the link one more time in case you missed it:

FREE Social Media Webinar with Perry Belcher and Ryan Deiss – Wednesday, July 22nd, 9PM Eastern time.

Hope to see you there.