Creating content for your membership website helps you generate recurring income and enables you to build a solid brand reputation as an online instructor. However, creating content regularly for your membership site is a lot of hard work.
A COMPLETE STEP-BY-STEP CHEATSHEET
TO CREATING, LAUNCHING & GROWING A SUCCESSFUL MEMBERSHIP WEBSITE
In this article, we’ll step through some actionable tips to help you create content for your membership site. Along the way, we’ll also share some best practices successful membership site owners use to create content.
Let’s get started!
Create a content calendar
Creating content for a new membership website can be time-intensive, especially if you’re looking to attract new members or students. One way to get a quick start is by launching your membership website using the content you already have. You can put together a content calendar for members so they know what they can expect to get by registering for a membership.
This also allows you to position your membership site for offering exclusive content and allows prospective members to see the value your site offers. By including a content calendar of future material on your site, users will be more likely to sign up to be first in line to view content that might not even exist yet.
Additionally, having a content calendar gives you time to gradually create content for your website and generate anticipation among your members.
Online seminars help you generate a sizable amount of high-quality content in a relatively short time as opposed to coming up with new ideas for new blog posts.
By hosting live online seminars, you can capture your members’ interest from the very start. An hour-long seminar, for example, can be used to create additional audio and video content, blog posts, transcripts, checklists, and much more.
By creating engaging content for your site from the start, you’re able to encourage your audience to actively engage with your membership website from the beginning.
For instance, if you create social sections like a community forum, comments section, or discussion board, members will start talking about your content and asking questions that will help you come up with new ideas for future content.
Repurpose content
If you already have some material available on hand, you can repurpose it to create new content for your membership website. For example, if you have articles, blog posts, video, or audio content from past seminars, training classes, or events, you can use it to create fresh content for your membership site.
Additionally, if you have a professional presence on other platforms, like in an online community, we recommend that you integrate your content and connections in one place on your membership site.
The best part is that you don’t need to worry about your members potentially viewing your content on other platforms for free. The convenience of having easy access to all related material from a centralized platform (your membership site) is certainly appealing. Plus, there’s very little chance that they would have viewed most of the content you have published in other places.
Reusing (or repurposing) content is a great way to generate continuous revenue from previous content creation efforts. Not to mention, repurposing content on multiple platforms is also a great way to promote your membership site. For example, you can use your blog to generate affiliate revenue and encourage people to register for your membership program.
By continuously creating content, you’ll be able to use the interconnected network of content and income streams to bring in revenue from the same material over and over again.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that search engines don’t like repetition. In other words, if web crawlers find the same content reproduced verbatim on multiple platforms, the search engine results of all except the oldest (or largest platform) will be downgraded.
The good news is that membership sites don’t have to worry about this because most of their content is secured behind a paywall, which doesn’t get indexed by search engines.
Try out new content ideas
You should spend some time experimenting with new content ideas and types of content to find a few that work best for you. An online membership site gives you access to space where you can experiment with new content material, concepts, and formats. Plus, it’s a great way to validate new and never-done-before content ideas.
Considering that most of your membership site content will be hosted behind a secure paywall, you don’t have to worry about creating ‘search engine friendly’ content. This means you’ll have more freedom to experiment with new types of content and formats.
For instance, you can try out different durations for videos or write longer (or shorter) articles than you normally would. Or you might consider publishing a mix of content such as images and audio files, short mobile videos, infographics, or even host live seminars.
Figure out what works best for your target audience using tools (such as polls) to find out what they like and dislike and track user metrics to see what interests them the most. Your members might not be interested in some of the content you create but be hesitant to express it. However, anonymous polls and surveys can help you accurately gauge interest.
You can also experiment with new ideas in the same way. So, for example, if you want to validate the market for new topics you want to share with readers or new skills that you wish to teach, all you have to do is publish a few blog posts or organize a webinar about it for your members and see how they respond. Similarly, you can offer add-on content for courses on your membership site, host a live chat after conducting a class, publish downloadable resources, or organize private classes or one-on-one sessions.
Soliciting feedback from your site members doesn’t only help you mine ideas for upcoming content, but also improves user engagement and gets you free word-of-mouth promotion. By interacting with your members in the content creation phase, you’ll create a sense of community among them which will encourage them to promote your membership site to others.
Organize masterclasses
People register for your membership site because of their interest in the topics you’re covering and teaching which goes beyond taking your classes or reading your blog. You can offer masterclasses to students who want a more hands-on learning experience when developing new skills.
This can be done by taking a deeper look into your existing lessons, finding areas in your skills that can benefit from more explanation and delving into areas that are not directly related to your original course.
A one-time masterclass allows your members to get additional value for their paid membership and helps you explore new areas of your industry and create content that resonates with your keenest learners. Gauge the response of your students to find what they like and use this information every step of the way to offer great content in your upcoming courses.
Gather feedback
One major benefit of owning a membership site is that your students have quick access to the course instructor (i.e., you!). By frequently communicating with your members, you make them feel valued which boosts their loyalty. Organizing regular live chats with your members, for example, can help you gather useful feedback and connect with them easily.
Alternatively, if you want a less formal way to facilitate discussions among your site members, you can create community forums or discussion boards. This allows you to monitor conversations and post comments in a community setting instead of one-on-one.
By interacting with your members, you’ll be able to keep discussion boards and other user-generated content sections active. It’s important to keep in mind that user-generated content is just as important for your online membership website as the content you publish.
Successful membership sites bring individuals together by facilitating discussions. These conversations will be useful for potential new members on your site. In addition to this, it can help you gather feedback from active members and come up with new content ideas for your membership site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a membership site?
A: A membership site is a website that offers exclusive content and services to its paying members, usually through a subscription model.
Q: How do I create a membership site in 2020?
A: There are several ways to create a membership site in 2020. One option is to use a membership website builder, such as WordPress with membership plugins, or specialized website builders that focus on membership sites.
Q: What are the best membership website builders?
A: Some of the best membership website builders include WordPress with plugins like MemberPress or WooCommerce Memberships, Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, and ClickFunnels.
Q: Can you give me some examples of successful membership websites?
A: Sure! Some examples of successful membership websites include Netflix, LinkedIn Premium, Spotify Premium, Amazon Prime, and Adobe Creative Cloud.
Q: What type of content can I offer on a membership site?
A: You can offer a variety of content on a membership site, such as online courses, exclusive articles, tutorials, videos, podcasts, webinars, downloadable resources, and community forums.
Q: How do I start a membership site?
A: To start a membership site, you will need to create a membership model, choose a website builder or platform, set up different membership levels, gate your content, and promote your site to attract members.
Q: How can I monetize my membership site?
A: You can monetize your membership site by charging a monthly or yearly subscription fee, offering premium content or features at higher membership levels, selling products or services to your members, or using affiliate marketing.
Q: What is the difference between a membership site and a subscription website?
A: A membership site is a type of subscription website that offers exclusive content or services to its members. However, not all subscription websites are membership sites as they may offer access to content without exclusivity.
Q: What are the key elements to create a successful membership site?
A: Some key elements to create a successful membership site include providing valuable and high-quality content, offering a seamless user experience, engaging with your members, regularly updating your content, and continuously improving your site based on member feedback.
Q: How can a membership site benefit my business?
A: A membership site can benefit your business by providing a recurring revenue stream, building a community around your brand or niche, establishing yourself as an authority, fostering customer loyalty, and allowing you to scale your business by reaching a larger audience.
Conclusion
The content creation process can be made easier by using tools and strategies that help you connect with your members, mine new lesson ideas, and gather useful feedback.
Let’s quickly recap some of the key points we covered:
- Posting a content calendar enables you to create a publishing schedule for yourself and gives your site members a good idea of what they can expect to receive by signing up for your membership program.
- Repurposing old content by updating it and converting it to different content types is a great way to generate revenue from the same material over and over again.
- Experimenting with new ideas helps you determine what works best for your site’s members.
- Hosting a masterclass can help your students learn about your field beyond the scope of the original course.
- You can host live chats or create discussion boards to facilitate member discussions and use their conversations to come up with new ideas for future lessons.
Do you have any tips for creating content of your own that you’d like to share with other membership site owners? Let us know by commenting below!
