23 replies
Can any experienced membership site owners share best practices to get members preferably paying members to a membership site.

Preferably free methods or ways on the the very cheap.

I have a personal development site i'm about to launch. Plan to have a fee version and a low cost paid upgraded version of the site to make it affordable to the masses.

Looking for proven targeted traffic strategies that may work in the life coaching personal development market.

I have done a ton of Google searches and it seems everybody wants to sell something these days. I get that knowledge is also worth money, But the challenge with so much IM out there it seems many times you pay for something that is packed with basic stuff and no real meat and this can add up and also waste a lot of time.

This is a passion project for me. While it needs to yield an income I am serious about making this work and truly enjoy coaching and watching people grow.

Feel free to continue use this thread for sharing FREE and inexpensive ways of Gaining Members for a membership site

Please share your thoughts and I thank all of you in advance...!
#grow #members
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    Sure, I can give you some ideas.

    If we're talking free traffic platforms:

    - Forums
    - FB
    - G+
    - YT
    - Daily Motion
    - SEO
    - Guest Blogging

    Overall, your best bet is to have great content inside your membership site. People talk and that word of mouth brings new members; and, of course, word of mouth is free.

    GRM
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    I Coach: Learn More | My Latest WF Thread: Dead Domains/ Passive Traffic

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  • before suggest anything, want to know what the site about..
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Burritt
    Banned
    1. Do youtube videos where you answer specific questions people have in the per dev niche.

    Give people 30-60 sec tastes of how to give helpful answers to common questions.
    Each video should link back to your site, both in yt description, and also at the end of the video itself.

    2. Do short ebooks or pdf reports that answer common questions too. Offer them for free with email optin. You can do a yt video discussing overview of each of these reports too. And link to the specific page on your site where they can optin for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    Thanks for all the feedback. Keep it coming and also lets make this a thread for everyone to share and learn by...!
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    Zorro.......
    Passive Income
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  • Profile picture of the author avalon2013
    Try to set up an affiliate program, let other webmasters do the job for you for some % of an income!
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    • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
      Originally Posted by avalon2013 View Post

      Try to set up an affiliate program, let other webmasters do the job for you for some % of an income!
      This is a good suggestion, but it comes with severe headaches. In theory it's excellent, but in practice you open yourself up to a lot of extra headaches and work. The trick is to get good, trustworthy affiliates. Unfortunately, these are hard to come by 100% of the time. Certainly a suggestion the OP should consider, though.

      GRM
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      I Coach: Learn More | My Latest WF Thread: Dead Domains/ Passive Traffic

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  • Profile picture of the author KingServers01
    Could you elaborate more about your website? That will help everybody here to provide you with appropriate solution which can provide you with results needed.
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  • Profile picture of the author JensSteyaert
    Having affiliates promote your site would be the best traffic method.

    Promoting your own product is one thing, but having other people recommend it to their audience is much better imo.
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    The website as I mentioned will be a personal development website to help people grow different parts of their lives.

    There will be a free portion that will provide value. Paid portion will allow members to share some information in a community setting similar to what we have here in this forum. But I think the format of Q/A will be a little nicer imo for learning.

    There will also be some video lessons I intend to have on a weekly bases. Part of me is thinking weekly for the first year then just continue to build other types of value that is added monthly. That will be 25 lessons if I go that route.

    I get the pros and cons in affiliate marketing. But I also understand it only takes a few super affiliates to have your game running strong. So I have already thought about this being part of my strategy. The challenge I for affiliate marketing short term are the following:

    My initial plan:

    Site is free to join with an upgrade to the better features I mentioned of $29.95 to join and $4.95 month after. Reason I have the $29.95 as sigh-up is to try and attract the affiliates to want to promote as well as cover some of the promotions I do my self. Have not configured yet but think S2 will support upfront payment then different payment for monthly.

    I would be looking to do a 50% split on both the sign up and the residual monthly. The challenge I know that is not a lot per sale but it can add up. I think personally my content will also get stronger and stronger as time continues making for a better retention rate. As I mentioned earlier in my post. I want to make money so I can grow but this is a passion project for me. I want the average Joe to be able to afford and make change in their lives affordable to the masses.

    This is a highly competitive industry I know. Have researched the top players. Most of them have been around for many years. Then there are thousands and thousands of average Joe personal development sites online. Marketing to them to be an affiliate not sure that will work.

    I do know having an affiliate program is something I plan. Not at launch however, So I need short-term traffic ideas to get member's then hopefully have the affiliate program in place within a month after I launch and work any bugs out.

    Wordpress is my CMS framerwork
    S2 Member is the membership plugin
    Idevaffiliate will be the affiliate software
    hybrid-connect will be used for the lead forms to build a list
    mailpoet will be used for the newsletters
    Send Grid will be SMTP backbone
    Paypal will be used for collecting payments with pro version of S2 Members

    I am still playing with integrating all the tech stuff and its taking a great deal of time even know I am experienced web guy. But been out of the game for a while and recognize times have changed need more knowledge. Hoping to be done this within the week. Then need to set my content in place.
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    Zorro.......
    Passive Income
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  • Profile picture of the author Kinga
    Please share more widely passion and knowledge of you, I appreciate the sharing of individual to community, what do you think about the content marketing, or a small competition to create buzz.
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    Does anyone have what they would consider to be a Golden Nugget to share?
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    Zorro.......
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  • Profile picture of the author Andreas Quintana
    I think the best golden nugget has already been shared with you

    You should set your product up with a large affiliate network, such as Warrior+ or JVZOO.
    The latter even has a new feature to boost your product to the marketplace for enhanced visibility. This way you will get more affiliates to promote your membership product.

    On top of that, affiliates love to promote recurring income products
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    Andreas,

    Thanks can't blame me for asking for more,,lol

    Anyway can you and any others tell me your opinions on my price structure I listed above and how that how that may work for conversions as well as the attraction level to an affiliates $29.95 to join and $4.95 month after.

    Also do you know if Warrior+ or JVZOO will work with S2 Member and/or Idevaffiliate?
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    Zorro.......
    Passive Income
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    Matty can you contact me. Looks like I do not have enough posts to send a pm to you.
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    Zorro.......
    Passive Income
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    You could *sell* them into it. Let's say you sell a $19 ebook. As a bonus, you can give people a 30-day free trial to your membership site where they will get a "treasure trove" of useful information that can help them out. Then let them know after the 30 day trial is up, they will be billed $19/month for as long as they stay in the membership.

    Shady? I dont know... if your prospects can't read the easily legible fine print then it's their fault.
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    Randall,

    Thanks for the feedback.

    Perhaps there is a hybrid to what you suggested to keep it clean and clear and totally legit.
    $29.95 first month to join and only $4.95 every month after.
    Joining Today Bonus Includes 3 Free eBooks a $60 Value.

    This may help with conversions. However keep in mind the key is still getting the targeted traffic that have the possibility of becoming those paying members.

    By all means thanks to everyone helping make suggestions and please by all means keep it coming and hopefully I can find some more Golden Nuggets..!
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    Zorro.......
    Passive Income
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  • Profile picture of the author yakim1
    The most powerful strategy for of getting traffic is Joint Ventures. Joint Ventures gives you a powerful form of leverage that allows you access to other peoples circles of influence. An affiliate program is one form of a joint venture but you can have JV partners that are paid a percent the net profit instead of the gross sale.

    An affiliate program software would be required or a processing service like JVZoo. JVZoo allows you to pay affiliates and partners.

    The main idea is that you are only one person and your circle of influence is limited. But when you can leverage other people's circles of influence you can exponentially grow your business.

    I hope this is helpful,
    Steve Yakim
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    yakim1,

    Thanks for the feedback. Yes I know a little about JV's but have not every really leveraged this. Can you expand into maybe a little more detail about how to find the niche JV partners in my area and possibly how you would approach. Do you have any personal experience at this?

    Also based on my low pricing do you think this ads enough value for a JV. I think it would if they have enough targeted potential members that could convert.
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    Zorro.......
    Passive Income
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    • Profile picture of the author yakim1
      Originally Posted by zorro65 View Post

      yakim1,

      Thanks for the feedback. Yes I know a little about JV's but have not every really leveraged this. Can you expand into maybe a little more detail about how to find the niche JV partners in my area and possibly how you would approach. Do you have any personal experience at this?

      Also based on my low pricing do you think this ads enough value for a JV. I think it would if they have enough targeted potential members that could convert.
      What is Leverage? -- Leverage is what helps you get bigger results with the least amount of effort in the shortest amount of time.

      How to find JV Partners in your niche...

      1. Tap into your existing network. Your subscribers, customers and site visitors (even if they are few) should be the first contacts you make in recruiting affiliates for your program.

      2. Submit your program to affiliate directories. You'll want to get your program listed in as many of the affiliate program directories as possible.

      3. Use an affiliate program announcement service. If you have the budget to support it, an easy way to speed up the affiliate program submission process is to use an affiliate program announcement service to make the submissions on your behalf.

      4. Post to an affiliate program announcement forum. There are affiliate program forums where you can "announce" your affiliate program for all visiting affiliates to see.

      5. Search ezine article directories. You'll find that ezine article writers can be great affiliates because usually they are marketers. That's the primary reason why people write and distribute ezine articles.

      6. Look in blog directories for active bloggers. Look for active bloggers who have blogs related to your product topic and approach them for potential affiliate partnership.

      7. Attend conferences to make personal contact. You'll find that some of your best affiliates come from personal introductions at these conferences.

      8. Interact at affiliate marketing forums. There are dozens of affiliate marketing forums - many of them with a lot of traffic - where you can interact

      9. Join available partner networks. One I can think of right off the top of my head is JVNotifyPro.com.

      10. Buy advertisements in affiliate newsletters. Look for high quality affiliate newsletters (Ex. AssociatePrograms.com) and purchase classified ads (and/or solo mailings, if available) in these publications to advertise your affiliate program.

      Here are just 10 ideas on where or how you can find affiliates to promote your product. I'm sure I could come up with more ideas.

      Do you have any personal experience at this?

      I have been doing Joint Ventures and building lists since 2002. Just about all my websites have a sales funnel that eventually leads to a membership area.

      Also based on my low pricing do you think this ads enough value for a JV. I think it would if they have enough targeted potential members that could convert.

      I read that your business model was a membership, so I'm assuming that it would have monthly recurring payments to be a member. If that is the case you have a product that with no upsells if only selling for $10 a month could mean it is a $120 product per member per year if your membership is one that has a smaller drop out rate.

      Remember you don't have to be the only person that creates the content for the membership site as you might have a partner or partners that can also contribute. This could be as easy as doing webinars with other people.

      These other marketers would probably like to promote the webinar, so when they do they will also be promoting your membership. This is just one example of getting other people to supply content with out giving away part of the membership other than affiliate payments.

      I hope this has been helpful,
      Steve Yakim
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    Steve Yakim aka yakim1

    Thank you very much for the very long detailed feedback...! Once again thank all of you and please keep it coming.

    3. "affiliate program announcement service" Not sure I have heard of this one before. I am sure I can Google around. Any recommendations on services and why and how much?

    I love #5...!

    6. "Look in blog directories for active bloggers. Look for active bloggers who have blogs related to your product topic and approach them for potential affiliate partnership." Do you have any reconditions how to best find. Is there any kind of search tools out there for this to make it more efficient or just good old Google.

    10. Any idea what one can expect to pay for ad space in newsletter like this? Also can you expand a bit more on the classifieds ad thing.

    "Do I have any personal expertise with this" I been in online space for a while. This is a new project. The old way and most of the way that I gen all my traffic before was all SEO and a lot of it. Then went through a crash with divorce and working on this new venture so I have a strong understanding of IM world and why I am asking so many questions. But I also know so much has changed and I been out of the game for a while and need to retool.

    I have a lot of past experience being a generator for affiliate programs. But have not actually ran my own at any scale yet. As I mentioned above. My last online venture was mostly all SEO organic traffic. Which I plan to still do again but it will take time to build in a completive industry and I need to think outside the SEO box.

    I like the webinar ideas and been thinking something similar already.

    Would love talking with you more possibly even offline.

    Thanks....
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    Zorro.......
    Passive Income
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  • Profile picture of the author davidpham
    Belong to your business, but in this time I think you can focus to social marketing like google+, facebook ... to grow members
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  • Profile picture of the author zorro65
    davidpham,

    Can you or others comment on technics comment on how any strategies social media that you have experience working well on google+, facebook to grow members
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    Zorro.......
    Passive Income
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael J Anthony
    Start creating personal videos on youtube and tell them where they can get more info, etc. Also may want to contact other Personal Development authority site owners who have a list and ask them if they can send out a solo ad for you to your personal squeeze page for a fee, of course.
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