Fixed Term Membership- success stories?

I've created well over 100 Membership sites since 2007, over 90% were fixed term or one off membership sites....My first FTM site was created in 2007, and was a small html with forum FTM....That site had over 1600 members and made me over $150K in 18 months...

I even teamed up with another membership site expert recently on a WSO which made JVZoo Product of the day...My point is, I know membership sites, that's really the ONLY kind of site I build now....

I have 5 little FTM sites that made close to $6K this month alone, so it's a great model...Want MORE income from your FTM? Just "flip" them on FLIPPA for "extra" CA$H...I've made close to $50K on Flippa using this simple formula...You can find my "flips" on Flippa, just search for AzSno....As you can see, most of my "flips" are membership sites....

It's a great model, you just need a "PLAN" and you can do very well with these kinds of sites....

Hope this inspires you to go ahead with your plan of FTM's for 2012....

~AzSno...

I used to run a FTP membership site where all the content (worth of one year) was already created, uploaded and pre-scheduled in advanced.

The average member stick rate was 6 months.

One day I decided to package all the content as a stand-alone info product. I sold it at the 6 times the monthly fee to make sure I was making the same revenue per average user.

Result? conversions as a stand-alone product were significantly better. Thus I don't do FTM anymore. I just sell the same content as stand alone products.

Hmmm I've been looking to set up something similar for business owners who wnat a little more education in the world of digital marketing. I'm sure if I dig around some jay abraham stuff in my "marketing time capsule" i'll get some good information on it.

As for Azno your flippa idea is well and truely appreciated!

Since before 2005 I've set up and owned membership sites for both myself and my clients. Continuity is one part of most successful online (or, for that matter, offline) business models and everyone should seriously build it into their businesses.

Fixed Term Memberships are my favorite model - for many reason.

~ You can launch the site without having all of the content completed (add weekly lessons as you go)
~ Refunds are much lower in my experience.

~ The model forces you to focus on the market and product which seems to have a much better long term stick rate.

~ Attrition is also lower because, done correctly, if a person quits the program, the content flow stops also - it's like quitting half way through a movie - ouch. Most people do not want to start over again so they keep moving forward.

~ FTM's prevent the "join, download all content, request a refund" challenges of traditional membership sites with the most a member can steal with a refund is the month they get their money back from. In most cases, they cancel - keep what they own and have paid for - and are cut off from all additional content in the program. To get the rest of the course - they have to start again, from the beginning. This discourages serial refunder's or content thieves somewhat.

~ FTM's are best for learning memberships, courses, etc. because they allow the process of both learning and implementation to be more controlled by the teacher - YOU. This is a big one for those "brilliant, 'I can go faster and I'm smarter than anyone else, I want it all at one time', know-it-all members" who invest in your memberships.

I've done thousands of members in FTM site sales and every single time we've broken down and let these "exceptional" members pay a one time fee, because of their "obvious superiority" of intellect and skill, pay a one time fee instead of the monthly fee and gave them access to the entire program all at once instead of releasing the lessons in a sequence - like education does - they have failed at the key ingredient of success - implementation.

One of the key reasons Fixed Term Memberships work is because the timed content is delivered by you, the teacher, in the right order, at the right time, so end users can IMPLEMENT the pieces being taught to them.

This might be idealistic - but I've seen this work - and not work when ignored.

~ Another great reason Fixed Term Memberships work is because each week, or whatever your lesson sequence is, you are communicating with your members and students. Can you see the value of being Top of Mind at minimum, once weekly?

This gives you the opportunity to add affiliate links, encourage them to implement, remind members to move forward, let them know you are working with them, etc.

For traditional memberships - this isn't built into the model and many time, owners don't do this. Members, also forget to come back and implement or go to the next lessons.

The "give it to them all at once" model, to me, ends up stuffing members hard drives with more useless, forgotten, unused and in-implemented "shelf-ware" information.

I guess that is not our problem as information publishers - whether users implement or not - but, like Sal stated, if they don't CONSUME and BENEFIT from your programs, they will eventually stop buying it or trusting you to help them, in my experience.

Anyway... I like FTM and it should be PART of your business model.

So should:

Free Content and Articles
Tip Sheets, Checklists, Worksheets, Shortcuts, etc.
Single reports and books (self-liquidating products, low-end lead generation tools)
Courses
Memberships
Coaching and Training (group and individual)
Seminars and Webinars
Programs and Products (physical and digital)
Masterminds

Etc.

All, optional but integral as you grow your business(es).

There is no ONE best business model, but combined, they can help you create one heck of a business.

Nice to see you around, Steve.

This is an awesome thread. Membership sites are definitely going to be my main bread and butter in 2012. Nothing like having your own product which makes it easier to promote, PLUS a recurring income from it.

One cool method is to take an ebook and break it into pieces and start a FTM site that way if you are dealing with a niche you know little about. Don't copy the stuff word for word of course, but put your own spin on it and outline in a way that is teachable. Combine this method with some good niche research and you can make killer sites.

A question to Azsno...I found that your membership site designs are awesome..who did you hired to get that elegant designs? let me know.

Massive point worth testing. I think a lot of people miss the point when it comes to membership sites and think of the residual income rather than testing to see what the market will pay.

Provided you take into acocunt what Steve says about selling other products and being at the top of your customers mind all the time.

Quality thread.