How to start a membership site to sell your knowledge

A membership site is a fantastic way to monetize your blog or website. It allows you to charge monthly or yearly fees for access to exclusive content, courses, and community forums. However, setting up a membership site can be expensive if you're not careful.

In this post, we'll share some tips on how you can start planning your membership site and build it on a budget.

1. Choose Your Membership Model

The first step in creating your membership site is to decide what type of membership model you want to use. There are two primary types of membership models: subscription-based and course-based.

With a subscription-based model, members pay a monthly or yearly fee to access your content. This type of model is best suited for bloggers who regularly post new articles, videos, or podcasts.

With a course-based model, members pay a one-time fee to access your course material. This model is best suited for website owners with existing content that they want to turn into an online course.

2. Select Your Platform

The next step is to select the platform you'll use to host your membership site. The two most popular platforms are WordPress and Kajabi.

WordPress is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) that can be used to create any type of website. While it doesn't come with built-in membership functionality, there are plenty of plugins and add-ons you can use to turn WordPress into a powerful membership site builder.

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform designed specifically for building membership sites. It comes with everything you need to launch your site, including templates, hosting, payment processing, and email marketing integrations. Best of all? Kajabi offers a 14-day free trial, so you can try it out before committing to a paid plan.

3. Set Up Your Payment Processing

Once you've chosen your platform and selected your membership model, it's time to set up your payment processing. If you're using WordPress, you'll need to choose a payment processor like PayPal or Stripe and install the appropriate plugin on your site. If you're using Kajabi, payment processing is built into the platform, so you don't need any additional plugins or add-ons.

4. Create Your Content

Now it's time for the fun part: creating your content! If you're using the subscription-based model, start brainstorming the types of content you want to include in your members-only area. For example, will you offer exclusive blog posts? Videos? Podcasts? Courses? Community forums? The sky's the limit! Just make sure whatever content you offer provides value and helps solve your audience's problems so they'll want to keep coming back for more month after month.

If you're using the course-based model, start thinking about how you can repurpose existing content into an online course format. For example, if you have blog posts on a specific topic, consider turning those posts into an email course or video series that members can access all at once instead of waiting for new content each week or month. Not only will this save you time in the long run but it will also give your members instant access to everything they need instead of making them wait for new material regularly.

Wrapping up

Creating a membership site is a great way to monetize your blog or website by charging monthly or yearly fees for exclusive content, courses, and community forums. However, setting up a membership site can become expensive fast. So, as always, be very clear on what you want to achieve with your membership site and what type of content you want to offer before investing any money into it.

At The Creative Website, we have the know-how to build brilliant membership sites either in WordPress or Kajabi. WordPress membership sites are great if you want to save on costs and have more control over your website's look and feel. Kajabi membership sites, on the other hand, provide an all-in-one solution that’s easier to set up but slightly more expensive.

If you need help deciding which platform is right for you or building out your membership site, book a consultation call with the WebDev Momma, and she'll help you make an informed decision on the best platform for your business goals, budget and tech skills.