Membership Sites

625: Recurring Passive Income from Membership Sites: Get Out Of Idea Mode, Let Your Customers Vote Using Their Wallets, and Milestone Your Way to Internet Marketing Success

If you've ever thought about making money from a membership site, you'll want to listen in as Robert discusses what you need to do to keep things simple, hit real goals, and get out of idea mode so you can start making money. (Thanks for write-in questions from Howard Hopgood, Julie Robitaille, Vernon Jeter and Joe Donnalley).

• Burnout -> better goals
• Follow through -> accountability
• Progress -> take a focused 20 minutes to knock out the first step
• Motivation -> people, milestones, results
• Clarity -> journaling

Quotes:                                                                                                                                   

“Motivation comes and goes, and you don't need it to take action. It's nice, though, if you have it. The way to get your motivation back is to be around people who interest you.” – Robert Plank

“Shut out the distractions, shut out all the millions of choices, because unless you do, you're going to be trapped in that bubble of mediocrity.” - Robert Plank

“If you're burned out, it means you need to have better goals. If you lack follow-through, it means you need accountability.” - Robert Plank

Takeaways:

04:40 Start your membership site by solving one specific problem for your target audience, not trying to solve everything at once.

12:15 Focus on creating a simple, low-ticket product first and prove its concept before adding complex features or increasing price.

22:30 Your motivation doesn't need to be constant; commit to taking small actions even when you don't feel excited about the task.

31:20 Let your customers guide your product development by listening to their questions and feedback.

38:50 Success isn't about a massive launch, but about consistent small steps and gradually improving your offering.

Join Membership Cube to Create Your Passive Income Site Today

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528: Turn Your Passion Into Profit, Launch, and Repeat with Course Creator Jacques Hopkins

Jacques Hopkins is the creator of PianoIn21Days.com where he sells an online piano course that helps people learn piano in a fast and fun way. Piano In 21 Days is now a fully automated business so He's also The Online Course Guy where he helps others turn their hobby into an online course like he did. He tells us about how he got started with online courses and now consults others who want to create and launch an online course.

Quotes:                                                                                                                                   

“I failed multiple times, pretty miserably. It wasn't until I really honed in and focused on one of the things I was most passionate about that I became truly successful.” – Jacques Hopkins

“The most important thing is not just to have a page that says ‘buy now,’ but to actually train them, show them some things, and talk about a common problem and how you can help solve it.” - Jacques Hopkins

“The fact that I can have an impact on people all over the world is just an incredible feeling.” - Jacques Hopkins

Takeaways:

01:59 Turn your hobby into a profitable online business by creating a course that solves real problems for people.

02:42 Use YouTube as a free platform to test market interest and build an email list before fully developing your course.

17:25 Create a launch strategy that builds trust and rapport with potential customers before asking them to buy.

18:09 Outsource business tasks gradually, keeping yourself as the face of the brand while documenting processes for smooth transitions.

26:58 Focus on genuinely helping customers succeed rather than just making money, which leads to greater business success.

Resources

• Piano in 21 Days (Website)
• The Online Course Guy (Official Site)
• Jacque Hopkins (LinkedIn)

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449: Create Passive Income Membership Sites for Your Online Business

Quotes:                                                                                                                                   

“If someone joins a course but doesn't log in and use it, and you don't give them a reason to and they're not motivated, they're not going to use your stuff.” – Robert Plank

“Find the overlap between what people are asking for and paying money for, and something you can deliver in a step-by-step, solvable, and complete format.” – Robert Plank

“Big dreams and goals are wonderful, but what's more important is hitting achievable milestones so you know your membership site is headed in the right direction.” – Robert Plank

Takeaways:

04:40 Creating a membership site isn't about complex packages or endless tips, but solving a specific problem people will pay to fix.

07:22 Design your membership site modules to give members a quick win in the first session, with clear, actionable results they can implement immediately.

12:15 Don't let technical details or perfect setup prevent you from launching your membership site - start simple and improve as you go.

16:30 Build your membership sites one at a time, focusing on making money with each project before expanding to multiple sites.

19:20 Your online business becomes more exciting and sustainable when you create sites that generate real income and provide genuine value.

Listen in to our episode to discover what you need to know about creating your membership site, keeping it simple and profitable. While you're listing, please check out this post on LinkedIn to leave a quick comment.

Leave a Like and Comment on LinkedIn

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304: Don’t Be Forgotten or Passed Over Online, Create a Membership Site Instead

Do you fear being "forgotten" online? What if you put in all this time, money, and energy, and it doesn't lead to making money?

What if, 1.5 years from now, you look back and realize that all the work you've done building an internet presence, putting in the work day-in and day-out, pursuing your dream, all amounted to nothing? (scary)

I'll be completely honest. You SHOULD be afraid of time running out, and going out of business, but (possibly) not for the reason you think...

Worried About Online Competition? You SHOULD Be!

• YouTube users watch over 1 billion hours of video content per day, and according to the Wall Street Journal, that's set to eclipse TV viewership in 2017.
• Over 6,000 books are published PER DAY according to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), (1200 in China and 800 from the U.S. alone -- every single day)
• As of late 2016, 60 million business are actively marketing on Facebook (4 million of them using paid ads)

Are You Worried About Giving Up, Burning Out, or Quitting?

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are 28.8 million small businesses in the United States, and only one-third survive ten years. 82% of businesses fail because of cashflow problems, either not being cashflow-positive or from mis-management.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that: 400,000 new businesses appear every year, but in that same year, 470,000 close up shop!

The good news is: being a lean startup or "one person business" is easier that ever. According to a study performed just a few years ago, 8.6% of the U.S. workforce consists of solopreneurs and is expected to grow to 24 million people by 2018. Compare that to a McDonald's franchise that costs $750,000 in LIQUID assets to start-up, in addition to about $1 million in startup costs and now you're forced to pay up to 12% in gross sales back to that corporate office... no thank you.

And, I'm sure you've experienced those moments of doubt, uncertainty, and panic about what you're doing with this "Internet" stuff.

Are You Worried That Your Internet Business Will Eventually Fail, Leaving You With Nothing To Show But A Lot Of Wasted Effort?

1. I'm sure that you have way more ideas in your head than you have time to implement in just 24 hours every day
2. Chances are, you've started more projects, websites, and membership sites, than you've finished
3. I imagine that, like me, you've seen one or two sites out there and been JEALOUS that they beat you to the market -- and -- probably set something up better than you had imagined
4. It is my hope that you've skipped right past the low-baller stuff like affiliate marketing, CPA, solo ads and banner ads and instead looked to the low-hanging fruit of making money online: membership sites

Now, have you thought about this?

What If, Without A Guide, You Sort Of "Fudge It" And Crank Away From Membership Content?

Again, without anyone to guide you, what if you created a "sales letter" and added some stuff to get people to buy?

What if you only "guessed" about price points, where to get traffic, how to setup drip content, weren't sure about membership software or where to host your site, your design (website theme)? Doesn't that seem like only 1 possible way to go right and about 200 ways to go wrong?

(In the same way you might embark on a cross-country road trip with GPS vs. no map and no direction... how likely is it, with random trial-and-error, that you'll arrive at your destination?)

Can I Make It Simple For You?

First, decide who you are and what you do. What solutions you have to offer. How can you help "me" to get what I want? (With stock trading, real estate, WordPress, etc.)?

Seriously, don't skip this. What will I HAVE at the end of your course and your training? For example, if you teach me how to sell on eBay, I shouldn't end your course with "some ideas" on how to sell on eBay. I should end with actual SOLD ITEMS on eBay! An important distinction.

Setup WordPress (I want to show you that) and install a simple membership plugin (I'll give you Wishlist Member for free too), and take payments with something like PayPal (also free, they just take a very small percentage).

Create something called a sales letter that convinces people to join, and a button where they can join and pay you money.

They pay that money, and create an account in a membership site of yours (even if they made ONE single payment with nothing recurring) to get access to some downloads.

Now, this is important.

Please Avoid "tricks!"

Don't drip content or try to pad stuff, just deliver a simple solution to a simple problem that people have.

Membership sites, including creating content, making a sales letter, getting sales, preventing refunds, and producing evergreen income, is within your grasp, as long as you give yourself permission to finish what you start.

Look, I realize that these days, you have a ton of things distracting you. But! Here is what you should NOT do if you fear having a failing online business:

• do NOT ignore everyone around you jumping on the membership site, online course, WordPress, passive income bandwagon. You will NOT wait it out! Membership sites and online courses are not fads, anymore than the Internet was a fad, or Facebook was a fad, or PayPal was a fad
• do not run into panic mode and give your content away for free, or run to low-ticket offers, or delete your list and try to sell to a "handful of $5000 clients"... without name recognition, traffic, a huge list, affiliates and JV partners, and other offers, that simply won't work
• do not continue on the path you're going now, hoping that things will stay the same. Imagine if you marketed online in 2017 with only a 2007 knowledge of how things are done? What about a 1997 mindset? You must keep up to date, and membership sites are the answer

Here's What You MUST Do Now:

1. Decide that you'll create a membership site (more specifically, a course) instead of "playing" with blogging (which takes years to pick up), coaching (best way to get a coaching client, hand-holding based on your course), or thinking about it without taking any action
2. Solidify what SOLUTION you could deliver to your people in four simple milestones of 60-90 minutes per milestone

These are just two of the actions you should take if you care about your future, your financial well-being, your legacy, and your family.

It's time for you to stop fearing success, stop fearing membership sites and create passive income (leverage) for yourself in 2017.

Quotes:                                                                                                                                   

“Do not ignore everyone around you jumping on the membership site, online course, WordPress, passive income bandwagon. You will not wait it out.” – Robert Plank

“Membership sites and online courses are not fads—no more than the internet was a fad, or Facebook was a fad, or PayPal was a fad.” – Robert Plank

“It's time for you to stop fearing success, stop fearing the technical aspects of membership sites, and start creating passive income leverage for yourself—right now.” – Robert Plank

Takeaways:

03:20 Online competition is fierce, with millions of businesses fighting for attention across digital platforms.

05:15 Creating a membership site is the smartest path to building sustainable online income.

06:30 Focus on delivering clear, actionable solutions that help customers achieve specific results, not just provide vague ideas.

07:45 Stop waiting and start taking real action on your online business ideas instead of endlessly planning.

08:30 Membership sites and online courses are not temporary trends, but long-term business strategies with proven staying power.

Hop on this path to get started:

Membership Cube: Create Your Membership Site Today

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303: Ten Closely Guarded Membership Site Insights (Breakthroughs) to 10X Your Online Income

Here's what Lance Tamashiro and I have to say about membership sites:

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This is perfect for you if you've been CONFUSED with all the overwhelm/choices when it comes to creating a COMPLETE and PROFITABLE membership site...

Ever heard anyone say: "just use one of these 10 plugins, one of these 10 themes?" And been left more confused when you started? Yeah, me too...

Membership Site Solution

What helps instead: is, first, have a clear plan of action. Use WordPress to host it on YOUR OWN website. We'll give you the theme (design) and plugins to take payments and do everything else.

We include a special tool inside our Membership Cube course that sets it all up in 1-click:
Your theme, plugins, and "framework" for content so you can edit to make it your own...

Worry about the "fancy" stuff later. It's easier to edit crap than air. Don't let yourself get bogged down with unnecessary choices.

Second, keep things simple. Don't get in your own way creating 2 months or 6 months of content out of the gate. What's the point if no one will see it?

Focus on completing that membership site and creating the BARE MINIMUM so that someone could join TODAY. If that means you only have time for a single web page (sales letter) with a one-time payment button for $50, that's something you'll put in place TODAY (a must-have) and improve on a rainy day if and when you feel like it (a nice-to-have).

Create a way for people to buy access first,
because you don't want to wait until the last minute to do that AND you don't know if you'll feel like it later...

Do It Before Your Time Runs Out

Third (and in keeping with having a clear plan and keeping things simple), do it FAST. Chances are you're the most excited about your membership site NOW and, six months from now, if a "membership site" is a burden that you never setup, you'll never finish. Do it NOW while it's still fresh on your mind...

Fourth, only focus on the things that matter (this is called "80/20"). Drip content, how "pretty" your site looks, are NOT things that could double or triple your income, so focus on the low-hanging fruit instead...

Fifth, sell something that solves a real problem, as opposed to what seems "interesting" to you. This alone is HUGE and most of your competition (most) doesn't get this...

• what if you sold access to a membership site about how to knit your own cable knit sweaters? Is that an actually a DESPERATE problem people are willing to pay money for? (I doubt it)
• how about a course on how to flip real estate or lose weight (Yes! People are asking for that, looking for that, and buying that, so you just have to add your own unique spin on it)
• a course about how to get better grades, how to learn to play the tuba, how to save money couponing, how to quit your day job in 9 years... are people really asking for that AND looking to pay money for it?(Probably not)
• on the other hand... drone racing, dating, weight loss (some very specific solution or method), stock market trading... people want those things

Have a Purpose (Don't Just Run Out the Clock)

What's great about having a real purpose, keeping it simple, doing it fast, focusing on what matters, and solving a problem: you can get to the money FASTER because you're not letting a bunch of things get in your way... you have course-correction. It's good to make mistakes in this case, because every mistake leads to more money...

Listen, I started with info-products and membership sites by teaching something super nerdy... computer programming... and was it a super sexy topic? Heck no, it wasn't...

I quickly realized that my buyers were made of up two groups: other nerdy programmers like me who wanted to pick up some new skills (who refunded often and didn't pay all that much)... and...

Actual business owners who had websites and wanted to use my plug-ins and templates to make more money with their online business. People who wanted some simple instructions on how to write copy for web pages, create podcasts, and so on...

The point is: put some stuff out there, see how people use it and adjust your business based on what those HIGH DOLLAR buyers use, and want. Not just what you "guess" will sell...

Do people care about how many years you've been in business, how many hours you put into creating videos or even how many hours of videos total? Not really... they care about the RESULTS that you will give them.

Technical Challenges Shouldn't Stop You

Six, and getting into technical terms here but not too much, membership sites are just "on" or "off." If someone buys, they have access. If they refund, they don't have access. If they pay you money on a payment plan (which you can add later), they get access. If they cancel that payment plan, it sends a signal to your membership site to cut off access. On or off. Simple.

(Also not getting technical, but membership sites allow you to have "levels" which means you can sell multiple products from just one site.)

Seven, everything is un-doable on the internet, and even moreso with membership sites. I know someone who has been "thinking" about creating a membership site for the last 6 years, and still doesn't have one, and I know the exact reason!

The reason: he thinks "the cost of members downloading content" will cost too much. He hasn't made progress on his membership site in 6 years because a problem that does not currently exist (no content AND no members). Don't become another statistic. Stop thinking about it, because most things that you think are problems, are NOT problems. (Your web host does not charge you when people download or watch content).

Eight, bring your students (buyers) from point A to point B (this is an "online course" that you'll sell for $100-$500 per person).

How much does a book cost? 99 cents on Kindle? How about an audio book? 9 dollars on Audible? What about a uDemy course? 20 bucks? Why?

Because, a regular "book" only contains chapters. Lists. Tips. That's "cheap"...

Instead, figure out where your course will END, and what people will HAVE at the end. Not what they'll learn or know, but what they'll have setup...

Then, break it down into four milestones. Example:

END GOAL: podcast is setup with episodes, traffic, and guests
Module 1: create and publish your first podcast episode
Module 2: add music, graphics, and more content
Module 3: rank your podcast
Module 4: promote your podcast with pre-selling, sponsors, and affiliate products

Each "module" is 60-90 minutes with an assignment (we call it a challenge) to make sure your people don't get overloaded with tips and possibilities. Instead, they take action.

Bonus: by having a membership site that has a clear end-goal (light at the end of the tunnel) -- and not useless monthly tips that last forever --

Nine, and speaking of taking action, DON'T create the content first. Don't launch with all the bellsand whistles like extra bonuses and training calls, software, and coaching.

Save that for the next time you promote your offer. That's a bonus you can add in. And, you can wait until you get some initial customers and ask a few of them (1-on-1 and privately) if XYZ bonus that you were thinking of adding would be welcomed. That way you're giving your best buyers what they want, again, instead of guessing... so...

1. Have a clear plan of action (so you know when you've arrived at your goal)
2. Keep it simple
3. Do it fast
4. Focus on what matters (don't spend too much time on upsells or video #20 if no one has joined and watched video #1)
5. Solve a real problem
6. Membership sites are just "on" or "off" (they're a member in good standing or they aren't)
7. Everything is un-doable with membership sites (don't stress out about future technical problems that may or may not happen)
8. Get your buyers from Point A to Point B (milestones)
9. Don't create the content first -- make the membership site first, including the buy button

And... the BEST thing I can tell you today to get up and running with your membership sites:

Ten, don't start with a "monthly forever" site right out of the gate.

It makes a lot more sense (to me) to create one solution that solves one problem. Charge one single payment. They pay, they get access. If they stop paying, they lose access.

That's the best bang for your buck right now. You can add payment plans, upsells, and monthly stuff later. What's important right now is that you create a membership site tonight, so you can get it in place, get that first paying member, make money --

Finally get rewarded for your online efforts (as opposed to continually starting new projects, not finishing, and not seeing any real results)...

Create a membership site. Keep it simple. Our Membership Cube course will get you to do that:

Join Membership Cube Now to Get Everything You Need for Your Membership Site
(in One Place)

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076: Gamification: Make Your Membership Sites Sticky Using WP Notepad and WP Kunaki

Let's talk about "The Grid" you'll have in your membership site:

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What if you taught weight loss? Give me a 5x5 table (or dashboard) where I can choose the meal plan I want to lose weight.

Hypnosis membership site? Let me jump to the exact recording I want to listen to in order to feel good, fall asleep, get focused, etc. Let me choose the exact real estate form in your real estate membership site.

• Catchphrase of the Week: When you copy the airplane for the first time, duplicate the dents, too.
• Question of the Week: What's the One Word That You Own? Drip, clone. Template.
• Quote of the Week: "No focus = overwhelm." -- Dan Blank
• Marketer of the Week: Joe Lavery (put the pressure on your website visitors using scarcity)

Our Membership Cube course shows you how to setup WordPress, a domain name, sales letter, and use Wishlist Member as the "gatekeeper" to manage all your members: let them in once they pay, or kick them out if they cancel/refund.

WP Notepad to provide note-taking areas

• allow members to take private notes under each of your videos each of your modules
• add "completed" checkboxes in every page/post so they can mark off their progress
• add "fill in the blank" forms so they can grab your templates and customize them right in their browser
• add multiple "checkboxes" anywhere in your site so people can complete the tasks you provide to them
• also, spy on those members to see how they're using your site

WP Kunaki to collect addresses

• collect mailing adresses (to dump into DoubleAgentCards, Kunaki, send a book or podcast)
• verify those addresses against a verifying service
• create public or private member directories

TablePress to create the dashboard (free plugin)

• figure out what size of table you want (rows and columns)
• add links to the modules of your site
• rearrange later: add/remove rows or columns, add icons from IconFinder.com

This is all possible due to Membership Cube, which includes your own copy of Wishlist Member, WP Notepad, WP Kunaki, and more.

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049: Continuity Membership Sites (How to Get That $97/Month Passive Income Site Off the Ground and Making Money)

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Having a membership site is the best option for recurring revenue on your products. Say that you have something for sale, usually a course, and you want to know how to get the best "bang for your buck" on monetizing that product.

Join Our Webinar Crusher Program Today

You could write a report or an e-book but there's a few problems with that. A Kindle book might only get you revenues of 99 cents each copy sold. A regular book might sell for $10 but after publishing and other costs, you will only net approximately a $1 on each copy.

If you're lucky, you will make that wonderful $10K but ONLY ONCE and in the meantime, you had to wait for 2 years of making no money on it and the information could be ‘dated' by the time of release.

Besides, who wants to read a book on how to get a podcast or book published or how to get site traffic, etc.? People want answers NOW.

Wouldn't it be more helpful if you showed someone on video how to do it?

If you record a series of videos on how to solve someone's problem, it's easy to justify charging $100-$1000 for that course that will bring them from start to finish.

A Quick Intro on Membership Sites

A membership site is where someone can become a member of yours for free or for payment...

For example, Facebook, Twitter, and Ebay are all membership sites.

Why? Because you sign up once and you have access to that site forever for as often as you want/need.

Netflix is also a membership site. This is one that you pay for.

You can have this membership site that can be free, or someone pays one time for access, or they can pay multiple times.

It doesn't make sense to randomly sell your video/video series all over the internet. It's a lot easier to manage your video content when you put it on to a membership site.

Membership Sites and Payment Options

"I want to have a membership site but I just don't know what I can sell for $100 a month over and over again" is where a lot of people get stuck.

It's not necessarily about someone paying you month after month into infinity.

Let's do a quick exercise: take a piece of paper and write $997. If you sold a $997 package on real estate, what would that contain?

The # of pages and the # of hours of video is just clutter. What you're really talking about is the VALUE of what you're giving them.

What is their end result that is going to justify the $997 program price?

For example, show them how to get their realtor's license, how to flip a property, how to buy and rent a property/become a landlord, etc.

Then you put it into video format so they can go at their own pace.

You can do additional valuable things like offer them milestone assignments, provide them with your "swipe file", provide them with checklists and templates, ship them a printed manual via Lulu (www.lulu.com) and/or give them access to next 6 monthly group calls.

Then, figure out how many of these $997 packages you would have to sell per month to meet your income goals. If you wanted to make $10K per month, that would be 10 sales or 1 every 3 days.

Here's where the fun comes in. If you take that $1000 course and split it into (4) $250 payments or (8) $125 payments, that opens you up to people that have that money in installments but didn't have it one lump sum and that's a cool place because you've just opened the door to a much larger segment of the market, which in turn could result in significantly more than the $10K a month goal.

If you're ever worried about the price that you charge, look at your competitors.

• You don't want to compete on price. You don't want to the Kmart of your niche. You want to be at their price point or slightly higher.
• You want to be in a niche where there are a lot of eager, hungry, wealthy buyers.
• If you haven't done a membership site yet because it's scary, then you don't know what's important and what's not or what's going to work for your part of the market, your ‘niche'.

You don't know what's important until you start doing it.

You need to fail fast, i.e. put out these websites and do them quickly before you get bored or distracted and then you'll figure out which ones work. When you determine your best one, you can concentrate on making improvements, etc.

How to Structure Your Membership Site

You can have a membership site that has only one product/package on it that people join just to get access to that product.

Fixed-Term Sites: where a customer pays one time for the product/package either as a one-time fee or in installments, and when the installments are finished they are done but have access forever.

For a Fixed-Term Membership Site, give people a choice in the sales letter (you can see what a sales letter looks like at MembershipCube.com), which shows people what they're going to get out of your site and lists all the advantages. Then, you use "side by side" buttons for the 2 different payment options.

Make the payment plan option as close to zero % interest as possible. That way, you're taking another obstacle away from them.

These sites generally have very little additional content being generated, with the exception of some Drip Content (see definition below). Some things that you could add would be a series of monthly Q&A calls (maybe 6 month's worth) or software or templates.

If the customer pays all at once, great. If they make installment payments, they get all the drip content up front, but if they stop making payments, then they will of course lose the course as well as the additional software and files.

Continuity Site: where you charge the customer monthly and indefinitely. You can have a membership site with just the one product/package but that also has "drip content."

Drip Content is little tidbits that you post every week or so, such as a new blog post, a new video, bonus files, etc. to keep your members entertained.

Robert's plug-in for producing Drip Content is WP Drip and it also comes free with his program Membership Cube, which is everything you need to know from A to Z on how to start Membership Sites.

One of Robert's Continuity Sites is Double Agent Marketing. It was launched at $17 a month (now it is $47/month) and it includes resale rights (see below) and training materials and courses. There are backlogs of years of resources.

It comes with a starter kit, so even if someone is not ready to participate in Q&A they still get access to all the resources that are on the site. Once someone joins the site, there is a monthly "meet-up" group Q & A call.

In Membership Cube, Robert and Lance show the monthly call that they set up through GoToWebinar and set it up so it's monthly recurring. The link to join the call is in the members area of your continuity site and this is also where members can submit their question(s).

Then they use Camtasia to record the entire session. Once the recording is processed, it can be dropped into the members area of your continuity site.

Resale Rights: this is the Netflix of the internet marketing world. This is allowing someone to re-sell your product, or portions of your product, for a fee. For example, if you sell a course on how to do webinars, you could re-sell the rights to distribute that course for $20 per right and any money the buyer realizes from that is 100% theirs.

Then, if you're running a continuity site, you would want to have several of these "businesses in a box" as resources for your members. They would have paid the $20 to buy just the webinar class, but now you can charge $47 month because you can provide unlimited access to multiple programs.

Continuity Site with a Twist

This is a continuity site, along with the monthly Q&A PLUS a service that they won't want to shut off by cancelling their membership. For example, Webinar Crusher uses this concept. On this membership site, Robert has the "starter kit" which is everything you ever wanted to know about running webinars. Then they have the monthly Q&A session.

AND, it comes with a GoToWebinar account. You end up paying less than if you'd gone to go to webinar and paid them separately for you to have an account. And, for people who want to do webinars, they are NOT going to want this access shut down.

What You Want To Avoid

There are a lot of people who say, "Just make a site that's $5 a month and throw in one piece of content per week. Write an article. Record an audio. Have an interview. And because it's under a $10 payment these people just won't notice it and they'll never cancel." WRONG. There are several problems with this:

The way most payment processors work is that they will charge you a flat amount plus a percentage. For instance, PayPal may be $1 + 7.5% of your $5. If you charge $1000 for something, they might take $10 or $15 out of the fee which is not that noticeable but at $5 you've lost almost half.

Later on, when you want to have an affiliate program or a referral program for your product, who's going to promote you for a measly $1 or $2 which is all the affiliate promoter would be making.

The industry standard is 3-month retention. That's only $15 so why not just charge the $15 and get it over with.

Most credit cards have a 3-year life before expiration. That means the average person has a year and a half remaining on their card before it stops being effective. Then, if you try and make contact again to re-bill them they're likely to just not do it once they realize they've not really been getting anything useful out of your site.

1-4-15-80

• The bottom 80% of your list will buy all your low ticket offers.
• The next higher 15 % will probably buy mid-ticket up to $100 or payment plan
• 4% will buy high ticket
• 1% will probably buy everything

If you're running a $47 or other similarly priced continuity site, you're going to get about 1% of your list to join it. If your list is only 1000K subscribers that's 10 people and if you have a $47 a month site, that's $470 a month just for showing up an hour of your time each month. There aren't many jobs where you can do that.

If that dollar amount is not high enough to meet your goals, you just raise the monthly fee for your continuity site.

Closing Thoughts

Do you have a low-ticket membership site? No? Then set it up.

It's a lot easier if you have no other sites already to have a fixed-payment site.

A great start would be a $100 site. Do you have a high-ticket membership site? No? Then set it up.

Move on to the $1000 site. You can then break that one up into payment plans to appeal to a wider range of customers with different budgets.

Once you have those cranking, set up your continuity site. Create that a Q&A site with the expectation of about 1% of your list joining it. Create a service you can tie in so that your members never want to cancel.

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Membership Site Training, Plugins & Clones Now

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033: Membership Cube 3.0 (The Ultimate Membership Site Plan)

Membership sites! Check out the latest Robert Plank Show to discover:

• the big two things our favorite Platinum student used to jump from 6 figures a year to 6 figures a month (answer: membership sites & webinars)
• the exact tools to set it all up (WordPress, Wishlist Member, Video Player, WP Drip)
• how to get a 4-part or 1-hour course out fast and then organize it with TablePress
• how to stickify and gamify your site using WP Notepad and WP Kunaki (available inside Membership Cube)
• This week's sponsor: Membership Cube (get your entire membership site online and making money) -- check out our rap about membership sites about 11 minutes 20 seconds in, you're going to love it
• What services to use to ensure that membership site stays online: UptimeRobot, Plugin Dashboard, and Backup Creator

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Membership Site Training, Plugins & Clones Now

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006: Setup a Membership Site Today for Recurring Passive Income

Topics covered...

• How to turn the specialized knowledge that you take for granted into a special "system" that others will pay big money for, over and over again, on autopilot
• How to avoid the common mistake of creating a "tips, tricks, and articles" membership site and instead create a 4-part course that gets people from "point A" to "point B"
• The REAL breakthrough when it comes to membership sites (big hint: you probably shouldn't charge your customers forever)
• And more!

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"How to Setup a Membership Site Today" FREE Report

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