Building a membership website can be a great way to turn your audience into customers and build a recurring revenue stream. But building a successful membership is the kind of project that takes time and continued effort to get right.
Off the bat, you’ll have to decide on your initial membership model and pricing, what kinds of exclusive content you want to provide, and which membership platform to use for your members-only area.
But you’ll also need to think about finding new members, building your landing pages, setting up email marketing, and ways to scale with additional products as your business grows.
In this article we’ll walk you through:
-
The things you need to build a membership site today
-
How you can set up your membership to drive revenue for your business today and in the future
-
Best practices from Podia customers who are building successful businesses around their membership site
By the end of this guide, you’ll have everything you need to get straight to the end goal: recurring revenue and a healthy online business.
What you need to build a (profitable) membership site
A lot of people who set up membership sites make the mistake of only focusing on the membership and forget to make a game plan for everything else that goes into it.
You can build the best membership in the world, but if no one finds it, you won’t make any sales. That’s why you also need to think about your website, sales pages, email marketing, and ways to get fresh eyes on your work, in addition to your membership content.
The most successful memberships have a system in place to attract people to the membership long term. This runs on autopilot so you can focus on providing value for your members and enjoying the space you’ve created.
After watching thousands of Podia users set up profitable memberships, here’s a quick rundown of what this system could look like:
-
First, an easy one. Set up your membership area with some great starter content and a community area where your members can connect.
-
Next, build a landing page that you can use to promote your membership to your audience and tell people what to expect.
-
Create a free lead magnet about a topic that’s related to your membership. Share the lead magnet with your audience and throughout your business to grow your email list.
-
As people sign up for your email list via your free lead magnet, run an automated sales funnel where you offer helpful advice and pitch your membership to new subscribers.
-
Finally, as your business grows, consistently add new membership content and create additional products like courses, coaching, and packages to increase sales.
If this sounds like a lot, you’re not alone. But here’s another thing we learned from those thousands of successful Podia customers:
You don’t have to get everything perfect from day one.
Instead, focus on choosing a platform that will help you do all of this when the time is right, without having to switch tools or pay for tons of integrations. (We obviously throw our hand up for that! You can start your 30-day free trial here.)
That way you can experiment and adapt as your business and audience grow, and you won’t be limited in what you can make.
Here’s how to set everything up.
Setting up your membership site and content area
The first thing to do is to set up your actual membership product, including your first few pieces of content. What you make depends on the kind of membership you’re building — some are more content heavy while others are more community focused — but the main thing is that new members should have at least a few things ready for them when they join.
Start by adding 2–3 pieces of content or resources to your membership. These can be courses, downloads, templates, webinars, discussion prompts, or upcoming calendar events that your members get access to.
If you want there to be an interactive community element, seed your community with prompts and insights so newcomers have things to engage with. An “introduce yourself” thread (with your own intro!) is a great place to start.
To get some ideas for your membership, take a look at how these two businesses format their programs:
The Marketing Club membership by Jen and Brittany is geared towards business owners who want help with digital marketing and social media. It includes weekly accountability work sessions, live digital marketing workshops, a monthly content planning party, and quarterly marketing bootcamps.
Members also get access to Jen and Brittany if they have questions and a community of fellow entrepreneurs for collaboration and networking.
The Legalmiga Library by Taylor M. Tieman, Esq. also has a membership element, but this one focuses more on content. When a small business owner signs up, they get access to a library of resources, workshops, contract templates, and self-study courses for the duration of their membership.
Whether you decide to lean more toward interactive events or more toward content and resources in your membership, you should also think about how often you’ll add more material, and what your next few posts might be.
You don’t have to make everything just yet, but plan at least the next month of content so you aren’t in a scramble once your membership goes live.
After you’ve added your membership content to your platform of choice, you also need to add your plans and pricing.
To keep it simple, start with just one tier with a monthly or annual payment option. As you go, you can add more tiers with different types of exclusive content if it makes sense to do so.
Create a landing page to convert visitors into customers
Next, your membership needs a sales page. This landing page is likely the first place people will really get the low down on your product, so use the space to tell them what’s included and what they’ll get out of it.
A few things to include on your landing page:
-
A detailed breakdown of what’s included in your membership, and how often new content is added
-
A short about you section so that visitors can learn about who you are and what you do
-
Testimonials from previous customers (If you don’t have this for launch, ask your first few members to share their feedback and add it to your page later)
-
FAQs to address common concerns and give more information
-
If your offer is time-sensitive, you can also embed countdown timers or create seat limits to drive urgency
To get some ideas for your landing page, check out this one by Andrew Lane.
This page is for a 30-day sprint, and he includes his personal background overcoming common issues his target audience is facing, a detailed description of where they’ll be after the sprint, and lots of past client reviews. He’s also embedded a countdown timer in the page to drive urgency.
Build a sales funnel to reach new members on autopilot
You’ve got your membership and your sales page to promote it, so now let’s connect those pieces with your audience. You can do this through an automated sales funnel, and if you set it up right, this could bring you new members long into the future.
First, create a free lead magnet or resource that you give away in exchange for an email sign up. This can be something like an ebook, checklist, workshop, or quick training video, and you can see a dozen more lead magnet ideas in this article.
To keep things simple, you can even share one piece of content that’s included in your membership to show people what to expect, like a preview. Simple and quick is key here, because when someone opts-in to your freebie, you’ll also automatically get them on your email list.
Then you can run an automated email sequence to nurture that relationship and point people toward your paid membership. Here are some ideas for what you can include, spaced out over a few days so you stay top of mind.
-
Day 0: Welcome new subscribers to your business and remind them where they can access their free resource.
-
Day 1: Share some information about you and the business, including how you got started and your experience overcoming any pain points they might also be experiencing.
-
Day 2: Share a helpful tip, resource, or blog post to give them a quick win.
-
Day 3: Send readers a soft pitch for your membership, letting them know what is included and what other people are saying about it.
-
Day 4: Share another helpful tip, resource, or blog post to continue building trust.
-
Day 5: Give your full sales pitch for joining the membership. (Hint: You can always use the copy from your sales page as a starting point.)
-
Day 10: A few days later, share a reminder only with people who haven’t signed up yet. You can share a coupon or bonus offer if you want to sweeten the deal. (A shameless plug: Podia keeps track of who has what product for you so you can easily message the right people.)
If they don’t purchase after your automated intro sequence, no stress. You’ve still got this person on your email list, and you can continue to share newsletters and other product updates as your business grows. And the more people you have on your list, the more potential customers you’ll have to build your membership.
And speaking of getting more people on your list, don’t forget to share your lead magnet or newsletter sign-up form anywhere you have an audience, like on your social media channels, in your link in bio, in blog posts, and on your website.
Scale with new content and products
Once this is moving, you’ve got a solid foundation to regularly bring new customers to your business. But there are a few more things you can do to scale your membership and keep the revenue flowing.
Add new content to your membership often so it becomes more valuable and makes people want to stay subscribed. Also, you can email people who haven’t purchased your membership whenever you add new stuff as a little self-promo-without-feeling-too-salesy option.
Add more products to your business that complement your membership. Could you make a coaching program, or online courses, or a webinar series around the same topic as your membership? If so, that could be a way to get more sales. Not everyone wants to sign up for a recurring subscription, but they might be interested in a one-time workshop or “pick my brain” session, so don’t leave that money on the table.
Add upsells at checkout. An upsell is a product or service that people can get at a discount, but only if they buy it right away when they’re checking out. This is a great way to increase your total order value for each sale you make. (See how to set up upsells for your membership in this help doc.)
Blog about topics related to your membership. What questions come up in your membership again and again? Write public blog posts that address these issues and then link to your lead magnet or paid membership within the blog post content. The more content you can create for your target audience, the more opportunities you have to get them onto your list and into your full business system.
For instance, Thibaut from Guitar Plug and Play writes great blog posts about learning to play guitar and includes this section at the bottom of each article.
It has three options for going back to the blog, joining the free course, or signing up for a paid masterclass. This is a great way to make sure anyone who lands on his posts also can get on the email list or even make a purchase.
The more great products, blog content, upsells, and membership materials you add, the easier it will be for your ideal customers to find you and enjoy your business.
How to set up a profitable membership site as a solo business owner
To set up a profitable membership site, you’ll need great membership content (obviously), but in order to get more sales with ease, you should also have:
-
A platform that lets you add all kinds of membership content, products, and posts
-
A customizable landing page where you can share information about your program, testimonials, FAQs, and what your members can expect
-
A sales funnel that takes people from free lead magnet, to email list, to automated email campaign, to paid membership on autopilot
-
A plan to scale with new content, more product types, and blogging to reach even more people and increase your total order value
With these in place, you’ll have the freedom and flexibility to grow your business however you like, all while your membership happily chugs along earning you money.
And if you need a place to house your shiny new membership site, give Podia a try.
Podia has your membership, website, blog, email marketing, digital products, and audience data all in one tool, so you don’t have to make a ton of plugins and integrations talk to each other. You can use Podia free for 30 days, so start your profitable membership business today.
