Continuity.
Continuity.
One thing that people are always intimidated by in online business is membership sites. They shy away from doing them because of a few reasons.
First) They feel like starting a membership program is going to be too time consuming and a major commitment. That doesn’t sound fun.
Second) They feel like membership programs require a lot of technical ability to make happen. Questions like “how do I handle the recurring payments?” and “How do I lock the content down?” come to mind.
Third) What do I put in there every month? I don’t have anything new to say that often! Too much pressure!!!
There are other reasons, but those are the big three that I run into.
Listen…
This is the truth. A membership program or some form of continuity is the financial foundation of online business. It’s the basis of how you create sustainable online wealth.
Having that foundational amount of income that is predictable month in and month out is what allows you to take risks, it’s what allows you to not work under so much pressure, and it’s what allows you to take breaks when you burn out.
But how can you make it happen easily? How can you make it happen without a giant time commitment? How do you do it without essentially creating a whole lot more work for yourself?
Well, good continuity programs, in my opinion, have always been about leveraging what you are already doing, so that you don’t create more work for yourself.
I’ll give you an example.
Let’s pretend you are an absolute beginner in the “Make Money Online” space. You haven’t accomplished anything, but you still have something you can leverage.
It’s your experience. You are trying lots of things. You are buying lots of shiny objects and you are consuming a lot of information about “how to make money online.”
You could literally start a “Learn Out Loud/Accountability Club.”
The way that would work is, every month you could jump on a live call and just talk about what you did that month. Everything you tried, what worked, what didn’t work, what direction you are moving with your business, what you have read, new information you have learned.
At the same time you can let members of the club speak and talk about what they are working on and trying to accomplish.
The recording can live inside the members area as content for future club members.
The beauty of a club like this is that you don’t have to be an expert. You are always the expert of your experiences and that is exactly what this club is leveraging.
This is a simple $10 a month club that anyone can do, no matter how new they are.
As you gain more experience in your niche, the club becomes less “learn out loud” and more of a group coaching style club. But the real beauty of this club to me is that it leverages something the newbie is already doing.
That’s the key. That club is only going to take someone an extra hour or two a month to do the live call.
Another example.
Personally, I have ran several membership programs in my time online but the one I am currently running goes like this:
First) I give them a new product every month. That’s easy because I publish a new product every month anyway. I just give it to my membership club first.
Second) I give them a DFY content package every month. Again this is easy, because I have membership with several PLR websites that I can acquire DFY content.
Third) I do a group coaching call every month. This is a call where members can pick my brain and ask me questions about how to move their online businesses forward. I don’t create a presentation or come to the call with pre-existing content to talk about, so I don’t have to prepare. It just leverages my current knowledge.
So if you consider this club, you can see how it doesn’t take me very much time to do and I am severely leveraging work I am already doing or resources I already have access to.
That’s the key with continuity. Leverage work you are already doing.
I believe the low ticket membership program is the backbone of any good online business. Why?
Easy. It’s very predictable. And in the world of supporting yourself and your family from online business, surprises are bad.
I’d rather have a thousand people paying me a dollar a month than one person paying me a thousand dollars a month.
With a thousand people, I can easily predict a percentage will come and go each month, but the bulk will remain. It makes for a very predictable income stream.
As far as the software is concerned there are lots of options out there, from free and simple to expensive and complicated. I think the absolute easiest way to go is a simple paid newsletter.
I think the best way to promote a membership program is to send warm traffic. That means your email list and inside sales funnels of low ticket products.
That’s why I bring up continuity here. I think every good sales funnel has some form of continuity in it. If you want to launch digital products, you need to figure out about the continuity sooner rather than later.
And that’s a great place to end this letter.
I’ll be back with more thoughts on product launching and digital publishing later but for now, think about these concepts I am talking about when it comes to funnels, and I’ll see you next time…
Dominus Owen Markham