All Planning a New Membership content

How Much Does it Cost to Start and Run a Membership Website?

A membership website consists of several moving parts; and in addition to increasing the technical considerations of getting everything working, this also means that the costs of starting and running a membership can really add up.

While a well-run membership will quickly recoup those startup expenses and cover the ongoing operating costs; it helps to know what you need to budget for.

In this article, we’re going to cover the one-off and recurring costs involved in starting and running a membership website.

Are Facebook Groups a Viable Option for Membership Communities in 2022?

Are Facebook groups a viable option for membership communities in 2022?

This is a debate that’s been raging in the membership space for quite some time!

The decision over where your paid community should live is still a big question for many membership owners…

But as is often the case when it comes to memberships, there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ answer.

There are pros and cons to all options. 

It’s not exactly news that we’re not huge fans of using a private Facebook group for your membership community…

We’re sure you’ve heard Mike get on his soapbox about it once or twice! 

But, we aren’t here to tell you that this option definitely isn’t right for your membership.

There’s a lot to be said from both sides of the argument…

And a lot of changes in recent years – both good and bad.

We’re here to give you the facts about both sides so you can make an informed decision based on the kind of membership you want to run.

So let’s go through the pros and cons of using Facebook groups for your membership community… 

How Much Time Does it Take to Run a Membership Site?

How much time does it actually take to run a membership site?

This is probably one of the most common questions we get asked…

And as with many things when it comes to memberships, there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ answer..

Some membership sites can quietly tick away in the background without really needing much attention…

Others, however, need you to work on them pretty much daily.

In general though, membership sites – or at least successful ones at any rate – aren’t really the holy grail of passive income that they’re sometimes portrayed to be.

After all, they do take a lot of work to run!

And your membership should be an ongoing value exchange between you and your members, either through the content you provide them or the community they’re part of.

That is going to need at least some ongoing time involvement on your part…

Checking in and engaging with your community, releasing new content and so on…

But how much time you dedicate to that is entirely up to you…

It could be half an hour a day, 5 hours a day or 8 hours a day.

To help you decide how much time you can, and want to, put into your membership site, let’s take a look at the more time consuming tasks your site might involve…

And some ways that you can minimise the time input needed directly from you.

The Perils of Building Your Membership on Rented Land

Back in October 2021, all Facebook properties went down for five hours…

That meant no Facebook, no Messenger, Instagram, Workplace or WhatsApp… 

And the whole internet erupted into a panic.

While for most it was a minor inconvenience…

For those businesses relying on Facebook groups, social media marketing, or website access through Facebook logins, it was a stressful time.

Some membership owners had no access to their communities…

Members weren’t able to login into their subscription sites using their social accounts…

Scheduled live training sessions were cancelled…

It was a little bit chaotic to say the least! 

The outage itself may have only lasted a matter of hours…

But what it did for me was serve as a reminder of the risks of relying on a third-party platform for building any element of your business.

Or in other words, building your membership on rented land…

How to Choose the Right Topic for Your Membership

Choosing the right topic for your membership is really important…

In fact, it’s fundamental to everything else you do thereafter.

And a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly… 

Because if you get it wrong, then you’re starting your membership with a pretty unstable foundation.

So how do you go about choosing the right topic?

Well, there are four key components to consider when deciding whether or not your idea is the right fit for an online membership…

And this is something we recently explored when creating our brand-new Membership Roadmap course that we’ve just rolled out inside Membership Academy…

Something we’re so excited about that we’ve decided to share a little sneak peak with you… 

This blog post is based on content taken from one of the lessons…

So keep reading for a special preview…

Should I Charge Monthly or Annually for My Membership Site?

Should you charge monthly or annually for your membership site? 

This may sound like a straightforward question…

But if there’s one thing that’s not always simple when it comes to memberships…

Its pricing.

Deciding on what to charge, whether or not to have multiple tiers and a joining fee…

These are just a few things to take into consideration.

Then of course there’s billing frequency.

How regularly you charge your members can impact your sales, member engagement and retention.

Not to mention the implications on your wider business in terms of stability and cashflow.

With all of this to keep in mind, it’s not surprising that the whole process can become overwhelming for some.

But if you’re planning to launch a membership site, pricing is something you need to nail pretty early on in your journey…

And deciding the frequency of payments is a good place to start.

So should you charge monthly or annually? 

How Perceived Value Impacts Your Membership Pricing Strategy

Pricing your membership should be straight forward…

You do your research, decide on a price and you run with it, right?

For some people, yes that’s how it works.

But for others, it’s not that simple…

You see, when it comes to pricing your membership, there are so many different ways to approach it…

And a lot of different factors to consider.

Quite a lot of the time, pricing is downright illogical…

Because so much of it has to do with the perception of the value that your membership delivers…

And that’s not an easy thing to gauge.

So if you’re preparing to launch your membership…

And are struggling to price it…

Here are some important things for you to consider.

Overcoming Perfectionism When Starting a Membership Website

Is your quest to make everything perfect with your membership website holding you back? 

When you’re at the beginning of your journey…

Or maybe even if you’ve been in business for a while…

The need to get everything right…

From features and tech to your content and community…

Can be all consuming.

So much so that it prevents you moving forward altogether.

You become stuck over-analysing, over-thinking and fretting over every little thing.

But it doesn’t need to be this way.

Here’s how to overcome perfectionism when starting a membership website…

When is it The Right Time to Start a Membership Site?

Is now the right time for you to start a membership site?

You might have been thinking about this for a while…

But you’re not sure how or when to start exploring this further…

Or even if it’s a good idea to start one at all!

(Let’s be honest… owning a membership isn’t for everyone.)

The thing is, memberships are a complex business model…

There are a lot of moving parts and things to consider to keep the machine spinning…

And timing is everything. 

Memberships aren’t the type of business you should start on a whim…

The last thing you want is to realize a few months in that you probably should have waited or prepared a bit more…

And once you’re up and running, it’s a lot harder to roll back your plans because you’ve got people counting on you (and paying for their subscription.)

So, to avoid getting into that situation, you’ll want to think about timing first.

So are you ready? 

Let’s take a look at some good indicators that will help you decide…

How We Built Our Audience Before Launching Our Membership

How do you build an audience before you launch your membership?

This is a question every successful membership owner has had to contemplate at one point.

Because doing things the other way around – launching a membership and then trying to find an audience – simply doesn’t work.

When Callie and I decided to launch Membership Academy, we started pretty much from zero…

We had little to no audience and our marketing activity was inconsistent…

Yet we’ve gone on to build a seven figure business that has attracted thousands of members…

So how did we do it? 

Here’s the story of how we built our audience before launching our membership…