Earning Money Online

September 13, 2011

Membership sites

Filed under: website — Dee @ 6:21 pm

It can be confusing trying to select the right membership site software for your business. Here are several factors you should consider. Fully automated. That’s the whole point of software right? However some membership site software programs are more automated than others. Automation saves time. That saved time can go into providing content for your members. Easy to install and use.

There isn’t any point in acquiring software that takes a brain surgeon to install. Ease of use applies to you, as the membership site owner, as well as the members. Membership site installation varies from you, the owner, doing the installation and maintenance to everything being handled, designed, installed and maintained for you by the software company. Functions.

You get what you pay for but don’t pay for functions you won’t use or select less expensive software that doesn’t have a function you definitely need. There’s a wide variety in membership site software running from simple scripts to full and complete automation with every function imaginable. Support when you need it.

Hopefully it won’t be often, but on the occasions that you need a question answered or a glitch fixed in uploading the software, you should be able to get support quickly. An accessible email address for emergencies and a phone number should be available as well as a support desk and “ticket” system. Scalability.

The membership site software you choose should fit the applications you have now but also in the future. For example: You may not need integration with an affiliate program currently, but it’s a good idea for the future. Adaptability. The software should work with different programs and different levels. If you have tiered membership fees the software should be able to handle those.

If you want to occasionally offer a one time only (OTO) offer the software should accommodate it. Security. Files you upload to the membership site should remain secure. If the software you choose comes with a shopping cart and has the capability to process the credit card charges for the membership fees, security becomes extremely important. Cost effective. All fees should be disclosed before purchase so there aren’t any hidden surprises down the road.

If there are required add ons necessary, it should be easy to determine which ones you need and which ones you don’t, so you can do a true price comparison among the membership site software programs you’re considering. Keep growth in mind when choosing but don’t get distracted by bells and whistles you may not really need.

August 21, 2011

Earning Money Online: 4 Tips for a Better Membership Site

Filed under: Uncategorized — Dee @ 8:28 pm

Membership sites are a great way to earn money online.  Here are 4 tips you should consider for a better membership site.

1. Decide what type of membership site you want and stick to it.  There are 3 basic types of sites:

Community based such as hobbies or special interests.  Members want to belong to talk with other members through forums and discussions and get information that’s relevant to their interests.

Product based such as downloadable scripts, software, reports, and ebooks that are used to enhance income potential.

Educational or content based such as business and career sites.  They provide advice, tools and resources as well as forums and discussions.  Sometimes content based sites will have some aspects of a product based site.  In other words if you’re interested in niche marketing as a way to earn money online, the membership site might provide content for niche websites as well as advice on how to be successful with niche membership.

2.  Provide value.  Your members should feel that they get more value for their money then they expected. Membership rates can range from free to hundreds of dollars a month depending on the type of site and the content.  Free membership sites usually offer an upgrade to a paid membership.  The paid members get access to more areas, more advice, free ebooks, training, and seminars, for example. Many sites offer stepped fees for various levels of service.   As the cost goes up the perceived value should increase more than the cost.

3. Provide quality content.  In the first few months of a membership site the quality is usually of a high standard.  As time goes on there can be a tendency to slough off on the quality and quantity of the content.  Members are paying the same fees but receiving less.  Make sure you have at least the first six months of content prepared and organized.  That way you won’t be caught short.

4. Provide support.  Communicate with your members on a regular basis.  Let them know when new content is posted either through an email or by posting on a community forum.  If there are questions about the membership site itself have contact information that can be found easily.  With some large membership sites it’s nearly mandatory to have a support desk function, if you do, make sure any tickets are answered quickly.

Membership sites can be a lucrative ongoing revenue stream. Follow these tips and yours can be a success.

August 12, 2011

Earning Money Online: 5 Required skills

Filed under: Marketing skills — Tags: — Dee @ 4:32 pm

Social Networking is the darling child of the internet. It has grown gang busters over the last few years with no end in site. Social networking can be used to market products if done carefully. Social networking sites, such as myspace, facebook, youtube, have strict rules about blatant promotion. Other sites such as hubpages, and squidoo are a bit more lenient.

Niche Marketing is used to refine your marketing efforts to a micro niche. Pets is a huge market, birds take that market to a narrower level, and grey African parrots to a niche market. Key word selection is critical in niche marketing as well as picking out niches that get lots of searches but don’t have a lot of competition.

Blogging isn’t probably thought of as a marketing method but it certainly can be. Setting up blogs on free blog hosts takes time but no out of pocket cash. Once the blogs are set up they can be used to promote your products, provide customer information, as backlinks and to drive traffic to your website. Blogging can be an effective tool in your marketing box.

Finding Content good content, to use for your website, article marketing efforts, and blogging is critical for success. You can hire writers, use article directories to choose articles on your subject, write the content yourself or use private label rights material.

Affiliate Marketing isn’t just for the big guys like amazon. Setting up an affiliate marketing program means you pay a commission to those people who have signed up for your affiliate program. If you want to know which companies use affiliates check out commissionjunction

August 8, 2011

Earning Money Online: 3 skills you need

Filed under: Marketing skills — Tags: — Dee @ 4:31 pm

Marketing is comprised of a number of different skills from selecting the market to polishing the copy of  a sales letter to writing and distributing press releases.  How you market your online business depends on your product and potential customers.  Below are several different skills that will boost the success of your online business.

Copywriting is writing ad copy. Sounds simple but it’s a very refined technique. It takes talent and experience to produce copywriting that converts your visitors into buyers.

Press Releases are a newsworthy announcement about your company sent out to the media both online and offline. Most entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking that publicity generated by press releases is free advertising and the press release should be written as an ad. That doesn’t work. Think of why a reporter would consider the information in your press release as interesting to their readers.

Advertising is paid placement of information that promotes your company. You have control of what is included, or not included in advertising. Banner ads, pay per click, paid article submission on blogs are all methods of advertising. And of course there’s always print, TV, and radio advertising.

Don’t overlook printed promotional materials such as business cards, brochures, flyers, and handouts. Professional looking printing can be achieved even on a budget.

August 2, 2011

Earning Money Online: Article Marketing

Filed under: Article marketing — Dee @ 4:29 pm

Article Marketing is used to interest people in visiting your site and to create backlinks. It also establishes you and your business as experts in your field. An article of between 350 to 700 words is written on a subject that is relevant to your business. That article uses keywords that are commonly used to search for the subject. The article is distributed to article directories, newsletters, and authority sites. Your name, company name, and website link are in the bio box of the article and included whenever it’s picked up. You can use ghostwriting services to write the articles if you don’t have time.

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