FL 61 – How to start a membership site for making money online

Membership sites are the best online business choice for predictable and recurring income. Listen in on today's episode to learn how to build and grow your own! Today we are talking about how to set up a membership site and the tools you need to know about so you can successfully make money online. Exciting News! Jeanette, a member of our FYL Community (and on FL55), messaged us recently sharing how she was making enough money with her WordPress membership site to quit her job! We'll cover all the tools you need to host your community. A forum is one of the core pieces that really isn't a complex plugin but gives you a lot of ability and flexibility to organize the conversations, resources and training your members will have access to. With a forum on your website (not a Facebook page or group) the content is under your control not under the control of Facebook. We'll go over some ways to protect your forum, allow people to pay you and how to manage your forum threads and conversations. Don't promise new daily, weekly, or monthly content, simply say there will be Regularly Scheduled Content. (this is critical!) [Tweet "People quit memberships because they stop getting value"] Two critical factors for member retention are community and accessibility to the Expert (you). Although they might come for the education or information they'll stay for the community and ability to get their questions answered. You will learn Why you need a website for your membership The best tools for a membership site Why to Use a Forum Plugin Types of Forum Categories Way to Protect Your Forum Third Party Gateways for Payments Managing Your Forums Content Strategy Procedures for Handling Customer Service Links and resources mentioned in today's show Flip Your Life Community Flipped Lifestyle Podcast 60 Jeanette's website algebra1teachers.com BB Press Paid Membership Pro Imember 360 Paypal Stripe Authorize.net BB Press Notify Canned Responses James Schramko Screw the 9 -5 Flip Your Nine to Five Live Event Enjoy the podcast; we hope it inspires you to explore what's possible for your family! Click here to leave us an iTunes review and subscribe to the show! We may read yours on the air! Can't Miss Moments Each week Jocelyn and I share moments that we might have missed if we had not started our online business. We hope these moments inspire you to see the possibilities and freedom online business could provide for your family. You can connect with S&J on social media too!   Thanks again for listening to the show! If you liked it, make sure you share it with your friends and family! Our goal is to help as many families as possible change their lives through online business. Help us by sharing the show! If you have comments or questions, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post. See y'all next week! Can't listen right now? Read the transcript below! JOCELYN: Hey y'all. On today's podcast, we're going to tell you about how to set up a membership site to make money online. Welcome to the Flipped Lifestyle podcast where life always comes before work. We're your hosts Shane and Jocelyn Sams. Join us, each week, as we teach you how to flip your lifestyle upside-down, by selling stuff online. Are you ready for something different? All right, let's get started. JOCELYN: Hey guys, welcome to this week's show; it's special because I get to start it, yay! SHANE: Jocelyn gets to start the show, that's right. She usually doesn't like to start the show, but we are trying to push her out of her comfort zone a little bit here today. JOCELYN: Exactly. So, "Go introverts!" is all I can say. All right, today we are talking about membership sites and we started out last week by telling you why we originally did not like membership sites, and what changed our mind.