THE RIDICULOUSLY EASY WAY TO LAUNCH YOUR MEMBERSHIP SITE {without any stress or overwhelm}

membership membershipsite Jul 26, 2019

Ready to finally launch that membership site you've been thinking about for over a year?

In this post, I'll share what I did to make it stress-free, hands-free but extremely powerful.

Let's get to it!

And before we dive in, I highly grabbing taking my How To Launch Your Membership Site In An Hour so you can simplify your membership tech!! Watch here.

#1 Build A 90 Day Runway

I would say about 75% of humans fall into the actor/writer personality type {learn more from my Hollywood'preneur Quiz here}. And that means they love getting downloads of inspiration...

And acting instantly!

It's vital to give yourself the time + space needed to inject every strategy you can into your launch.

Because launching to crickets can be a huge heartache.

If you can sit down with your calendar + plan out 3 months worth of content, social media posts, livestreams + emails, you have a much greater chance of getting people's attention.

You'll be depositing into that metaphorical online piggy bank before asking for a withdrawal {aka sale}
It will give the FB algorithm time to prioritize your content because people will be reacting to your value-driven posts
You will have time to put some great introductory content into your membership so there is a reason for your new students to stay

I'm the kind of person who likes to work smarter, not harder.

I also love optimizing the heck out of everything so things are mostly one + done.

I have a feeling you might be that way too :)

So, now that you're ready to give your launch a 90 day runway, let's dive into the next step.

And that's the easiest system to use.

If you'd like to skip ahead + get a more intensive education on my systems, click here for the free masterclass.

#2 Use The Most Flawless System

I have tried everything.

Let's just get that out of the way right now.

Teachable, Thinkific, Clickfunnels, Squarespace, Wordpress...

Every single membership hosting platform you could imagine -- I've tried it.

Remember, to host a membership, you'll need these pieces:

A website url
A website host - for some platforms
An email responder
A payment processor
A sales page
A video hosting service
A software like Amazon to store your pdf downloads + workbooks

And here's what frustrated me: {Warning! These are all of my personal, blunt opinions!}

Course Cats through Wordpress - you have to be a literal coder. The themes easily break. It's hard to outline content. It's pricey just to hold on to the theme. You have to have a website host {more cost}. You have to connect to a payment processing system. And an email responder. Spent about $155/mo.
Squarespace - easier to design for sure, but the only way you can really have a "membership" is to password protect your pages. They can process payments + integrate with Mailchimp. Also no website hosting fee. But not a seamless system by any means. Spent about $85/mo.
Thinkific - the designs were so ugly my husband literally took one look + said "nope, delete it". So I didn't try this one for long. If it's that unappealing, it'd be too challenging to keep people's interest even on the sales page! Spent about $105/mo.
Teachable - One of the easier ways to host your membership. You still have to integrate an email responder. But it does cover the payments, sales pages, content, etc. But you'll need a third party video player like YouTube, Vimeo or Wistia. Spent about $105/mo.
Clickfunnels - I was soooo excited to make this move! But, even though I could host emails + not pay for website hosting, the complicated nature of the platform drove me nuts. And I'm techy! Deliverability was crazy low + my members rarely logged in. Plus, my students had to keep separate logins for my membership, courses + programs! No thanks. Spent about $317/mo.
Kajabi - My last + final move. More on this later, but I was able to move my website, membership, affiliate center, email responder + video host to this platform. Spend about $130/mo.

You can see how complicated this can get.

And I'm not trying to scare you at all! I just don't want you to commit to a platform, then get frustrated at its limitations.

Because most people just figure they can deal with it for now + then get really discouraged.

From the list above, you can see that, outside of Clickfunnels, the price range for all of these systems is relatively similar.

But keep in mind that, outside of Kajabi, you're going to be piecing together softwares like BlueHost, Sam Cart, Send Owl + Vimeo.

And, what frustrated me the most was when the moving parts didn't talk to each other...leading to failed launches or members not getting their deliverables. Disaster!

Even if you want to be as "bootstrapped" as possible with your finances, the best shot you have of feeling sane, motivated + stress-free is having an all-in-one software.

And for that, I do recommend Kajabi.

Let's chat about the pricing before we go any further. Right now, you can get the basic plan for $149/mo {if you want my 28 day trial link}.

When I moved to Kajabi, I ditched:

ConvertKit
Sam Cart
Vimeo
BlueHost
SendOwl
Squarespace {where I hosted my podcast}

I absolutely loved checking those expenses off + narrowing down to one platform.

So, ending my rant, that's the software I recommend the most.

Now let's get into automation + production

#3 Automation + Production

Your membership can easily suck away a lot of your time.

But it doesn't have to.

There are some very simple ways you can minimize you or your VA's workload + spend minimal time on content creation.

First -- give your members the ability to manage their own subscription.

For example, I have the feature enabled in Kajabi where my members can cancel their own subscription.

So all they have to do is click inside of their account + cancel.

Kajabi knows to end their subscription at the next billing cycle to revoke their access to The Visibility Lounge.

And, with a few automations, the tag "Visibility Lounge Member" is removed + they get unsubscribed from the email sequence.

That means all I or my assistant have to do is click into the FB community + remove the member there.

{Note: Kajabi does have the ability to host its own community! That means your members can keep their communication with you, like a FB group, on your own platform. I am waiting to move my members to this until they have the ability to livestream within the platform}

No emails, no need for them to hunt around for our support information.

They have the power.

And because they have the power, they usually don't feel as much pressure + stay longer.

Second -- support your members when they join.

You only have a short time to have them feel supported + impressed with you.

And, fortunate for us, we can automate 99% of that process.

Build an amazing email sequence.

Mine usually go 60-90 days.

So, yes, I'm putting in a lot of initial work building the emails + escorting them through the first stage of The Visibility Lounge...

...but I only had to do it once.

Automations took care of the rest!

Of course they get tagged in a welcome post in the community + such, but that's all we have to do manually to on-board each new member!

Third -- decide on your main content delivery.

I am a huge believer in planning ahead so it doesn't suck up any of my brain power.

And, if you're just starting your membership, your students are going to want to know what's coming.

So, sit down with your calendar + plan on a new training to be released either weekly or monthly.

Some memberships always have new content.

Mine is a 4 stage structure, so once I add training's, they fit a piece of the greater puzzle.

Plan your content + give your members a calendar so they can get excited about it!

And, if you're a smart cookie, batch plan + record these training's so you can either schedule out next month's content ahead of time...or even the rest of the year!

Video or livestreaming are great ways to teach. And remember, if you're with Kajabi, you have Wistia built right in. So all you have to do is download the video + upload it within the software.

It will be available right away in HD quality! You pro, you ;)

Fourth -- implement a live support component.

I know, you're already planning content for your membership. Isn't that enough?

No, in today's market of memberships, it's not!

To keep your group alive, engaged + totally digging you, there needs to be a live component.

So whether it's a monthly zoom call, hot seats, office hours or website reviews, you need to make this a priority.

Remember, you're batching your content ahead of time, meaning you're spending maybe 5 hours per month making content.

Then, if you're doing let's say a monthly coaching call, that's about 1 hour.

If you don't start with a VA, you're maybe spending 2-4 hours monthly planning posts or engaging.

Meaning - you're profiting from an exciting, engagement membership where you're only spending max of 10 hours per month.

How's that for an amazing biz structure?

To recap, there are 3 strategic ways you can easily launch your membership site stress free...build a 90 day runway, use the most flawless system + automate/produce.

If you want to know the nitty-gritty of how I put together my membership site with Kajabi, I highly suggest this masterclass I filmed at Kajabi headquarters! I'll teach you how to navigate the platform easily. Plus, you'll get the 10% discount link + a $500 masterclass for free!

Comment below:

What steps will you implement with your membership site?

New around here? I also have the following blogs to help you crush your online + on stage visibility strategy:

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