Build A Membership Area With GrooveMember™

Membership Site with GrooveMember™

Running a membership site is a profitable online business, so it has become increasingly popular for good reason. A membership site allows you to monetize your content, but not through advertising revenue. Instead, people pay to access your gated content – which is hosted and organized within a membership site.

Usually, the membership management software to create these types of websites are expensive. They have high monthly fees that can cost hundreds of dollars, and even charge additional transaction fees for each payment. But with GrooveMember™, you can create and sell a full membership area for free – using the no-code tools in GrooveFunnels (recently renamed Groove.CM™).

Simply sign up for your free account!

A membership site can either be added to your existing business, or you can start from scratch and build a loyal community while simultaneously establishing your authority in your domain.

The content in a membership area can include articles, checklists, videos, infographics, resources, webinars, podcasts, and so much more. Essentially, any digital product can be delivered through a site that is protected by a web portal. In this article, we’ll show you the benefits of a membership site and how to create your own one at no cost.

What is a Membership Site?

A membership site is an online business where customers get access to exclusive content for members only. At its core, the membership model is a subscription-based model that lets you charge your audience a once-off, monthly, or annual fee in exchange for access to exclusive content, community, services, or benefits.

Each individual member will have a username and password, which they will enter into a web portal that will grant them access to your membership area (so long as their subscription is active).

Whenever you update your site with new content, your subscribers will get immediate access to it. It is one of the most lucrative and successful ways to grow, engage, and retain members while also saving both time and money on administrative tasks.

If you’re uncertain what a membership site can do for you, think of it in terms of the administrative duties involved in running any in-person club:

  • Register new members
  • Ensure event attendees sign in
  • Process monthly payments
  • Update members’ profiles
  • Grant access to facilities
  • Email members with event invites and monthly newsletters
  • Inform members of relevant resources or materials
  • Act as the contact person when members have questions or need help

A membership site can do all of the above, and more, but online. When members sign up for your membership site, they will enter basic contact information and payment information, which will automatically update in your member database.

In other words, you eliminate the repetitive administrative tasks, as the process is automated and runs in the background, and free yourself up to focus exclusively on creating valuable content. For example, content can include:

  • Written content like blogs or PDFs
  • Online modules and structured courses
  • Live and/or evergreen webinars
  • Perks for members such as exclusive merchandise
  • Community forum for members to interact
  • Worksheets, templates, and swipe files
  • Archive of older content

There are several benefits of creating a membership site, and luckily, with GrooveMember™, you can easily get a site up and running in a matter of minutes. All you need is a product to deliver.

Benefits of Creating a Membership Site

1. Saves time

You’ll significantly reduce the amount of hours spent on data entry and administrative tasks once you deliver your content through a membership site.

The heavy lifting comes in the beginning, when you create and launch your site. From that point forward, the majority of the processes are automated so that you can focus your attention on other aspects of your business.

2. Increases revenue

The financial benefits of creating a membership site is huge. Imagine selling a product, perhaps something that you’re already selling such as an ebook, but then getting paid by the customer over and over again each month for it. This type of online business is generally based on a subscription-based model that lends itself to a steady stream of recurring revenue.

Diversifying your income and creating additional revenue streams is also a smart way to absorb losses elsewhere in your business.

3. Saves costs

When people sign up to your membership site, you automatically get access to all their email addresses for free traffic. This means that you can segment your customers and set up personalized drip campaigns to promote other products or services.

And, depending on which membership builder software you use, you can also drastically reduce your IT-related costs. If you sign up for a free Groove.CM account, you can easily set up a membership site on your own, free of charge – saving hundreds of dollars each month.

4. Enhances customer service

People who pay to access your content will expect a certain level of post-sale customer care and service. With a membership area, you can seamlessly add a live chat or help desk for queries, or create an interactive forum for updates.

Members are also able to access their individual profiles and change their membership plans or payment details with self-service settings.

5. Exponential growth

Membership sites have the potential and capability for exponential levels of growth or scalability, making them one of the most profitable online commerce business models. There are no limits to the number of members you can acquire, and the core operations will be largely unaffected by rapid growth.

6.Create loyal fans

Perhaps unlike selling a one-off product, a customer who becomes a member will actively opt-in to receiving new information from you on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This makes it easier to gain brand loyalty and form a relationship with your audience, which ultimately makes it easier to sell new products or new services to the same people.

Creating a community is a large component of building a membership site.  Members are usually committed to your niche and more likely to be interested in discussions with other members about relevant tools and resources. This information can also serve as an opportunity to observe and get to know your members’ needs and desires.

7. No physical product

Virtually all membership sites provide digital information products. Delivering this information does not require any shipping fees or any inventory to purchase. Once you’ve covered your initial costs for creating the product, you get to keep 100% of the profits.

Managing an inventory of physical products is difficult, and even print-on-demand or dropshipping solutions have their own unique problems. Having a virtual business means that the supply (your content) is always there for your consumer to consume on demand.

How to Create a Membership Site with GrooveMember™

The first, and most important, step when building a membership website is to select the right platform to do so. While there are a vast array of website builders on the market, this requires software that specifically addresses the needs of a membership site. GrooveMember comes with easy-to-use, advanced features that allow you to effortlessly create multiple membership levels, restrict access to products, accept payments, and more.

In addition to the membership builder, you need a domain name. A domain name is the URL web address of your site (for example: groove.cm). You can secure a domain name for less than $10 p/year.

Step One: Plan out your content

If you’re new to this and don’t know what the finished membership site should look like, sign up for free trials on other membership sites and get some inspiration for the vision of your site.

By planning out what your site will encompass, you can get your thoughts written down and get the details right. Building out your content without any plan will lead to wasted time and effort. Use these five questions to guide your planning:

  • Who is it for?
  • What does it do?
  • How will it be monetized?
  • Why should people become members?
  • Where will people learn about it?

Step Two: Select a budget-friendly, “no-code” membership builder

There’s an abundance of tools on the market, but none can compete with GrooveMember™ when it comes to building your membership site. By simply using the intuitive builder, you’re able to create, customize, and publish your site without having to code or struggle with add-ons and plugins.

This means, if you’re a “non-techy” person who wants to get started on their membership site, even on the tightest budget, you can sign up for a free Groove.CM™ account and start hosting digital products, online courses, and membership sites.

  • Create mobile-responsive membership sites with various tiers and content access,
  • Give free and paid access to your content in a password protected members area,
  • Schedule an automated drip to send out content on select dates, and
  • Create a membership site and register up to 100 members on the free plan.

Step Three: Build-in GrooveMember™

Now it’s time to get building! With a seamless user interface and pre-made templates, you can get your first membership area up and running in a matter of minutes. Of course, you can always tweak and customize your pages to match your brand.

From your Groove.CM dashboard:

  • Go to Apps and navigate to GrooveMember
  • Click “Content Memberships” > “New membership”
  • Follow the step-by-step setup wizard

Once you’re inside the content builder, it’s as simple as click and drag. You can use the left sidebar to easily add and edit categories or subcategories.
For a step-by-step tutorial, you can watch this YouTube video.

How to Get People To Join Your Membership Site

Method 1: Offer a free trial

Naturally, people will be less reluctant to first try something for free before actually paying for it. Set up a payment option that allows new subscribers a trial period, after which they are automatically billed and their paid membership begins (unless they cancel before the end of the trial period).

Method 2: Offer a free membership level

The best way to get traffic to your membership site is to create a free membership site. The sign-up process should be convenient and the content should be of high-quality value.

By creating different membership tiers, you can set up a membership site that grants access to certain information, depending on membership status, and also denies access to paid-for content. Not only does this allow you to offer different membership levels and charge different amounts accordingly, this serves as an enticing teaser for the lower tier members – and hopefully persuade them to upgrade.

***

When you’re an online entrepreneur with a membership site, your overarching goal should be to deliver accurate and valuable information in exchange for a membership subscription – free or paid. Once a customer is let down, they will seek that information elsewhere. Conversely, those who can trust you to deliver as promised will continue paying to access your content.

Building a membership site is a profitable business model, and (together with the compounded benefits) it gives you the freedom to grow your business from anywhere in the world.

How to Contact Groove Support

Go to www.groovesupport.net and select from the following options:

  • Search the self-help articles in the knowledge base,
  • Select the live chat option in the bottom-right corner, or
  • Create a ticket in the top-right corner.

Or search the official Groove.CM Facebook group.