How to Set Up a Fixed-Term Membership Site

Also, why you need to set up your site in a way that that generates profits on the backend and retains your members.

NOTE: An FTM site is where you deliver content for a predetermined term (such as once weekly for three months, six months or more), and your members pay their fees for that same term. This type of site tends to have a higher retention rate over monthly (ongoing) membership sites, since users see an end (and thus they will stick around to get all the content/training).

Let’s jump in and look at that first step…

Step 1: Choose a Profitable Topic

The success of your site depends on you choosing an in-demand, profitable topic.

Fortunately, this step is easy. You just need to do some market research to find out what topics interest your audience so much that they’re already buying them.

To do this, go to marketplaces such as JVZoo.com, ClickBank.com, Udemy.com and Amazon.com. Search for your niche keywords (such as “weight loss” or “organic gardening”), and then pay attention to the bestsellers. Also, look for topics where there are multiple products on this topic, as that too is a sign of a healthy market.

Secondly, be sure to focus on a niche (and be sure people are buying products in that niche). For example, don’t just pick “weight loss” as your topic. Instead, carve out a smaller piece of that market, such as weight loss using low-carb dieting, or weight loss for women over 40. Use your market research as a guide.

Finally, be sure the topic you pick is a good match for a fixed-term membership site. You’re going to want a topic that can be broken up into lessons that you send out each week for at least three months (that’s a minimum of 12 lessons). These lessons can be a mix of steps, tips, tools (such as checklists, cheat sheets, worksheets, templates, etc.) and ideas.

For example, let’s say you’re going to share information about how to write a sales letter. And you might have lessons that cover topics such as:

• Profiling the market.
• Listing all the benefits of the offer.
• Creating compelling headlines.
• Writing openers that hold attention.
• Crafting bulleted benefit lists.
• Writing a guarantee.
• Using proof to bolster your case.
• Creating a strong call to action.
• Crafting a P.S.
• Raising and handling objections.
• Justifying the price.
• Tips for boosting conversions.

Boom – that’s 12 lessons right there. I’m betting you can come up with at least 12 lesson ideas for your topic too.

So, carry out some market research and pick a niche and topic that are popular and suitable for a fixed-term membership site. Then spend time thinking about potential lesson ideas to be sure this topic is large enough for a FTM site.

Step 2: Plan Your Backend

Now before you start creating lessons, there’s something else you need to do: plan your backend. In other words, what else will you sell to your members?

The reason you need to determine this upfront is because you need to plan content that’s based, in part, on what else you plan to promote. In general, you can plan on promoting one offer per lesson. For best results, promote the same offer across multiple lessons, as this sort of repeat exposure will boost conversions.

Take note that you can promote your own offers (which is recommended) or affiliate offers. You can promote digital products or physical products. You can promote a mix of all these things.

For example, let’s suppose you’re setting up an FTM site on the topic of weight loss. Here are examples of things you might promote on the backend to your members:

• Low-calorie cookbooks.
• Access to a private group to get support.
• Pre-packaged, portion-controlled meals (think Jenny Craig as an example).
• Exercise videos.
• Additional (advanced) information on any topic covered within the membership site, such as advanced nutritional guidelines.
• Information for those who reach their weight loss goals (e.g., information about maintenance and healthy eating going forward).

So, what you want to do first is decide what you’re going to promote. Then you can start planning your content in a way so that each lesson naturally leads to the item you’re going to promote.

NOTE: Because people are paying for your content, you need to provide solutions to their problems. In other words, don’t promise you’ll solve a problem, but instead you promote other products to solve their problems. That’s a quick way to get a lot of refunds.

Instead, offer the content people need to solve their problems. And then promote products that make it even easier, faster, or less expensive. This could take the form of extra information or tools.

For example:

• Your copywriting lessons teach people everything they need to know about writing effective sales copy. Then you can sell swipes and templates on the backend to make the process easier.

• Your dieting membership site shows people how to lose weight. The cookbooks, pre-packaged meals, support forum and more all make the process easier.

• An organic vegetable gardening site teaches people how to grow veggies while avoiding common pests and plant diseases. You can sell organic sprays, gardening tools and more on the backend to make it easier for people to grow their vegetables.

• Your blogging site helps people get a profitable blog up and running. You can sell information on the backend that helps people write better content, faster and easier.

First decide what you want to sell on the backend, and then choose how to structure your content in a way that naturally leads to these paid offers. Remember, the key is for your membership content to solve a problem, and your backend offers should make the process even easier or help people take the next step.

Step 3: Create Your Content

Now it’s time to start creating your content.

NOTE: When I say you’re going to create it, I don’t necessarily mean you (personally). You can outsource this task to a freelance writer. Alternatively, you can use PLR (private label rights) to create your lessons. Then you or a freelance writer can tweak this PLR content to make it more unique.

So, let me share some tips with you for how to construct your lessons…

Focus on One Main Point

Each lesson primarily should focus on one step of the process (or one big idea). Note that you want your students to be able to read the lesson and take action on the lesson before you send the next lesson. So, if you’re sending weekly lessons, then each lesson should take one week or less to complete.

Important: Assume students don’t have much time to devote to taking action. Depending on your audience and what you’re teaching, your students may only have 30 minutes to an hour a day to implement the information.

TIP: Sprinkle “quick wins” throughout your content. These are actionable, high-value tips your audience can apply quickly and see results quickly.

Research Thoroughly

Even if you know a lot about the topic, do research to be sure you’re not overlooking any steps, tips or ideas. You can get ideas by looking at:

• The tables of contents and sales pages of bestselling products in your niche.
• Popular topics in niche blogs.
• Popular topics on social media.
• Popular topics on Quora.com.

You can gather additional talking points by looking at sources such as academic journals (searchable via Google Scholar), quote sites (such as BrainyQuotes.com), research organizations (such as Pew Research), and reputable news sites.

Add Value to Lessons

Depending on your topic, you may add value to your lessons by including:

• Checklists.
• Worksheets.
• Planners/calendars.
• Cheat sheets.
• Mind maps.
• Infographics.
• Advanced information.
• Video clips.
• Illustrations.
• Photos.
• Screenshots.
• Lists.
• Spreadsheets.

And similar items.

For example, if you’re writing about weight loss, you could include:

• A shopping list.
• Meal plans.
• Recipes.
• A weight-loss checklist.
• An exercise planner.
• A calorie calculator.
• A spreadsheet for tracking progress.
• Exercise videos.
• Cooking videos.

Insert an Assignment

People who take action and get good results tend to be satisfied members who’ll stay for the long term. That’s why you’ll want to encourage action, such as by assigning tasks at the end of each lesson.

Now take time to plan your lessons in detail and get at least the first one done. (If you have the time, do as many lessons as time permits – but get at least one done.)

Step 4: Set Up Your Site

At this point, you’ve got all your lessons planned and outlined, and you have at least one or two of them done. (Be sure to continue creating them so you stay well ahead of this task.)

The beauty of a fixed-term membership site is that you don’t need to create all the content to start accepting members. You just need to set up the site, and you can start taking orders.

Let’s get started…

Pick a Domain

Choose a name for your site that’s memorable and brandable, and also gives people an idea of what the site is about. E.G., “The [Your Last Name] Fat-Loss Method.”

You can then purchase a matching .com domain name using a reliable domain registrar such as GoDaddy.com, NameCheap.com or similar. (If your site name is long like the example above, try to choose a shortened version for the domain name so that it’s easier to remember. E.G., “[LastName]Method.com”

Secure Hosting

Choose a reliable webhost that’s separate from your domain registrar. One such example is BlueHost.com.

Select an Autoresponder

You’ll load all your content up to an autoresponder and set it to deliver your lessons on a weekly basis. Good options here include companies such as Aweber.com, MailChimp.com and GetResponse.com.

Get a Payment Processor

If you plan to have an affiliate program (recommended), then choose a platform such as ClickBank.com or JVZoo.com. Otherwise, a payment processor like PayPal works great.

Write Your Sales Letter

If you’re not familiar with how to write good sales copy, then this is a task you may consider outsourcing. Once your letter is done, insert your payment button.

Set Up Your Download Page

This page thanks people for joining and gives them the opt-in form so they can join the list and start receiving content. Their first lesson should arrive immediately after they register (opt in).

Create Bonuses

You can offer bonus products immediately when someone joins, as well as “graduation gifts” and other bonuses sprinkled monthly to help boost retention.

For example, if you have a weight-loss site, you might offer bonuses such as free low-calorie cookbook and access to a support forum.

Convert to PDF

You should convert all your text content into PDFs. Search Google for “PDF converter,” and you’ll find many free options.

Now make a plan for completing these steps (do it yourself or outsource), and then start implementing your plan.

Step 5: Plan Your Retention Strategy

We’ve talked about the topics that are going to matter the most to the success of your site, such as picking a profitable topic, selling related backend offers and more. Now we’re going to look at retention strategies. The more people you have who remain members throughout the duration of the membership, the more money you’ll make.

So, with that in mind, let’s go through some of the top retention strategies for your membership…

Reduce Buyer’s Remorse

As soon as your new members join, they’re going to be second guessing themselves. That’s why your very first email should assure them that they made a great decision, and then remind them of the benefits of the site.

Encourage Content Consumption

The first step to a satisfied customer is to get them to read your lessons (and the lessons themselves should encourage people to act on them). To that end, the emails you send with the lesson download link should provide benefit-driven teasers for what’s in the lesson.

E.G., “You’ll discover a simple sales letter tweak that takes 30 seconds but can double your sales! Download the lesson now to discover this tweak for yourself…”

Build Anticipation for What’s Coming

At the end of each lesson, build anticipation for the next lesson. You can use the exact same benefit-driven type teasers as described above.

Offer Extra Value

One good way to offer extra value is to provide a free private group (such as a Facebook group) for members. Be sure to encourage people to get active and participate in the group. If someone is considering cancelling their membership, they don’t just lose access to the content – they lose access to a valuable community as well. This is a powerful way to keep people active to the end of the membership term.

Remind People of Upcoming Charges

You don’t want people to be surprised when they get rebilled (especially in the first couple months), so send out reminders that a charge is coming soon. This is a good time to remind people of the benefits of their membership, as well as building anticipation for what’s coming.

Offer Surprise Bonuses

You can offer bonuses throughout the duration of the course, which will boost retention. To create members who are even more delighted (and surprised), you might offer some surprise bonuses. Offer your first surprise bonus on the download page or in the first email, and then sprinkle in other surprise bonuses along the way (such as once per month).

Make a membership-retention plan, and then start implementing it. The happier your members are, the longer they’ll stay members – and that means more membership fees for you, as well as backend sales.

I hope you found value in my How to Set Up a Fixed-Term Membership Site post. Now that you have a proven 5-step process to getting a Fixed Term Membership (FTM) site set up. Your next step is to go ahead and get started, because the sooner you do, the sooner you can reap the rewards of a recurring monthly income.

If you would like some additional help with setting up a profitable FTM site then be sure to take a look at Membership Action Plan.

To Your Success!