It's gratifying to help your target audience directly, it's fun to interact with potential customers on a frequent basis, and the recurring revenue creates predictability.

However, like any online business model, a paid membership doesn't run itself and does come with it's own set of difficulties.

Let's see if a paid online membership community is right for you!

Why Creators Should Consider a Paid Membership Community Model

This model offers numerous benefits for creators seeking a sustainable and rewarding way to share their work.

By building a membership community, digital creators gain a reliable revenue stream from subscribers who pay a regular fee, often in exchange for exclusive content and a more intimate community experience.

This business model can lead to a successful community of happy customers who support one another, while building an active community of like-minded people.

Creators maintain control over the user experience without the overcrowding often found in public social networks. Additionally, the exclusivity of a private community increases the value proposition to members.

With a dedicated membership site, creators can direct their efforts into producing high-quality content that caters to their audience's interests. Furthermore, membership models offer creators an opportunity to nurture customer communities through focused content marketing and tailored community spaces, fostering lasting relationships and ensuring the long-term success of the community.

Benefits of Paid Membership Models for Creators

Building a dynamic community might be an attractive option for you if you're looking for the following with your online business:

• A sustainable revenue stream

• Creating exclusive content for members

• Building a high-quality members-only user experience

• Working closely with your target audience

• Experiencing organic growth through member affiliates

• Strong creator-audience relationships

Choosing the Right Community Platform

Choosing the right members-only community platform is essential for creating and maintaining a thriving membership community.

The ideal platform should not only align with the specific needs of your audience but also support your goals as a creator or community manager.

When selecting a platform, consider factors such as the type of content you wish to provide, the level of customization you require, the scalability options, any integrations that are important for your operations, and your technical abilities.

Additionally, assess the quality of customer support, as well as the platform's ability to facilitate secure transactions for the collection of membership fees. There are very "cheap" membership plugins that can be tacked onto a website, but many of them lack any ongoing support and can quickly create headaches for you.

Evaluating Different Membership Site Builders

When evaluating different membership site software, it's important to understand what you'll need access to on a daily basis. We believe a great membership software requires some upfront setup, but then you shouldn't need to meddle in the software much as time goes on.

Membership platform #1: Memberspace

Memberspace is one of the leading software options to create and run your paid community. It can be used with various website builders such as Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, and even Notion.

💰 Memberspace's pricing: $35/month + 5% transaction fee

👍 What we like: A very reputable brand, has been in the digital product industry for a decade, customer support is rated very well.

👎 What we don't like: Not much! It's our #1 option for a reason. The only thing we don't love are the transaction fees, but it's not a deal-breaker.

Membership plaftorm #2: Teachery

Yes, we do own Teachery so we are slightly biased, but we believe in the product we've built. You simply use a "course" as a membership hub, and the "lessons" within the course will act as your members-only content. Teachery reduces a ton of initial friction because it's a very straightforward interface without too many distractions or excess features.

💰 Teachery's pricing: $49/month and zero transaction fees!

👍 What we like: Ease of use. No code needed and nothing to install. Great customer support from the founders of the product.

👎 What we don't like: Nothing! 😅 We will admit Teachery is not solely a membership platform so it does take some creativity to set things up.

Membership platform #3: Podia

Podia is a great platform, especially if you're a digital creator looking for an all-in-one platform. With very affordable pricing, the features you get from Podia are pretty fantastic.

💰 Podia's pricing: $39/month (they do have lower-priced plans with less features)

👍 What we like: Great customer support and a very straightforward product.

👎 What we don't like: Not a ton of customization when it comes to branding and design.

Key Features to Look for in a Community Platform

When assessing a community platform, there are key features to look for that can help ensure the success of your membership site:

• Membership Management

• Content Hosting and Protection

• Customization and Branding

• Payment Processing

• Engagement and Interaction Features

• Scalability

• Support and Training

• Analytics and Reporting

• Mobile Responsiveness

• Integration Capabilities

We would highly recommend starting a free trial with any membership software and ensuring that you spend a couple of days really engaging with it to ensure it will meet all your needs.

Creating Exclusive Content for Your Community

Creating exclusive content is a cornerstone of any successful membership community. This content not only adds value and incentivizes membership but is the linchpin to keeping customers in a paid online community.

We believe having a monthly piece of members-only content is a great place to start.

You can absolutely offer multiple pieces of content that your customers get weekly (or even daily), but monthly is the minimum.

If you aren't sure what to offer your customers:

• Ask in a post-purchase survey what relevant topics matter most

• Understand the gaps you can fill in a customer transformation (point A to B)

• Browse online forums in your industry to find prevalent problems

• Research community content from other creators in your niche

• Think of the big picture solution your membership solves and break that down into subtopics you can teach along the way

Consistency and quality are the keys to success. The exclusivity of your content must be matched by its value to the members. Keeping an ongoing dialogue with your community can help tailor your offerings to their evolving preferences.

Developing a Content Plan for Your Community

A well-structured content plan is indispensable for any thriving membership community. To begin, establish your content goals and align them with the overall objectives of your community. Then map out categories or themes that your content will cover over time.

Create a content calendar to organize and schedule delivery, which should include ample time for content creation and review. Share this content calendar with your paid online community to ensure they are as excited about it as you are!

Leveraging Different Content Formats (e.g. video, audio, written)

Different content formats cater to varied learning styles and preferences within your community.

Video content: This is highly engaging, offering a dynamic way to present information and maintain member interest. Members-only Zoom calls, workshops, or video courses are great ideas.

Audio content: Audio coaching, Voxer hours, and private podcasts provide convenience, allowing members to listen and learn on-the-go.

Written content: From in-depth blog posts and member emails, these appeals to those who prefer to take their time to absorb and reflect on the material presented.

You might find there's a mix of pieces of content that work well for your audience. Whatever you can stay consistent with that your customers enjoy is the perfect content format and plan.

Fostering Community Engagement and Interactions

In order to cultivate a successful membership community, fostering community engagement and interactions is vital. If you think you're going to be able to run a paid membership without any community interaction you are going to struggle to keep paying members long-term.

Engagement can be bolstered by creating a space where members feel connected, heard, and excited to contribute. An atmosphere of collaboration encourages members to share ideas, knowledge, and support one another, fostering a strong community spirit.

Community engagement platforms we like: Slack, Discord, and Circle

All three platforms offer extremely similar features. Slack and Discord have free options, while Circle's lowest priced plan is $49/month (which is a great price for the product they offer).

No matter which platform you decide on, we recommend creating a simple how-to guide (a Google Doc will do 👌) that walks a new customer through platform to get acquainted with it and learn the best practices.

Encouraging active participation through discussions and Q&As

Thriving membership communities are constantly engaging in discussions and Q&As. These can be done organically through the community platforms, or they can be facilitated during workshops, Zoom calls, etc.

A community is only as strong as the connections it creates between it's members. Those connections are built over time and through multiple interactions. The more you can prompt for discussion and community engagement, the better chance you have of keeping happy customers.

Recognizing and Rewarding Community Contributions

Recognizing members who contribute significantly to the community helps foster a sense of belonging and incentivizes others to participate. These are a few techniques to consider:

• Feature a 'Member of the Month'

• Offer badges or points for participation

• Provide shout-outs in the community calls, newsletter, or social media

Establishing Community Guidelines

Establishing clear community guidelines is fundamental to ensure a safe, respectful, and valuable experience for all members. We recommend writing these guidelines in a Google Doc or page within the membership area where customers can access and learn how to be a good member of the community.

Consider adding the following to your guideline doc/page:

• Stating expected behaviors and support of other members

• Sharing your company and personal values

• Outlining the consequences of violating guidelines

• Offering a clear process for reporting issues and resolving conflicts

Building and Growing Your Membership Customer Base

Building and growing a membership base is paramount for the success and longevity of any membership community.

Having a bunch of people in a members-only space is one thing, but having a plan of action to grow the community systematically will keep members engaged and excited.

Developing a Membership Marketing Strategy

Just like there isn't a perfect marketing strategy for an online course, digital download business, etc, a paid community's marketing efforts will take trial and error.

The keys to promoting and growing your paid membership:

• Content marketing efforts where your ideal customer hangs out

• Social media marketing to continue to show up and be top of mind

• Email marketing to nurture an existing audience that opted-in to you

• Other people's audiences (interviews, podcast guesting, or co-hosted webinars)

• Creating an affiliate program for your customers to promote for you

We believe it's a mix of all of these tactics that lead to building trust and helping grow the revenue of a paid community over time.

3 tactics to help you convert potential customers

#1 Offer a 7-14 day free trial

If your membership software allows it, we highly recommend giving someone a 7-14 day free trial of the valuable content you offer in your paid community. This is a fool-proof way to give a broader audience of people access to your exclusive content!

#2 Create a lead-in product

Think of the premium content you offer in your membership, now pull some of that out as a free lead-in product. This could be offered as an online course, a video workshop, a private podcast, any form of delivering that content as a preview to buy your membership.

#3 Live public challenge

Set a public goal that you'll lead your members to try to achieve (example: mastering Instagram Reels in 30 days). Share this challenge through videos, social media, your website, and your email list but have the actual lessons being taught in the community. As you share updates about the challenge and peeks behind the scenes, you'll entice potential customers to join.

Supporting Your Community as a Creator

Creators are the keystone of any membership community, and their support is vital for it to continue to thrive.

Your support extends beyond providing exclusive content; it includes actively engaging with members, encouraging community participation, taking their feedback into consideration, and fostering an atmosphere of inclusiveness and creativity.

If you don't have the time in your schedule to consistently engage and monitor your community, consider hiring a community manager...

Understanding the Role of a Community Manager

The lifeline of an online membership community can often be a community manager, whose role is tasked with the day-to-day operations and long-term success of the community platform.

A great community manager will do the following:

• Monitor and respond in the daily discussion area (Slack, Discord, etc)

• Post daily/weekly Q&A content to encourage engagement

• Be available to answer any member questions or issues

• Report back to you as the community owner should any problems occur

It's unlikely that you can completely hand the keys of a paid community over to a community manager (your customers are paying for access to you, after all), but they can definitely ease the burden of constant communication and engagement.

The Biggest Challenges of a Paid Membership

Like any business model, a paid membership has its fair share of challenges. Three that we want to make sure you're aware and plan to monitor are...

#1 Failed Customer Payments

This will be one of the biggest headaches you have when running a paid membership. It is 100% unavoidable that failed payments will happen and while most membership platforms have solutions in place for this, we do find that manual email outreach (on top of automated emails) helps aid in customers fixing their failed payments at a higher percentage.

#2 Ongoing Members-Only Content Creation

It can feel like you're on a constant hamster wheel of content creation due to the monetization model of a paid community. Your customers expect to get something monthly (for example) in return for their membership fees. The best thing you can do is plan your membership content in advance, let your community help decide on fresh topics to explore, and be open and transparent of when you need to take breaks.

#3 Drama WILL Happen

Now, we're not talking Jersey Shore levels of drama here, but getting a group of people together online always leads to trouble sooner or later. Having your community guidelines front and center, leaning on a community manager to keep tabs on everyone, and constantly reminding members that they are existing in a space that should be safe for everyone will help avoid drama. But, just know that you can plan for everything and be as organized as possible and drama will still occur.

Conclusion

Creating and nurturing a paid membership community offers solopreneurs and creators a sustainable way to engage with their audience and generate a steady income.

By selecting the right membership platform, offering exclusive and compelling content, creating a high-quality user experience, and fostering a vibrant, interactive community, you can build a dedicated member base that values and supports your work. The journey involves careful planning, consistent effort, and a focus on delivering value, but the rewards of a thriving membership community are well worth it.

As you embark on this venture, remember that your success lies in understanding your audience's needs, continually refining your approach, and maintaining genuine connections with your members. By leveraging the strategies discussed, from content creation to community engagement, you can create a space that not only enhances your professional growth but also cultivates a loyal, supportive community that shares and celebrates your creative journey.