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How To Have a Successful Membership Site Launch

You have worked hard planning and designing your membership site. You are close to being ready and now it is time to think about how you will launch your membership site. You want your site to be successful and know that the launch period is critical to that success, so you ponder the question: How do I have a successful launch of my membership site?

The answer may depend on what your membership goal is: If you have a goal of 1,000 members than make, it a paid site right from the start and promote the heck out of your site. If you will be using backend products and an affiliate program than you would be better off starting out with a free membership for say the first 1,000 who join or have two tiers of memberships the first being free and more benefits if you become a paid member on the 2nd tier.

A good launch will rely in part on word of mouth by posting in business forums or forums that revolve around your topic.

Another way to launch a membership site is to have it follow as the backend of a successful product sale. In your thank you email to your customer thanking them for their recent purchase after you talk about the benefits of the product they just purchased, you mention the additional benefits they could enjoy by joining your membership site. You have already built a relationship with them through one successful purchase; they are more likely now to listen to the benefits of another offer you make.

Make sure that you are offering real value and promote the heck out of this value so that your potential members will begin to sense a need for your site.

You will have a successful launch if people know who you are and respect you in the field your membership topic revolves around. A successful launch may hinge on your preparation. Months before your launch, you need to start teasing your prospects about what is coming so that they start to become curious. Give them a tasty tidbit of what they can expect once they join your membership site.

Start a blog about your topic creating the image that you are an expert in the topic. This also works well with forum postings. Make sure you answer questions about your topic in several well-known forums on the topic with a signature mention of your upcoming membership site.

An email list is essential to the membership site launch. The email is a primary source of communication in the online world so makes good use of it for priming your customers about the upcoming launch. If you do not already have a list start building one a good year or two before your membership site... yes, a membership site is not something you just throw together it takes real planning and preparation. A responsive email list can make the difference when it comes to a successful membership launch. If your email list members are used to receiving quality content from you they will not even blink an eye when you mention that you have a membership site, they will be biting at the bit to join, expecting more quality content from you. You really need to form a relationship with your prospective members and an email list is an excellent way of forming relationships. If you do not have a list yet, do not panic if you have several free reports that are packed with rich content than you can build a list in approximately 3 months of sending quality emails.

Two good email autoresponder services are AWeber and GetResponse.