8 tips for starting a successful online membership community

Online membership communities have been gaining in popularity over the past few years. Their growth has been particularly accelerated since 2020.

Most online communities tend to offer a similar structure (with some variances). They usually involve training, community, inspiration, and accountability. The community founder shares his or her knowledge and experience and builds a training community around a particular subject or theme. Most online communities charge a monthly or yearly membership fee.

I'm presently a member of two online membership communities. One is a higher-priced membership for entrepreneurs ($500/month), and the other is a lower-priced membership that offers guitar lessons in a community setting ($19/month). My goal when creating Platform Launchers was to build a high-value membership that helped people develop an online platform and to offer it at a lower price in order to make it affordable for most people.

If creating an online membership community is something you're thinking about doing, let me encourage you to do it. It's highly valuable and very enjoyable. And if you make it highly valuable for your members by staying focused on their needs, I believe it could provide a healthy income for your family. How many members would you need to replace your salary if you charged $19/month, $49/month, $99/month, or $500/month? The potential is certainly there.

So here are my 8 tips if you're going to create a successful online membership community.

Tip 1: Experience

Attempt to gain as much experience as you can in the subject you plan to teach about.

Tip 2: Personal Success

Your personal success is your primary credential. It's hard to help others succeed before you've done so. Your success will help you chart the path for others. It took me 7 years for my platform to reach the level of success it has reached, but my success as a regular guy who was willing to try new things has helped demonstrate to others that they can succeed as well.

Tip 3: Vision

When you start a membership community, you're establishing yourself as a leader in a particular field. Great leaders cast a great vision. You want to help your members see what they can do or build even before it's right in front of them. Cast a vision that inspires them to take positive action.

Tip 4: Content

Create content that teaches important skills. I think it's wise to develop a blueprint or some foundational courses that teach your main principles in an "evergreen" way. These are the courses that new members should start with. From there, they can benefit from the additional content you're creating. In general, I think there should be a new piece of content each week.

Tip 5: Marketing

If no one knows about your membership, you won't be able to serve people with your knowledge or expertise. Build some marketing elements into your platform like blogs, podcasts, email newsletters, and affiliate opportunities where you pay others a commission to share about the community you're building.

Tip 6: Community

Community connection is the main reason why online memberships are so popular. People get more done in a faster way when they're connected with a group that is also working on the same task. Having a robust community also helps when it comes to celebrating wins and sharing ideas.

Tip 7: Service

If you lead a membership community, you have to have a servant's heart. I realize you're technically the "leader," but the best leaders are servants. Stay focused on serving those who have come to you for help.

Tip 8: Member Success

Remain focused on the success of your members. Celebrate their successes. Listen to their feedback because it will help you refine your membership and make it more and more valuable. This is the metric by which to judge whether or not what you're doing is working. If your members are growing and succeeding, you're on the right track.

-John