When you start your online business, you will have identified your target market and know how you are going to help them. You will then build your contact list from within your target market and start to attract people - building your own community in the process. Once you have built up a community of like-minded people, who love what you have to offer, it could be time to introduce a membership site or a continuity programme.

What is a membership site/continuity programme?

Members pay an annual or monthly fee to belong to your club. The members continue to pay a regular subscription (usually monthly or yearly) for access to the content and resources that you provide as part of the programme. Some things you can include as part of the membership fee:

Forum- a place to network and share ideas with other members

Monthly training call- exclusive to members, on variety of topics

Transcripts and recordings of calls- pretty much a 'must-have' item in your programme

Group laser coaching sessions- access to short group laser coaching sessions on monthly or bi-monthly basis

Discounts on products- discounts for any additional products your members go on to purchase

Exclusive members-only events- events for members, which would be of benefit to them

Articles, special reports and e-books- access to a range of material relevant for your members

Discounts with preferred partners - deals negotiated with suppliers that offer discounts on their products to your members

You might be looking at this list thinking there is a lot of work that you need to do to create for your programme but it is not as bad you might think. A lot of the content can be created and scheduled in advance and you do not necessarily have to come up with all the content - bring on board partners and other contributors. The other thing to remember is to start small. Start out with just a training call, transcript and recording, until you get comfortable, and then introduce other things later.

Charging for your programme

You need to think about how you are going to charge your members. You may decide on a 'one-size-fits-all' business model, where you have one rate for membership. However, you may be missing out here as, having have sampled your service, your customers may want to spend more money with you. Think about having different membership levels to satisfy different budgets and the different levels of interaction that your customers may want.