Reply To: Merging membership sites… or not?
My current membership site is basically a download site where I post newsletters for my niche to use to market their business. This is my current process:
1) Each month, I write and create a newsletter for my niche (small business owners who sell Shaklee nutrition, cleaning and skin card products) in CorelDraw.
2) I still have a lot of people who want a printed newsletter (although, that’s been dwindling for years), so I convert it to a PDF and send it to my local printer who delivers them to me about a week later. I then ship the printed version.
3) I then turn the printed newsletter into 2 different PDF formats, as well a web-based format using MS Expressions (which I’ve learned how to use, but wish there was something simpler.) NOTE: I personalize each newsletter with the customer’s company name, name, phone number(s), email address, website address, etc… whatever they want. My customers like the personalization and… since the Shaklee community is close-knit, personalizing everything curtails the impulse some people have to start distributing our newsletter without paying for it.
4) Once it’s finished, I upload both the PDFs and the web newsletters to this membership site which still has a few of our original membe3rs (from years ago) who want more than one newsletter format. Someone else created this site and while it functions, it’s really not ideal in any way. And… since I took over maintaining it, I just barely know what I am doing. It is not a WP site and I don’t think it’s a membership platform. I really don’t know what it is exactly. I just know it’s outdated and cumbersome. I’m a writer, not a technical website operator, although I’m learning.
5) I also have a lot of subscribers who just want one electronic newsletter format each month. I personalize those PDFs and web newsletters and email the PDFs and links to these subscribers. I don’t post them on the website, although the web newsletters are hosted there.
It’s complicated and time-consuming, but it’s what I’m stuck with until I can create something better, make more money and outsource the tedious work involved.
I have a greater vision for my business. I can do so much more with a comprehensive membership site offering training on how to most effectively use the products on my main website, http://www.shaidsshop.com, but also on various concerns my niche struggles with… leadership, organization, prospecting, online and offline marketing, training, as well as some of the basic technical aspects of online marketing, etc. They have a lot of needs I can help fill if I just have a good platform from which to operate.
I also need to establish a more stable income from my business and I believe this will take me to a level where I need to be financially.
If you have any suggestions or ideas, please let me know. Thanks.