Now, once you’ve decided on a plan for your monthly membership site, it’s time to get your content up and running. Now, here’s the catch – when you create your monthly membership site, you will need to come up with new content every so often, depending on your publishing schedule.
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily apply to membership sites which use software as a service. But as a membership which is content-based, the content creation can be an arduous and time-consuming aspect!
It can take a lot of time to create content on such a regular basis – from technical glitches to writer’s block (which happens more often than not), there are a bunch of external causes that can delay your content creation efforts. And from passive income, you’ll suddenly find yourself being stressed out with having to create content that often.
Luckily, you don’t have to create the content all by yourself. There are quite a few options out there which can help you come up with content.
Outsource to freelancers
The first option you have is to outsource the content creation to professional freelancers. Having your content outsourced to a creative professional gives you more time to focus on other things which need your attention.
If you go about this right, you can end up with content which is way above standards, which will in turn keep your members satisfied. And you can get a freelancer to create any kind of content which you need.
Some of the materialyou might want to look at outsourcing:
- Weekly blog posts
- Articles
- Animated videos and slide presentations
- Voice Over/Video Transcripts
- Visuals & Graphics
Benefits
One of the main benefits of hiring a freelancer is you can up the quality of the content on your membership site. If you aren’t a content creation specialist yourself, it’s a good idea to get a professional freelancer, who specializes in the content industry.This specialization and their experience with content creation will prove very valuable, as they use their technical know-how and intuition to craft content which is informative and easy to digest. Working with a freelancer will also give your content a fresher perspective.
Outsourcing to freelancers also allows you to diversify the type of content that you can offer on your membership site – you can play around with formats and topics, work with different mediums.
This experimenting with content types will help you further fine tune what sort of content is most popular with your members. And when you know what your audience prefers, you can tailor your oncoming content to meet those preferences and even potentially exceed their expectations.
When you start outsourcing your content creation, you also get the opportunity to build very strong, valuable business relationships. Content development is all about people and the more you can strengthen relationships with good writers, designers and animators, the better your content will get as time goes by.
Similar to how you need to nurse and network with your list, you get to do the same here with freelancers – which will result in them being equally passionate about your membership site, which will lead them to creating content that is resonant and interesting. Also, you’ll have a strong network which you can constantly reach for future projects.
Working with Freelancers
When working with freelancers and outsourcing your work, you need to take extra precaution when passing on instructions and/or briefs to your writers and designers.
To create amazing content for your members, your brief needs to strike a balance between being comprehensive and concise. Be sure to be specific with regards to the content topic and also try your best to make sure the content fits in well with the rest of your membership site’s tone and style.
Also, remember that you want to work with skilled, professional writers – not the group of self-proclaimed “writers”. When you visit outsourcing sites such as Fiver, Elance and Upworkk, which is a great hub of creative professionals, you want to be sure to do significant research before outsourcing your content creation.
When it comes to freelancers, try not to be blinded by the cheapest rates. Cheap rates can sometimes translate to cheap content. You can and should still search for valuable rates – you just need to do a bit of research before hiring a freelance content creator. Be sure to go through their profile of previous works. Contact them for samples if you have to; you want to make sure you find a content creator who suits the type of content you need for your membership site.
Purchase rights to existing content
Another option that you have is PLR products.
PLR stands for Private Label Rights. Once purchased, PLR products can be legally manipulated, published and re-sold as your own. That is to say, that when you purchase PLR content, you own all or most of the intellectual property rights to the said work.
Usually, you can claim full authorship to a PLR product and you can make as many edits to these products as you see fit. The rights which you gain from PLR products vary from product to product. Most websites that sell PLR content will provide a list of rights which come along with the purchase of each individual PLR product.
They don’t even cost very much to purchase – you can find e-books for under $5 and articles for less than a dollar! However, you should always double check the quality of the PLR products you purchase. You want to find PLR content which is of a certain standard and quality.
Also, be ready to do some heavy editing and formatting – PLR content is a base which you will need to build on, because, as-is, the content just doesn’t have enough value for your membership site.
Adding Value to PLR Content
While you can use ready-made PLR products as content for your membership site as-is, I would advise against it because PLR content is usually very bare and have a low perceived value. What you need is some editing and embellishing to ensure that the content that gets shared on your monthly membership site meets expectations.
At the end of your edits, your content should look and feel like a top-notch, one of a kind, original content! As you edit and breathe new life into the purchased PLR content, the value of the product increases.
A lot of people use PLR content as well, so you want to make sure that your content looks and sounds fresh. Who knows how many other websites have purchased and published the exact same PLR article? What a nightmare it would be for your members who are paying to be in an exclusive membership site but are instead receiving less than exclusive content in return!
You’ll also find that most PLR products are relatively skeletal, with little to no formatting or design. It’s kept very black and white so that it can be customized. For this reason, it’s best that you consider editing a few headlines, inserting one or two visuals or even add a whole new section – all this is in the interest of adding more value to your content.
You can also look into curating content from more than just one PLR source –purchase 2 or 3 PLR articles on your chosen topic instead of one. Then, mix and match and create a hybrid product which is 2 to 3 times more comprehensive.
Find Contributors
Finding contributors is the third method which you can use for finding content for your membership site. Third party contributors are people whom you invite to write periodically on your website. Unlike freelancers, these contributors aren’t hired or paid by monetary means.
While third party or guest contributors are a great way to get some extra content on your membership site, it’s not a viable means of constant content. This basically means that contributors cannot and should not be used to create the bulk of your content.
It’s a great way to boost the quality of your content and shake things up, so that your members don’t only hear your singular opinion on things. However, you should look to control the amount of contributed articles that you fit into your publishing schedule.
Getting a contributor on board
A good contributor is often someone who is involved with your membership site’s niche and who has a somewhat recognized standing within the circle.
Usually, you will need to go out and find contributors yourself, so when you start work on your membership site’s syllabus, you want to also start thinking of people whom you can consider as third party contributors. This is also why it is so important to network and go to industry events – it’s much easier getting someone on board as a contributor when they know who you are and what you do.
As for payment, 9 times out of 10, contributors would be more than willing to contribute an article or two on your membership site for no fee at all, especially if your membership site has already gained some traction. This is because these contributors would like to reach your audience, in the hopes of gaining publicity and doing some extra marketing.
So as long as you can guarantee them a bio or about me section and a link to their website or landing page, they should take you up on the offer. This is something which can be negotiated so there isn’t a hard and fast rule to this.
While you can have any numbers of third party or guest contributors, you might want to also look into recruiting core contributors; these would be regular contributors who can pour content into your membership site. This is a great way to get quality content on a fixed basis.
Managing Contributors and Content
To assist in managing your contributors and flow of content, it’s a good idea to consider having very clear content guidelines – this is to ensure that the standard of content is kept above par.
Primarily, you should identify guidelines pertaining length (or lack thereof), formatting guidelines, due dates, what topics should be covered and who the article is targeted at. As long as you can cover these basics, your contributors will have a clearer direction when they come up with content for your membership site. Consider also having all these guidelines placed on a guest contributor page, as a constant friendly reminder.
It’s important to note that, while you should by no means babysit your contributors, you do need to be objective when it comes to editing content. You’ll find that most contributors will be more than happy to have you proofread and tidy up their content.
To ensure that everyone is on the same page, always run by any changes and drafts sent in. Commit to letting your contributors approve the final draft if you have made any major amendments to their content. That way you are showing respect for their work while still ensuring the quality of content is up to your standards.
