Membership Site And Online Course Marketing: How To Make, Market & Monetize Online Digital Content - Subscribe Me At Subscrib

Basically, with content licensing, you pay your content partners a fee for the right to use their content on your web site, and have your members benefit from it. The payment itself can be structured in many ways, and it doesn't always have to be a cash payment: 1) You pay for the content upfront and purchase it outright, 2) You pay a small royalty on every sale, on every new membership sign up. 3) Which is basically a combination of the two, which is cash PLUS royalty... you pay a little bit upfront, and then continue to pay a small royalty per sale. If you see some of the most aggressive offers on the TV show Shark Tank, you'll see that the sharks want their money back and also a royalty. You can see this with some of the bigger movie stars, where they get a paycheck for the movie, as well as royalties. Like the recently released Deadpool movie, starring Ryan Reynolds. So that's cash PLUS royalties. And finally, the last type... #4) You pay in kind - like a barter. (listen to the show for the rest) Listen o

I want to tell you a true story, that delves into the psychology of a rabid fan, and how you can use those insights to create better content and better offers for your membership site or online course. In case you don't know, Ventriloquism is where someone has a puppet - or a dummy - on their lap or on a stand next to them, they talk without moving their lips, they make the dummy's mouth move, and through a combination of a funny script, good comedic timing, and decent lips-not-moving skills, it makes it look like it's actually the dummy that's speaking. Obviously, everyone knows it's not the dummy that is speaking, so it's critical that you have a funny script and a good sense of timing, and you can make people easily suspend reality, and actually start to look at the dummy entirely when you are speaking. Back in 2006-2007, when I was still renting DVD's from a video store called "Blockbuster" - remember those days? Yeah, barely a few years before that I used to rent cassette tapes! Oh my god. VCR. There's s

When I say "User" in this context, it means users of your product or service. Your members, your community, your subscribers. Forums and Discussion groups are a great way to get your members communicating with each other, creating great discussion threads and contributing great online content that search engines love, and can bring you a lot of organic traffic, even if they are sometimes of the long-tail variety. Facebook groups are easily one of the most popular forms of online forums today, for connecting and networking with others in your niche. But online forums have been around forever, starting with the now-extinct eGroups which became so big and so popular, that it was bought by Yahoo and renamed to Yahoo Groups - this was in the late 90's. In the online marketing space, there are popular forums like WarriorForum.com, DigitalPoint Forums and Sitepoint Forums. And there are several “answers” forums like Quora.com and Yahoo Answers. And I am willing to bet, that you have probably run into a forum answer

This is part 4 of the series, 6 Ways To Create Content for Your Membership Site - where I talk about The Oprah method of creating content for your blog, your online course or your podcast and even your webinars and seminars. #4) The Winfrey Way - a.k.a the Oprah Model of generating content for your web site. This is one of the oldest, time-tested ways of generating content: Which is to invite Guests who create the content FOR you. I call this the "Oprah Model". Oprah Winfrey became one of the world’s richest self-made women, a billionaire, the most influential talk show host, an author, philanthropist, actress and media personality – all by doing what? By interviewing other people! Think about that for a second: Of all the athletes, actors, authors, scientists, medical professionals, entertainers, business icons and celebrities who she interviewed on her show – would you EVER consider Oprah an expert in any of those subjects at all? Was she as good at any sport as all those athletes who came on her show? Was

In last week's episode, I said that some of the best membership sites I’ve been a member of, offer content in multiple formats. And one of my pet peeves, is when I see someone wanting to prevent their members from downloading their content. They don't want their members to download videos, don't want to download audio, not even PDF reports, because they don't want anyone to quote unquote "steal" their content. You're probably not one of them, because you're smart enough to be listening to this show. But if you know of someone who comes from such a dark place of mental scarcity and deprivation, and are the complete opposite of being generous, and they are actually afraid of being generous, then I have some words of advice for them. (listen to the episode for the full scoop)

Some of the best membership sites I’ve been a member of, offer content in multiple formats. The first thing you have to accept - is that recycled or re-purposed content is NOT low quality content. It's mostly a psychological barrier that you have to overcome. And remember, your followers are not following you on every channel. So re-purposing can be HUGE when it comes to content marketing as well, and not just for membership content. Let me give you my own example of content re-purposing... (listen to the episode for the full story) But that also brings us to what I call the Gary Vee Conundrum. So let's take a single module from an online video course that has the video itself on a page, along with links to the audio version as well as a transcription in PDF format, on the same page. Some members like watching videos, others prefer skimming through a written article or PDF and highlighting or making notes of parts that they find important. And there will be others (like me) who prefer to listen to audio while

In today's episode, I talk about 6 different ways to create content for your membership site This is THE podcast to listen to, to learn about creating membership sites & online courses, making, marketing and monetizing digital content, WordPress, eCommerce, digital marketing, and tools, techniques and tips that you can use to create a long term, profitable online business. I'm your host Ravi Jayagopal. I am the co-founder & co-developer of DigitalAccessPass.com, a leading membership plugin in the industry, fondly known as DAP. And you can fondly call me RSSKisser. No, wait, I don't think you heard that right - let me slow that down for you... I said you can call me RSS Kisser. Know why? Because I just launched a new web site called http://KissMyRSS.com, which is a free online service that helps podcasters get new listeners. I will talk about this more later in the show, including what RSS means, but for now, check out the site at KissMyRSS.com and during this launch, you can get 500 FREE new listene

We gonna party like, it's my birthday, sippin' on Baccardi like it's my birthday.... Well, I don't drink rum any more - I'm a bourbon guy. So I will be sippin' on bourbon, because it IS my birthday on May 26th! And for MY birthday, I want YOU to buy one of these really cool gifts for yourself - because I have bought all of them for myself... cuz I'm worth it! Ready? Let's go... And please note - these are in no particular order... 8 Life-Changing Gift Ideas For You - For My Birthday... ( Listen to the show at http://SubscribeMe.fm )

How To Get Audio & Video Feedback and Testimonials from your Audience If you want your web site visitors or your members to leave you audio or video feedback, whether it is to give you a testimonial, or ask a question, or offer a review, or just about any kind of feedback, then for a very long time, there have been only a few good options. Option #1) A very popular service that a lot of podcasters use, is called Speakpipe. I've heard the audio feedback left by listeners of a few podcasts I listen to, so I know the service itself works great, otherwise so many people wouldn't be using it. But I've personally never left feedback for anyone using this service, even though I wanted to at times even to just connect with the podcaster and thank them for the value I just got from their show, but I couldn't do it because the big issue with speakpipe, especially if you're on a mobile device, is that when you visit a podcaster's web site, and you click on the speakpipe image to leave audio feedback, then you're f

3 must-have tools that you absolutely need, to help secure yourself, as well your web site. TIP #1) What is the first WordPress plugin I install on every new WordPress site I create? Nope, it's not DAP. It's Wordfence. It's the #1 security plugin for WordPress, and I will not do anything with a new WordPress installation, until I've installed this plugin. And the makers of the WordFence plugin have discovered a vulnerability in the Ninja Forms WordPress plugin. So if you're using Ninja Forms, make sure you upgrade to the latest version. Takes just 1 click to do from the WordPress plugins section of your site. And if you are not using Ninja Forms, then you should consider switching to it, as it's a fantastic contact-us form plugin, with a lots of features like support for the new captcha from Google, auto responses, storing the emails online in the plugin's settings, just in case you don't get the actual email delivered, and so on. I have the link to the WordFence security article in the shownotes at subscri

Membership Model #6: Coaching Portal: In this model, you sell coaching and consulting: When it comes to a membership plugin like DAP, even a service is basically created as a “Product”. So just like you would sell a digital report, or a software program, a service is sold the same way: Create a Product, give it a price, and use the membership plugin to configure what content they get if they buy your “Service”, and that’s it. Now, with a service, you don’t always HAVE to provide an online member’s area, because you may be delivering the actual service offline – like SEO or Web Design services, Accounting services, Lawn Maintenance services, etc. However, it can be very useful to create at least a couple of member pages where they can log in and see a summary of what they purchased, change their Profile information (like name, and email and password). And any supporting worksheets and documents that you create during consultation, can be added to this member's area, so that the member can log in later and do

In the last 2 episodes, I talked about Membership models 1 through 4. So if you didn't hear part 1 or part 2, I recommend that you start with those first. You can go to subscribeme.fm/26/ the number 26, and subscribeme.fm/27/ to hear Part 1 & 2. In fact, just go to the main site - subscribeme.fm and you'll see a big beautiful podcast player with the full playlist of all past episodes. And this beautiful podcast player is powered by CoolCastPlayer.com, officially the prettiest podcast player on the planet. Membership Model #54. Magazine Model This is one of the most interesting membership models, and back in 2009, I gave it this name because back in the day, like Dave Jackson from schoolofpodcasting would say, we used to get people asking how they can set up content access similar to a real-world magazine subscription. So if you are old enough to have ever subscribed to physical magazines - I say that because the funny thing is, I don't know if my kids have ever seen a magazine in my house - well, we did b

Membership Model #4. Recurring Subscriptions with Lifetime Recurring. Basically, they pay until they cancel. It's obviously easy to do this if it's a SaaS product - SaaS is the acronym SAAS - which stands for Software As A Service. Like Leadpages, or Dropbox. Even at DigitalAccessPass.com, we offer a pseudo-SAAS model. DAP is basically a WordPress plugin that you install on your own site, but we packaged a lot of things into a saas like offering, where you get DAP, you get set up help, ongoing monthly support, a whole bunch of plugins from WickedCoolPlugins.com, and we made it a monthly subscription. So in this model, you get the benefits for as long as you pay. And when you stop paying, you lose all of the benefits. Like your gym membership. Or phone service. Now, you might wonder, what if you have a regular online course? How to make it a perpetual subscription? That's where positioning and packaging comes into the picture. Of course, not all membership sites are created equally, and not all digital conten

Welcome to episode #25 of the SubscribeMe show from SubscribeMe.fm. I'm your host Ravi Jayagopal. This is THE podcast to listen to, if you want to learn about creating digital content, marketing it, selling it, and then delivering it. I am the co-founder & co-developer of DigitalAccessPass.com, easily the best membership plugin in the industry, fondly known as DAP. Membership sites aren't just for subscriptions that charge you month after month for life, until you cancel. That's just ONE way to create a membership. And membership sites aren't just for protecting content for ongoing members. There are essentially 9 different ways to add a membership component to your web site, and I'm going to discuss all 9 of them in this multi-part series. And today's episode is part 1 of this series. So be sure to check out the next couple of episodes as well, for the full story. Here are 3 (of 9) ways in which you can monetize your content: Membership model #1.    One-time Products with Lifetime Access Membership m

In today's episode, I give you a detailed example of how I have used my TOC Technique myself to create a book, a podcast, and how you too can churn out blog posts and social posts at will and enter any group or community and add value right away, without being spammy. So in the last episode, I introduced you to my "TOC Technique", where TOC stands for TOC, as in, Table of Contents. If you haven't listened to that one, then you should listen to episode #24 first, if not, this episode may not make much sense. So go to subscribeme.fm/24 to listen to the last one first, then continue with this one. In today's episode, I'm going to give you some real-world examples so that you can get an idea of how powerful this technique is for churning out content at will, never getting writer's block ever again, never having to wonder what to blog about or how to do come up with content for your content marketing. All of this starts by creating what I call your "Dream Book TOC". So you need to create the table of contents o

The "TOC Technique" will help you become a master at creating content for your membership site, for your online course, youtube marketing videos, writing sales copy, writing books, creating a product, writing Facebook posts and Tweets. And when I say "TOC", I mean T.O.C, as in Table of Contents. The show notes for this episode is available at http://subscribeme.fm/24/ . And that's where, you will be able to play the episode directly from the web site, thanks to my podcast player plugin, called CoolCastPlayer. It is without a doubt the Prettiest Podcast Player on the Planet. It plays podcasts as well as regular MP3 files. So check it out at CoolCastPlayer.com. Alright, let's jump right in... So what is this TOC technique and why is it such a big deal? I came up with this idea a few years ago, but had never given it a proper name that is easy to understand and implement, until recently. Back in 2007, I published my first book, called "No Business Like E-Business", which at the time, went on to become a ca

Let's talk about the types of videos there are: #1: Sales page videos #2: Content Marketing videos #3: Native videos on Facebook & Twitter #4: Documentation and Tutorial videos #5: Members-only, private videos that are reserved just for members who have registered for free, or have paid for your online course For Sales page videos, content-marketing videos & tutorial videos that you post on your own blog, or for posting on online forums, and any public-facing videos that you are ok with people sharing with one another, or you actually WANT people to share it, use YouTube for all of those videos. Many years ago, in the early years of Youtube, for a while, it wasn't considered cool or professional to put a youtube video on your home page. And all that was before youtube became the 2nd largest search engine, after.... you guessed it, Google.com. Millions of people start their search on youtube, especially for do-it-yourself stuff, tutorials, product reviews. And for your video to rank high on youtube,

Most membership sites, will have a need to protect the following types of media: Video, Audio, PDF, Zip, Word Docs - well, don't use word unless you have to, because not everyone would have word installed, but you get the idea. Different types of files need to be protected. But for the most part, we're talking about video, audio and PDF reports. If these files are stored right on your web site, AND if you have a bunch of these files that are also big in size - like over 10 MB, for eg., then a lot of your members viewing and downloading them from your site simultaneously will use up a lot of resources on your server – when I say resources, I mean server memory, server speed, server bandwidth, etc – basically your site can get overloaded. Which means your site could slow down considerably. Have you heard of the "Digg Effect" or "Slashdot Effect"? Many years ago, there used to be a social bookmark sharing site called Digg.com. If you have heard of Reddit.com, then Digg and Reddit were competitors. Big time tra

I am so pumped up today, because I just soft-launched my new plugin. It is the prettiest podcast player on the planet, and along with celebrating its beta launch, I'm going to tell you about the biggest lessons I have learned from publishing 21 episodes of this podcast. Let me tell you about my new podcast player plugin, and why it's different from anything else you've ever seen before. It's called CoolCastPlayer, and you can see it in action at CoolCastPlayer.com When I first launched my podcast back in September 2015, and wanted to publish my podcast feed and the episodes on my web site at SubscribeMe.fm, I quickly found out there's a huge need for a really good podcast player. Most of the players I came across were downright UGLY - and that's capital U, capital G, capital L and capital Y. UGLY as hell. And there was just one decent looking podcast player out there, but it did not have some key features that I wanted. But the design of the player was not very good, in that, it wasn't obvious that it was

This episode is going to focus on how you you should focus on finding the D-list Super stars in your niche. These are the people who will have the inclination to help you. They too have something to prove, they're equally hungry and excited to work with other d-listers, they'll be more open to doing a mutually beneficial joint venture with you. They will be more willing to promote your product as an affiliate, write an article recommending you, interview you on their podcast. So many ways in which these kind folks can help you. And no, I'm not talking about doing a stupid email swap or an ad swap or a link swap. I'm talking about finding influencers who are ready and willing to help you, AND can make an impact on your business. But for this whole thing to work, here are the main ingredients you absolutely must have in place first. Let's say you are getting ready to launch a new online course about horse riding. Here's the new media way of finding your super star partners. #1) Let's start with the obvious: