Yes, your membership site can make you more of the expert! All things being equal, people buy from who they know, like and trust. Use your membership site to increase your authority and therefore your level of perceived trust.

Increasing Authority

My mentor Dan Kennedy councils that as your reputation grows you move from charging for what you do to charging for who you are. Charging for who you are can command much higher fees. Well known marketer Frank Kern said last year, “Positioning, most importantly positioning yourself as an authority, is the single most important thing you can do increase your perceived value to the market place.”
 

Note: This article launches our January tax series and is intended to be generally informative. You should always consult your tax professional or attorney for questions specific to your own situation.

“One of these things is not like the others...”

Many of us remember this song from shows like Sesame Street or maybe from one of our elementary school teachers. And it is usually accompanied by a pile of triangles, squares and circles in different colors for us to sort out. Like those shapes and colors, businesses come in different shapes and sizes, too. There are several basic ways businesses are organized.

Four mistakes impacting your bottom line: Parts 1 & 2 of this mini-series related to the site itself and the content contained within. Now let’s look at 4 mistakes that sabotage monetizing your site…

While not all membership sites require users to pay for access, having a paid membership site is a great source of recurring revenue. if you are going to charge for access, you must avoid these critical mistakes.

8 - No automation

Does the thought of using social media for your business make you feel like an awkward teenager starting high school again? Will I be popular?  What if no one likes me? Is there a solution that won't make my face break out?

Social media is a lot like high school in some ways. Choosing the right activities and the right friends, building your reputation, being your true self—these things can make a difference to your status just like they did in school. If you're planning your social media platforms for the coming year, here are some things you need to take into consideration.

“Without promotion, something terrible happens....Nothing!” --P. T. Barnum

In Barnum's day, advertising meant word of mouth and newspapers. Neither of these was very expensive at the time— unless you were Barnum. The American showman at one time had 26 journalists on his payroll. His belief was that advertising should not be done “sparingly and grudgingly,” and freely admitted that most of his success was due to the press.

In my first Joomla Magazine article we discussed why everyone needs a membership site, then we went on in the second to discuss different types and ways to use membership sites. I hope you got good value from those and are ready for some ‘show and tell’!

In this installment, we’ll go behind the curtains of how some clients are using their membership sites every day.

In my last article in JCM, I worked really hard to convince you that regardless of what business you are in, or even for non-business sites, you need to have a membership component to your site. Assuming that I did a reasonable job, you either have one in the works or are at least planning one.

Now you want to know the most effective way to use membership in your own website, right?

Answering this question is exactly the focus of this article. There are many combination of ways to help your business by incorporating membership into your site. Here are 5 perspectives to spark your creativity and help you focus your plan…

If the thought of what to do for your Halloween marketing this year has you yearning to hang a “Gone Trick-or-Treating” sign on the door the first day of October, then this post is for you!

Marketing for Halloween is a must, of course, if you're selling Halloween-related products.  Even if you’re not however, it's a great way to generate goodwill, keep your name in customers' minds, and kick off your other holiday sales. Besides, everyone needs a little Halloween fun!

Long before October 31st you should be posting some Halloween related content on your website and through social media.

As you stare at the sinister stacks of papers piled up on your dining room table, you wonder: how long would it take me to locate my car title, the warranty on my air conditioner, and all the papers I’ll need to support my 2015 tax return?

How do you keep track of your important documents? Are they properly filed and labeled or are they sitting there like Mount Everest daring you to tackle them? While each of us has our own way of organizing our paperwork, it's not uncommon to be confused as to what papers we should keep and how long we should keep them. Here's a guide to help you decide what to save and what can meet its end in your shredder:

There’s a knock on your door. You walk past the leftover confetti on the floor from your New Year’s Eve party the night before, past the Christmas lights still blinking serenely on the mantle and go see who it is. In the back of your mind you already have an idea. As you turn the knob and open the door, you’re not really surprised. After all, you’ve been planning this visit for months.  

Yes, 2016 has come to see you. Are you ready for it?

We are always working to add more functionality to help make your membership site the best it can be. To that end, we are excited to share two important announcements with you today.

NEW! JoomFuse V2.1 is ready
The latest version of JoomFuse has 4 major upgrades:

1. Support for short-codes to display Infusionsoft contact information on your site.
2. Added support for API goals in addition to the existing tag setting on JoomFuse success or failure
3. Support for JomSocial 4.1.x
4. Support for and the introduction of JF Portal!
5. Additionally, we have made some internal improvements (like data-type mapping) and fixed some bugs.

 There's more...

A quick review: The first four critical mistakes we discussed last month are: 1 - Not enough value. 2 - Complicated user interface. 3 - Poor user experience. 4 - Bad customer service. Now on to the next 3 which are related to your content…

5 - Not enough content

This relates to number 1 in the last article but deserves to be identified as a critical mistake on its own.

There are lots of ways to not offer enough value that do not have to do with content, but it’s impossible to give enough value if your content is thin, especially if the member is paying for the privilege of accessing your site.

Ok, if you have been following along with this article series, you now know ( a ) why you need a membership site, ( b ) several different ways to set them up, and ( c ) some real-world case studies on how other people are using their membership site.

Hopefully, you have taken my suggestions and have created (or are creating) a membership site for your ‘herd’ of followers. If you have, I’d love to hear about your experiences.

In this fourth article in our membership series, we’ll dig deeper and begin discussing common critical mistakes to avoid.

You can find just about anything and everything on the internet. Take personality tests—have you ever wondered which Harry Potter villain you're most like? Or whether you have the personality of a particular type of IKEA furniture? While these tests are entertaining, they’re not likely to help you reach a deeper understanding of yourself.

Are there personality tests available that have any value, especially when it comes to growing your business?

How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value Through the Science of Fascination by Sally Hogshead, points out that understanding your personality provides you with key information to work with when presenting yourself to others. If you've ever tried to create a 30-second elevator pitch or write your resume, you probably know how difficult it can be to deliver the exact message you want to convey. Hogshead's book provides you with a step-by-step method to discover what your personal tagline should be, and how to use it to create better relationships and grow your business.

Cyber Monday could be one of the most important days of the year for your business financially. Last year, there were over 2 billion (yes, that’s BILLION) dollars of online sales generated on the Monday following Thanksgiving.

If you want a piece of that action, you’ll need a strategy in place well before hand.

When it comes to Cyber Monday, there are several big draws for consumers: the convenience of shopping many different stores without leaving home or the office; the ability to easily comparison shop and check out reviews; and the extra value or deals that aren't available year-round.