Getting Started With Your Own Membership Site

The idea of starting up a membership site might be a little intimidating, but don’t let that stop you. It’s an easy process. You don’t need much more than a web site, an autoresponder, and a way to control access.

We’re going to assume at this point that you’ve come up with your topic. It’s something that interests you and you’ve discovered you aren’t alone. There are others who are equally interested.

Your Domain Name

The first consideration in getting a domain name is finding a name that’s appropriate for your topic. This can help with getting free traffic from the search engines. So brainstorm ideas. If your membership site is going to be about raising hamsters, then consider: hamsters.com, hamstercare.com, raisinghamsters.com, etc. You get the idea.

Once you’ve got a domain name picked out, it’s time to register the name. The two websites I tend to use for domain name registration are GoDaddy and NameCheap. Check them out for yourself. Once you decide, then the site should take you step by step through the process. As a side note: register the name for two years. The search engines tend to give more credibility to a domain that’s going to be around for awhile.

Hosting Your Website

Now that you’ve got your domain name locked up for the next two years, you need a place on the Internet to hang your web site shingle. This is what a hosting company does for you. They provide space on their servers where you can keep all your web site files so that they’re easily accessible to Internet visitors.

There are a ton of choices out there. I’m currently using two different hosting companies. One I constantly have trouble with, and there seems to be an inordinate amount of downtime. The other hasn’t given me a moment of trouble. So, I’d recommend that you try Hostgator, which has been solid in my experience.

As tempting as it might be, especially when you’re going through their domain registration process, to sign up with Go Daddy for your hosting, I’d suggest you stay away from there. It’s a very quirky system, fairly unique to itself, and if you ever end up going to a new hosting company, you’ll probably have to learn everything over again.

Next time, we’ll take a look at building your member list and membership site software.

POSTED BY Rick on Jul 9 under Membership Sites