After deciding to start your career as an entrepreneur, you have surely come across the expression “member area” in your first searches. And if you haven’t heard of the subject, it’s time to understand everything about it.
After the production of your digital product, the next step is to choose where it will be hosted, and for that, you need to know all your options.
The members area is one of the main tools that can boost your online course and, to help you on your path as an entrepreneur, we have prepared a complete article so that you can conclude if it is a model that can respond to your business plans.
What is a members area?
Surely you have come across a situation where, in order to access some content, you must have a username and password. This is very common on news sites that contain a subscription plan or exclusive content for Premium users. This model is known as a member’s area.
A members area is nothing more than an area reserved for users to have access to specific content. This model is currently used to host online courses and discussion forums.
What is it for?
In addition, above all, to hosting EAD (distance learning) courses, the main functions of a members’ area are:
- automate the delivery process of digital materials;
- control the number of accesses;
- monitor student progress;
- respond to possible doubts from students;
- ensure the security of your digital course.
What is the difference between a members area and a platform for digital products?
The digital products platform hosts and distributes the digital products of third parties, that is, the digital producers. Of course, she will also process payments, bridging the gap between consumers, means of payment and product.
In truth, it doesn’t necessarily have a members area added to it.
For its part, the members area is a more solid option from which the product can be hosted.
However, it is interesting to note that a member’s area is also a kind of platform for digital products, since it can be used by the user to access an online course.
How do you know if you have to host your online course in a members area?
As much as you are already a digital producer, it is important to identify if your online course requires a members area to assign. If the course is based on an e-book or simpler material with few units, there is no need to hire a members area.
exist in the market, as is the case of which performs the automatic delivery of simpler files, such as ebooks.
You have to hire a members area if:
- Your online course contains video lessons, screencasts, supplemental materials, audio, or other file formats;
- Your course has many modules and you want to be in control of the activation of each chapter;
- You want to keep up with the students’ learning process to further improve your classes;
- You want to get a space for discussion and feedback regarding each class;
- You are interested in creating assessments to test the level of knowledge of students;
- You want to generate leads for your business with free modules.
As you can see, the member system opens many doors for your digital business. If you are a beginner digital entrepreneur and you are testing the market, consider using a members area with a view to further professionalizing your online course.
What features should the members area contain?
It is very important that you carry out a search regarding the best existing tools in the market before hiring the ideal platform for your business, after all, you have to trust the services provided to your company.
When looking for a platform you have to check a set of essential functionalities to keep your business running automatically, namely:
- Automatic installation: the system is completely intuitive and is designed so that anyone who does not understand programming can use it easily;
- Automatic delivery of access with login and password by email: after confirmation of the purchase, the buyer receives the data without having to process it manually;
- Support for files of different formats: you have the possibility to insert videos, PDF files, audios and several other formats;
- Division of lessons into modules: organizes the course in a didactic way, separating each lesson into different chapters;
- Controlled delivery of content: you decide when a new module will be available;
- Certificate delivery: automatic sending of a certificate of completion to all students in your course;
- Track student progress: You can check the progress of students and analyze if there are any critical points that they often drop out. Ideal for implementing improvements;
- Comments area: intended to collect information about existing doubts and interact with your users, promoting contact and trust between teacher and student;
- Personalization of the access page: leave your access area with the face of your brand. That way students will know that they can trust that site;
- Design customization: change the colors of your members area to generate empathy from your audience;
- Support for the digital producer: in case of doubts you will have immediate help for your needs;
- Help the buyer: even with all the instructions, some of your clients may have difficulties during access. However, our personalized support will help you to solve the possible doubts of the buyers;
- Follow-up reports of the sales made: monitor the performance of your business in real time and receive a notification after each sale made;
- Integration with Google Analytics: measure the accesses and demographic data of people who have visited your website and the behaviors that may be relevant to sales strategies;
- security certificate with encrypted data protection: security guarantee for you and your students;
- URL customization: make it friendly for your users;
- Integration with a secure payment platform: guarantees the protection of your customers’ financial data.
The list is big, right? But do not worry! You can find everything in the market. Other features, which in principle may not be so relevant, but which can increase the potential of your business, are: integration with a good and the possibility of receiving international payments.
The affiliate program can generate partners for your business, who will spread your product in exchange for a commission that you have predefined. To find out what affiliate programs are, read our full post on the subject.
In the case of international payments, you have the possibility of opening the doors to the internationalization of your business and selling all over the world!
How much does it cost to hire a members area?
After understanding what a member’s area is and how it should work, it’s time to talk about investing. It is true that a digital venture can cost much less than opening a physical business, but you have probably already realized that, even so, you will have to bear some expenses.
In a quick search we find platforms with different values, €18.75, €68.71, €54.91 and up to €303.28 but the good news is that, in 2016, launched its own completely free members area and, of course, , with all the functions mentioned above!
Do I have to hire someone to manage the members area?
If you have just decided and want to be a digital entrepreneur, you will surely have many functions in addition to managing a members’ area, but with the support that the tool itself gives you, you will realize the work.
In general, a member’s area (free or paid), is totally intuitive, so anyone can manage it. The interface is friendly and basically you have to upload the files to start using it. After launching your course you can easily control modules, respond to comments on each page and track your sales! Likewise, if you have the help of someone in your business, in the case of Club, for example, you can assign the functions of Administrator (complete management of the tool) and Editor (modify and insert content).
Advantages of hosting your course in a members area
Throughout our post we mention numerous benefits and we know that, without a doubt, you have understood how the members area can help you in your business. In any case, having automated processes is one of the key benefits for the digital entrepreneur, since he will have time to use his skills to attract new students.
How to get qualified traffic for your members area?
This topic is about how to make sales, so you have to know in depth who your audience is through the and structure very well segmented strategies.
Use resources such as social networks, blogs and landing pages focused on conversion, buying traffic and, as mentioned above, affiliate programs.
We made a series of posts regarding sales strategies. To begin with, we recommend reading the first article on the .
conclusion
The members’ area can enhance your students’ experience and help you organize your online course. Truly, when it comes to ease and usability, this may be the best resource for launching your digital product.
If you liked this post or have any questions, please share it in the comments! And to know our
Facebook Comments
Disqus