One thing that I learned about while I was doing my VA training was about a growing niche for Virtual Assistants that involves setup and management of membership sites.
A membership site is one that provides services or products on a regular basis. For example, if you were to visit www.adhdfamilyonline.com you’d find a membership site for adults and children who are working through the challenges created by ADHD in their lives. Most membership sites, such as the ADHD one offer some free content, but the bulk of the information and resources are only available for a monthly subscription.
And the trend seems to be that more and more informational based businesses are heading in the direction of membership sites rather than traditional websites. One reason for this is that besides generating a steady revenue, it also allows them to get to know their clients while providing better content and resources to them. So, where does a VA come into all of this?
In many cases small business owners might want to create a membership website, but do not have the skills or knowledge necessary to get it up and running. And that’s one way that a VA can be of, well, assistance. By setting up the membership site and managing it we are able to free up a lot of the business owner’s time to concentrate on doing what they do best — creating products and generating revenue.
Now, the really neat thing about creating a membership website is that it really is dead easy, if you use the right tools. To be exact, you need three things to create a membership account:
So basically, your virtual boss hosts his WordPress blog on his own personal server. He then purchase the Wishlist Membership software for $97. You take that software, upload the plug-ins directly into WordPress and Viola! you now have a membership site. From that point on your job will be to manage the subscription base, perhaps the billing process and/or answering technical questions (i.e., “How do I access the downloads I paid for?” or “Where can I upgrade/unsubscribe?” etc.).
Wishlist is the key to the transformation process. It’s a WordPress plugin that takes the tech out of techy. Now, I’m no expert, but from watching the videos it is pretty easy. No code to write or complicated instructions to give you a headache. The best part is, it has all the features you
would want in a membership solution AND it is compatible with all of your other favorite plugins! Plus, they’ve added some very cool features
to make running and managing a membership site a whole lot easier.
Using this plug-in you can manage the unsubscribe/subscribe lists, answer queries, help with billing issues and more. Imagine your virtual boss’ happy face when he realizes that he’s snagged the world’s smartest VA to take these tedious tasks off of his hand. He has a fully functional membership site and he didn’t miss a beat in his business, thanks to you.
So, go familiarize yourself with how the Wishlist Membership works by watching the videos found at http://member.wishlistproducts.com/micro. Not only will it teach you about their software, but you’ll get a good idea of the different tasks you may be asked to handle if you market yourself as a “Membership Management Virtual Assistant.”
