Information Sells

Bluehost.com has a limited time offer that is an amazing bargain for anyone who wants to start or move a blog, web site, forum, or Google AdSense page(s) – or any combination of all of the above.

Bluehost’s normal price for unlimited domain with unlimited bandwidth is $7.95 per month. The sale price is

• $4.95 per month with a 12 month contract
• $3.95 per month with a 24 month contract

BlueHost uses web standard LAMP servers – Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP – with Fantastico and Simple Scripts so you can host a WordPress blog or a SimpleMachines forum with just a couple of mouse clicks.

I’ve hosted my sites with BlueHost for years, and I recommend them from experience. If you want to take advantage of this offer, click on the banner below.

It is an affiliate banner and I will earn a commission if you click on it. But that’s not the primary reason I’m mentioning this offer on this blog (which is hosted on BlueHost). I recommend BlueHost because they are reliable, inexpensive, and they have good customer service.

If you’d prefer not to use an affiliate link – just go directly to www.bluehost.com and sign up. You’ll get the same offer at the same price either way.

And either way, it’s too good an offer to pass up if you need a hosting service.

Tags: bluehost

If you have a blog or web site, you have probably spent time trying to crack Google’s secret code.

You want visitors, so you want to rank well on Google. There are plenty of SEO’s ready to tell you exactly how to do that. Some are reputable, some are sleazy, some are incompetent. Then, there is Matt Cutts – the Google guy himself.

Matt has a series of short videos on You Tube answering questions about web site optimization. You can find out whether too many H1 tags will hurt your ranking, whether excessive use of no follow tags will hurt your ranking, whether great content trumps mediocre links.

The channel is called Google Webmaster Central and it is well worth a subscription.

Tags: google, seo. webmaster tools, web site optimization

Of all the videos I have uploaded to You Tube, none has been as controversial as an innocuous demonstration of how to use You Tube’s Audio Swap. It has more views and comments than all my other videos combined. What’s so fascinating about that video?

Well, nothing, really. It’s the topic that has blood boiling.

You Tube sometimes yanks videos that violate copyright law.

Kids (mostly) want to use their favorite song as a soundtrack for their latest video, and record companies want You Tube to pay royalties or remove copyrighted material.

As a compromise, You Tube introduced audio swap – a limited (and admittedly feeble) collection of royalty free music that can replace your illegal audio track.

This is not popular with people who are heavily invested in their music.

However, if you are invested in your business rather than in your background music, you probably want to avoid Take Down notices and other copyright problems.

American University’s Center for Social Media has plenty of material that will help guide you through these stormy waters. They’ve just released an excellent new video called Remix Culture: Fair Use Is Your Friend and a Code of  Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video.

Watch the video then download the Best Practices Guide.

h/t to WebUniversity Blog

Tags: Copyright, fair use, You Tube

Stones Optional

Do you shiver from a scummy feeling at the very mention of affiliate marketing?

Does the topic bring SPAM, ClickBank, and Satan to mind?

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Advertising and marketing are essential parts of selling – cheating and scamming are not. You can keep your integrity and make a few dollars by following simple guidelines (and you already know what they are).

1) If you wouldn’t promote it for free, don’t promote it for money.

2) Believe every word you write – don’t hype an affiliate product just to boost sales.

3) Be transparent – let your readers know you are an affiliate.

4) Don’t shill for products you don’t use.

5) If you would be ashamed if your customers, clients, readers or friends found out you were doing something – don’t do it.

I was inspired by Aweber recently when I visited their site. They were promoting a service that their subscribers could use. They had two links: one a clearly marked affiliate link and the other a bare link for those who didn’t want to use the affiliate link.

What a brilliant idea.

Is there a clearer way to say, “I would promote this even if I weren’t getting paid,” than to offer an unpaid link to the product?

Is there a clearer way to demonstrate that you have your customers’  best interests (and not your own monetary interests)  in mind?

Treat your clients with respect. Tell them the truth. Trust them to make a decision that can benefit both you and them.

If you do that, you won’t be making excuses – but you may be making money. Win/win.

Photo by seier+seier+seier Released under Creative Commons License

Tags: affiliate sales

Adapt While You Still Can

Change happens rapidly.

Sometimes you go along, very successfully, doing what you’ve always done – doing what has always worked – and suddenly – BAM! – the tipping point is reached.

Overnight, it doesn’t work at all any more.

You are too late and too big and too invested in what you’ve already done to change.

Instead, you keep doing what you’ve always done… and you slowly become irrelevant.

Change creeps up on you and you never notice until it’s too late.

You’re successful. Your competition is nothing but a pack of annoying, yappy dogs, sqarming around your ankles. No one can challenge your pre-eminence.

Until that day that the new market you thought was a fad becomes the only game in town. And you are so far behind, you’ll never catch up… because all your energy went into securing your spot as #1 in the game no one plays anymore.

You’re Small – Be Nimble

You’ve seen big businesses and mighty institutions fail. Not just banks, but more to the point – auto companies, newspapers, broadcast TV, downtown department stores, computer big box chains…. the list is long and frightening.

The one thing they have in common is an inability to adapt.

They captured their market and then they protected it from the armies they’d already vanquished. They were blindsided by the real challenge, which came from nowhere.

They were too slow to change, too big to adapt.

Never Get Comfortable

Although the hype and triumphalism around all things Web 2.0 can be hard to take, something different is clearly happening.

• The mass media is doing a wretched job of covering Iran – but Twitterers are sending reports from every street corner in Tehran.
• Major metropolitan newspapers are disappearing, while blogs proliferate.
• Retail chains disappear, online shopping grows, but established online giants like eBay continue to lose market share.

You, as an independent small business owner or information product producer, are in the perfect position to benefit from the shake ups and the chaos, if only you are ready and can change directions in an instant.

No one really knows what will happen next year (or next month).

• Will Google still rule the universe?
• Will the changes they are making to their ranking algorithms lock out the little guy – or will they rocket you to the top?
• Will blogging become so mainstream it’s boring and people stop reading?
• Will Amazon turn into the online Wal-Mart or will some new business model take them down?

I certainly can’t predict – but I do know that trends are easy to spot if you are watching for them. And easy to exploit if you are not afraid.

Don’t be tomorrow’s CNN, forced to turn to some kid with a cell phone and a Twitter account to do your job.

When you see a trend, divert resources to it. Be ready to catch the wave as it builds. Learn, investigate, invest. Don’t just be the leader in your niche – be a leader.

Photo by Lin Pernille ? Photography Released under Creative Commons License.

Tags: change, media, social media, twitter

WordPress 2.8 Now Available

WordPress 2.8 is officially available for download

The big news – Themes can now be downloaded and installed from within the Dashboard, just like plugins.

This makes WordPress even easier to use and customize. No need to download, unzip, and upload a new theme ever again. Just browse the theme gallery, pick your poison, and install it. Of course, the theme has to be available through the regular WordPress.org theme gallery. Custom themes, professional themes, and themes released by developers on their own web sites only will still need to be manually installed.

Widgets have also undergone a face lift and some usability improvements. You can now save inactive widgets, so all the information you’ve entered in text boxes, etc., will not be lost if you remove a widget from your sidebar. You can add more than one copy of a widget. And you can drag and drop widgets between sidebars.

For the adventurous among us, WordPress has introduced syntax highlighting in the code editor. This makes it much easier to see what you’re doing if you need to tweak your templates or style sheets.

I upgraded this blog without incident using the Automatic Upgrade that was introduced in WordPress 2.7. Before I updated, I did a full back up and I de-activated all plugins. Both of those steps used to be performed automatically by the WP Automatic Upgrade plug in. Since that plugin is no longer compatible with Wordpress – be sure you do a manual back up and plugin deactivation. Both steps are crucial to a clean upgrade!

If you are interested in WordPress’s official announcement, the video below should give you a good overview of all the new features. (It stutters and runs in fits and starts if you have a slower internet connection.)

Tags: wordpress

Plantronics .Audio 510 USB Ultimate Performance Headset – New in Poly-Bag

If you use Skype or Camtasia, you’ve heard that a USB headset is better than an analog headset. You may have even heard side-by-side comparisons of the two. But you’ve put off buying a new headset.

Me too.

My old Logitech analog headset has served me well over the last few years. It is subject to popping P’s and B’s, but the audio is acceptable and I didn’t want to spend $50.00 for a new headset.

Earlier this week, I got a newsletter from Buy.com, touting the Plantronics Audio 510 on sale for only $16.99, with free shipping.

Plantronics is the brand recommended by Bill Myers, which is usually good enough for me. But the recent models featured a pair of analog mini-plugs with a USB adapter. I don’t know if that degrades the sound or not – but I wanted a true USB connection.

Like the one on the Audio 510.

So I jumped on the offer.

The headset arrived yesterday, and it is terrific. I’ve only had it for 24 hours, but I endorse it without reservation. The sound through the headphones is excellent, the microphone is sensitive without clipping, the windshield on the mic also seems to act as a pop filter, and the USB connection was recognized by my computers without a problem.

And, of course, the sound is noticeably better.

If you’ve been looking for a USB headset, this sale is worth checking out.

The link below this paragraph is an affiliate link. If you click the buy button, it will take you right to Buy.com and I’ll earn a couple of cents. If you’d prefer not to use an affiliate link, here is a direct link to the Buy.com order page, absolutely not affiliate commission or tracking involved. I’m not recommending this headset for the commission. I truly thought this was such a great deal, I wanted to share it:

Bare (non-affiliate) link:

http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?querytype=home&qu=202592133&qxt=home&display=col

There’s no telling how long this sale will last – so if you want it, go now.

Affiliate link below:

Plantronics .Audio 510 USB Ultimate Performance Headset – New in Poly-Bag Enter a zone of pure audio extravagance, where plush, supple comfort and bass-enriched resonance redefine the multimedia experience. The .Audio 510 USB is ideal for gaming, music, Internet talk, video conferencing, and voice applications. It features 40mm speakers that convey music and gaming with dynamic bass response.

Tags: headset, Plantronics, USB microphone

Look inside - the experience keeps going

Do you suffer from tunnel vision? If you do, it’s probably costing you money.

Let me tell you a story about how you can turn one simple thing into a half dozen revenue streams.

Cindy Shebley, my partner at The Web Sellers’ Circle, recently went to a live auction in Edmonds, WA.  Among other things, the auction featured box lots of “new-old” camera equipment – stuff that had been sitting unopened in boxes since a camera store had closed its doors sometime in the 70’s.

Cindy sells camera equipment on eBay, as well as teaching others to sell on eBay. So that auction was one part fun (photography buffs love combing through boxes of filters and mysterious paraphernalia) and one part work (product sourcing).

Cindy bought some old cameras and some darkroom equipment, which has a good potential to at least double its value.

That’s where most resellers would stop. And that’s why tunnel vision leaves money on the table.

The auction provided a wealth of side projects well beyond items to sell on eBay:

• Cindy wrote a detailed description of how she previewed and researched items before the auction.
• She wrote a guide on how to prepare for an auction, how to determine your upper bid limit, and how to avoid getting swept away by the excitement of the moment.
• She has incorporated the auction experience into her eBay classes – using real-life examples of attendees’ bidding to illustrate the psychology of both buyers and sellers.
• She photographed some of the older, collectible equipment and placed the pictures for sale on stock photography sites.
• She found a few old cameras that will make nice bookshelf decorations in the office as well as interesting props in future videos.
• She made contact with potential customers (collectors) and potential dealers; this sort of face-to-face networking can’t be duplicated online.

When you begin a new project, don’t focus so intently on the goal that you lose sight of all the extra marketing and sales opportunities.

Experiences that are old hat to you are exciting and new to someone else. Turn every step into an adventure, and every adventure into a story. Document your preparation. Teach others what to expect. Take pictures, shoot a video, write an ebook.

Like a dozen clowns tumbling out of a tiny circus car or a set of Russian Matryoshki dolls, each “thing” you sell contains a dozen more things inside itself. Make use of them all.

Photo by L. Marie Released under Creative Commons License

Tags: auctions, blog posts, eBay, photography

Free Business Forms and Templates

Re-inventing the wheel can become one of the biggest time wasters in a one person business.

If you need something, and you have no one’s experience but your own to fall back on, you may end up building a spreadsheet from scratch when a template is already available – or writing a contract, designing a business card, creating an invoice, building a custom database… There are hundreds of daily tasks that someone has already simplified if you know wher to look.

If you are looking for basic business letters and forms in Word and Excel format, begin your search at Free Business Forms and Templates.

Site navigation is a bit funky. The collection of links on the front page isn’t a collection of links at all – nothing is clickable. To download the forms, click on the Download Forms button on the top navigation bar instead.

The few minutes you spend deciphering this web site’s poor design will be repaid in the hours you save not (re)creating documents.

h/t makeuseof.com

Tags: business forms, excel, templates, word

Think Before You Say Yes!

Lots of people hate Word.

I am not one of them.

I use Word constantly. I’ve studied it, written about it, taught it. I find that Word is much richer, much more versatile than most users imagine.

In short, I like Word.

But Word is word processing software. Word is not blogging software. Word creates all sorts of weird code in the background that tells Windows how to display and print MS Office documents. For instance, if you look at the code, you’ll see lots tags that begin “MSO”

MSO is not a tag that browsers understand. WordPress cannot parse it. Firefox cannot parse it. Even Internet Explorer chokes on it.

Software is code.

When you copy and paste a document written in Word directly into your blog editor, you are not just copying the words. You are copying the code. If you look at the HTML editor in WordPress after you paste in a Word document, you will see tons of awful code.

WordPress tries mightily to translate Office tags into PHP and HTML – but fails. Font sizes are changed from11 pt to X-small – and they look awful. Scores of nested div tags are broken or left open, so that only half the post is visible.

In extreme cases, your blog’s design is destroyed. Your sidebar may disappear, your header graphics may be displaced, your fonts may all suddenly change to Time New Roman 6 pt.

All this so you can use spell check?

Please – if you write offline – fine. Compose in Word, spell check in Word. But paste only plain text.

The simplest way to do this is first copy and paste your document into Notepad or some other text editor and then copy that document and paste it into WordPress. The add your formatting – bold, italics, etc – in the WordPress editor.

(You can also use the “Paste as Text” button on the TinyMCE visual editor.)

Tags: microsoft office, wod

SnagIt

From now until June 5, TechSmith is giving a free, legal, licensed copy of SnagIt v7.25 to anyone who requests a copy – just for giving TechSmith your email address.

SnagIt is simply the very best screen capture program there is. The latest version is 9.1 and costs $50.00 – so for free, you’ll be a bit behind. But don’t wait – go now and download SnagIt if you don’t already own a copy.

If you have a web site or a newsletter – or if you are an eBay Education Specialist or any kind of teacher – or if you use PowerPoint or create info products – you need TechSmith’s SnagIt

First go here to request the software key:

http://www.techsmith.com/Covermount/covermount.asp?ID=8

Then go here to download SnagIt:

http://download.techsmith.com/snagit/enu/725/snagit.exe

(It is even possible that you will qualify for upgrade pricing to the latest version even with this free older version of SnagIt. What a deal.)

Tags: screen capture, snagit

Are You On The Right Track?

In our survey so far, Membergate has come out on top in terms of features, support, and ease of use. But there is no denying that it is one of the most expensive solutions.

The difference between aMember’s $300 price tag and Membergate’s $4,000.00 one can be the difference between starting and giving up. Many people just don’t have the cash on hand needed to buy into Membergate. For some, even aMember’s relatively low fees are too high. So let’s come at this another way.

Here are a few questions to ponder while comparing software:

How complicated is your recurring billing? Maybe PayPal’s Subscription solution will work for you. If your monthly subscription fee is low enough (say, under $25.00) and you are willing to shoulder some administrative tasks in return for lower start up costs, you can run your billing through PayPal, e-Junkie, or even ClickBank without a Merchant Account. Is it ideal? No. Is it better than doing nothing at all? Infinitely!

How many members do you expect in your first year? Tracking members, re-issuing lost passwords, answering support questions, etc, will eat up a good portion of your time. Can you find a way to give your members the support they deserve without breaking the bank or burning yourself out? Since you can’t do everything yourself, can you find a piece of software – a plugin, a script, some custom written code – that will take care of some tasks? Elance and Rent-A-Coder have made it easier than ever to find freelance help (though the quality is variable).

What sort of software skills do you really possess? Can you learn how to administer a forum? Will you be able to add content regularly? Do you need to hire outside help just to insert a hyperlink? Be honest with yourself. If you can do it yourself, and you are willing to spend the time, you can save a substantial amount of money. If, on the other hand, you have to turn to an independent contractor for everyday tasks, you risk running up hidden costs that far exceed those you “couldn’t afford” to begin with.

Can you find partner(s)? Partners can help financially, of course. They also add skills, hands, time and talent. Someone to bounce ideas off of can be worth her weight in gold, if you are so close to the project that you can’t objectively calculate risk any more. On the other hand, do you want to split the profits? Are you willing to share authority? Can you delegate? Be ruthlessly honest with yourself. The right partner can make a business. The wrong one… well, just don’t go there.

What do others in your niche do? If there are other sites catering to your target audience, what sort of format do they follow? If your customers have come to expect a high degree of professionalism and functionality, an amateurish WordPress site could harm your reputation. On the other hand, if the client sees the web site as nothing more than a portal to a conference call or a bulletin board, you might skate by with a minimal investment.

If you are planning for success (and not just hoping not to fail miserably), when you’ve run through your checklist of  candidates, questions, and options, you’ll want to weigh Return On Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and not just out of pocket costs. How much are you spending to acquire members? How long will they stay? How much will you spend on tech help, custom scripts, and even your own sweat equity to keep your site running?

There is no one right solution. Many successful sites are built on WordPress, Free Conference Pro, and a low cost web hosting plan – with an investment of less than $15.00 per month. Others have found that their free site turned into a money pit or a straight jacket and have had to spend hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars to migrate their users to a more stable site.

But even those who wish they’d started differently have one thing in common with wildly successful membership site owners – they started a site. Whatever you decide to do – even if you just test the waters with a free, but password protected, members only blog or forum – don’t let costs stop you. Take your first step and build from there.

Photo by macie3k Released under Creative Commons License

Tags: membership site

Help Doesn't Just Fall From The Sky

Almost as important as the ability to securely and reliably handle credit cards, technical support for a membership site can be a make or break situation.

If your site is down, you cannot serve your current members or recruit new members. If you are responsible for site updates and backups and upgrades and new plugins – you may have little time left over for the real mission of a membership site owner: delighting your members and creating new content.

How do the Big Three – aMember, Membergate, and WordPress – stack up when it comes to support?

If you are very tech saavy, and don’t mind spending some time tweaking aMember, it can be a good mid-price solution. Generally, a normal install is a straight forward proposition and will be handled by the aMember staff. If you run into trouble, there is a trouble ticket system with a promise of 24 hour turn around. They also host a bulletin board for users to post questions and share solutions.

Membergate suggests (but doesn’t require) you host your site on their dedicated servers. This, of course, is another expense on top of the initial start up cost. However, the hosting fee is a dop in the bucket compared to the level of tech support it brings.

Membergate’s software is completely installed – along with a custom design – by the Membergate staff. The servers are monitored 24/7 and all server related issues are addressed immediately.

Membergate, like aMember, also has an active community of users who can post questions and receive answers from other site owners on the Membergate Support forums. There is a typical Knowledge Base FAQ with common questions and answers. Email and phone support are available as well.

Both Membergate and aMember get good marks from their users. Once again, the higher cost of Membergate helps cover extra service. A Membergate site is likely to run smoothly no matter the technical skills of the owner. An aMember site will run smoothly if you aren’t afraid of poking around under the hood.

And what about Wordpress?

Once again – Wordpress comes out a distant third. Although there is a huge base of open source developers and WordPress fans, there is no one responsible party to turn to if your site goes down. You are the responsible party. It is up to you to keep everything up to date and purring along.

If you are a sole operator, admin tasks and creating and posting new content probably take all your time. Whatever is left over is used for promotion. This leaves you little time to worry about the state of your software.

SUPPORT SCORECARD

Membergate = A
aMember = B+
WordPress = D

Photo by Army.milReleased under Creative Commons License

Tags: membership site

The Sky Is The Limit - Time To Fly

You can start a membership site for free.

Or you can pay several thousand dollars for a complete content management solution that will include everything from forums to video player to payment gateway to shopping cart.

Which way is better?

You’ll hear plenty of partisans on all sides of this question touting their particular software. Some are affiliates, who stand to gain financially from convincing you that their program is superior. Some are happy customers who want to share their good fortune.

Even after you separate the hucksters from the helpful, you still need to ask yourself: Which solution is right for you? Let’s begin by looking at the three most popular solutions and weighing their pros and cons.

THE PLAYERS

Although there are many more solutions available, the big players are:

• Membergate
• aMember
• WordPress

START UP COSTS

• Membergate = $4,000.00+
• aMember = $180.00+
• WordPress = $0.00+

CONSIDERATION #1 – CREDIT CARD PROCESSING

Will you bill members on an automated recurring, monthly basis?

If so, how will the payments be processed? Are you going to accept credit cards or will you rely on PayPal?

Some marketers will tell you that a free platform, like WordPress, coupled with a free PayPal plugin is all you need. Don’t believe it.

For most people, PayPal is inextricably linked to eBay. Although your members may have a PayPal account, you will find that few of them will want to use it to pay for a month-to-month membership.

What’s more, PayPal acts like a debit card rather than a credit card. Money is immediately withdrawn from the customer’s account when a purchase is made. So if a potential member is weighing the choice of signing up vs. the cost of waiting awhile longer – waiting will almost always win and you will lose.

Finally, accepting PayPal as your only means of payment marks you as an amateur. In the physical world, real businesses accept credit cards. No matter how lowly the corner Mom ‘n’ Pop store is, you can use a credit or debit card to buy a carton of milk.

HOW DO THEY RATE?

Membergate – Membergate is fully integrated with Authorize.net (and other gateways) and a proprietary shopping cart. Setting up members and collecting payment requires no specialized knowledge. Membergate also includes automated recapture of declined credit cards, so members are less likely to slip through the cracks in a month where they may have cancelled a card or forgotten to update an Expiration Date.

Functionality: A
Ease of use: A

aMember – aMember supports a huge number of payment gateways, including Authorize.net, Clickbank, and PayPal. Shopping cart software is installed separately via plugin.

Functionality: A
Ease of use: B

WordPress – Of course, WordPress was never designed to do this work. All efforts to build a membership site on WordPress involve a compromise between security, functionality, and stability.

There is no built in way to accept payments – of any kind – with WordPress. Through the use of plugins, WordPress can be integrated with PayPal’s recurring billing system.

In this case, the strengths and weaknesses are all PayPal’s and are all well documented.

1. PayPal will bill members monthly, but it will not recapture declined data.
2. Depending on the plugin you use, the membership data will not necessarily be stored in your WordPress database.
3. Automation is limited – again, depending on the plugin
4. You may need to hire a third party to make your “free” solution work.
5. Your third party plugin may just stop working without notice (Google “Wordpress + PayBox” for a hair raising example.)

Functionality: C
Ease of use: D

CONCLUSION

Not surprisingly, the really expensive software, Membergate, does more, and does it more easily, right out of the box. Some of the money you invest up front for the software is recouped almost immediately in non-existent support costs. More is recouped in tracking and retrying declined transactions.

aMember also does a decent job of taking payments. Although it is not quite as solid as Membergate, it does include a large number of gateways and payment options. It is certainly worth investigating further.

WordPress leaves a lot to be desired on the payment front. Since recurring billing is the heart of a continuity program, any breakdown here can cripple your membership site.

Relying on third party plugins leaves the very foundation of your business open to catastrophe. In fact, I consider it so risky that it was enough to knock WordPress out of consideration when I chose software for the new Web Sellers’ Circle membership site.

FINAL WEEKS

These are the final weeks for free access to all the content on Web Sellers’ Circle. In addition to the open to everyone blog, check out the VIP Membership area. All you need to do is sign up for the newsletter to gain access to our eBook and Video library.

For now, it’s free. In June, we’ll have the completely revamped Web Sellers Circle up and running with tons of tutorials, classes, articles, and videos that will help you build a profitable business online.

Check it out.

Photo by aussiegall Released under Creative Commons License

Tags: continuity program, membership site

Time to Catch The Wave

Recurring monthly income is the Holy Grail of internet sellers.

Everyone wants a predictable revenue stream that grows over time and appreciates in value but does not require an endless investment of time and talent.

Membership sites are the #1 solution for a growing segment of web site owners – including Ghost Leg Media.

Ghost Leg Media and CloverCity Sells have joined forces to produce a new membership site called The Web Sellers’ Circle. It’s a site dedicated to the needs of the online small business owner. We’re a resources and skill center, offering support, training and tutorials in topics ranging from selling on Bonanzle to producing your own DVDs.

We’ve got big plans and high hopes.

For the next few weeks, while we get the site architecture firmly in place, Web Sellers Circle will remain free to join – just sign up to view our exclusive interviews with internet entrpreneurs from Bonanzle, Vendio, MerchantRun, NeatoScan and more.

That’s just a small taste of what the site will offer.

As we get ready to launch, I’ll blog about the process of starting a membership site, including:

• Choosing a platform
• Finding a niche
• Accepting payments

If you’ve ever wanted to start your own membership site, this is your chance to follow the behind the scenes progress. Learn with us as we gear up for the final preparations before throwing open the doors.

In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about Web Sellers’ Circle itself, please head on over to Web Sellers’ Secret and read about the Charter Members Sign Up package.

Photo by tylerdurden1 Released under Creative Commons License

Tags: membership site