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.”

Your membership site can help you with that. By having a thriving membership site of people who view you as an authority, you automatically increase your authority position just because you have members of your site. Those members will likely promote you as an authority to their peers similarly to how I mentioned Dan Kennedy and Frank Kern above, thus increasing your Authority Position.

Increasing Revenue

Due the fact that you are already an authority with your members, they are a warm market for you. They tend to think you are great and will pay more attention to you….in other words, they are a warm market who you can market to.

For example, they are a great place to test out a new product before you release it to the public. Let a select group of your members get it for a reduced price or free for a certain period of time provided that they give you feedback on what is good about the new product and what could use improving. Then when you do release it to, first, your other members, then to the world at large, you will have a better product and already have testimonials at launch date.

Again, because you have established yourself as an expert or authority, your members are a good market to up-sell or cross-sell to. Move them up the membership (ascension) ladder from Bronze to Silver or Gold membership for a higher monthly fee (and of course more tangible value that the lower membership levels cannot get — like more access to you, additional reports, etc.).

Expanding Your Authority Position

Once you have the Authority Position in one venue, it will help you expand the Authority Position into other venues. Being in the Authority Position in your membership site will help to increase your authority in other venues and as your overall authority increases, then you can charge more because of who you are, not because of what you do.