Effective Ways to Market Your Membership Website

Building your membership website is one thing, but marketing it is another. When it comes to the online world, most people have the "If you build it, they will come" mentality, but having a membership website is just like running any type of internet business. You have to market your membership website and drive traffic to it in order to really make any money. Here are ten highly effective ways to market your membership website:

1. Start a blog centered around the topic of your membership website. For example, if you have a group that offers parenting tips, then start a blog and post articles offering free information and tips. You would include the link to your membership website within the articles. The search engines like blogs and your blog posts will most likely show up when people do internet searches on parenting tips.

2. Create a MySpace or Facebook profile about your membership website. Social networking websites are very popular right now and it's a great way to find potential members for your group. The more active you are on MySpace or Facebook, the more chances there are of people discovering your website. If these people like your website, they will tell all their friends within their networks.

3. Create a Squidoo page. Squidoo "lenses" are web pages focused on one particular topic. What makes Squidoo such a great place to market your membership website is the fact that Google likes Squidoo pages and will rank them high in search results.

4. Share with your Twitter followers. As of the writing of this article, Twitter is the "hottest" thing when it comes to social web 2.0 websites. Essentially, Twitter is a forum where you have online conversations with other people and every "tweet" is limited to 140 characters. Many have considered Twitter to be micro-blogging platform, but I like to call it "Chat on crack"!

5. Create a Hub page at Hubpages.com. Hub pages are similar to Squidoo lenses in that you share your expertise on any niche topic. Your hub page could list all the benefits of joining your group in addition to providing valuable information about your topic.

6. Create a video overview of your group and upload it to video directories like YouTube or Revver. Video is fast becoming a highly effective way to market any business online. The popularity of YouTube has inspired business owners to create video that attracts people to their websites.

7. Write articles and submit them to article directories. When you publish an article in an article directory, you can include a bio or resource section where you share a link to your membership website. Most people go to the internet looking for information, so if you write highly informative articles that are search engine optimized, you can possibly attract new members to your group.

8. Become a guest of a talk show on BlogTalkRadio.com. Tap into the marketing power of podcasts and online talk shows by becoming a guest on someone's popular talk show. Search for a show that is related to your online group and contact the show's host about sharing your expertise with his/her listeners.

9. Share information about your group through an Utterli podcast. Utterli.com is another social networking website where you can share audio files, pictures, and text. There are also different groups that you can join to share information with like-minded people.

10. Join online groups or forums where your target market hangs out. Yahoo! and Google have many groups where you can join and participate in discussions. You'll want to join groups that are related to your niche topic. Many of these groups allow you to include a signature line where you can include a link to your membership website.

These are just a handful of the many ways to market your membership website. Now it's just a matter of taking action and doing the work to attract more members to your group! If you provide unique and useful information to your current members on a consistent basis, the greater the chance that they will help spread the word for you. Now that's the type of marketing that any business owner loves!