Membership Sites – Three Basic Types
A membership web site is an excellent way to generate an online income.
It enables you to create an income from selling the memberships.
Sometimes, often depending on the price of the membership, you can also make extra money by promoting other products and services to your members.
Another benefit, this time depending on the type of membership site you have, is that it even doesn’t require a lot of work on your behalf.
Basically there are three major types of membership sites which I will discuss below.
Conventional Membership
More than likely, a conventional membership web site is precisely what you think it is. A visitor signs up to become a member and pays a recurring fee. They continue to be a member for as long as they want or like the membership.
In exchange, the site gives them new and valuable content all the time.
Being a member continues to cost money but in return it continuously provides value for the membership fee. As long as the members perceive the information provided is a multiple of the periodic fee, this kind of site is interesting for its members.
Because these types of sites can make you money each and every month for a very long time, they are highly appreciated and applied by Internet Marketers. That’s what makes this type the more popular one.
However, because you have to continuously provide value, they require more work too. So, a conventional membership site can be very profitable, it is also the most work to maintain.
Fixed Term
The fixed term is the second of the major types of membership sites. As the name indicates, members join only for a predefined amount of time.
An excellent example of this kind of site is Blog Mastermind from expert blogger Yaro Starak. This was the first one I personally experienced and I found it a great gesture my membership stopped automatically when the course was done.
Because you only have to do the creation of the content and getting it up and running once, fixed term membership sites often require a minimum of time to operate.
Once the initial setup is done you can fully concentrate on marketing it. Which means making money without a lot of work and the continuous burden of finding great content. Of course the total income of any member is limited, but if you provide great value and a good back-end offer, you can do it again.
Autoresponder Membership
And then there’s the newsletter membership site. Actually it’s an autoresponder membership site, as you deliver all content through email using a follow up management system (also called autoresponder).
So you would just send the content every week, month, or whatever period you promised to send it. Then the members will just open their emails and click on the link you provide for them.
Obviously the newsletter membership site is really fast and easy to set-up. You don’t need to worry about membersite scripts, login info, passwords or anything.
All you have to do is set-up the sales page, a thank you page, and an autoresponder. Then load the content into the autoresponder and you’re done.
There’s an outstanding very easy to follow step-by-step plan with great promotion advice for this kind of membership sites discussed in ‘20 Ways To Make $100 A Day‘.
The three major types of membership sites have the pros and cons. Choose the one that fits you, your niche, and your topic best and then market your site.
Membership sites are a great way to make money.
Let me know what you think of it.
Post your comments below.
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I have seen many reports lately offering how to setup and make money from membership sites.
Though they give very good explanations and step by step details it is not that easy to find a niche where people are willing to pay for information on a monthly.
If you are able to develop a good membership you will have a group ready to purchase many other products related to your membership site’s niche. Before opening a site it would probably be good to have 6 months worth of content which gives you time to promote the site and build up the member base.
Membership sites also take a lot of time and effort to maintain as the subscribers grow over time. Hiring help to maintain the membership sites (i.e. forums) would be a good idea eventually. But hey, it does pay off all the hard work
hey, you are taking blogging to the next level. having membership goes well behind our possibilities, above all if a blogger has a job in the morning and comes back late at night! i do like blogging but i can imagine managing memberships!
The trouble with membership sites is that you have to offer content (or a community) which is truly valuable. It’s not easy and is perhaps a strategy to look at once you have a very popular blog or website.
Having said that I’ve heard good things about teachingsells.com (run by Copyblogger) which teaches you to start a successful membership site (although it’s currently closed for new members).
Yes, membership sites can be very profitable and in my opinion are one of the best ways to make money online. I have a good friend who went from making very little to making over $40,000 per month just by starting a membership site, and he did it in less than two months.
Thanks for sharing! I was thinking of starting a membership website to, but it is a big idea and always just delayed it, but I feel inspired now to take action so thanks!
Thanks for the ideas on the different types of membership sites. For some reason, I never even thought of the “fixed term” type of membership. I have one membership site (the music niche) that is recurring (monthly) and it has been pretty succesful for over a year now.
I am thinking about starting another one, and the fixed term type of site might be exactly what is needed on that one. Its more of a teaching site so it could work well. Any opinion on the optimum length of time for a fixed term site? I’ll check out Yaro’s and see what he is doing. thanks again!
I have 3 product sites , but I only charge a one time fee. Lot of people advised me to do a membership site and with the knowledge gathered from here, I think it is about time i start do something about it.
The most convenient for user is to go for membership for a predefined time.In this time,he can test the service and then decide whether to continue it for long term or not.
I have seen many people choosing membership for a limited type rather than permanent life time listing.
Are there more (working) examples to sites that fall into these categories?
What kinds of information/service/products do most of these type of sites produce other then get rich quick / money making type of sites?
Myron Tay
http://www.myrontay.com
It seems that the most important part of setting up a membership is researching the topic. I’ve have several great ideas for memberships, but the upfront research for the content is what’s preventing me from go forward with it.
Ann Jade
http://www.21rivers.com
Hi
Good One.I think it is about time i start do something about it.Thank you.
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Kevin Milton
I believe providing a short term course on certain skill sets and earning membership fee for a certain period of time falls under the fixed term type too.
Rif Chia