Make Money with Membership Sites

A guide for budding entrepreneurs who want to break into the global market through Online Marketing

Dr Davies M. Mulenga

• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9783749499410
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783750457751
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

Unleashing the new way of generating Riches and passive income through Expert Membership sites.Earn Lucrative Income from your existing Customers or New Customers Over and Over Again.Get the full detailed and comprehensive pack including the must have success keys to starting and running your profitable membership sites! If there is a better way of making money online or generating passive income effectively this is your best tool to grow your business with massive income potential.Suitable for all professionals, kick-starters, teachers, business managers, investors, experts in any field and budding entrepreneurs who want to break into the global market through Online Marketing.

CHAPTER 1:

AN OVERVIEW ON MEMBERSHIP
SITES

1.1 Why Start a Membership Site?

People are willing to pay for online content. In fact, the "Online Publishers Association" said that pay-for content is emerging as a hot revenue model. Business content, personals/match making, and entertainment are the hottest niches. But even smaller niches, like DVD authoring, sports coaching, marketing services, and dieting are producing profits.

You can sell subscriptions for online content with your own membership site? Selling online content by way of a password protected website has become big business. Not only is it fast to set up, but the start-up and running costs are minimal. Work from home entrepreneurs and big businesses alike are tapping into this newfound revenue source.

Less than nine percent of online users currently pay for online content. This means the market is wide open for the savvy entrepreneur. Paying for content in 2004 was more than 5 times what it was in 2005. That’s a whopping 500% growth! Those who capture the market first in their niche will have the obvious advantage and it’s an international market, so anyone can play.

One of the great things about starting a membership site is you can take your hobby, specialized knowledge or profession and turn it into a profitable business. Your challenge will be finding exclusive content. You can start it part time but it will likely develop into a full time business.

Planning for and setting your site up for auto-responders, automated sign-ups, credit card processing, automated cancellations, etc is all part of a successful membership website. Starting and running a membership site can be a lot of fun and very exciting, however you need to know what’s involved in setting one up, and then managing it effectively.

This whole process can seem a bit daunting. However, as complex as this seems, many companies offer a low cost, easy-to-use software solution. This makes it possible for almost anyone to start and market a membership site at a very low cost.

1.2 Membership Sites Today

The topics for successful member only websites are as varied today as...short people, tall people, buying websites, unusual business ideas, selling stocks, paint ball, 2nd wives clubs, financial, dating, fitness, marketing and countless mentoring and coaching sites on almost every topic imaginable and probably a few you can’t imagine or wouldn’t want to imagine.

It takes some work and certainly the right tools to set up a members-only website but the rewards (monetary as well as personal satisfaction) can be huge. Whatever you are passionately interested in or very adept at can be the topic of a members-only website today.

One of the first types of membership sties on the Internet was the online dating site. In the beginning, they were mostly populated with nerds, weirdoes and perverts but as the Internet matured the sites became popular among people from all walks of life. They have even progressed so far as to offer pre-screening of members. Most porn sites are membership only sites.

There are membership sites today that cover just about every area of human interests. Some offer informational or teaching material that can only be accessed by site members. Some membership can be viewed by non members but non-members are not allowed to participate in the activities or post to the message boards on the site. Sites that provide information to find work-at-home jobs, for example, can see the listing of jobs but cannot apply for the jobs unless they are members of the membership site.

There are membership sites that provide instruction is such things as how to play a guitar. The lessons are accessible only to members of the site, although those who are not members can view what subjects are being taught in the lessons.

Membership sites usually accept payment for membership fees by credit card or by personal check.

1.3 Who Should Start This Membership Business?

Anybody can start a membership business on the Internet. All that is needed is a subject, a website and the tools to build the site. The subject of the site is the real make or break issue.

A website can be obtained for as little as twelve dollars a year and the tools to build the website can be found for as little as twenty-five dollars a month. If you are going to have your website built for you, the cost will be a lot higher. However, with the tools available on the Internet, even those with limited computer skills can successfully build a website. You don’t need HTML knowledge or any special skills to set up a website that can include templates, color schemes, discussion forums, blogs, a shopping cart and an auto responder.

As for the matter of choosing the topic of your membership website business, the thing to remember is that you must provide specialized information, coaching, teaching or data service that is hard to find anywhere else, or would be time consuming to find on your own. The information must be kept updated and it must be relevant to your subject. Choose a topic that you are passionate about yourself. Others will be just as passionate as you are and they are your paying membership base. The only thing left to do is to advertise your site.

After you get your website built finding or writing content is the time consuming part of a membership website that supplies information. Answering posted question on a membership website that provides instruction or teaching is a time consuming part of that type of membership website. There is no type of membership website that will not require some amount of time from you each and everyday.

1.4 The Different Types of Membership Sites

There are basically two types of membership sites. There are free sites and there are paid for sites. The two types of membership sites have one thing is common. Their memberships are made up of people who share a common interest or have a common need.

You can, of course, buy a domain, set up a website and not charge for memberships but choose who to admit and who not to admit. This is done when the profit is intended to come from sales to members after they join the site. There are free network sites that might be used for your purposes. Two examples of free membership sites are Group sites on MSN and groups on Yahoo. It costs nothing to set these sites up and there is no charge at all for a person to join. There are no paid administrators or moderators.

Each site sets its own rules for how to join and the code of conduct for the site. The site topics are many and varied. There are many “support” sites for those with health problems or concerns and for those who have suffered the loss of loved ones. There are sites for those who are passionate about crafts like quilting or woodworking. There are sites for those who love to travel. There are sites for different age groups from teens to seniors. The sites include chat software and a limited amount of space for posting pictures, documents and links per member. The free sites do not have such things as access to specialized data or lists. They don’t give access to such things as music lessons.

Paid for membership sites are set up by businesses or individuals with the objective of making money by supplying hard to find information, access to specialized data or lists, or instruction in various fields. Membership sites are owned and operated by people who either own the sites or who are hired by the site owners to monitor and administer them. The topics for paid for membership sites are even more varied than the free sites and certainly more specialized.

CHAPTER 2:

STARTING YOUR MEMBERSHIP
SITE

2.1 Choosing Your Theme

Choosing the theme or subject for your members-only website is a matter of personal choice and preference. Some member only sites provide mentoring or coaching, some contain useful articles or information in a particular field or product, some publish the results of tests and studies, some provide access to libraries and other reference information, some contain reviews, some provide specialized service, and some act as a meeting place for people with a common interest. The theme of your membership website needs to be something that you are passionate about or something that you have a great depth of knowledge about in order for people to be willing to pay for access to your site.

When the dot-com bubble burst, it didn't take long for the big companies to realize that there were huge amounts of money to be made by charging people for access. Such businesses as Consumer Reports and The Wall Street Journal are making millions with subscriptions to their websites. There are thousands of little guys making big bucks off membership sites as well. You won’t believe some of the themes of these paid for membership websites. There are such topics as “short people, music lessons, paintball, dating services, financial, fitness, marketing, and work-at-home directories. There really isn’t any subject that somewhere in the world there aren’t people who would be eager to join a site to learn more about. The key to getting people to pay for access to a website, is to provide specialized information, coaching, teaching, instruction, data, or a service that is ha...

Table of contents

• Hinweise
• Legal Notice
• Table of Contents
• 1. An Overview on Membership Sites
• 2. Starting Your Membership Site
• 3. The Free Membership Model
• 4. The Paid Membership Model
• 5. Content For Your Membership Site
• 6. Getting Members with Affiliate Programs
• 7. Other Marketing Methods
• 8. Managing Your Growing Membership Site
• 9. In Closing
• About the Author
• Impressum