Membership websites are very popular on the web right now because they provide an excellent opportunity to create a substantial recurring income as a home based business. For the uninitiated a membership site contains information pertinent to a particular niche that members usually pay a monthly recurring fee or sometimes a lump sum amount for a year long subscription to gain access to said information.
The content may take many forms including articles, software downloads, audio and video files or a course or seminar related to your niche. These websites can also be free of charge for access because, in these cases, the owner may be using this free service to help build their email list and also to promote a back end product later in the process.
These websites are attractive to the new Internet entrepreneur for a number of reasons with the most important being it’s a tremendous way to establish a very lucrative recurring income online. However, before you begin to build your membership empire there are several very important questions you must answer in order to ensure that your business is a success.
1. Your first concern should be addressing the issue of which red hot niche you are going to approach to become members of your website. You should select a target which has a high conversion rate and one which is very popular or is starting to become very attractive to people on the Internet. Some of the most fashionable markets at the moment include weight loss, health and fitness, exercise, dog training, home business opportunities, relationships and anti-aging niches.
2. Next you should consider which revenue model you are going to create for your membership site. There are several you can choose from including but not limited to a free subscription to build your list and promote a back end product at a later date, or a low monthly subscription such as $4.99 or $9.97 per month for access to your content, or perhaps you could offer a six month long course for six equal payments of 197.00 per month or a lump sum payment of $1000.00 up front for the entire training. These are only three examples and there are many more available and you’re only limited by your imagination as to which model you choose.
3. You should also consider as to whether or not you’re going to create a back end sales funnel for your website. This means, for example you could begin with a free membership offer or a low monthly subscription rate and when you establish a relationship with your members you could pitch them on a higher priced product on the back end of the sales process.
4. Now you must decide how you’re going to deliver your content to your members. Is it going to be a simple delivery platform such as an autoresponder sending their articles or password to your content on a monthly basis or are you going to develop a multi-tiered membership where different levels of subscribers receive access to or the delivery of different, or varying stages of information? For example, you could establish gold, silver and bonze levels with the gold members receiving the most advanced content.
5. Your website layout should be your next contemplation and this is where the KISS principle should be applied especially if you’re new to creating websites. A wordpress header with one of their done for you templates is the most economical and easiest path to take for getting your site up and running.
If you still aren’t convinced you can handle the technical stuff on your own there’s a great website called fiverr where you can have someone create a wordpress site for you for five dollars.
At this stage you should also come up with a domain name and purchase it from one the many providers online such as Namecheap and Go Daddy. It’s recommended that your name be related to your targeted niche. For example, if your chosen niche is home business opportunities online then you should try to incorporate these words in the domain name.
6. Last but certainly not least you must decide where you’re going to get your content to supply to your membership on a regular basis. For example, are you going to create it yourself or are you going to buy it? There are many private label rights product websites on the web where you can purchase some of the goods you need at very reasonable prices.
This may be the best road to take as far as delivering fresh information to your subscribers on a regular basis is concerned because depending on how many websites you create developing new products yourself on a monthly basis could become a real challenge for someone new to creating and promoting membership websites online.
Once you have launched your first website your only remaining chore is driving traffic to your site and signing up new members. Of course traffic generation is a whole new topic in and of itself and is a subject for another day.
Creating membership websites provide an exceptional opportunity for establishing a successful and profitable home based business online from the comfort of your own home and is an idea that should be considered very seriously.