5 Membership ideas you can start

 

 

 

A membership site is an excellent way for you and your

business to earn recurring income. However, deciding on

what kind of membership site you should start can get a little

tricky. This means that you will need to brainstorm for

possible membership site ideas.

Your membership site needs to revolve around one central

idea, which is solving your members’ problems. This means

that you have to have a deep understanding of the

challenges and difficulties that your members struggle with

and provide them with a practical solution.

Once you’ve determined two to three possible membership

site ideas, you have to go through the process of validating

the ideas to ensure you won’t end up investing too much

time and money in an idea that won’t be profitable. You

have to know if your idea is going to work before you start

the process of creating your membership site.

If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to

brainstorming and validating a membership site idea, here

are five membership site ideas that have proven to be

profitable and that can jump-start the process of starting a

membership site.

 

 

 

 

Online Courses

One way to build a profitable membership site is by offering

online courses to your members. You can create

educational content that can only be accessed by paying

members. Online courses are common because they are in

high demand in just about every niche.

You can think of a random thing that can be taught, and the

chances are high that there is already an online course

tackling the subject. Online courses are also great revenue-

building sites because you can tailor the course so that the

mode of delivery, content, and frequency of payment fits

with the subject matter and target audience.

For example, you can create a substantial online course,

upload all of the content, and then charge a fee to those

who want to access the material. Once they’ve finished

reading through the material, the members can cancel their

membership.

You can also apply a fixed-term model to your membership

site where students pay upfront for a set number of months

to access the site. Then, their membership to the site is

automatically canceled at the end of the fixed period. If you

want to establish more long-term members, you can drip

feed new content to members every month.

 

 

 

 

With this kind of membership site, you can also include a

message board for students so they can interact with one

another and share notes, inspiration, and resources. The

most popular format for an online course membership site is

video. However, you can include any kind of related content

like checklists, eBooks, self-assessment tests, and

worksheets.

If you have the time, you might also want to consider

offering a higher membership tier, with a higher fee that

provides perks to your members like a dedicated support

line or email, additional expert guidance, coaching sessions,

or one-on-one mentoring.

Library

If your particular niche is an entire industry, or if you are

looking to cater to a broad target audience, you might want

to consider setting up a library of premium resources, like

industry reports from prominent research companies,

published eBooks, expert interviews, and more.

A drip-fed model is the best fit if you want to start this type of

membership site. A drip-feed provides members with a

regularly updated resource.

 

 

 

With a library membership site, you can even add a VIP

membership tier that provides members with special

privileges, like giving them access to premium content or

allowing them to upload their own content.

Like with other kinds of membership sites, you can also set

up a member forum so members can discuss and compare

notes regarding particular material.

Job Board

Another membership idea that can generate recurring

revenue for your business is to run a community-based

membership job site that focuses on helping people get

hired for jobs in a certain industry or niche and providing

them with the tools and resources to do the jobs well.

You can create a membership site that becomes a link to

those companies that are looking for hard-working and

experienced employees and the applicants that are looking

for jobs.

Along with providing a job board for your members, you can

also host forums for your paying members to interact with

others and exchange useful industry information. You can

even provide resources on how to be the perfect candidate

for certain positions and how to do the jobs better.

 

 

 

Additionally, you can provide a frequently updated company

directory that lists companies, associations, training

facilities, and other relevant industry organizations for your

members to utilize.

Society or Club

Establishing a membership site for the genuine enthusiasts

in your niche can end up being a thriving site with a potential

for substantial profits. With a society or club membership

site, you can provide your members with training and

resources for beginners, a forum for them to get into

productive and educational discussions, and the latest news

surrounding the niche.

Since this is another community-driven membership site,

you can promote members to forum moderators instead of

tackling everything yourself or delegating the tasks to a third

party. This results in your members having the impression

that you trust them enough to do the job, which then

increases their trust in you.

The most challenging part of this kind of membership site is

making sure that everyone is participating and regularly

contributing so that everyone gets value from the

membership.

 

 

 

This can be accomplished by setting up forums and

sub forums that help to promote regular interaction. These

can be anything from progress logs where members check-

in and provide a progress report, to daily inspirations.

Dating Site

Before you begin to laugh you should know that sites like

e Harmony have more than 750,000 paying members and

has seen more than 600,000 of their members get married

since first setting up shop. Online dating isn’t an easy

prospect for many, which is where a membership site

comes in.

The last thing that you want to do is become the next

e Harmony because it is going to be an uphill battle. The key

to creating a successful membership site for online dating is

to be extremely specific with the types of members you

accept. You will need to narrow down your ideal member.

You can accomplish this by choosing specific hobbies,

religion, or other various affinities and interests that your

potential members might have.

For example, you might decide to start a site that only

allows Harry Potter fans as qualified members. Or you might

choose to start a website that is solely for gamers. The

possibilities are endless.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

Setting up a profitable membership site isn't at all difficult;

the challenge lies in deciding on a niche that will continue to

generate recurring revenue for you and your business.

Before you get started, make sure you do your due diligence

and brainstorm a few ideas and make sure that you go

through the proper steps to validate your idea.

These five membership ideas are sure to be successful and

should take you no more than two hours to create your first

content, especially if you are already familiar with the niche.

Membership websites and the recurring revenue that they

generate can be incredibly stable, scalable, and rewarding.

While they involve a lot of work, it is extremely rewarding

and allows you to serve a broader audience than you will

with your other products and services. Once you’ve settled

on the kind of membership site that you want to start, the

real work begins.

You’ll need to create content, determine your membership

fees, build your website, and attract members. Once the

word gets out about your membership site, you can sit back

and watch the recurring revenue come in.