To use a membership website profitably, you need three things: subscription site software, subscribers and products. Many people believe that it's sufficient just to have the subscribers, but if you fail to make use of them then you are leaving a good part of your potential income on the table.
Let's have a close look at each of these three components, and how to use them to your best advantage.
The Subscription Website
First the subscription site itself. The site should be managed by a good membership site package that enables you to make it uniquely yours and not just another member site, looking the same as everybody else's does that is using the same software. You should be able to use your own logo, graphics and name so that you brand it as exclusively yours. This is a very important aspect when you create a membership site.
There are subscription website packages available online that enables you to run it from your own domain if you wish to, and to use your own site as the membership site. That offers complete customization, so there is no sense of a loss of identity or branding. Each site produced using it will be unique, and you can also use the same package to run a number of different domains and membership sites.
It is very important that your site is populated with information of interest to your members. Try to mix it up a bit, and not have it all in the same format: such as all articles, or just a list of videos. Offer some articles, some videos and perhaps one or two PDF eBooks for them to download. Anything that gives the impression of value for money is good. Simple instructional videos are easy to make using a webcam.
Keep in mind that your members will be paying you every month, and expect to get value for their subscription fee or they will go. Your content must change monthly, or at least be expanded with something new each month to offer value for the money they are paying.
The Membership
You must attract members, which means promotion. You should promote your member site just as you would any other product. There are several ways to do that, including blogging, article marketing, search engine marketing and using social network sites. You could set up a Facebook fan page on your niche, with a link to the membership website included.
You should respect your members when you have them, and offer them good content. Pull yourself back each month, look at your site dispassionately and decide if you would pay the membership fee for what you are offering them each month. Perhaps you have a unique form of software that people will use regularly, and is worth the monthly fee - examples of that type of subscription site run by others include Wordtracker and some article distribution services.
Unless your product is of that type, you will have to keep on updating your site and adding fresh content. Members might agree that what they get on joining is worth the fee, but why should they keep paying you if nothing changes next month, and the month after that?
The Products
If you are to use a membership website profitably, or as profitably as you possibly can, then you should also sell products as well as offer information. Yes, you get paid each month by your members, but keep in mind that you now have a captive audience, so why not make use of them and sell them products that should interest them? Don't stuff products down their throats, but have them available for any member that might consider them useful.
There are membership software packages available that you don't purchase outright, but use by subscription. Your first few members will easily cover your monthly fee for using it, and in return you get the membership site software plus new products added each month.
Some of these products can be customized as though you originated them. You should also seek out your own affiliate products, from ClickBank for example, and you might even add a few CPA banner ads that relate to the niche. Check out Offer Vault for good CPA offers to add yet another stream of income to your site. There are many ways to monetize a membership site including selling advertising space once your membership has grown to a reasonable size. You can find out how much to charge online - it is usually based on your membership numbers.
These are the three important elements of a profitable membership website: the membership software, the membership and the products. The content is also of extreme importance, because without fresh content appearing each month, you won't have a membership. If you look after each of these three, then your subscription website will be profitable and you will be ready to get started on your next member site. That's the secret of online success - find out what works and then repeat it, again and again.
Information on how to create a membership website is available from the Member desk site at MemberDesk.com where you will also find one of the most powerful membership software packages available online. Member Desk is the authority on everything membership website!
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