Have you ever thought of starting a membership site? Do you know what a membership site is? Membership sites target a certain market of people that either look for certain products or certain information. So if lets say you collect coins and you start a membership site with information that only pertains to coin collectors, and people can only access the information on your site by joining and becoming a member. On top of that the information you have on your site is not readily available for free on the Internet or it is difficult to find on the Internet, then this is a viable membership site.
Why are People Interested in Membership Sites?
You offer something a certain group of people want or need, Lets take as an example the coin collector again; on your site you can offer information on different coins, or a newsletter about coin collecting, this creates a rapport between you and your readers. They see you as the authority and go to your site to look information up because it is a lot more convenient than having to look in many different sites, and never come up with the information they want. As an Internet marketer, you can take advantage of this rapport and create a money-making industry for yourself.
Think about it, you have your members confidence and you can sell them products, eBooks, information or sell ad space to other marketers, use affiliate marketing and sell products that relate to your site, you can even charge a fee for your membership, or a higher version of your site, giving the reader even more needed information.
How Much Can you make from a Membership Site?
Lets imagine you charge a membership fee of $9.00 for a three month membership, and lets say you get one new member a day for three months, you should have 100 members, if those members renew that means you get $900 a month, plus more as you grow. Now imagine if you had three other sites that did the same thing. You would make over $3000 a month, every month.
What Types of Sites Make great Membership Sites?
Most sites on the Internet are selling something. They sell real estate, vitamins, entertainment, physical products, but it is usually something that they are selling, so look for a product that is non marketing, and something that is not that common and that is where your opportunity lies. There are all kinds of membership sites, sites that have to do with hobbies, fitness, dieting, etc, etc.
Membership sites appeal to every target market out there. There are millions of people with millions of interests and they are looking for sites that fill their needs. Sure there are people that want to share videos or music, but there are also people that want to share craft ideas, or child rearing techniques or want to know about places to go on vacation and membership sites can be created for all of these interests. Its just a matter of finding the right niche.
How to Find the Right Niche?
Ok, this is the hardest part in creating a membership site. It requires some creativity, some knowledge and a lot of research, and we are not just talking about sitting for an hour and doing a quick, search on the Internet. We are talking some heavy duty thinking about your interests and the ability of others that are interested in the same things to find the right information on the Internet.
Once you have thought about a couple of options, then you can start keyword searches to find out how many other people are interested in the area you have thought about, and keep looking until you hit on the right market. Your market should be found first, before you even start looking for your project.
Let’s recap! We all know that the Internet can potentially produce money. We have heard it everywhere, in the news, on TV, on the Internet. The problem is how do we go about tapping into this great resource? One of the answers to that question is by running a membership site, which will either produce revenue from membership cost or through affiliate marketing or product marketing. As our membership grows, so will our revenue. Membership sites are not as popular as regular marketing sites, so there is a lot of room to grow in the industry.
In essence, membership sites have very few if any drawbacks and a whole lot of advantages.