Membership sites are gaining a lot of popularity both for the Internet marketer and for the consumer. They are a great way to market products for the marketer and a convenient choice for getting needed products or information for the consumer. So in essence, this type of site is a win – win situation for everyone. The viewer gets his needs met and so does the Internet marketer.
The Benefits for the Internet Marketer
When you look to the Internet to produce money, you are always on the lookout for new products, or new ways you can produce money online. You need to sell and selling online can be difficult because there is never eye-to-eye contact and this causes the Internet to be somewhat impersonal and a difficult sale, but Membership sites solve a lot of these problems.
A membership site allows you to give qualified information away for free or for the price of the membership fee. This information pertains to the interest of a certain group of people. If for instance, you are a teacher and have all kinds of interesting activities, downloads on your site, information that in general will help all teachers with their skills, then this would be your niche, or the group you want to market to. You can either offer free membership to your site with all of this great information or charge a small by monthly fee. You can even do both. Offer certain information for free, but make a paid membership available for people that want more detailed information. Using a membership site in any of these forms will produce you money.
The Paid Membership Site If you charge a membership fee no matter how small it will give you a residual income. Let’s say for this same teacher activities site you charge a membership fee of $5 per month and you get 1 new signup a day for a period of three months, that will produce $500 at the end of those three months with the income continuing to increase each and every month. Now imagine if you had three or four such sites, which targeted different demographic groups.
The Free Membership Site
Believe it or not, many free membership sites make more money than those that require a membership fee be paid. Just look at Google to figure that one out. Free membership sites make money because they have an advantage over other web sites that only market products. They create a rapport between the viewer and the owner, and a relationship occurs. Of course, this is what any Internet site owner could wish for, because once there is a relationship, a sale can be made.
Free membership sites offer products on their sites. It can be anything from informational products as in an Ebook or DVD. It can be a product that is mailed to the viewer, and these products can be received from other companies by signing up as an affiliate marketer and offering other peoples products that relate to your site on your site. You in turn make a commission on the product that is sold.
How Expensive is it To Start a Membership Site?
One of the greatest benefits of this type of website is that they are not at all expensive to start. If you do your own web design work and use creative marketing methods and SEO practices, your site should be up and running for a couple of hundred dollars, a truly inexpensive venture for something that can produce a substantial amount of money.
Membership Sites are Hot
To get the point across quickly and efficiently membership sites are the new craze in the Internet industry, a great way to make residual income and to get a professional status in the chosen industry. If you are looking for a way to make money on the Internet then the membership sites are the answer to your problems.