Those are the questions many people ask when setting out to create a membership website, along with a need to understand the many differences between unmanaged standalone software and a managed service. The differences are extremely important and as such, it is worth spending a little time understanding what they are before choosing the right solution for building your membership website.
Membership Software
Membership software, in its unmanaged form, usually comes as a paid-for web download, which is usually installed as either a plugin for a CMS e.g. WordPress, Joomla or Drupal, or as a full solution in its own right which you would install on your server.
You will need to choose the CMS platform to use and select a reputable web host, as well as take responsibility for maintenance, backup, security and upgrades to the membership software you select.
The development of the membership software is effectively frozen in time when you make the purchase. This is fine until you need to upgrade. Usually, the software company will charge additional money for upgrades and leave you to implement the changes, so that they are not responsible for any problems, system conflicts or lost data.
If you have reasonable technical skills this process is usually not a problem. However, if you have no or limited technical skills you should not tackle upgrades yourself. This does mean however paying for a developer to upgrade the software for you.
The big advantage of buying your own membership software is that you ‘own’ a full working copy of the software, so if anything happens to the company that created it, for example, they go bankrupt, your site will continue to run. In the medium term, you would still have to look for an alternative solution because there would be no one to provide upgrades or support.
The alternative to using unmanaged membership software is to use a fully managed membership software service. This is where a company undertakes to provide its customers with a fully operational web-based membership service, using hosted, managed and supported membership software, ready for the publisher to use.
Many people use managed services without even realizing they are doing it. For example, services such as Hotmail, Gmail, eBay, and iTunes are all managed services.
When you sign up for a managed membership site service you are usually given a user id and a password. You can log in through a normal web browser and immediately start building and managing your membership website. There are no downloads and no installation or upgrade issues.
The big advantage with a managed service is that the company providing it takes care of all the boring (but vital!) technical issues such as hosting, security, design integration, payment processing integration, bandwidth provision, daily monitoring, and upgrades.
For non-technical people, this is a dream come true! When you use eBay, you don’t want to worry about what version of the software they are using!
It leaves the publisher (you) to focus on creating content and looking after their customers.
The downside is if the company providing the service runs into trouble, you could lose your website.
Therefore you must research and choose an established and reputable company, with a large client-base, such as the SubHub Membership Platform.
How do prices compare between Unmanaged membership software and a Managed membership Service?
This question is a bit like how long is a piece of string. However, in general membership software tends to be an expensive upfront cost and then requires irregular lump sum payments over the life of the software, to pay for upgrades and support.
Managed membership software services tend to be less of upfront investment and then require fixed monthly management fees to pay for the hosting, upgrades, maintenance, etc. On a like-for-like basis, there may be little difference in the costs, but there is a big difference in the amount of work that you will be required to undertake! Also for new businesses, a managed service enables you to spread the payment out over the year, whereas membership software is fully paid for upfront when cash is tight.
In Summary
Highly technical people may feel more comfortable with owning a membership software license and being in control of the administration and maintenance of their membership website. They may prefer buying an unmanaged membership website software package.
Non-technical people should go for the managed membership site service, so that they can leave the technical and maintenance issues in the hands of the experts.
Joan Magat
We believe that everyone should be able to publish digital content and make money without being dependent on ad networks or giant platforms, or wrestling with complicated publishing solutions.
One of the questions we get asked most frequently at SubHub is "what are the good membership site ideas?"
The answer is very simple: whatever your passion is.
You can create a membership websitebased on any type of business, but the one thing you don't want to do is choose one just because you think it might make money.
There is no way your website will generate paying members if you are not passionate about the subject of your membership business.
Yes, you can't just be passionate about making money!
There are dozens of successful membership sites in the niches below, which clearly suggest that there is money to be made from these subjects. But keep in the mind that the owners of these sites are truly passionate about what they do, and truly want to help others. So before you start, just make sure with a quick check that you also fall into that category!
Having said all that, however, just because you're passionate about your membership business idea doesn't mean it will be easy to be profitable, either. Let's face it, successful membership website niches are also competitive. There will be competition in whichever niche you choose. Your job is to show your potential members how you are different from the competition.
Here are just a few examples of membership website ideas to inspire you, from SubHub clients who at one time were just like you - trying to determine how to start a membership business. They have since developed their audiences and built successful membership websites.
If you want some SubHub examples, check out our Case Studies.
Subject #1 - Fitness and Yoga
Fitness and self-care are evergreen subjects. They will always find a willing audience happy to pay for advice. Meditation and self-growth classes are excellent candidates for evergreen courses.
If this is your niche, you can go with a combination of audio files, videos, checklists, e-books and any number of other resources for your members. Audio files can be uploaded or embedded.
Business coaching is big business these days, especially online business coaching. If you have expertise in digital marketing of business services or products, this could be your niche.
Online magazine subscriptions are another way to monetize your expertise. Membership levels might include a free newsletter round up of the latest publications, access to current editions, and access to archives.
Community development through associations and non-profits organizations is a huge industry as people of like interests come together to exchange information and learn from each other.
Investment tips are a great use of a membership website, and something very much in demand. You can share reports, performance spreadsheets, trade examples, screen shares, videos, personal coaching and more. SubHub's built-in forum lets your subscribers hold discussions to discuss tips and investment methods.
Nutrition and diet is a subject that always commands attention. Similarly, stress management and self-improvement/personal empowerment niches offer a huge opportunity to start a new membership business.
Online training is one of the most burgeoning fields on the internet right now. SubHub's course editor makes it easy to set up drip or evergreen classes to share your expertise, whatever niche you are in.
We all know that educational budgets can limit the abilities of teachers and educators to do what they would consider their best work. Membership models can supplement those efforts with materials and coaching help.
Conclusion
Of course, you do NOT need to write about one of the subjects above to create a successful subscription or membership website. With global reach and a deep knowledge of where your customers can be found, even the most specialist subject can become a successful membership site.
Paid-for content revenues are growing across the world.
There has never been a better time to start a subscription or membership website.
More and more bloggers, small businesses, publishers, and organizations are realizing the benefits of running membership model businesses. They also know that to make such a business a success, they need subscription management software.
Whether you are providing mostly free content, paid, or a combination of the two, you'll need a robust subscription management platform to make it simple and easy to use for both yourself and your members.
We'e put together the following checklist of subscription management software features you'll need to ensure your subscription business model has the best chance of thriving from the start.
Our subscription management checklist is divided into two sections:
Part 1 - Front-end features that your website visitors and members will expect and appreciate
Part 2 - Back-end features to make your job as Administrator as easy and fun as possible
Comprehensive List of Subscription Management Software Front-End Features
Integrated Login and Password Access
There should be clearly visible link to a login page with fields for username and password. The benefit of having a subscription website is the option to protect some (or all) of your content from the view of non-subscribers. This usually means placing the subscription-only pages in an area where they must be accessed through a login page. This sounds simple enough, but the challenge is how to link password protection to the subscriber database and the content management service. With full integration, you have control over who has access to what and for how long.
Integrated Payment Processing
Even if you don’t plan to charge subscribers, you'll need a subscription management software with integrated payment processing because you never know how your site will evolve. Good subscription software will integrate with PayPal and Stripe. Other payment processors are becoming popular with website visitors, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, so you'll want to plan for those integrations in the future if not now.
Multiple Subscription Levels
The subscription software or service you choose should enable you to assign content, subscribers, and password protection to multiple subscription levels. You don't necessarily have to offer multiple tiers right off the bat. In fact, for some business models, it only makes sense to offer one, all-access subscription plan. But again, you don't know how your business will evolve in the future, and you will want to be able to offer a simple tiered subscription model for potential members to choose from.
Free Trial Subscription and Paid Subscription
The most successful subscription websites offer limited-access, time-restricted, free trial subscriptions to all premium content, and long-term full access to this content with paid subscriptions. You should ensure that your subscription software has this flexibility. It gives potential subscribers an option to try before they buy.
Multiple Currencies
Even the simplest subscription site requires multiple payment plans and support for multiple currencies. For example, a site with bronze, silver, and gold subscription levels that offers monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription plans to customers paying in Dollars, Euros, or Sterling potentially need 27 different payment plans. Your subscription software should have the flexibility to establish and manage multiple payment plans. More advanced software should allow you to receive live foreign exchange data as well, but this is only important if you want all of your subscribers around the world to pay exactly the same amount at all times.
Automated Customer Messages
Your subscription software should have the capability to send customized, automated email messages to your subscribers when they join your site. For paid subscription sites there are legal requirements to send customers an invoice, cancellation policy, and your contact details. Apart from being a legal requirement, it's just common sense that after signing up for anything, purchasers want and expect an automated confirmation email, welcome email, and to be directed to a thank you page on the website after they submit their payment.
Customer-Controlled Subscription Management
Once your website grows to dozens, hundreds, or (hopefully) thousands of subscribers, it will be impossible to manage renewals manually. Your subscription software should be able to fully automate the process of renewing subscribers’ accounts, automatically take payments, notify you if a credit card fails, send out renewal reminders, and suspend the passwords of those who don’t renew their subscriptions. Even more important, your software system should allow subscribers to manage their subscriptions on their own, without intervention from you. They should at a minimum be able to cancel their membership on their own, and possibly upgrade or downgrade to a higher or lower tier as well.
Showing “Teaser” Content
A useful functionality for your website is to show your visitors the titles of all your articles along with brief descriptions, and once they click on an article they are prompted to subscribe to view the entire content. Your subscription management software should be able to work this into your site.
Forgotten Password
Since it is common for subscribers to occasionally forget their passwords, your subscription software should be able to automatically verify users and email new passwords to them. If you choose to do this manually, you will waste a lot of time and end up with very frustrated subscribers.
Comprehensive List of Subscription Management Software Back-End Features
Now that you've ensured you can implement the front-end features your audience will love you for, let's continue by making sure you have all the back-end features you'll need to easily create and manage your subscription service.
Simplified Control Panel
The more time you spend on administrative tasks, the less time you have to build your online business. To minimize the time you spend on administrative details, make sure that your website has a single, simplified control panel from where you can accomplish routine tasks – like adding content, changing payment plans, accessing your subscriber database, and viewing your web stats.
Content Management System
Content management must be at the heart of your website, and a content management system (CMS) can help you easily add text articles, images, and video clips. The CMS should also allow you to edit your site’s navigation. As an online publisher, you need to have complete control over your site’s content without having to know HTML or any other technical web coding.
Customizable Design
You may want to be able to constantly adjust your website’s design. You should have access to a design interface where tweaks can be made or even completely changed. The most flexible way to manage your website’s design is using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), so make sure the website software or platform you choose allows CSS.
Image Library
Images are an important part of your website, so your CMS should have the capacity to manage images so they can be inserted into any page with clear labeling (alt-tags) and can also be linked to content within your site or third-party sites.
Multimedia Content
Multimedia content is the biggest advantage that an online publication has over its print competitors, so make sure your website is enabled to publish content in multiple formats (text, images, audio, video) even if you don’t plan to use them all immediately.
Member Database
At the heart of all subscription management software is a database that collects information from subscribers. The quantity of information collected will vary from one site to another. For example, a free subscription site may only collect email addresses, while an expensive business site may collect additional data. This could include name, address, company, position, or association subscription. Regardless of what your short-term plans are, I highly recommend that you choose a subscription software that allows you to customize the amount of personal data you can collect. The subscriber database should also have a search feature and be easily customizable.
Enable Multiple Revenue Streams
Most successful subscription websites have multiple revenue streams, so don’t focus only on charging subscription fees while ignoring other revenue-generating opportunities like:
- adding affiliate links related to your site’s subject matter; - selling physical or digital products via an online shop; and - promoting and selling offline events.
Consider the different ways you can generate income from your website and make sure the functionality can be enabled or added later to make it possible (for example, a shopping cart, adserver, event booking form, etc).
Download Library
Most content websites provide their subscribers with downloadable reports, e-books, software programs, video clips, or audio files. Your website should make it easy to upload and manage downloads.
Search Engine Optimization
Your website must be easy for search engines to index, and any good web developer should be able to optimize the code to make it easy for Google and other search engines to find and index all the pages on your site. The best subscription website should be highly optimized from the outset so you don’t need to worry about anything other than adding quality content.
Relationship-Building Features
As your site begins receiving visitors, you need to establish relationships with them to encourage them to keep coming back. The most useful applications for building online relationships are email newsletters, RSS feeds, forums, comment fields under articles, and member profiles. The best subscription website should have these applications integrated. Some subscription software will come with additional plug-ins so the applications can be added.
Reporting and Analytics
In addition to connecting to Google Analytics, your membership software should feature a built-in analytics dashboard. In order to make informed decisions, you need to have access to valuable insightful data. Your reporting should track and measure your website's key metrics like signups, logins, enrollment, engagement and churn.
Monitoring, Maintenance, and Backups
A common mistake made by new website owners is that they underestimate the work involved. This includes managing, hosting, security, maintenance, data backups, and upgrades to the site. They often use free open-source software on a cheap host to launch their site. But that usually results in a lot of down-time, lost data, and wasted time. Non-technical people should avoid managing the technical, security, and back-up side of their website because these tedious tasks can consume a great deal of time for very little gain. You should either use a fully managed subscription service or a development company that can handle this work for you.
Support
Even though support is the last point on this checklist, it should be one of your highest priorities. As the owner of a subscription website, your time is the most valuable resource you have. You should focus your energy on creating content, marketing, and managing your subscribers, not worrying about hosting, bandwidth, backup, upgrades, and fixing bugs. You need excellent support from people who have an understanding of the technology as well as the online publishing field.
Conclusions
Running a subscription website is one of the most exciting business opportunities on the internet today. There are tons of resources available so that you won’t have to reinvent the wheel to get started. Everything you need to be successful is available to novices and experts alike. If you invest time and thought into the early planning phase, you can quickly have a thriving online business.
Refer back to this checklist while shopping for subscription management software. Look at a hosted and fully managed subscription website service (like SubHub). A full-service platform can accelerate your launch and make your day-to-day work a pleasure.
Membership Platform is being used by more and more bloggers, small businesses, publishers and organizations, to add subscription functionality to their websites and blogs.
Some want to introduce free membership, to restrict access to certain parts of their site. Others want to add paid membership, so they can charge access to premium content. Either way, they will need to look for membership platform or services to make it happen.
What are the features a membership platform should have
The first thing to say is if you haven't already got a website, it is much easier to build it from the outset with membership platform integrated rather than trying to bolt-on membership software to an existing site later.
This checklist of features, which is based on four years experience of building free and paid membership sites, should help you make sure you get what you need.
I have split the list into two parts. Part 1 - The list of features your membership platform should have Part 2 - The features your website should have if you are creating your membership site from scratch
The features your website should have if you are creating your membership site from scratch
As mentioned in the introduction to this article, it is much easier to start a website with membership already integrated. Adding third-party membership software to an existing website or blog is never seamless or completely secure.
Membership Platform Checklist
Feature #1 - Integrated Login and Password Access
The key to running a membership site is being able to protect some or all of the content from public view. Usually this means placing the premium pages in a members area, accessible via a login page. This sounds simple, but the challenge is in linking password protection to the member database and the content management service. Only with full integration will you have control over who can see what and for how long.
Feature #2 - Member Database
At the heart of all membership platform is a database which collects the information from your customers. The amount of information gathered varies from site to site. Free membership sites may only collect email addresses. High priced business sites may collect a lot of detailed data, including name, address, country, company, position, association membership, etc.
Irrespective of what your immediate requirements are I would recommend that you ensure the membership software you use allows you to choose and edit the amount of personal data you collect.
The member database should be searchable, exportable and easy to customize.
Feature #3 - Integrated Payment Processing
As with the database functionality, even if you don't plan on taking payment for membership at the outset I would recommend that you choose membership software that has payment processing integrated. You can never be sure how your site will evolve.
Good membership platform will integrate with PayPal and also offer you a choice of at least two other payment gateway providers in more than one country (e.g. Authorize.net, Stripe, SagePay, etc). The latter will allow you to use your own merchant services account and credit card processing to sign up members.
Feature #4 - Multiple Membership Levels
Many membership sites have more than one level of membership e.g. bronze, silver and gold. The membership software you choose should enable you to easily assign content, members and password protection to multiple membership levels.
Feature #5 - Trial, Free and Paid Membership
There is rarely a single type of membership. A good membership site may have free membership with limited access, time-restricted trial membership to all of the premium content and paid membership for long-term access to the premium areas of the site. Make sure you have this same kind of flexibility.
Even simple subscription sites can require multiple unique payment plans. For example - a site with bronze, silver and gold membership levels, offering monthly, quarterly or annual subscriptions to customers paying in US dollars, Euros or Sterling potentially needs 27 different payment plans!
The membership platform you choose should provide the flexibility to easily set plans up and manage them. More advanced services will give you the option to link prices to live foreign exchange data. This is only important if you want all your customers around the world paying exactly the same amount all of the time.
Feature #7 - Content Security
One of the biggest problems of adding third-party membership platform to an existing website is protecting the content on your existing pages. Plug-in software usually puts a login screen between the existing content and the website visitor. Savvy internet users can usually find a way around these barriers. Often it is as easy as typing the URL of a protected page into the browser.
Website platforms that have fully integrated membership management can build a wall that completely encircles your content making it impossible for hackers to get to it.
When reviewing membership software ask how protected your content will be and under what circumstances could it be accessed without authorization.
Feature #8 - Automated Customer Messages
When a customer signs up for membership to your site they should automatically receive one or more email messages confirming their details and welcoming them. For paid membership websites there are legal requirements to send customers an invoice, cancellation policy and your contact details. All of these emails should be customizable and fully automated within the membership software.
Feature #9 - Automated Renewal or Membership Suspension
Hopefully, your site will attract hundreds or even thousands of members. They will all join on different days and will have different renewal dates. Some will be monthly, others annual. Managing renewals manually quickly becomes a full-time job.
The membership platform you choose should fully automate this process. It should automatically take payments for monthly customers and notify you if a credit card fails. It should send out reminders to annual customers and suspend the passwords of people who don't renew.
Feature #10 - Showing 'Teaser' Content
A common practice for membership websites is to show all website visitors the title and a brief description of every article. When the visitor clicks to read more the rest of the article is hidden, with instead a custom invitation to subscribe displayed. This is a very useful functionality which will increase your sign-up rate.
Feature #11 - Forgotten Password
Many of your members will forget their password. The membership software should have a way of automatically verifying who a user is and emailing out a new password. If it can't do this you will end up wasting a huge amount of time manually sending out passwords to your frustrated customers.
Feature #12 - 'SSL Certificate'
Google Punishes Insecure Sites. Google's Chrome browser will mark HTTP websites with no secure SSL certificate as 'Not Secure'.
Also, SSL certificate is a requirement for any website that accepts payments. if you have an eCommerce site and you plan on taking credit card payments you need to have an SSL certificate installed.
Feature #13 - Member Chosen Passwords
Some of the basic membership platform automatically generates random passwords for subscribers and then does not provide a way for them to change the issued password to something that is more memorable. If your users are forced to use a password you have given them, research has shown they will log in less often and will be less likely to renew when their subscription runs out.
As mentioned in the introduction to this article, it is much easier to start a website with membership already integrated. Adding third-party membership software to an existing website or blog is never seamless or completely secure.
If you are starting a website from scratch, these are the additional features it should have:
Feature #14 - A Simple Control Panel
The more time you spend undertaking administrative tasks, the less time you are spending building your online business.
To minimize tedious admin tasks, you should ensure that when your website is up and running you have a single control panel, from which you can undertake all of your routine tasks, like adding content, changing payment plans, accessing your member database and looking at your web stats.
Unfortunately, when you add third-party membership software it is almost impossible to add the membership administration interface to an existing control panel. However, if you go with an all-in-one membership website service you should get this single dashboard.
Feature #15 - Excellent Content Management
A content management service/system (CMS) enables you to add text articles, images and video clips to your website, without needing any technical skills.
As an online publisher you must have complete control over adding, editing and removing your content, without having to know about HTML or any other kind of web coding. The CMS should also allow you to edit your site's navigation.
Content management MUST be at the heart of your website.
You will want to continually tweak and change your website design.
You, or your designer, should have access to a design interface where tweaks can be easily made, or a completely new design can be added. Today the most flexible way of managing your design is using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Make sure whatever website software or platform you choose allows CSS.
Feature #17 - Image Library
Images are an important and often overlooked part of a good website.
Your CMS should have the capability to manage images so they can be inserted into any page, with clear labeling (alt-tags) and the ability to make them link to other content or third-party websites.
Feature #18 - Multimedia Content
Today it is expected that an information-driven website will have content in multiple formats including text, images, audio and video. Even if you don't plan on using these formats today, make sure your website is enabled to publish them in the future.
Multimedia content is one of the most important advantages that an online publication has over its print competitors. Use this advantage.
Feature #19 - 'Plug-In' Functionality
When you start your membership website you can never be sure how it will develop. Therefore you need to have the ability to easily add new functionality as it is required. Better still, consider using a managed service which is continually being upgraded with the latest features. Then all you need to do is turn them on when you need them.
Many website owners, who are focused on charging a membership fee for access to premium content, ignore other revenue making opportunities such as:
showing advertisements on free content pages
adding affiliate links related to the sites subject
selling physical or digital products via an online shop
promoting and selling offline events
Most successful membership websites have multiple revenue streams. Consider other ways you can generate income from your site and make sure the functionality can be enabled or added to make them possible (e.g. a shopping cart, adserver, event booking form, etc).
Feature #21 - Download Library
Most content websites provide their readers and members with downloads. These could be reports, ebooks, software programs, video clips or audio files.
Your website should make it easy for you to upload and manage downloads, so they are accessible to your site visitors.
You must have a website that is very easy for the search engines to index. Any web developer worth his salt will be able to optimize the code to make it easy for Google and the other search engines to find and index all the pages on your site.
Any good managed website platform should be highly optimized from the outset, so you don't need to worry about anything, other than adding great quality content.
Feature #23 - Relationship Building Applications
Once you get visitors coming to your website you need to start building a relationship with them to encourage them to return.
The most important applications for building online relationships are:
email newsletters
RSS feeds
forums
comment fields under articles
member profiles
Good platforms will have this stuff integrated. Some membership software will have additional plug-ins so it can be added.
You should be able to easily access all the information about how your website is performing in a single web statistics report. This should include the number of visitors and page views; the time spent on the website and most popular pages; where your traffic is coming from and much more.
Only when you have this information at your fingertips will you be able to understand how your site is performing and the needs of your customers.
You can integrate web statistics software on your server (e.g. AW Stats), or plug in a third-party service like Google Analytics.
Feature #25 - Monitoring, Security and Backup
New website owners underestimate the hassle involved with managing hosting, security, maintenance, data backups and upgrades. Often they use free open source software on a cheap host to launch their site. This usually results in downtime, lost data and hours of wasted time trying to sort out technical problems.
Non-technical people should avoid managing the technical, security and back-up side of their website. This tedious stuff can consume a lot of time for very little gain. Either use a fully managed service which includes all this stuff or use a development company who will do it for you.
Feature #26 - Future-Proof
You need your website to grow with your business, so the design, functionality and scaleability should be flexible enough to meet your target audience's changing needs. If you are buying software you need to understand how often it is updated, how much the updates cost and whether the new releases are backward compatible with the software you have.
Feature #27 - Support
I have put support last, but it should be amongst your highest priorities.
When you are running a membership website your time is the most valuable resource you have. You need to be able to focus on creating content, marketing and managing your clients - not worrying about bandwidth, hosting, backup, upgrades and fixing bugs.
Good support, by people who really understand both the technology and online publishing is vital to your success!
Conclusion
Online publishing and running a membership website is one of the most exciting business opportunities on the Internet today. It is still in its infancy, but established enough that you will not have to reinvent the wheel. Everything you need to be successful is available and accessible to novices and experts alike.
Put time and thought into your early decisions and you should quickly have a thriving business built around a future-proof website.
Use this checklist to review any membership software services you are considering. Also take the time to look at hosted and fully managed membership site software, such as that offered by SubHub Membership Website Builder. We can accelerate launch and make the day-to-day running of the site a real pleasure.
Ready to transform your knowledge into an online business with a membership website but don’t have the time or skill to build it yourself? Our design service could be the solution.
Bekah's vision led her to become an online fitness coach over eight years ago. She recognised that, for many of her in-person gym clients, finding the time to workout was a balancing act between their job and family responsibilities.
A crucial element of any membership website is the "About Me" page. This page allows you to introduce yourself, build trust, and showcase your credentials to visitors. To make a lasting impression, follow these 10 essential tips for crafting the perfect "About Me" page.
A landing page is a powerful tool in online marketing, designed to direct visitors toward a specific action. Unlike a full website, which serves multiple purposes, a landing page focuses on a single objective -convincing visitors to engage with your call to action.
If you're contemplating setting up a membership website, you may be looking for a little inspiration. We've gathered some outstanding examples using the SubHub platform. Why reinvent the wheel? Take a look at what others have done on their membership websites. Our guess is something will twig some ideas for you to implement in your own website.
Let's start by confirming that your business or organization is a good fit for a membership website.
1. What is a membership website?
Simply put, a membership site offers content that requires a recurring payment for access. But that doesn't mean that all your content should be behind a paywall. In fact, you wouldn't want the entire site to be restricted to paying customers. Some of your content should be free so that you can give website visitors a taste of what you have to offer before they buy.
2. Why start a recurring income website?
In a word, monetization. Many coaches, experts and trainers have a world of content such as e-books, downloads, blog posts, PDF's, infographics and more. But all that great content isn't providing any income until it's gathered together in an organized fashion that people can consume and pay for.
3. Isn't a membership website a lot of work?
On the contrary, a membership website is the perfect online solution to keeping all your content in one place, making it all much easier to update. Content management just got easy! Online courses can be evergreen and make money year after year, allowing students to sign up anytime. That means they can join the course any time and you don't have to be there to moderate.
4. Why do people join membership websites?
First and foremost, they want to gain access to you and your content in a way that is easy and convenient. A membership website lets you curate your assets in one place so your members never have to go anywhere else. Secondly, you can give your members unlimited access, allowing them to review the material over and over again. You also have the ability to cultivate a sense of community. Many of the web platforms available offer features such as a member directory and a member forum where your customers can get to know each other and benefit from each others' experiences.
Fitness & Wellness Websites
The membership website model is ideal for selling training videos in the fitness & wellness niche. Whether you specialize in weight training, yoga, weight loss or nutrition, there is always an audience waiting to jump into evergreen membership content they can consume at their own pace.
Bekahfit.com This women’s fitness site uses embedded video to allow her clients to follow her workout routines as she demonstrates. The small padlock icons on each image tell public visitors that the content is behind a paywall.
Fitin15.io On this fitness membership site, users can join the membership to gain access to a combination of streaming video and downloadable files, such as .PDF and audio files. Special reports, ebooks, meditations, and healthy recipes are available to logged in users.
Relentlessmuscle.com This workout membership site focuses on community and daily live content to both encourage membership and retain the interest of current members.
Business & Life Coaching Membership Websites
The coaching industry has never been bigger than it is right now. The estimated market size of the coaching industry is $15 billion in 2019, with a 6.7% expected average yearly growth rate. If you're an expert in your field you can't afford to over look this online opportunity for a profitable membership website.
Aaron Chong of Ultimatecloserclub.com makes good use of Facebook testimonials and a popup chat message bot to convert visitors into members. Once a part of the community, logged in members have access to a wide range of masterclasses and courses.
Runforgod.com offers their members various challenges and opportunities to enjoy running as part of a community. A coaching program is also available. The site uses the SubHub built-in FAQ block on their homepage to field common questions.
Resourcecenter.forumsherpa.com is a resource for Forum administrators to access instructional and informational articles on group leadership. A vertical sidebar menu on every page helps visitors understand at a glance how the content is organized, with easy access to categories and sub-categories
Expert Advice
tinnitustunes.com is an online information resource for the medical condition tinnitus. It provides expert advice on available treatments and techniques in the form of classes, downloads and relaxation audio files. The website provides free information to the public along with member only content for both sufferers and clinicians.
Financial and Investment Advice Membership Websites
Expert stock traders and financial advisors are always in demand, and that trend is not likely to change in the future. As Olivia S. Mitchell and Kent Smetters put it in their article "The Market for Retirement Financial Advice", "The longterm shift away from traditional defined benefit pensions toward defined contribution personal accounts requires us all to become more financially sophisticated than ever before." Advisors and coaches with stock trading and investment experience have a huge available market for recurring income from a financial advice membership website.
leadlagreport.com A dynamic video banner draws visitors in to find out more about this investment strategy report site.
oatinformation.com This niche financial strategy site focuses on the oat market and makes extensive use of the blog feature on their SubHub site to keep both public and logged in visitors updated on the latest oat information.
sltrades.com This site uses watchlists and alerts to keep members up to date on trading opportunities and strategies.
Industry News
runningrestaurants.com is dedicated to helping independent restaurant owners and managers by offering a wide range of online tools and resources to help build and improve their businesses.
profitandbeauty.com This site offers tax and financial management advice to professionals in the beauty industry. It offers courses and a selection of e-books in the online store.
Courses and Online Learning
Many membership websites also feature online learning. The SubHub platform lets you easily offer multiple online learning options. Learning material can be included in membership, sold as downloads in the stores or as a course.
loveprayteach.com sells access to their printable Sunday school handouts multiple ways. Members can access all the lessons available in their membership tier. Or website visitors can purchase individual lesson packs as needed from the built-in online store.
functionfirsted.com provides a comprehensive range of online courses, webinars and workshops to inform pain management practitioners in using evidence-based methodologies and exercise solutions to improve patient outcomes.
gentlesleepclub.com The Gentle Sleep Club's soft star-studded background is perfect for a site that helps busy mothers get enough sleep themselves as well as getting to know their child’s unique sleep personality.
profilebasedmarketingacademy.com offers entrepreneurs specialised social media training for LinkedIn. Laura has condensed over 15 years of social selling experience into compact, powerful lessons that can be completed in less than 5 minutes.
raphaeducate.com This membership website offers parents an array of online physical, occupational and speech therapy exercises they can do at home with their children. The site contains an extensive library of embedded video exercises for parents to choose from once they sign up for the membership.
stemsmart.net This membership site is a teaching resource for the parents of pre-school aged children. This site is unique in that it not only offers a large assortment of courses and trainings, but can be viewed in many different languages.
Publish an online magazine
horsemanship-journal.com uses SubHub to delivery an digital version of their monthly print magazine. The online magazine version helps to improve audience reach, generate leads and increase revenue potential.
growingformarket.com is the online magazine for market farmers. The site regularly publishes new content but also hosts an extensive archive resource of over 1600 past articles. Their membership website lets them sell subscriptions, books and apparel. Additional revenue is generated by utilising the article page sidebars for advertising opportunities.
How to Create and Grow Your Own Membership Website
Now that we've seen some examples of membership websites others have created, let's take a look at how you can get started on yours.
Creating your own membership website has never been easier or more affordable than right now. With an assortment of web platforms and expert help available, your online business can be generating recurring income in short order.
SubHub is one of the easiest to set up and affordable platforms out there. Course set up is a breeze with the course editor, and you can choose a beautiful modern website template, or create your own design using customizable layouts.
Follow these steps for a quick start and you'll be well on your way to your own membership website.
1) Sign up for a free trial with SubHub.com 2) Select a template and begin customizing your site 3) Set pricing and payment frequencies for your services 4) Get help with any of the above at support@subhub.com
Simply put, a membership site offers content that requires a recurring payment for access. But that doesn't mean that all your content should be behind a paywall.
What is evergreen membership content?
Evergreen content is content that is available to users any time. It allows them to sign up to an online course and consume the material at their own pace.
Why do people pay recurring fees for a membership website?
1) People love curated content that is available to them at their convenience. 2) People want to have access to advice and coaching from a particular expert who they follow. 3) A sense of community is an important aspect of any membership website. Users want to interact with and learn from each other as well as from the leader or administrator of the website.
Isn't creating a membership website extremely time-consuming?
The key is to be organized before you begin setting up your website. Know your audience and what they want, and how much they will pay for that knowledge. Many of the membership website platforms on the market today make it easy to create courses and membership content designed for easy set up and maintenance.
Selling digital PDF downloads and printables has become a highly popular and profitable online opportunity for individuals and businesses. Whether you're an educator, subject matter expert, coach, or crafter, creating and selling digital products can be an excellent way to generate passive income.
Launching a membership website is an exciting way to generate recurring income while building a loyal community around your content, expertise, or services. Whether you're offering online courses, coaching, or a private community, this step-by-step guide will help you get started.
In the world of membership sites, attracting new members is only half the battle—the real challenge lies in keeping them engaged and subscribed. Consistent, relevant content of course underpins success in membership businesses.But why?That's where understanding the psychology behind why people stay subscribed can help you craft a better, more loyalty-producing experience.
Operating a successful membership website doesn't end with recruiting new members. You need to ensure they keep coming back with engaging and timely content. But if you aren't strategic about it, that content will become a jumble of ideas in your brain -- and will look like exactly that on your site.
The covid pandemic has taught many yoga studios the value of having not just a simple website but one that allows them to generate an ongoing income stream.
Offering live or recorded yoga classes online can transform your yoga business by providing exposure to students around the world, increasing your income and providing the ability to upsell other products like retreats, courses or products.
Of course building a website can seem an overwhelming task at first. But, these days there are a wealth of affordable and easy-to-use tools for beginners that can make creating a website a weekend project.
SubHub’s membership website builder is a platform that provides everything you need to build and launch a website, accept payment and manage the members who are paying to access your yoga content. It's easy to expand your yoga practice with a membership website.
With our beginner-friendly platform, there’s no reason to feel intimidated. We take care of the tech and offer ongoing, hands-on support for when you need it.
So let’s outline the first steps to building, launching and getting members for your your website.
Don’t try to appeal to everyone. Instead refine your focus so you can target a specific audience. This makes appealing to and reaching an audience all the more easier.
For example, you may just want to focus on yoga for pregnancy or morning meditation or 5 minute sessions or chair yoga.
It might sound counterintuitive to be limiting your potential audience reach but focusing on a niche allows you to craft content specific to that audience’s needs.
By narrowing your focus, you can strengthen your online content offering because success comes from meeting the needs of an audience.
This also allows you to refine and tailor the keywords you use in your titles and copy making it easier for people to find your site via search engines.
Each template layout features sections designed to inform and convert visitors to members. But you can also customise your homepages with new layouts from the section library.
You should have a minimum amount of content available to members. I would suggest at least 14 pieces of content which could be a mix of blog posts and videos. Then regularly post new content to build your inventory and show commitment to your members.
You can also repurpose content into courses which can be sold individually or included in a membership. Sometimes it’s how you package and present content that can attract a subscriber. For example, a course that organises specifically themed content into a collection can provide a user with an easy to follow path into daily yoga practice.
Where to find high quality free use images, icons and graphics
There are plenty of sites where you can get free use, high quality yoga-themed images and video to make your site visually appealing. Pexels, Unsplash are my favorites and Canva is a superb free, all-round graphic software for creating media posts and more.
4. Get Organised
Your site’s organisation is very important. Your members need to easily find the content they are looking for. Spend time mapping out your navigation and assembling content into easily accessible categories. Think about the user experience. Users should be able to find the content they want in just a click or two.
This filter allows members to search for content that meets their specific criteria. The filter is particularly useful for searches that include multiple practice variables that you can define - such as duration, style and focus.
5. Build Your Audience
The best promoter of your website is yourself!
Using social media platforms to promote and drive traffic to your membership website is a must. The platform you chose varies according to where your audience naturally hangs out.
This might mean doing YouTube videos, Instagram Stories, TikTok LIVEs and expanding your practice from the studio into the digital landscape.
Use keywords in your titles that match what people are searching for so they can find your content.
An important part of any marketing strategy is consistently showing up. This is all part of the process of building trust with your audience. By witnessing your commitment, you'll create loyal followers.
6. Grow and Nurture Your Email List
In order to market successfully, you need to capture a visitor’s email address with an opt-in lead magnet.
This is easily done by offering something free in exchange for their email. It could be something as simple as a checklist. Of course, the offer needs to be relevant and of value to your prospective audience.
Then you must nurture this email list with a followup email sequence.
Conclusion
There’s a lot of free yoga content out there but users will join a membership website for the personal experience, connection and authenticity.
Your website doesn’t need to be perfect before you launch but it should be professional looking and provide value. But keep in mind that as with any experience, it is a continuing process that will improve as you learn and grow.
Creating a pricing page that converts isn’t just about listing numbers. It’s about making it clear, transparent, and easy to compare. When customers understand exactly what
Your website homepage is your brand’s first impression, and creating an engaging experience is crucial for keeping visitors interested and encouraging them to take action. Whether you’re selling a product
Repurposing your video content allows you to maximize its reach and impact across different platforms. Here are 10 ways to repurpose your YouTube videos to market your membership website:
YouTube is one of the most effective platforms for attracting, engaging, and converting potential members to your membership website. With billions of users and an ever-growing appetite for video content, leveraging YouTube can help you build brand authority, drive traffic, and grow your membership.
Kate Faulkner, founder of PropertyChecklists.co.uk, has created a valuable resource for aspiring property developers and professionals. By offering an array of detailed checklists, expert advice and access to a trusted network of service
Tony Eyers launched his membership website to offer online harmonica lessons to share his passion for music while providing value to both beginners and seasoned players. By offering a combination of free content
