Running a membership site has exploded in popularity as an Internet business model. Online business owners are finally recognizing what the “early adopters” discovered years ago: membership sites can be extremely profitable, have a low startup cost, and can actually be fun to run.
The concept is easy enough. You have some information, knowledge, or passion about a topic that others are interested in, as well. You set up an exclusive community and charge whatever fee you want to allow entry. Your members benefit from having access to, not only very specific information on the topic but also, a community of others who share their interest in that topic.
As an example, RestaurantOwner.com was started by a friend of mine, Jim Laube. Jim had 20+ years in the restaurant industry and frankly was burnt out from the long hours.
He decided to leverage his experience in the industry and started a membership site. Jim provides a wealth of information for his members, such as articles, interviews, downloadable excel spreadsheets, and PDFs.
Topics range from how to start a restaurant to cutting down on employee turnover, picking a location, pricing etc. You name it and Jim will write about it.
He charges $99 to join and then under $20 a month to stay on as a member. Jim’s site has thousands of members. I’ll let you do the math.
They all pay him month after month to stay on.
That recurring revenue brings up a crucial point about running a membership site. You have a steady, consistent stream of income coming in, month after month.
With a normal business, regardless of how good last month was, on the first day of the new month you are basically starting from scratch with revenue. With a membership site, you know that if last month you pulled in say $15,000 for the month that this month is going to be very close to that number. Perhaps even more with a bit of marketing.
In my work, I have a bird’s eye view of over 920 active membership sites. I know what these sites are making. Quite a few are making tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per month, and are often run by one or two people.
Some of the topics of the sites we have may come as a surprise you, including craft sites (embroidery, cross stitching), health, fitness, education, sports, dog enthusiasts, and how to get a cruise ship job.
One of the most consistently successful is the _____owner.com type sites. That is, choose a niche business and provide the tools for people in that industry. The previously mentioned restaurantowner.com is one example but that can be applied for almost any industry: hair salons, gas stations, CPA’s, handy man business, affiliate managers etc.
Everyone has knowledge or interests. Why not consider leveraging it in a very profitable way?
Tim Kerber is CEO of MemberGate Solutions and also runs MembershipSiteOwner.com
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