Membership Websites
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Why Start a Membership Site?
People are willing to pay for online content. In fact, the "Online Publishers Association" said
that pay-for content is emerging as a hot revenue model. Business content, personals/match making, and
entertainment are the hottest niches. But even smaller niches, like DVD authoring, sports coaching, marketing
services, and dieting are producing profits.
You can sell subscriptions for online content with your own membership site? Selling online content
by way of a password protected website has become big business. Not only is it fast to set up, but the start-up and
running costs are minimal. Work from home entrepreneurs and big businesses alike are tapping into this new-found
revenue source.
Less than nine percent of online users currently pay for online content. This means the market is
wide open for the savvy entrepreneur. Paying for content in 2004 was more than 5 times what it was in 2005. That’s
a whopping 500% growth! Those who capture the market first in their niche will have the obvious advantage and it’s
an international market, so anyone can play.
One of the great things about starting a membership site is you can take your hobby, specialized
knowledge or profession and turn it into a profitable business. Your challenge will be finding exclusive content.
You can start it part time but it will likely develop into a full time business.
Planning for and setting your site up for auto-responders, automated sign-ups, credit card
processing, automated cancellations, etc is all part of a successful membership website. Starting and running a
membership site can be a lot of fun and very exciting, however you need to know what’s involved in setting one up,
and then managing it effectively.
This whole process can seem a bit daunting. However, as complex as this seems, many companies offer
a low cost, easy-to-use software solution. This makes it possible for almost anyone to start and market a
membership site at a very low cost.


Get Amazon S3 for
FREE!
You get Free Hosting and Streaming of ALL your videos and any other digital
media (audios, ebooks, powerpoints, etc.) uQast streams all videos and any digital media from Amazon’s cloud-based
“S3″ hosting service. Virtually unlimited scalability! No limits! No hosting charges. No
bandwidth charges. No ongoing charges of any kind, period.
- Get your affiliate commissions fast – PLUS, you get paid for OTHER PRODUCTS your
referrals buy from OTHER SELLERS for an ENTIRE YEAR!
- Get Amazon S3 for FREE! You get Free Hosting and Streaming of ALL your
videos and any other digital media (audios, ebooks, powerpoints, etc.) stream all videos and
any digital media from Amazon’s cloud-based “S3” hosting service. Virtually unlimited
scalability! No limits! No hosting charges. No bandwidth charges. No
ongoing charges of any kind, period.
- You can even use this Free Video and Media hosting to stream your videos and all
your digital media behind a login or inside a membership site! No limits!
- Build your list and collect opt-ins from INSIDE your videos on this
amazing video player, embedded on ANY website – AUTOMATICALLY!
- All videos play on iPhones and iPads – AUTOMATICALLY!
- Use our amazing Visual Editor to create true 1-Click Upsells and Downsells
– AUTOMATICALLY!
- Drag and drop to create video sales pages – instantly!
- Create your own plain text affiliate links with any words you want! (Your
customers won’t be afraid to click the links you create with any words you choose.)
- No need to re-upload your existing videos! It’s easy to import your
existing online with our “Import Target File” feature to copy your existing videos.
- Session cookie override protects you if someone is already a member from another
affiliate. You still get paid, and the affiliate credit reverts back to the original
referring affiliate after the session you referred.
- Verify your web site and get AUTOMATIC affiliate credit for all referrals
from that domain with no need for any affiliate links at all!
- AMAZING NEW VIDEO PLAYER! Built-in Tip Jar *right on the video
player* allows you to get “tips” from $.05 to $20 *right through the video player*
from any web site in the world!
- Add to Cart button *right on the video player* gives you a virtual
2-click checkout from any web site in the world!
- After your video finishes playing, you can display whatever you want – not your
competitors’ videos like with other video sites!
- Monetize your content – or anyone else’s content – AUTOMATICALLY! You get
paid for a YEAR on any purchases by everybody you refer who even registers a free
account!
- Set your own affiliate commissions from 25-75% on all your own products.
- You get 5% bonus commissions from all your referrals – on anything THEIR
referrals buy – for an entire year!
- Get your own custom Digital Media Store. Choose any name you want
for one low price and get your store FREE with unlimited pages and unlimited products –
and no other charges, ever!
-
- Sell any of your own content, or anybody else’s content – or just promote amazing
FREE Content and get free signups – and get paid for a YEAR on any purchases
they make from anybody on the whole site!
- Capture email opt-in’s to YOUR LIST from your store on OUR site!
All the emails post to YOUR aweber, iContact, or 1ShoppingCart list –
AUTOMATICALLY!
- Plus, get more Facebook fans, more Twitter followers, and more LinkedIn
connections – and more Email Opt-in’s – from every page of your store!
- Get affiliate credit for a year when anyone lands on any page of your free
digital media store – even without any affiliate link!
For more information: http://welcome.uqast.com/page56124
The Different Types of Membership Sites
There are basically two types of membership sites. There are free sites and there are paid for
sites. The two types of membership sites have one thing is common. Their memberships are made up of people who
share a common interest or have a common need.
You can, of course, buy a domain, set up a website and not charge for memberships but choose who to
admit and who not to admit. This is done when the profit is intended to come from sales to members after they join
the site. There are free network sites that might be used for your purposes. Two examples of free membership
sites are Group sites on MSN and groups on Yahoo. It costs nothing to set these sites up and there is no charge at
all for a person to join. There are no paid administrators or moderators.
Each site sets its own rules for how to join and the code of conduct for the site. The site topics
are many and varied. There are many “support” sites for those with health problems or concerns and for those who
have suffered the loss of loved ones. There are sites for those who are passionate about crafts like quilting or
woodworking. There are sites for those who love to travel. There are sites for different age groups from teens to
seniors. The sites include chat software and a limited amount of space for posting pictures, documents and links
per member. The free sites do not have such things as access to specialized data or lists. They don’t give
access to such things as music lessons.
Paid for membership sites are set up by businesses or individuals with the objective of making
money by supplying hard to find information, access to specialized data or lists, or instruction in various fields.
Membership sites are owned and operated by people who either own the sites or who are hired by the site owners to
monitor and administer them. The topics for paid for membership sites are even more varied than the free sites and
certainly more specialized.
Suggested Membership Site Themes
When you are deciding on the theme for your membership site, it is best if you can choose a theme
that concerns something you are really interested in…even passionate about. Remember that you will be spending a
lot of time keeping your membership informed, keeping your website interesting and keeping relevant and timely
content on your website and in your ezine that you send out regularly.
If you choose to start a membership site about…say….dogs. Just dogs in general won’t attract many
members. You will need to choose a specific breed….and possibly even narrow it down further. Instead of Poodles,
your theme should be; Tiny Toy Poodles, Miniature Poodles, or Standard Poodles, for example. Millions of people are
dog lovers and the theme of a specific breed of dog should do well.
If you are really into video or computer games, start a membership site devoted to one specific
game… not just video games or computer games in general. People all over the world and from every walk of life get
really involved with a specific video or computer game and love to talk to others about the game and give each
other hints.
There are thousands…maybe millions…of people who love certain crafts and hobbies. However, those
who love to quilt aren’t interested in wood working so your membership site should be about a specific craft or
hobby.
Professionals like to talk to other professionals in the same field. Each professional field speaks
their own language and find the same things to be interesting, informative or funny. So if you start a membership
site for professionals, you should get a good response.
A membership website with the theme, ‘Resell Rights’, should do well, also. This kind of site
will need to be kept updated on a regular basis.
Starting a Free Membership Site
Basically, a free membership site is a site where the user is not charged a membership fee to use
the site but is required to supply their e-mail address, choose a user name and password to enter the site,
participate in the discussions and activities. Sometimes free memberships are limited to less useful information or
access while paid memberships have full access.
A large entity like MSN, for example, allows members to access most things on their sites without
the need for any sign in procedure at all but, in order to join a group, you must supply your email address, choose
a user name and a password. The use of the site is still free. However, to use MSN as your ISP or to gain enhanced
email resources you will be required to pay for it.
In the same way, an individual might start a free membership website. There would be no charge at
all to access the site. To gain access to limited information would require supplying an email address, choosing a
user name and a password. To gain full access to the site would most likely require payment if the information they
are providing merits a fee. Some sites never charge a membership fee and rely solely on selling their own product
or promoting products produced by others as a source of income.
Free membership sites very rarely, if ever, supply information that you couldn’t easily acquire on
the Internet yourself. An individual who sets up a free membership site doesn’t do it for free so they will be
planning to make an income in some way. Usually free membership sites are for the purpose of selling a product or
service. Some information will be provided but supplying information is not the main objective.
Starting a Paid Membership Site
Whatever you call them - member only, membership, subscription, or mentor websites, they all have
one thing in common. They are bringing in steady and constant cash flow for their owners, month after month, from a
few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. The array of the topics of these websites is endless.
Some of these paid membership sites provide mentoring or coaching, others publish useful articles
or information in a particular field or product. Still others publish the results of tests and studies or product
reviews. Some membership sites provide specialized service or act as a meeting place for people with a common
interest and then there are those that provide step-by-step instructions for such things as painting or music.
All these sites have one thing in common: to access the website (or the best information on the
site) you have to pay for it! Which begs the question…why would anybody pay for information on the Internet?
The answer is simple. People buy information that they could probably find for themselves if they
looked long enough and hard enough, because they want to save time or because they think the information will be
better or more specialized or because the information just isn’t available to them unless they pay for it.
Just a few short years ago it was almost unheard of to charge for access to a website and almost no
one was doing it. Today, however, it is the norm and not the exception. Actually we have Internet dating sites to
thank for this huge money making opportunity.
The Internet dating industry began with free membership sites that were mostly populated by nerds,
weirdoes and perverts. It was quickly discovered that ordinary people would gladly pay to have access to lists
where the posters had been screened even just a little. Now people actually expect to pay for access to valuable
information.
Tips on Improving Your Membership Site
Improving and improving again your membership website is what will keep it dynamic and making a
steady and reliable income. It is a law of nature (and the Internet) that everything either grows or dies. Constant
improvement of your membership website will insure it grows and lives.
The content of your membership website needs to always be kept up-to-date with relevant and useful
information. Keep your eyes open and all of your feelers out for information that your subscribers will find
interesting and helpful. If you have always relied on only print information up to this point, try adding some
audio or video. People today prefer to hear or see information rather than just to read information. Setting up
audio or video feeds to your website isn’t very difficult and can make a huge difference in the traffic and
membership.
Each e-zine or newsletter should be filled with vital and timely information so that your
subscribers eagerly await the next issue. Spend as much time and energy as you need to insure that your e-zine or
newsletter isn’t just deleted when it hits the in-box.
Use your autoresponder to your greatest advantage. You already use it to send out emails and ezines
and newsletters. Now use it to send out vital NEWS FLASHES. Make the autoresponder get the attention of your
subscribers.
If you don’t already have a blog, forum or message board on your membership website, then set one
up as soon as possible. Members like to have input and you will benefit greatly from constructive member input. You
can ask them what they would like to see on the website and then act on suggestions that are viable.
Invite a guest who is a guru in the field of your website theme to participate in an online chat
discussion. Set a specific starting and stopping time and be sure to outline the discussion topics.
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