How to Start a Business Online: 6 Steps to Running Membership Sites

Membership sites can be hard to manage, and does not take off easily unless you’ve already proven yourself to be the leader in the niche. However, you also cannot say no to it or at least give it a try, especially if you know it offers a lot of moolah.

This online business can help you rake in thousands of dollars every month. For illustration, let’s assume that your membership fee is $20. If you have, say, 200 members this month, then you already earning $4,000. Moreover, if you attract 100 more every month, you can then increase your fortune to $5,000 after 30 days. But that’s being conservative. There are millions of online users. It’s not impossible to have a membership site with over a hundred thousand subscribers.

You simply need to follow these key principles to make sure your membership website is enticing, worth the payment, and thus lucrative:

Discover your niche. People sign up to your membership site because they trust you. They look up to you as an authority. Thus, you need to be sure you’re good at your chosen field.

Build quality content. We are not simply talking about articles in this case, though a lot of membership websites are based on that. Diversify the content in your website. Offer videos, images, and podcasts. It’s a good idea to make them downloadable, so they can always get back to them even if they’re offline. Allow them too to favorite these types of content and save them in their respective profiles.

Give your members a lot of room for interaction. It’s not a membership website if it’s only you who does the talking. Even in webinars and teleseminars, you encourage your attendees to participate. But how do you do that? You can create a message board for them. You can also run polls or surveys. Give them the ability to build their own network of friends. Some membership websites even provide their respective members inboxes, as well as a blog utility.

Make your membership fee reasonably priced. People will always be conscious about economics, especially if they’re still testing the waters. Besides, with so many membership sites out there, you cannot charge ridiculously. If you cannot bring your price down, then offer your members the chance to pay in instalments. Perhaps a monthly fee of $50 can be divided into 3 or 4 weekly installments.

Security is your priority. If there’s one thing you should splurge on, it’s security. Ensure that all your members’ information remain confidential, particularly if they pay for their membership.