So Who's Raking It In With Membership Sites?

$200,000 per month!! Quite huge income...Really membership websites are a great way to earn a steady income.

Yeah, I heard that a membership site is the way to go. I would be interested in hearing what others have to say as well.

Hello,
if anyone is looking to start a ebook membership site pm me as I have a very rich aged keyword domain that I am not doing anything with, I am not looking to sell just looking to do a partnership.

Membership sites assure you to make your passive income steadily.
with combination with forum inside the membership site, will make the members sticky to pay monthly.
1 advice. create value

I run a gaming clan/forum with membership pricing and I currently make around $15000.00 a month. My only expenses is for the gaming servers which ends up being around $4000.00 a month.

Membership based sites can make a lot of money depending on how many active users there is.

Membership site is what I aim to eventually do with my stock analysis blog. I have something unique in that I have an algorithm that automatically scores stocks for trading decisions. After building up a track record (stage I am in now), I can change over to a membership or "faster access to the results".

I am fairly new to all of this and generating traffic. Any PRO's would like to think about partnering and helping me with getting the traffic?

if you are looking to start a membership site search for Ryan Lee, he not only does it well himself he knows how to teach it in a what that is easy to duplicate

Gonna check out Ryan Lee for sure. I think the toughest thing with membership sites is finding people to sign up!

Anyone have a link for Ryan Lee?

Heck, even if you go small in a niche and ask only $9/month, send out an info-packed weekly report in that niche to them (automate through Aweber), the numbers can add up...

100 Members = $900/Month
250 Members = $2,250/Month
500 Members = $4,500/Month
750 Members = $6,750/Month
1000 Members = $9,000/Month

The key is RETENTION. Make the reports good. And you can even bump that income up with a few focused affiliate offers along the way.

Just imagine if you setup 3, 5, 10+ of these "micro" membership subscription sites?

I'm doing this exact same thing right now in a niche. I've just started though, and have roughly 10 members and haven't really heavily promoted it at all yet.

That was my point with the post ;-)

I have to say....most (not all) marketers are lazy...that's why we try and figure out how to make thousands a month without having to do any real work.

Membership sites take a lot of baby-sitting....but they do pay off however.

I love membership sites. working on one now.

Good point....it's funny. I sit in front of my computer for 8-13 hours a day, 7 days a week, and I think of myself as a lazy marketer....how sad is that. :rolleyes:

Looking for the easy push button solution...been doing it for over 3 years now....and still looking... (not really, gave up looking cuz it doesn't exist)

I do work hard at what I'm doing, and loving it btw. But, I'm with "The Marketer", bust your you-no-what for a few months, get it making money, then move onto the next venture.

I know a few other marketers who are "killing it" with membership sites. Here's the kicker though, you can't just make a membership site with junk behind the scenes. The object of a membership site is to make residuals on people continuing to pay for their membership. You can be the best copywriter in the world, but if what's behind the doors isn't valuable, you can't expect repeat business. The people making a killing with membership sites are the ones that keep their member area worth paying for.

Although the importance of niche selection is often overblown, I have found that it is very important in creating membership sites.

I found a niche which is very quiet on the Internet, but which people pay a lot of money every month for in their private clubs. I was the first-- and I might still be the only-- person to monetize this niche online in a huge way.

If you can find niches like that-- which are huge in the "offline" world and are not yet online-- You will find that a membership site is extremely profitable (whereas the standard traffic --> salespage is not necessarily going to work very well). eBooks be damned, you can sell everything.

On that one site, I sell the membership, physical products, books and audio... Currently I am producing a series of 30-second videos in which the least expensive is a thousand dollars.

But, don't think you're going to go from $12,000 to $200K per month without some significant work-- not on a steady basis, anyway, month-after-month and year-after-year.

The bottom line is that content + community = money.
The higher the quality of your content, and the stronger your community,
the more money you are going to make.

Best of luck.

I think membership site is better if you go with team, and remember you must be focused on something you wanna to offer.
e.g if first you offer about gaming, dont ever mix with the heavy machine..

I started my first 2 membership websites with team members and I believe it's the way to go as well. But they have to reliable. Luckily I have team members that I can trust with anything and don't have to worry about something going wrong.

It can be tough finding good, honest, and reliable people, so be wary.

Nice thread. I'm about to starting up creating a membership site in MLM downline builder system. Wish me luck.

Quality still beats it all. Without high value of content, even membership sites closed down too. Quality ! Quality ! Quality!

I do pretty good with membership sites but not the traditional subscription, never ending types.

It takes work, planning and the right product and membership model to be honest.

What many don't tell you is that you can spend months and tons of money setting one up only for it to fail.

So I prefer small / mini memberships. Low risk, quick launch... then if they get traction I will scale them with back end products and services.

Killing it? I'm not killing it, but I've been running a piano membership site for 10 years now. That's a lifetime in the IM world.

Started slow only charging $6.95 a month. Now up to $39 a month.

Those who talked about content being key are 100% correct. Further, you must OVERDELIVER ON VALUE! That is what will keep subscribers.

Retention rate is important because if you can't keep em, you're not in the membership business.

I succeed because I'm also in a very narrow niche market.

One more thing ... if you're not committed and passionate about what you do, your members will notice and it will hurt your business.

Yes, you'll have steady income, but you'd better be willing to give it your all.

I do have specialized knowledge, but I am not quite sure how to sell it using a membership site.... yet...

I have three membership sites. One has been up for five years - but re-launching next month. Most of the subscribers on there have been with me paying monthly for all five years.

My second one has been up for 26 months. They have all been paying me for 26 months. I don't market it a all.

My third started in December. Retention is great so far.

Moral of the story - offer great value. Don't try and open one selling what everyone else is selling. Create your own quality products.

Great thread.

I am currently working on launching three membership sites this year.

Cheers

Anton

Oh...I honestly beleive that with the right offer and right marketing getting people to sign up is never an issue. So many membership siters have continued to prove this time and tiome again.

Obviously retention is the second factor and as long as you are adding and supplying value to your members the drop off rate can be kept to a minimum.

Cheers

Anton

I did a member for sneaker collectors back in like 2006 / 2007. Did excellent. I sold the business and all memberships after raking in nearly 6 figs.

People are lazy. rarely cancel. Keep the membership without even using. It's pretty interesting to see.

Funny you would say that! I'm launching my membership site tomorrow!

So far we got 86 members and I'm hoping tomorrow will be crazy! The monthly cashflow is what I'm aiming for...even an extra 10,000 a month would be awesome!

Let's keep in touch, and I'll let you know how it's going!

yeah, at first it is hard to think people aren't getting the benefits they paid for but sometimes you just can't help them so if they don't read the wso they buy, you might as well get recurring on it too

If you are running a membership site, or developing one, what software are you using? aMember? Wishlist? DAP?

Membership sites are a great way to get your income building on a recurring basis. Its very effective wy to automate your profits.

$200,000? what a monthly income is it really worthless to invest?


Thanks

The key to membership site success is to offer $1 one month trial or FREE one month trial.. That's what I did, the conversion rates is at least 75% better this way.. OF course there will be people who opt-off during the first month but there will still be substantial amount of people who will stay active as a member paying you recurring income.

Offer something in your membership which you think will greatly help others

Jeremiah

Heck, I give a free trial, and I keep the monthly fee under $10. The advantage of this is...

1. They can see if the content is good. It allows you to prove it.

2. It's a free trial, it reduces their risk and it shows you are confident about it.

3. The price is under $10 which almost anyone can afford.

4. With the price being under $10 a month, it is easy to over-deliver value to them.

5. And lastly, people are indeed lazy. They may use it for a month or two...and then even if they lose interest, they usually stay on several more months because they are too lazy to cancel and the low price point.


As far as setting it up, it's easy to use Wordpress, Paypal, Aweber and/or a plugin for Wordpress like Wishlist Member. It doesn't have to be complicated.

Is there a way to create a membership site where I get whitelabel products from other people and put them all on one site? I want to give the customer a login and have access to all the products from different companies, etc. Is this possible??? Is that how a membership site works??? :rolleyes:

Membership sites follow the formula of some very sage I once received..

DO THE WORK ONCE GET PAID MANY TIMES

Cheers

Anton

Hey The Marketeer great discussion thread you've started here.

About your search results for the membership topics, what search phrase exactly did you type in the search box?

Many thanks,
Mohamed

Nope. I do a weekly PDF report and it seems to be doing fine without any other content.

200,000 per month That is a good income.

I am also planning to start a membership site, but the problem is Content and Initial Members.

Membership sites are good for the kind of recurring income that exists widely in the offline world but that was slow to develop in the IM world.

Building a Membership site has always been an interest of mine, although I don't really know what niche to get into. I can't see myself paying for a membership site unless it provided outstanding value.

Here is a tip:

Why not do something like 4 monthly reports, one goes out weekly to them. Every other one is some sort of interview with an expert in the field? What you could do is create a 10 question form and send it to various "experts" and have them answer the questions. Maybe even pay them a minimal amount to do so.

The other weekly reports would just have some really good info on that niche, maybe some links to resources, tips, etc. But be sure to hype up the upcoming report about the next week interview report. That way they have something to anticipate.

Now of course, this model won't last for years...but it would be a good idea for a fixed membeship model of maybe 6 months. That would be 24 reports, 12 of them interview reports. Totally doable in many niches.

You could charge something like $9/month. Reasonable. And the good thing is, as noted earlier...people tend to stick with fixed membership sites because they know there is an end, and 6 months is not long.

Low prices membership sites are good and represent, in my opinion, a win-win on all the aspects.

But keeping updated on the long run big membership sites ( I mean >$100 per month) is an hard job, even for the most stakhanovite marketer.

I've been doing them for almost 5 years now, I've got a few running now. I have made a lot from them and have a couple tips:

1.) Never reveal how many members you have. Competitors and would be competitors get too tempted to copy you and launch their own. I have experienced this more then once already.

2.) It's NOT set and forget or passive income. It's daily work and a lot of it to keep members happy. You could have all the content in the world, but if you're not in there helping daily, members do not stick around, (and rightly so).

3.) They don't work in every niche. Again I speak from experience. Some niches you would think would do awesome flop. The offline world doesn't get it yet and put membership sites or recurring billing in the "scam" category automatically.

4.) Give members what they want THEN give them what they need. I'm learning this the hard way as over the years I've tried to give them what they need first. I'm learning that people have very weird mindsets and focus on things that simply don't matter. So instead of fighting members on what they need, give them what they want then give them what they need.

5.) If you're alone in a niche, shut up about it. Competitors can and will copy you in a heartbeat. They'll take your whole system, put new lipstick on it and call it their own.

6.) If you can, remove yourself from the equation making selling the site down the road easier. If you open "Bob Smith's Making Money Online Site" and try to sell it, you can't. They're buying Bob Smith. Instead open a site where you are either not known by real name or make it so someone can come in and replace you easily.

Yes if we take a look at some other membership models running successfully we find:

Taxes (They bring in a nice amount without fail for "the suits" to play around with)
Magazine Subscriptions
Newspaper Subscriptions
Car Insurance
Medical Insurance
Specialist Research Databases
Business Services

etc. etc.

From what I've noticed, the membership sites that give you a free 7-30 day trial are good as they let you experience the content before you commit to it. People are much likely to try out something new without paying. But the freebie door must be shut after the trial period is over. This forces them to make a decision.

Alternatively you could give them some nice juicy bonuses.

Obviously for them to stay on as paid members, your content must be valuable like something which will help them earn much more than they paid to join.

You direct them to your sales page with a link to the payment processor offering them the free trial which then takes the regular payment after the trial period is over.

Simples!

I'm building a membership site right now (not in the MMO niche).

I wouldn't recommend it for newbies. But if you're making $500+ a month in a particular niche then you probably have a potential membership site on your hands.

I know I'm taking a risk by building this site. But my competitors have been sleeping, and I have been acquiring some technology and ideas that will give them a wake up call. Of course the big question is whether people will sign up to my site...

I have some questions:

1. For those that do videos. Are you branding your videos with your site url?

2. On average how long do you let your site continue to drip content? 6 months? 1 year? 2 years?

3. The 9.99 seems to be a popular price point in this thread. I could do that but I would then cut out some of the content for members depending on what they pay (i.e. 9.99 per month gets less content, those that pay 19.99 per month get a bit more content, those that pay 24,99 per month get more content. Good idea?

I thought I was doing pretty good when I made 10G last year through a membership site.

Currently earned around 11k in both March and April. I am all about software marketing at this moment, and I did not earn the money through the SEO tool I am selling in my sig, I am actually losing money due to high investments and such but that's usual for a long term membership tool..

The current membership site also revolves around a software, it's set up so that people can run the money making technique without the use of the software, but with the software they basically automate a large part of the process, which makes it a huge time saver.. What I am trying to say it that when you provide something that works with a solution that makes something even work better you can easily put a monthly price tag on it.. then outsource your support and there you have it; income on auto pilot for at least a year.

Then use large sums to invest in even greater things and build your way up to where you want to be, or better said, have to money to buy the experiences you would like to have in your life.

I know who..
Colin Klinkert met his business partner, Frank Bauer, online in 2007. They launched ViralURL four years ago and the site currently boasts 74,494 members with a total all-time membership count of more than 210,000. Since the launch, Klinkert and Bauer have seen a total income of $3.2 million. ViralURL is a membership site for online business owners with efficiency tools. This includes tools like a "link cloaking" system that allows members to protect their affiliate links and prevent commission theft, and a list builder, which makes it easy for members to grow their list.

It's a pretty simple equation.

The more members you have in a membership area, the more recurring revenue you have. But you'll also have more cancellations down the road as people aren't going to want to stay a member forever (unless you're an internet provider, Netflix, insurance company, or something of that nature).

5 members paying $97 a month = $485/mo, average those members to stay at least 3 months and you'll make $1,455 from those members over an average, however it's likely 1 of them might just stay for a lot longer.

Now let's say those 5 members took 5 days to acquire, that means you acquired 1 member per day.

If you kept up that same pattern for about 60 days and no one cancelled or refunded by the end of that 60 days you would have $5,820 recurring income and would have made $8,730 because the previous clients would have had their payments recurring the 2nd month.

Imagine if you could do this all year long.

1 member per day at $97/mo lets just say no one cancels or refunds to make it easier to estimate.

That would equal out to 97*365 which is $35,405 monthly recurring income which would be $424,860 annual revenue if you were to keep those members.

Fun stuff.

Very helpful thread.

I have been toying with the idea of a membership site, so the tips & insights here are really appreciated.

You couldn't say it more right than that :p

I'm not sure what a membership site is, but I have some great squeeze pages that pull in a good amount of leads!
I'll look more into membership sites.
Thanks

Membership sites have been a very lucrative business model for a number of years. Yes you can make a lot of money, but it takes a lot of work as you must be on top of your chosen niche and be willing to seriously over-deliver on what you advertise.

I've been selling a membership site how-to series for a number of years now. This series takes you by the hand and teaches you everything you need to know about how to set up, launch, and promote your membership site. This series is taught by one of the biggest names in the game with videos, workbooks, and pdf's so its well worth the investment. Check my sig for details if anyone is interested in learning.

It's awesome thread. During reading I figured out that I have a great value in my mind which I can offer on pay monthly basis. It's just WOW! My mind changed like a snap.

Just need to get good software to run it. I want to use WordPress as a membership website because it's very easy. OK, need to read thread again to find names of the software

Thank you once again for idea and amazing tips!

I am looking to stat a membership site myself in the next couple months. I will keep the forum posted on my successes.

Great thread - I am looking too - i know a subject area very well, and every year on Jan 1 ( and all times throughout the year ) people want a 12 week or similar plan in this. ( yes, it health/fitness related ). I was hoping to drip feed them a 12 week plan, a bit each week, as well as an article added each week relevant to all members to keep them motivated all year long.

Where to start re software - i have a zencart store and have done a little with wordpress.....do any membership sites allow time based emails based on date of joining and their topic areas of interest?

i would not say im "killing it" with my membership site quite yet but im certainly on my way

i only built my membership site about 6 weeks ago and it`s building nicely

i started off charging $17 per month but i have now changed it to a $1 trial for 3 days but the key is to have plenty of value within your membership site so that you have a high retention

im also going to be doing some testing with a $1 trial as my one time offer using solo ads so that will be very interesting to see what my conversions are

membership sites do work great and are great for a residual income but don`t assume it`s all easy work

you do have to have plenty of skills and experience to offer others so bare that in mind

a membership site is a long term business model too but in my opinion it`s one of the most powerful business models out there

paul

Where do you get the valuable content from, month after month, to keep your members on board?

i know this is a newbie question but what is 'the membership continuity model'?

damn $200K a month...really? Who are we talking about here?

Anyway, yeah memberships sites are freakin awesome if you have one that keeps its members and is worth staying in it. I've known a few marketers that are killing it with membership sites.....but they work their ass off at it too. This is no easy set n forget model.

The wordpress plugin I used was wishlist member....think it cost $100..and works really good. The only drawback was telling clickbank which page is the thank you page....cuz it's kinda tricky....but other than that....WL works sweet.

I think also that you need to be aware that if you decide the membership route....drip-feed your content. Don't allow members to see the whole enchilada at once. Give content to them in bite-sized chunks...and leave then wanting more. You also have to become a master at marketing and driving a ton of leads to your site. Offer free trials to get in as a free member to start off.

How does starting a membership site compare with starting a forum I wonder. I think a forum is easier to start and can also rank well in the search engines. It can also have a larger number of members especially if it is free. Something like a Warrior Forum!

Chris Farrell and Mile Filsaime seem to be doing extremely well with their membership sites. May be a good business model to implement.

If you have the means to, I think membership sites are the only real way to build an online business.

It's all about predictability, knowing that your numbers stack up at the end of the month just by looking how many subscribers you have. It's a numbers game.

I think the ultimate membership site is a software application based site where the user is simply using the features for their purpose. You don't need to drip content, just develop at the beginning and happy days!

I have a membership site set up but I can't seem to get anyone to sign up, even with a free ebook and free trial offer. I have advertised on PPC and social networks all to no avail. I have a solo scheduled for this month and we shall see how that goes.
anyone have any suggestions on driving traffic to the site?

Thanks

Gary Ambrose has some good information regarding membership sites.

I have a membership site. I'd have to say my main goal is to teach and educate first and foremost. I spend a lot my time generating content. I make a decent amount of money doing it. It's fun work for me.

John

I have a membership site using wishlist... but my biggest problem is geting people to join my membership site?

Maybe I just chose the wrong niche

i agree that membership sites are the way to go and am looking to set one up

Thanks Ppc and Benjam1n. I think the shirt biz might be better as an ebook perhaps, as you are right, whilst I am always learning about my shirts, not enough to do quality information for a membership site for ever. Running I do and read about each and every day, so provide better info more regularly.

Re membership value...I just signed up for the war room. Why? Cost vs potential benefit seemed good, offers something unique.

There are indeed marketers who are very good with membership sites. The one I know is Russell Brunson. He had a team around him. Everyone of them is specialized around some topic regarding IM, and they all have task to make one article per month. These articles are collected and published in IM magazine which is connected to membership site.

I am not looking to sell just looking to do a partnership.

I understand when people say they know the "golden touch" or the exact formula for success with membership sites.. but it's THEIR experience or experiences they've seen others have.

YOUR experience is going to be different no matter what. You'll have a different audience, likely be promoting something different (niche or specific wise). Your way of writing, recording, speaking, etc. will be different. Your way of reaching your audience will be different (whether that be social, emails, videos, ads, search engines, forums, etc. no matter the case it'll be different).

Everything YOU do will be different than what someone else does.

You can listen to what people have to say about their own experiences, but the only way you'll know what will work for you is by what YOU do.

Not quite at $200,000 per month, but if you find a good recurring income it can definitely be possible. I'm sitting at $35k per month and I never thought it could happen but you just keep working on making 1 thing succeed until one day you realize you already have