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Membership site-- any IDEAS????

by Mohammad Afaq
8 replies
I am starting a membership site but I am under a load of ideas and I am losing my brain.

So, I will just stop thinking right now and ask you guys for help.

What would you be interested in and would be willing to pay for in a membership site. Also, I would really appreciate it if you would give me some ideas for the topic of the site.

Thanks
#ideas #membership #site
  • Profile picture of the author businessmatt
    What are you interested in? What are you good at? In order to get consistent members, you need good quality content at a reasonable price. So, for example, if you are great at fishing, and terrible at tennis, you may be better off making a membership site revolving around fishing, rather than tennis.

    Matt
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    • Profile picture of the author Mohammad Afaq
      Originally Posted by businessmatt View Post

      What are you interested in? What are you good at? In order to get consistent members, you need good quality content at a reasonable price. So, for example, if you are great at fishing, and terrible at tennis, you may be better off making a membership site revolving around fishing, rather than tennis.

      Matt
      I am interested in computers and video games but I am getting bogged down with the ideas. Also, I want to provide a service to Internet marketing niche because I believe that that's the niche I've worked least with and I should do some more.

      EDIT: BTW, I love IM too
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  • Profile picture of the author Mukul Verma
    I agree with Matt, do it on something you are good at. I am starting a membership site on traffic, since I like to think I know a thing or two about it The other thing is make sure there is demand.

    What I am doing is taking a website from scratch and building it up and showing this in my membership website. I sat down at a coffee shop (Tim Horton) wrote down things I enjoyed and was passionate about and came down to 3 and choose one. That one has to be first, something I am passionate about, second something there is a lot of demand for.

    Cheers,
    Mukul

    Cheers,
    Mukul
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    • Profile picture of the author MemberCon
      My advice is to find something you enjoy and know well - then take action and get your site going.

      It's common to think you need a huge library of content already completed in order to start your membership site. Not true.

      Get a week's worth of content in there and open for business. Offer charter members a low introductory rate (as a thanks for coming on board when there is limited content).

      It will put a few dollars in your pocket to get you motivated and allow you to get feedback on your initial content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sandy Cormack
    I dunno. I have been mulling over the same options.

    To make it worthwhile, membership sites need to provide something of high value. Something people can't get elsewhere.

    I belong to three membership sites.

    1. Direct marketing. Includes tons of video, audio, article and ebook info on a wide range of topics. I think the key is 'wide range' and 'tons of resources.' It has a forum but it's a pretty dead forum. It works because he constantly adds audio and video content, conducts teleseminars, etc.

    2. College football fansite. I belong there to interact with my fellow fans and get certain news. The main attraction there is the message board and some of the info you can get from there.

    3. College football recruiting site. The main attraction is a comprehensive database rating all college football prospects nationwide, with year-round recruiting news leading up to the annual signing day in February. College football recruiting is a competitive sport unto itself, so there is a huge demand for this service.

    Right now, although I am a personal and organizational development consultant I cannot really offer a membership site for my services. I don't have enough electronic info to create a reference library or a set of courses. Maybe someday I will get to that point.

    So were I to do one, it would have to be something related to a personal interest. And I just don't know enough about the *demand* for membership-related topics to pursue it further.

    So I just shut up and read my recruiting databases.
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    Sandy Cormack

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  • Profile picture of the author RyanT
    Well it seems like you've gotten the best info so far.

    You need to be into what you're creating and also good at it. This way you will have quality content and you won't get bored and lackluster trying to create it all. If that happens it will definitely show through in your work.

    Once you've gotten that through I'd say look at it from a potential customers view. And that's what I'll try to do for you...I think you should keep the price low for membership.

    Now I know I may be bashed for saying that because alot of people are making loads of cash with $100 monthly payments and good for them BUT if you don't have the huge amount of money it takes to provide people with enough material, trainning, books, resources or what have you to make $100 a month seem worth it...you're not going to get far with it.

    I think if you keep things lower than the rest you'd have a better chance of attracting people like me who would like to join but just can't see or actually CAN'T pay an outrageous amount of money a month.

    food for thought...$10 a month times 500 members (which is small in membership site world) equals $5000 a month...you're breaking into serious money there
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    • Profile picture of the author Honest Abe
      I agree a bunch with ryant. Keep the price something really small and you will have long term money. I personally would stay away from internet marketing niche sites. Those are a dime a dozen and there is probably already a site for just about everything having to do with IM. I would go for something your interested in, but also a lot of other people are interested in. That is really what matters with a membership site. Think demographically.

      I would try and start something that has not been done, or at least not a million times over. You want to create a community and not a product. Examples of ones i have seen.

      -Membership site for step moms to talk to each other
      -Rap Battle site for people to "battle" each other with raps

      Those are both on 2 different ends of the spectrum. The way i would start up a membership site is pick a niche that is big and not marketed to as much as the major niches. Market threw facebook and start it out with the first month free. Then like 10 bucks for every month after that for "website maintenance, servers, whatever". Create a community not a product. Give a couple of the major posters free memberships to be moderators. It will basically run itself.
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  • Profile picture of the author Datematch
    I agree and disagree with many of the points made here. Its all good stuff but the key question that needs to be addressed is what experience and knowledge assets do you possess that would interest individuals want to pay for it. You can't create a sales and marketing plan if you don't know what you are planning to sell. The delivery and transaction methods are relatively easy to resource. Make sure you always start with a business, product, and/or marketing plan even if its one page. Good luck!
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