We will understand the basics of a membership website and a complete process to build profitable membership sites. I will explain winning strategies, tips, and relevant information on the topic. Go through the blog to read the details.
โ What is a Membership Website?
A membership website gives value to its members upon payment of a monthly or yearly subscription fee. The membership site is a content-based business where you directly sell your content through a paid subscription.
You can sell online courses on trending skills, the explainer videos on school, college, or university education, technology webinars, informative podcasts, and entertainment-related content.
The members access these websites through unique IDs and passwords and get notified upon upload of new content. Building a membership website is a great way to make a loyal community around your brand or business.
โ Examples of Membership Websites
Here are a few examples of membership websites:
โ Netflix
Netflix is a membership-based paid streaming website that offers world-class entertainment through movies, dramas, documentaries, and more. You will pay a monthly membership/subscription fee to access the content through a secured password and ID.
โ Unacademy
The Unacademy provides paid and free online education through its membership website on a monthly membership/ subscription fee model.
โ A Step-By-Step Guide to Building a Profitable Membership Website
Here is a complete guide to building a profitable membership website:
โ Step 1: Recognizing the Purpose of Building a Membership Website
Determining the purpose of building a membership website is the first step in the process.
Set a clear goal, whether you want recurring revenue from the website, want to make a paid community around your commercial brand, or want to help society through a valuable source on a self-paid basis. You can easily plan your website niche or topic by identifying the goal.
โ Step 2: Select a Winning Website Niche
You have to find the purpose of membership website building. Now, Find a topic or niche for a profitable membership website that people love to engage with.
Try to make a membership website that solves the everyday problems of people. Moreover, select a website niche that unites people into a community. The topic should be supreme enough to the people that they must be willing to pay for its membership.
The membership websites based on the necessities of humans become profitable fast. These websites include Education, Healthcare, Personal finance management, entertainment, personal nutrition and diet planning, religion and spirituality, and more.
โ Step 3: Narrow Down Your Target Audience
Next, narrow down your focus to the specific individual of society who will be your future members. Do not try to make a generic membership website. For Example, Netflix, a profitable membership website, targets only young, tech-savvy, and internet users in the society of every country.
Focus on a specific group of individuals for a website to guess their needs and challenges. Then, provide a solution to these challenges on your membership website.
You can physically interview 15 to 20 random individuals in your targeted group. Moreover, you can create a social media poll for this purpose.
โ Step 4: Select a Platform to Build a Membership Website
Next, choose a platform to build your membership website considering the purpose and goal you have decided on earlier. You can select WordPress or a devoted membership platform to make your site with membership plugins such as Wix, or Squarespace.
With WordPress, you can build a generic website, but with a dedicated membership site builder, you can create a professional membership site with custom features and the right look.
Moreover, consider the following points before choosing a platform to build a membership site:
โ Can it help you build a membership business with options for custom payment plans, offers, etc?
โ Can you control the content on the site?
โ Can you give shared experiences to users through live streaming and events?
โ Can you get periodic analytics of your site?
โ Can you control the entry of members in your network?
If your selected website-building platform fulfills these requirements, go for it!
โ Step 5: Lay out Your Membership Pricing Plan
There can be different options while setting up a membership plan. You can choose a tire model in which you will provide multiple levels of value to the member against a varied payment plan.
Moreover, you can choose between giving a monthly or yearly membership or want to charge at once in the form of a lifetime membership. Decide the payment level according to your goals, budget, and business model. However, the best approach is to give a monthly membership plan with only one pricing level at the start.
Provide a great value against this single payment level and gradually build up to multiple tires of payments for different levels of value. For example, Amazon’s entertainment platform Prime Video offers three tiers of membership plans. You can get a monthly, quarterly, or yearly membership on the platform.
Therefore, choosing a winning membership plan that aligns with your member’s preferences and needs can help you build a profitable membership site in 2024.
โ Step 6: Market Your Membership Website
Now, You have completed your membership website by following the through process. Itโs a time to market your site by adopting different marketing approaches. Start with your social circle and invite your friends and family to join your website as a member.
Then, approach the individuals you have interviewed at the start to learn about the niche of your membership website and its challenges. Then, try all the trending marketing approaches, from email marketing, Meta ads, Google ads, and link building to performance marketing.
Moreover, you can hold live events on social media to promote your membership website by offering attractive discounts.
โ Step 7: Keep Learning and Be Consistent
โThis world is a graveyard of ideas.” The proverb manifests that only ideas are not enough. Instead, the execution of these ideas is the key to success. So, after building your membership website, you have executed your idea.
But, this execution demands consistency to continually move forward and work on your website to attract more members every passing day.
Therefore, keep learning and applying this knowledge to build your devoted community around your website. It is the best approach to building a profitable membership website in 2024.
โ Conclusion
So, you have read the membership building site process in detail. Apply this knowledge to build your site. Moreover, research to create a customized website-building strategy that suits your budget, skill set, and goals.
โ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: What is the way to handle member cancellations and refunds?
Make a reasonable cancellation and refund policy and publish it on your website.
Q2: How to give a personalized experience to website members?
Divide your members into groups based on their behavior and interests. Then, provide customized service to each group. In this way, you can give personalized experience to your customers.
Q3: What is the importance of a community for the success of a membership website?
An active community built around your membership website helps in member engagement and retention. The random Q&A sessions and live streaming will clear their doubts about your service and build user loyalty.
Q4: How can I know my website is becoming successful?
You can decide the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as Average revenue from a member, member retention rate, monthly membership growth rate, customer satisfaction score, and average time spent on the site by a customer.
