More and more bloggers, small businesses, publishers, and organizations are realizing the benefits of running membership model businesses. They also know that to make such a business a success, they need subscription management software.

Whether you are providing mostly free content, paid, or a combination of the two, you'll need a robust subscription management platform to make it simple and easy to use for both yourself and your members.

We'e put together the following checklist of subscription management software features you'll need to ensure your subscription business model has the best chance of thriving from the start.

Our subscription management checklist is divided into two sections:

Part 1 - Front-end features that your website visitors and members will expect and appreciate

Part 2 -  Back-end features to make your job as Administrator as easy and fun as possible

Comprehensive List of Subscription Management Software Front-End Features

Integrated Login and Password Access

There should be clearly visible link to a login page with fields for username and password. The benefit of having a subscription website is the option to protect some (or all) of your content from the view of non-subscribers.  This usually means placing the subscription-only pages in an area where they must be accessed through a login page.  This sounds simple enough, but the challenge is how to link password protection to the subscriber database and the content management service.  With full integration, you have control over who has access to what and for how long.

Integrated Payment Processing

Even if you don’t plan to charge subscribers, you'll need a subscription management software with integrated payment processing because you never know how your site will evolve.  Good subscription software will integrate with PayPal and Stripe. Other payment processors are becoming popular with website visitors, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, so you'll want to plan for those integrations in the future if not now.

Multiple Subscription Levels

The subscription software or service you choose should enable you to assign content, subscribers, and password protection to multiple subscription levels. You don't necessarily have to offer multiple tiers right off the bat. In fact, for some business models, it only makes sense to offer one, all-access subscription plan. But again, you don't know how your business will evolve in the future, and you will want to be able to offer a simple tiered subscription model for potential members to choose from.

Free Trial Subscription and Paid Subscription

The most successful subscription websites offer limited-access, time-restricted, free trial subscriptions to all premium content, and long-term full access to this content with paid subscriptions.  You should ensure that your subscription software has this flexibility. It gives potential subscribers an option to try before they buy.

Multiple Currencies

Even the simplest subscription site requires multiple payment plans and support for multiple currencies.  For example, a site with bronze, silver, and gold subscription levels that offers monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription plans to customers paying in Dollars, Euros, or Sterling potentially need 27 different payment plans.
Your subscription software should have the flexibility to establish and manage multiple payment plans.  More advanced software should allow you to receive live foreign exchange data as well, but this is only important if you want all of your subscribers around the world to pay exactly the same amount at all times.

Automated Customer Messages

Your subscription software should have the capability to send customized, automated email messages to your subscribers when they join your site.  For paid subscription sites there are legal requirements to send customers an invoice, cancellation policy, and your contact details. Apart from being a legal requirement, it's just common sense that after signing up for anything, purchasers want and expect an automated confirmation email, welcome email, and to be directed to a thank you page on the website after they submit their payment.

Customer-Controlled Subscription Management

Once your website grows to dozens, hundreds, or (hopefully) thousands of subscribers, it will be impossible to manage renewals manually.  Your subscription software should be able to fully automate the process of renewing subscribers’ accounts, automatically take payments, notify you if a credit card fails, send out renewal reminders, and suspend the passwords of those who don’t renew their subscriptions. Even more important, your software system should allow subscribers to manage their subscriptions on their own, without intervention from you. They should at a minimum be able to cancel their membership on their own, and possibly upgrade or downgrade to a higher or lower tier as well.

Showing “Teaser” Content

A useful functionality for your website is to show your visitors the titles of all your articles along with brief descriptions, and once they click on an article they are prompted to subscribe to view the entire content.  Your subscription management software should be able to work this into your site.

Forgotten Password

Since it is common for subscribers to occasionally forget their passwords, your subscription software should be able to automatically verify users and email new passwords to them.  If you choose to do this manually, you will waste a lot of time and end up with very frustrated subscribers.

Comprehensive List of Subscription Management Software Back-End Features

Now that you've ensured you can implement the front-end features your audience will love you for, let's continue by making sure you have all the back-end features you'll need to easily create and manage your subscription service.

Simplified Control Panel

The more time you spend on administrative tasks, the less time you have to build your online business.  To minimize the time you spend on administrative details, make sure that your website has a single, simplified control panel from where you can accomplish routine tasks – like adding content, changing payment plans, accessing your subscriber database, and viewing your web stats.

Content Management System

Content management must be at the heart of your website, and a content management system (CMS) can help you easily add text articles, images, and video clips.  The CMS should also allow you to edit your site’s navigation.  As an online publisher, you need to have complete control over your site’s content without having to know HTML or any other technical web coding.

Customizable Design

You may want to be able to constantly adjust your website’s design. You should have access to a design interface where tweaks can be made or even completely changed.  The most flexible way to manage your website’s design is using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), so make sure the website software or platform you choose allows CSS.

Image Library

Images are an important part of your website, so your CMS should have the capacity to manage images so they can be inserted into any page with clear labeling (alt-tags) and can also be linked to content within your site or third-party sites.

Multimedia Content

Multimedia content is the biggest advantage that an online publication has over its print competitors, so make sure your website is enabled to publish content in multiple formats (text, images, audio, video) even if you don’t plan to use them all immediately.

Member Database

At the heart of all subscription management software is a database that collects information from subscribers.  The quantity of information collected will vary from one site to another.  For example, a free subscription site may only collect email addresses, while an expensive business site may collect additional data. This could include name, address, company, position, or association subscription.  Regardless of what your short-term plans are, I highly recommend that you choose a subscription software that allows you to customize the amount of personal data you can collect.  The subscriber database should also have a search feature and be easily customizable.

Enable Multiple Revenue Streams

Most successful subscription websites have multiple revenue streams, so don’t focus only on charging subscription fees while ignoring other revenue-generating opportunities like:

- adding affiliate links related to your site’s subject matter;
- selling physical or digital products via an online shop; and
- promoting and selling offline events.

Consider the different ways you can generate income from your website and make sure the functionality can be enabled or added later to make it possible (for example, a shopping cart, adserver, event booking form, etc).

Download Library

Most content websites provide their subscribers with downloadable reports, e-books, software programs, video clips, or audio files.  Your website should make it easy to upload and manage downloads.

Search Engine Optimization

Your website must be easy for search engines to index, and any good web developer should be able to optimize the code to make it easy for Google and other search engines to find and index all the pages on your site.  The best subscription website should be highly optimized from the outset so you don’t need to worry about anything other than adding quality content.

Relationship-Building Features

As your site begins receiving visitors, you need to establish relationships with them to encourage them to keep coming back.  The most useful applications for building online relationships are email newsletters, RSS feeds, forums, comment fields under articles, and member profiles.  The best subscription website should have these applications integrated.  Some subscription software will come with additional plug-ins so the applications can be added.

Reporting and Analytics

In addition to connecting to Google Analytics, your membership software should feature a built-in analytics dashboard. In order to make informed decisions, you need to have access to valuable insightful data. Your reporting should track and measure your website's key metrics like signups, logins, enrollment, engagement and churn.

Monitoring, Maintenance, and Backups

A common mistake made by new website owners is that they underestimate the work involved. This includes managing, hosting, security, maintenance, data backups, and upgrades to the site.  They often use free open-source software on a cheap host to launch their site. But that usually results in a lot of down-time, lost data, and wasted time.  Non-technical people should avoid managing the technical, security, and back-up side of their website because these tedious tasks can consume a great deal of time for very little gain.  You should either use a fully managed subscription service or a development company that can handle this work for you.

Support

Even though support is the last point on this checklist, it should be one of your highest priorities.  As the owner of a subscription website, your time is the most valuable resource you have.  You should focus your energy on creating content, marketing, and managing your subscribers, not worrying about hosting, bandwidth, backup, upgrades, and fixing bugs.  You need excellent support from people who have an understanding of the technology as well as the online publishing field.

Conclusions

Running a subscription website is one of the most exciting business opportunities on the internet today. There are tons of resources available so that you won’t have to reinvent the wheel to get started.  Everything you need to be successful is available to novices and experts alike.  If you invest time and thought into the early planning phase, you can quickly have a thriving online business.

Refer back to this checklist while shopping for subscription management software.  Look at a hosted and fully managed subscription website service (like SubHub). A full-service platform can accelerate your launch and make your day-to-day work a pleasure.

The Growing Popularity of the Coaching Business

Today, the coaching business model has become one of the most popular ways to share expertise while making a profit. In fact, life coaching is one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. In 2022, there were over 23,000 registered life coaching businesses, with 1.7 million active coaches on LinkedIn. If you run a coaching business in 2024, taking it online through a membership website is a smart way to expand your reach globally and scale your business quickly.

What is a Coaching Membership Website?

A coaching membership website is a platform specifically designed for selling coaching services and products, usually through a recurring subscription. It creates an online ecosystem where individuals can access resources, connect with experts, and join a supportive community. This subscription-based model promotes ongoing learning and personal growth, making it an attractive option for both coaches and clients.

What Content Can You Expect on a Coaching Membership Website?

Key features of a coaching membership website typically include:

• Structured Content
  Most coaching websites offer structured learning materials such as videos, webinars, and written resources. These are designed to help members build their knowledge and skills over time. Content may be organized into categories or presented as part of a course curriculum.
• Access to Coaches or Experts
  Members can interact with coaches or experts through live Q&A sessions, discussion boards, forums, or one-on-one coaching. This personal interaction allows members to get tailored guidance and answers to their specific questions.
• Community and Networking
  Coaching membership websites often foster a strong sense of community. Members can connect with each other, share experiences, and collaborate via forums, social media groups, or private chats.
• Regular Updates
  To keep members engaged, these platforms frequently update content with new courses, live events, or exclusive resources.

Who is a Coaching Membership Website For?

Coaching membership websites benefit both coaches and members across various industries and niches. Coaches can share their expertise with a global audience without needing to travel or host physical events. Meanwhile, members gain access to valuable coaching resources from anywhere, at any time.

This model works well for all kinds of coaching, from business and fitness coaching to niche areas like nutrition, sports, gardening, and beyond.

How to Start Your Coaching Membership Website

1. Choose Your Niche
   Selecting the right niche is essential to the success of your coaching membership website. Ideally, your niche should focus on topics you are passionate about and that have a proven demand. Here are some popular niches for coaching membership sites:
   • Entrepreneurs and Business Professionals
     Coaching for business owners, executives, and professionals on leadership, management, marketing, and business growth strategies.
   • Students and Graduates
     Coaching that helps students with academic support, career advice, and skills like study habits, job searching, and networking.
   • Fitness and Health Enthusiasts
     Coaching websites offering fitness routines, nutritional advice, and personalized guidance for improving health and wellness.
   • Personal Development Seekers
     Focused on personal growth, these platforms offer resources on mindfulness, self-confidence, goal setting, and more.
   • Creatives and Artists
     Coaching for artists, writers, musicians, and other creatives, covering creative techniques, marketing, and career development.
   • Lifestyle and Wellness Enthusiasts
     Coaching platforms that provide tips on travel, cooking, parenting, and other lifestyle improvements.
   • Language Learners
     Language coaching websites that help learners acquire new languages, improve communication, and understand different cultures.
   • Tech Enthusiasts
     Coaching platforms focused on coding, app development, and other tech-related skills for career or hobby interests.
   • Hobbyists and Enthusiasts
     Coaching websites that offer expert guidance on hobbies like gardening, photography, or DIY projects.
   • Wellness and Mental Health
     Websites offering coaching on emotional well-being, stress management, and mental health strategies.
   • Specialized Skills
     Coaching platforms that help individuals develop targeted skills like public speaking, negotiation, or conflict resolution.

By choosing a niche that aligns with your passion and has an active audience, your coaching membership website can thrive.

Determine Your Content Delivery Method

How will you deliver value to your audience? If you're already coaching offline, start by thinking about how to translate your current methods into an online format. For example, if you hold group coaching sessions or special events through in-person meetups, you can save money and reach a wider audience by offering group calls, live online events, or webinars.

Here are some effective ways to deliver your coaching expertise online:

• Courses
  Courses are a popular way to structure membership content. They are typically organized into modules or lessons and can be delivered all at once or progressively. Pricing varies widely depending on the depth of information provided, and courses are a great way to offer structured learning.
• Webinars
  Webinars are an excellent way to introduce your coaching services, share valuable information, and promote your main offering. You can host them live or record them for later use. For example, a webinar on “How to Lose 10 Pounds in 20 Days” can offer participants actionable weight loss tips while also promoting a 6-week coaching program for more personalized guidance. End the webinar with a specific offer or a call to action.
• Events
  You can sell tickets to live events or charge for online coaching sessions. Summits, where multiple speakers present on related topics, are especially popular for coaches. For example, if you're a nutrition coach, you could host a summit featuring experts on weight loss, fitness, yoga, and various diets. Summits boost your credibility and can be a key part of your coaching membership website.

3. Offering different membership tiers allows you to tailor your coaching services and price them accordingly.

Pricing
Pricing can be tricky, but it’s important to set your rates and stick to them. Whether you charge a one-time fee, a monthly subscription, or a tiered membership structure, consistency is key. For example, you could offer three tiers: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Bronze members get access to basic content and community forums, while Silver members join group coaching, and Gold members receive one-on-one sessions and other perks.

Offerings
You can start simple with just one coaching program, but most coaches offer different levels of service at various price points. For example, you might have a Basic tier with access to recorded videos and community forums, and a Premium tier with live coaching calls or one-on-one sessions.

4. Choose a Platform

When building your coaching membership website, the platform you choose is crucial. WordPress is a popular option because of its flexibility and the wide variety of plugins available for customization. However, it requires some technical know-how, as you’ll need to manage the backend of the site.

Alternatively, you could choose an all-in-one platform that offers built-in functionality for membership levels, payment processing, email marketing, and more. These platforms tend to be more expensive, but they require less technical work. Choose a platform based on your needs and budget—new coaches may not need all the advanced features that come with more expensive, all-inclusive platforms.

Must-Have Features

1. Multiple Subscription Levels
2. Mobile responsive
3. Email marketing integration
4. Course Setup
5. Community Forum
6. Automated emails
7. Member database
8. Member accounts
9. Reporting and analytics
10. Reliable customer support

Nice-To-Have Features

1. Unlimited video upload
2. Built-in marketing funnels
3. Built-in webinar platform
4. Affiliate programs
5. Events ticketing and promotion
6. Chatbots

Many of the nice-to-have features, like video hosting or chatbots, can be integrated with third-party tools, reducing the need for more expensive platforms. For example, videos can be embedded easily into the SubHub platform from any video hosting service.

The result is a less cumbersome system that is free from lag or buffering. This allows your members to have a smooth experience from log-in to log-out. Audio files can also be easily embedded, as can live streams, chatbots and more.

5. Metrics and Feedback

Tracking metrics goes beyond just numbers like visitor counts or sign-ups. It’s crucial to understand how your members feel about your coaching services. Regularly ask for feedback through emails, community forums, or during group calls. This feedback will help you adapt your offerings. For instance, if many members find the basic tier too elementary, you can create a more advanced tier that better meets their needs.

Your coaching membership website should evolve with your clients. It’s more than just a static website—it’s a dynamic way to engage with your audience, helping them grow while expanding your coaching business.

Ready to start your online coaching business? Open a free SubHub platform trial and take it for a test drive. We offer 5-star support every weekday, so let us know if you have any questions.

In another blog post, we explored reasons why membership website owners should provide a good amount of free content on their sites.

We came to the conclusion that free content has many benefits, all leading to the ultimate price of a website visitor becoming a member. But what will convince them to cross that free line into paid territory?

In this post we’re going to look at the free/paid content issue from another angle:

What makes people willing to pay for content? 

First, it's important to realize that they may not be willing. There are so many news sources on the internet, web users can always find free alternatives for general news. They don’t even have to look very far as the aggregation news sites pull it together for them. And that’s just for news articles.

With the plethora of AI tools available now, anyone can have a detailed article at their fingertips on just about any topic. ChatGPT and Bard (Google’s counterpart to ChatGPT), for example, can scrape up tons of content on any subject in a matter of seconds.

This saves all kinds of research time that previously would be been spent combing Google results, typing various searches into a Google search query, going to various information sites like Quora.com, and checking out YouTube’s search engine for videos on the topic.

So now that it's fairly easy to find free content on any subject, most people probably just do that, right?

Think again. Research shows that at least 65% of internet users have paid for online content. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2010/12/30/65-of-internet-users-have-paid-for-online-content

But why? We've come up with 5 compelling reasons why users will pay for online content.

Time is money

Doing that kind of research, even with the advantages of ChatGPT, Bard and others like them, still requires time.

Let’s not forget that the idea behind a membership website is to provide information, knowledge or expertise on a recurring basis. That means that as a membership website owner, your potential customer is going to have to go through all the search and research options regularly to be able to access the same or similar content that you can provide with no time or effort on their part. By providing a paid option that doesn't require the research on their part, you will be saving your clients time, and as we all know, time is money.

Farm experts GrowingForMarket.com know this very well. As a seasonal online publication, they are saving their members many hours of time and effort to find the latest growing information and tips available for each growing season.

Convenience

This might be the number 1 reason why people are willing to pay for free content. Let’s say you’re looking to take up a yoga practice. You could go online and search on Google or YouTube and find millions of search results showing you a multitude of different poses and types of yoga. Where do you start? Which kinds of yoga are for beginners? Which style should you adopt? What if you’re looking for specialized styles like yoga for seniors?

You can sift through all that, or you can sign up for an online yoga class with an expert like Cheri Schultz of inspireencourageempower.org and be guided through a series of yoga routines that fit your schedule and your strength level, simply by signing up to a low-cost recurring subscription. Which sounds better? 

Exclusive content

People will pay for content that is not available elsewhere on the internet. Or content that is not available in the way that you have packaged it.  If you have a “secret” or little-known approach to building wealth, you may have something completely unique to offer. Even the most determined researcher can spend hours on ChatGPT, or researching on Google and not come up with the specific ideas that you have to offer.  A few dollars per month may very well seem like a small price to pay for recurring content that they can’t get anywhere else.

Community

People will also pay to be part of a community. Quite often, you’ll find website owners offering a course or membership-based subscctipion to content, with access to other members as a bonus. It’s great to have the perspective of yourself as the website owner, but let’s face it, you’re not always going to be available. And your members’s peers will 99.9% of the time be happy to help other members if they can.

So don’t be afraid to charge members for access to other members. This kind of community also offers a safe haven for people who may not want to post on a public forum, but feel comfortable asking questions among a closed group of like-minded individuals. SubHub clients like mylifestylerescue.com are doing just that by encouraging members to interact on the built-in forum on their websites.

Premium services

Finally, there is something that people will always pay for - personal one-on-one access to the expert (that’s you!). High-end business coaches can charge thousands of dollars per month for personal coaching. A membership website is ideally suited to offer premium services like individual coaching - at a premium price.

There are many ways of going about it: 

1. Offer consulting services by the hour
2. Offer coaching programs on a recurring fee basis
3. Offer non-recurring subscriptions to a course with live coaching
4. Offer evergreen courses

Conclusion

It’s true that people won’t pay for content on the internet if they can easily find free alternatives. But the catchword there is “easily”. Easy means with little effort, little time, and no money.  Even with all the search and AI options available, it still takes time and effort to research a topic, eliminate what isn’t useful, find a way to utilize the valuable information, and put it into practice.

If you can provide all these qualities in a neat package at a reasonable cost, you will be way ahead of the game. 

If you're an expert in a niche subject and want to start a business to earn an income from your knowledge, then starting a membership website is the answer.

A membership website allows you to protect your exclusive content behind a paywall so access is only granted to subscribers.

This article will list the steps you need to take to start building your membership website.

1. Identify your target audience

Growing an audience of paying users requires creating content tailored to their needs.

It may seem counter-intuitive but by focusing on a specific niche subject you'll be able to more effectively create content that appeals to your target audience.

Knowing the customer persona of your target audience, enables you to identify and create impactful content specific to their needs along with effective marketing strategies to reach and engage them.

A narrow audience allows you to craft targeted marketing messages that will resonate with potential members resulting in successful marketing campaigns.

2. Determine your membership model

Once you identify your audience, you need to decide the content that you plan to offer, how it will be delivered and the sales model. Employing multiple revenue streams will maximise your ability to monetise your content. For example, by providing a visitor, who doesn't intend to sign-up to a membership, the opportunity to purchase a course, digital download or pay-per-view product means you still capture revenue. The SubHub platform gives you the ability to create multiple revenue streams.

Offering membership tiers which unlock more content and perks depending on the level is another upsell option to employ. But remember, too many choices can have a negative impact. According to Hick’s Law, the more choices you present to a user can prolong their decision making process. So limit the membership levels to no more than four.

Membership fees can be set up as a one-time payments or on a recurring basis. Recurring fees have the advantage of providing a steady and reliable income flow. For members that might need a nudge, including free trial days can entice them to sign up.

3. Choosing the best membership platform for your needs

These days there are a wealth of membership models to choose from. They include WordPress, where you can build your site's functionality with plugins, to all-in-one SaaS solutions. Which you select will depend on your budget, tech skills, membership objectives and the content you want to sell.

WordPress offers the most flexibility when it comes to the design and functionality you can achieve with your website. However, those benefits also come with costs and disadvantages. Unless you have technical skills or the budget to hire a developer, a WordPress site can be out of your price range.

The other major downside with WordPress is plug-in maintenance. When you build a website based on the interaction of multiple plugins, you must insure they are all compatible. One incompatible plugin, can break your whole site. This often happens when a plugin needs to be updated. And when it does, you'll need to hire a developer to fix it.

Alternatively, a SaaS solution (Software as a Service) is a complete service that provides you not only with the website but hosting, maintenance and customer support. Popular SaaS examples are Wix, Shopify, Teachable and SubHub. A SaaS solution reduces the stress of running an online knowledge business. If something breaks, you just need to submit a support ticket. And SaaS companies are always working to improve their product offerings.

You'll want to select a platform you can grow with. The design, functionality, and scalability should be flexible enough to modify to meet your target audience’s changing needs.

Many SaaS solutions specialise in the delivery of specific types of content. If you plan to only sell online courses, you might select an eLearning platform like Teachable. If your focus is website membership, but also want the additional revenue stream of selling courses then the SubHub platform is the answer.

Lastly, choose a platform that provides dedicated customer support. When you run a membership website, there will be issues. Read client reviews support by people who really understand both technology and online publishing is vital.

4. Building your website

If you've selected a SaaS solution, you can start right away creating your site with that solution's website builder. Most SaaS solutions are intended to be intuitive enough for a non-techie to easily use.

Your homepage will be the most important page on your site as it will influence whether or not a visitor becomes a member. Be sure to carefully craft the copy of your banner and body text so that it informs and engages with your potential members. Clearly define, the benefits of your membership proposition.

Your homepage must also be SEO optimised with keywords so that your site is found in search results.

Include a testimonial section as client reviews can have a persuasive impact by showing visitors that others value your product, it’s a vote of confidence in your product.

Pay attention to page speed as a slow loading page will cause visitors to bounce.

These are just a few tips to create a converting homepage.

5. Upload initial content

Before launching, you'll need to have uploaded enough content to satisfy your first members. This could be in the form of blog posts, courses, downloads, videos etc. Then you'll need to stay committed to a regular schedule of adding new content.

Make sure your content is meaningful and is of value to your audience.

6. Follow SEO best practices

Just launching a website isn't enough to get found. From the start, be sure to follow SEO best practices when creating your site and adding content. This will improve your chance of getting found in search results. Using keywords, the proper heading format, internal links and requesting backlinks are all necessary to insure that when Google and other search engines index your site that they understand what your site is about, how content relates to each other.

• The same focus keyword needs to be present in your meta title, article headline, first sentence and a few times in the article body.
• Once you create an article, submit it to Google search so that it is indexed within 24 hours.
• Use the proper heading (H1, H2, H3...) format on your pages. H1 must only be used ONCE on any page. Proper headings inform search engines about the structure of your site and the hierarchy of your content.
• Internal links are created when you include links of similarly-themed content to each other. Again, this help search engines understand the content on your site and how it relates to each other.
• When a site links to your site, this is a backlink. It proves to search engines that your content is relevant and trustworthy.

7. Grow a community on social media

Drive traffic to your website using your social media channels. It's best to select a single social media platform and then dedicate all your efforts to building an audience. Choose the platform where your prospective members will be hanging out.

Conclusion

Membership is one of the most exciting business opportunities on the internet today. It is established enough that you will not have to reinvent the wheel. Everything you need to be successful is available and accessible to novices and experts alike.

You just need to take the first step and open a free 14-day trial with SubHub.

Membership Platform is being used by more and more bloggers, small businesses, publishers and organizations, to add subscription functionality to their websites and blogs.

Some want to introduce free membership, to restrict access to certain parts of their site.  Others want to add paid membership, so they can charge access to premium content.  Either way, they will need to look for membership platform or services to make it happen.

Membership Platform Checklist

Feature #1 - Integrated Login and Password Access

The key to running a membership site is being able to protect some or all of the content from public view. Usually this means placing the premium pages in a members area, accessible via a login page. This sounds simple, but the challenge is in linking password protection to the member database and the content management service. Only with full integration will you have control over who can see what and for how long.

Feature #2 - Member Database

 
At the heart of all membership platform is a database which collects the information from your customers. The amount of information gathered varies from site to site. Free membership sites may only collect email addresses. High priced business sites may collect a lot of detailed data, including name, address, country, company, position, association membership, etc.

Irrespective of what your immediate requirements are I would recommend that you ensure the membership software you use allows you to choose and edit the amount of personal data you collect.

The member database should be searchable, exportable and easy to customize.
 

Feature #3 - Integrated Payment Processing

 
As with the database functionality, even if you don't plan on taking payment for membership at the outset I would recommend that you choose membership software that has payment processing integrated. You can never be sure how your site will evolve.

Good membership platform will integrate with PayPal and also offer you a choice of at least two other payment gateway providers in more than one country (e.g. Authorize.net, Stripe, SagePay, etc). The latter will allow you to use your own merchant services account and credit card processing to sign up members.

Feature #4 - Multiple Membership Levels

Many membership sites have more than one level of membership e.g. bronze, silver and gold. The membership software you choose should enable you to easily assign content, members and password protection to multiple membership levels.

Feature #5 - Trial, Free and Paid Membership

There is rarely a single type of membership. A good membership site may have free membership with limited access, time-restricted trial membership to all of the premium content and paid membership for long-term access to the premium areas of the site. Make sure you have this same kind of flexibility.

Dive Deeper:

Membership Software Versus a Managed Membership Site Service

Feature #6 - Multiple Payment Plans

Even simple subscription sites can require multiple unique payment plans. For example - a site with bronze, silver and gold membership levels, offering monthly, quarterly or annual subscriptions to customers paying in US dollars, Euros or Sterling potentially needs 27 different payment plans!

The membership platform you choose should provide the flexibility to easily set plans up and manage them. More advanced services will give you the option to link prices to live foreign exchange data. This is only important if you want all your customers around the world paying exactly the same amount all of the time.

Feature #7 - Content Security

One of the biggest problems of adding third-party membership platform to an existing website is protecting the content on your existing pages. Plug-in software usually puts a login screen between the existing content and the website visitor. Savvy internet users can usually find a way around these barriers. Often it is as easy as typing the URL of a protected page into the browser.

Website platforms that have fully integrated membership management can build a wall that completely encircles your content making it impossible for hackers to get to it.

When reviewing membership software ask how protected your content will be and under what circumstances could it be accessed without authorization.

Feature #8 - Automated Customer Messages

When a customer signs up for membership to your site they should automatically receive one or more email messages confirming their details and welcoming them. For paid membership websites there are legal requirements to send customers an invoice, cancellation policy and your contact details. All of these emails should be customizable and fully automated within the membership software.

Feature #9 - Automated Renewal or Membership Suspension

Hopefully, your site will attract hundreds or even thousands of members. They will all join on different days and will have different renewal dates. Some will be monthly, others annual. Managing renewals manually quickly becomes a full-time job.

The membership platform you choose should fully automate this process. It should automatically take payments for monthly customers and notify you if a credit card fails. It should send out reminders to annual customers and suspend the passwords of people who don't renew.

Feature #10 - Showing 'Teaser' Content

A common practice for membership websites is to show all website visitors the title and a brief description of every article. When the visitor clicks to read more the rest of the article is hidden, with instead a custom invitation to subscribe displayed. This is a very useful functionality which will increase your sign-up rate.

Feature #11 - Forgotten Password

Many of your members will forget their password. The membership software should have a way of automatically verifying who a user is and emailing out a new password. If it can't do this you will end up wasting a huge amount of time manually sending out passwords to your frustrated customers.

Feature #12 - 'SSL Certificate'

Google Punishes Insecure Sites. Google's Chrome browser will mark HTTP websites with no secure SSL certificate as 'Not Secure'.

Also, SSL certificate is a requirement for any website that accepts payments. if you have an eCommerce site and you plan on taking credit card payments you need to have an SSL certificate installed.

Feature #13 - Member Chosen Passwords

Some of the basic membership platform automatically generates random passwords for subscribers and then does not provide a way for them to change the issued password to something that is more memorable. If your users are forced to use a password you have given them, research has shown they will log in less often and will be less likely to renew when their subscription runs out.

Dive Deeper:

The Five Challenges of Implementing Membership Plaform

Building Your Membership Website From Scratch

 
As mentioned in the introduction to this article, it is much easier to start a website with membership already integrated. Adding third-party membership software to an existing website or blog is never seamless or completely secure.

If you are starting a website from scratch, these are the additional features it should have:

Feature #14 - A Simple Control Panel

 
The more time you spend undertaking administrative tasks, the less time you are spending building your online business.

To minimize tedious admin tasks, you should ensure that when your website is up and running you have a single control panel, from which you can undertake all of your routine tasks, like adding content, changing payment plans, accessing your member database and looking at your web stats.

Unfortunately, when you add third-party membership software it is almost impossible to add the membership administration interface to an existing control panel. However, if you go with an all-in-one membership website service you should get this single dashboard.

Feature #15 - Excellent Content Management

 
A content management service/system (CMS) enables you to add text articles, images and video clips to your website, without needing any technical skills.

As an online publisher you must have complete control over adding, editing and removing your content, without having to know about HTML or any other kind of web coding. The CMS should also allow you to edit your site's navigation.

Content management MUST be at the heart of your website. 

Feature #16 - Customizable Design

 
You will want to continually tweak and change your website design.

You, or your designer, should have access to a design interface where tweaks can be easily made, or a completely new design can be added. Today the most flexible way of managing your design is using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Make sure whatever website software or platform you choose allows CSS.

Feature #17 - Image Library

 
Images are an important and often overlooked part of a good website.

Your CMS should have the capability to manage images so they can be inserted into any page, with clear labeling (alt-tags) and the ability to make them link to other content or third-party websites. 
 

Feature #18 - Multimedia Content

 
Today it is expected that an information-driven website will have content in multiple formats including text, images, audio and video. Even if you don't plan on using these formats today, make sure your website is enabled to publish them in the future.

Multimedia content is one of the most important advantages that an online publication has over its print competitors. Use this advantage.

Feature #19 - 'Plug-In' Functionality

 
When you start your membership website you can never be sure how it will develop. Therefore you need to have the ability to easily add new functionality as it is required. Better still, consider using a managed service which is continually being upgraded with the latest features. Then all you need to do is turn them on when you need them.

Feature #20 - Enable Multiple Revenue Streams

 
Many website owners, who are focused on charging a membership fee for access to premium content, ignore other revenue making opportunities such as:
 

• showing advertisements on free content pages
• adding affiliate links related to the sites subject
• selling physical or digital products via an online shop
• promoting and selling offline events

Most successful membership websites have multiple revenue streams. Consider other ways you can generate income from your site and make sure the functionality can be enabled or added to make them possible (e.g. a shopping cart, adserver, event booking form, etc). 

Feature #21 - Download Library

 
Most content websites provide their readers and members with downloads. These could be reports, ebooks, software programs, video clips or audio files.

Your website should make it easy for you to upload and manage downloads, so they are accessible to your site visitors. 

Feature #22 - Search Engine Optimization

You must have a website that is very easy for the search engines to index. Any web developer worth his salt will be able to optimize the code to make it easy for Google and the other search engines to find and index all the pages on your site.

Any good managed website platform should be highly optimized from the outset, so you don't need to worry about anything, other than adding great quality content.

Feature #23 - Relationship Building Applications

 
Once you get visitors coming to your website you need to start building a relationship with them to encourage them to return.

The most important applications for building online relationships are:

• email newsletters
• RSS feeds
• forums
• comment fields under articles
• member profiles

 
Good platforms will have this stuff integrated. Some membership software will have additional plug-ins so it can be added. 

Feature #24 - Webstats and Management Information

 
You should be able to easily access all the information about how your website is performing in a single web statistics report. This should include the number of visitors and page views; the time spent on the website and most popular pages; where your traffic is coming from and much more.

Only when you have this information at your fingertips will you be able to understand how your site is performing and the needs of your customers.

You can integrate web statistics software on your server (e.g. AW Stats), or plug in a third-party service like Google Analytics. 

Feature #25 - Monitoring, Security and Backup

 
New website owners underestimate the hassle involved with managing hosting, security, maintenance, data backups and upgrades. Often they use free open source software on a cheap host to launch their site. This usually results in downtime, lost data and hours of wasted time trying to sort out technical problems.

Non-technical people should avoid managing the technical, security and back-up side of their website. This tedious stuff can consume a lot of time for very little gain. Either use a fully managed service which includes all this stuff or use a development company who will do it for you. 

Feature #26 - Future-Proof

 
You need your website to grow with your business, so the design, functionality and scaleability should be flexible enough to meet your target audience's changing needs. If you are buying software you need to understand how often it is updated, how much the updates cost and whether the new releases are backward compatible with the software you have. 

Feature #27 - Support

 
I have put support last, but it should be amongst your highest priorities.

When you are running a membership website your time is the most valuable resource you have. You need to be able to focus on creating content, marketing and managing your clients - not worrying about bandwidth, hosting, backup, upgrades and fixing bugs.

Good support, by people who really understand both the technology and online publishing is vital to your success!
 

Conclusion

 
Online publishing and running a membership website is one of the most exciting business opportunities on the Internet today. It is still in its infancy, but established enough that you will not have to reinvent the wheel. Everything you need to be successful is available and accessible to novices and experts alike.
 
Put time and thought into your early decisions and you should quickly have a thriving business built around a future-proof website.

Use this checklist to review any membership software services you are considering. Also take the time to look at hosted and fully managed membership site software, such as that offered by SubHub Membership Website Builder. We can accelerate launch and make the day-to-day running of the site a real pleasure.

Enjoy and good luck!

Getting your first 100 paying customers for a membership website is always the hardest part. But once you reach that number, it becomes much easier to attract new members.

Here is your 90-day plan for getting your first 100 paying customers:

Before you launch your membership website

Before diving into marketing and traffic-building, there are a few key things to consider:

Know Your Audience: Understand who they are, what problems they have, and how you can help them. Also, know how to reach them.

Understand Your Competition: Identify both online and offline competitors, know their pricing, and determine how you’ll stand out.

Clarify Your Unique Value: What makes your site different? Why should someone choose you over the competition?

Create a User-Friendly Website: Your site should look professional and clearly communicate what you offer. Remember, every page is a landing page, so ensure visitors can easily navigate your site from any entry point.

Include Free and Member-Only Content: Offer some high-quality free content to build trust, but also have exclusive content for members. Before launching, have at least 90 days’ worth of content ready to free up time for marketing.

Refine Your Offer: Make an offer that’s hard to refuse. Ensure the perceived value is at least three times higher than the membership cost. Consider offering a money-back guarantee and special deals for early sign-ups.

Pre-Launch Marketing Activities

• Build Authority: Establish your credibility in the field. Get testimonials, create a social media presence, and engage with relevant groups.
• Prepare a Marketing Plan: Outline your marketing activities before the launch so you know exactly what to do each day.
• Interviews: Conduct interviews with key figures in your industry. This not only creates valuable content but can also drive traffic to your site if the interviewees share it with their audiences.

90-Day Marketing Plan

Your plan should be divided into two phases:

Phase 1 (80 Days): Focus on driving traffic to your website and building a relationship with visitors who show an interest in the service you are providing. Allow visitors to sign-up to an email newsletter or other services that will enable you to proactively communicate with them.

Phase 2 (10 Days): Shift focus from traffic and relationship-building to converting your most loyal followers into paying members. Build excitement with an irresistible offer which your most loyal followerswon’t be able to resist.

Phase 1 Activities:

Driving Traffic to Your Membership Website

Since you won’t initially get much search engine traffic, you’ll need to rely on other methods to drive visitors to your site. Some ideas include:

1. Google Ads: A powerful tool if used correctly. Focus on specific keywords relevant to your niche.
2. Newsletter Ads: Pay to advertise in newsletters that reach your target audience.
3. Press Coverage: Use free and paid press release services to announce your site’s launch.
4. Article Syndication: Publish high-quality articles on third-party sites to drive traffic.
5. Forums: Join relevant forums and participate in discussions. Include a link to your site in your signature.

Collecting Email Addresses

It’s crucial to capture email addresses from your site visitors. Offer something valuable in return. Your offer should have a perceived value that is at least three times greater than the membership price. Some examples are:

Access to a video series

A free course

A popover sign-up box

A downloadable eBook or report

An example offer package could be:

• Your Guarantee – The lower the perceived risk the higher your conversion rate. If you can offer a 100%, no questions asked, money-back guarantee it will increase your sign-up rate.
• The early bird catches the worm – reward your first members with a special deal. Everyone likes a bargain.
• Set-up an affiliate program – an affiliate program is an automated way of paying people who recommend your service to their customers or site visitors a commission for any sales they facilitate. If you want other website owners to help you sell your service this is the best way to get them fired up.

Try to give away something that has zero or near-zero cost to you, but provides your target audience with real value.

Phase 2 – Converting Followers to Paying Members

After 80 days of building excitement and relationships, it’s time to convert your followers into paying members. Here’s how:

1. Create a Compelling Offer: Give early members extra value rather than just a discount.
2. Host a Big Event: Consider organizing a webinar with valuable content, but make the full benefits available only to paying members.
3. Make Signing Up Easy: Clearly communicate the benefits and include a money-back guarantee to reduce perceived risk.

Everything you will have provided so far – the email sign-up giveaway, the content on your site, the email newsletter, Tweets, etc – has been free.

In phase 2 you must turn your attention to packaging up your paid membership service in such a way that your most dedicated followers are very happy to pay.

You want to build excitement and desire over the 80 days. This will get a much higher conversion rate than allowing members to signup whenever they want.

The Offer

You must create a very compelling offer for the first 100 members. I would strongly recommend that the offer is based around giving them downloadable stuff for free rather than a discount on the membership fee.

You should try to preserve your income as much as possible. As mentioned above create a package of services that have a value much greater than the cost of the subscription.

The Big Event

To launch the 10-day sign-up period you should arrange a big event.

A very popular thing to do is have a webinar where prospects can dial into for free and listen to a talk by you, or better still, a really well-known industry personality.

A webinar is easy and cheap to arrange but has a high perceived value to attendees.

The content of the webinar should not be a sales pitch for your membership site. You need to be more subtle than that.

The content should provide really good information about a particular subject, but the information should be incomplete. The additional information should be available within the membership site.

A few examples:

• A wine tasting site – the webinar could be hosted by a recognized master of wine and cover how wine tasting is done. The membership area of the website could then reveal their actual tasting notes for dozens of wines
• A site about launching an Internet business – the webinar could cover the 15 things you must do before launching an Internet business. The membership area could list all the resources you need for a successful launch
• A site about educating children at home – the webinar could cover how to plan a home-based curriculum. The membership website could provide all the templates for the parent to fill in

Make Signing Up Easy:

Clearly communicate the benefits and include a money-back guarantee to reduce perceived risk.

The Sign-Up Process Checklist

1. Get your site ready with some really excellent content
2. Create additional content for the first 90 days so you can focus on marketing activities
3. Create or source some gifts that can be given away to incentivize email sign-up and paid membership sign-up
4. Focus on driving traffic to the free content on the site and getting visitors to sign-up for the email newsletter (or other communications channel) using a free offer. Keep building interest and momentum for 80 days
5. Work with other bloggers, online publishers, journalists to get them to drive traffic to your site
6. Plan a big event such as a webinar to launch the start of membership sign-up
7. Create a very compelling offer which gives value well beyond the cost of the subscription
8. Host the big event. Provide real value but give listeners a compelling and irresistible reason to sign-up for your service
9. Look after the early paying members and they will do a lot of the future selling for you

Conclusion

This technique for getting 100 paying members in 90 days is tried and tested. The skill is building the excitement about your service to the point where your followers can’t wait for it to go live. At all stages, try to put yourself in your prospects' shoes and think about

“what would REALLY make me want to sign up for this service?”.

Ready to start your membership website?

Thanks to the internet, opportunities for income generation have been undergoing a radical transformation. One of the most exciting developments has been the rise of the passion economy which empowers individuals to monetise their unique skills, knowledge and interests.

What is the passion economy?

The passion economy is built on the concept that anyone can monetising their distinct talents and passions. Platforms like Patreon, SubHub, Substack and Teachable have popularised this trend by enabling individuals to build direct relationships with their audiences. In the passion economy, value is derived from personal expertise and the ability to connect with a community around a shared interest.

The term "passion economy" was popularised around 2019. The phrase gained attention with the publication of a 2019 article by Li Jin, a former partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. In her article, Jin described the passion economy as a new wave of internet-enabled opportunities that allow individuals to monetise their unique skills, interests and expertise.

Freelance writers, artists and educators have always found ways to monetise their talents through direct sales, teaching, or consulting. However, the rise of the internet and digital platforms in the 2000s has greatly expanded these opportunities, allowing for broader reach and more innovative monetisation models. This has allowed ordinary individuals to pursue online businesses centered on their passion.

Turning your passion into profit with a membership website

One platform that lets you easily monetise your knowledge is a membership website. With a membership website you can create a dedicated space where your audience can access premium content behind a paywall, receive personalised services and engage with you and other members.

The membership model offers several advantages:

• Steady revenue stream: Unlike one-off sales or ad revenue, membership fees provide a recurring income.
• Community building: A membership site fosters a sense of community, leading to higher engagement and loyalty.
• Creative freedom: You can design your content and services to align perfectly with your passion and expertise.
• Direct relationship with your audience: Cut out the middlemen and build direct, meaningful relationships with your supporters.

Steps to building a successful membership website

If you have an expertise or a passion that others find valuable, building a membership website can be an excellent way to share your knowledge and earn an income. Don't be deterred by a niche that seems too competitive or one in which the audience seems too small.

In a competitive niche, your unique perspective can set you apart and attract a dedicated audience. One solution to a competitive niche is to refine the audience you want to target. For example, rather than target everyone doing yoga, try to specialise to meet the needs of a specific audience segment - like children practicing yoga. Read how yoga instructor Cheri found her niche.

Likewise, a small niche audience is often more valuable because their engagement and commitment will be greater. The more specific and unique your niche, the easier it will be to attract a dedicated audience. This is because you'll be able to create content directly relevant to the needs of this audience.

The most important factor in identifying your niche is to choose a topic that aligns with your interests and expertise. This should be a topic that you're passionate about because in order to be successful, you'll need to remain committed to producing new content on a regular basis.

Examples of successful membership website topics

• Lesson plans for home schooling to Sunday school
• Online tutorials for craft tools to astrophotography
• Coaching for yoga to personal manifestation
• Expert advice for stock trading to wine tasting

Once you've chosen your niche, it's time to start building your website

1. Choose the right platform: Choose the platform that will meet the needs of your audience and the content you will create and deliver. Read our article comparing six of the best membership website solutions. We highlight their positives and negatives.
2. Define your value proposition: Clearly articulate what makes your membership site valuable. Your value proposition should address the specific needs of your target audience. This could be exclusive content, personalised coaching, courses or other unique benefits.
3. Create high-quality content: Content is the cornerstone of your membership site. Ensure your content is valuable, engaging and consistent. Regularly posting of relevant content will keep your members coming back and attract new subscribers.
4. Build your community: Foster a sense of community among your members by using forums, live chats and social media groups to encourage interaction. Engaged members are more likely to remain subscribed and become advocates for your site.
5. Market your site: Utilise social media, email marketing and SEO to promote your membership site. Offer free content or trials to attract new members. Collaborate with influencers in your niche to reach a wider audience.
6. Analyze and improve: Regularly review your site's performance using analytics tools. Understand what content resonates most with your audience and continually refine your offerings. Listen to member feedback and be open to making improvements.

Tips to be a successful creator in the passion economy

• Be authentic: Authenticity builds trust and loyalty. Be genuine in your interactions and transparent about your offerings.
• Stay consistent: Regular updates and consistent communication keep your audience engaged and satisfied.
• Offer value: Ensure that your members always feel they are getting more value than what they are paying for.
• Engage personally: Personal interactions, such as live Q&A sessions or personalized content, can significantly enhance member satisfaction.

Conclusion

The passion economy offers a unique opportunity to turn your knowledge and passions into a sustainable income. By building a membership website, you can share your expertise with a dedicated audience, create meaningful connections and enjoy the freedom of doing what you love. Start today and watch your passion transform into a thriving community and a rewarding business.

In a time where free content saturates the digital landscape, the art of selling website content demands a strategic approach. These tactics capitalize on twelve unique selling propositions that can elevate the value of your website content.

This is the number one lesson that continually rises to the top of the list. Go niche!

If you want to sell your content online, you must target a niche audience with information that they would struggle to find for free anywhere else on the web.

By honing in on a specific niche, you can tailor your content to address the unique needs of a defined audience.

The more unique and exclusive your information the greater chance you will have of selling it via a subscription or membership website. Research your market well and create a content plan that provides your audience with content they can’t find elsewhere. Think about research, interviews, case studies, video tutorials and skill building courses.

The membership websites that do best are run by people who are passionate about their (niche!) subject. It is this passion and knowledge that should be used to convince your prospects to join.

People buy people. They want to know what you know so they can decide if you can provide what they are looking for. You must concentrate on conveying you expertise, not giving the impression you are only running the site to make money.

The best way to become perceived as an authority is to participate in the community and discussions about your subject on other websites. The more places you are seen giving valuable advice, the more credible you will become in the eyes of your prospects. Research the most active forums and blogs for your sector and try to contribute to all of them at least once a week.

The only way that you can convey your knowledge and expertise on your website is to give some of your best content away for free. Free content can help establish your website as an authoritative source within your niche. As users engage with your free content and find it valuable, they are more likely to perceive the premium content behind the membership paywall as even more valuable, encouraging conversions.

So few websites are well designed, a professional looking site is a real competitive advantage. If prospects see a professional looking website they are much more likely to believe the site is being run by professionals who will provide high quality content. A great looking site has a well designed logo, simple navigation, relevant colours, lots of white space and a layout that makes it easy to use.

Free membership website giveaways play a crucial role in growing your audience and establishing your platform as a trusted source within your niche. Sign-up gifts could include an ebook, premium reports, video course, templates and resources. Make sure you make the value of these benefits clear.

Free trials are a proven way to increase the number of subscribers. However they are only effective if you get the credit card details BEFORE the trial starts. A trial should be provided on the basis that billing will automatically start at the end of the trial period unless the prospect cancels before then. Also you should offer a 100% money back guarantee. This greatly lowers the perceived risk of signing up.

Many prospects are nervous about signing up to subscriptions online. To reassure themselves that there are real people behind a website they often email questions. You MUST provide quick and accurate response to these queries or you will lose potential subscribers. I emailed ten subscription websites last week and seven days later I’m still waiting for four replies!

Your website statistics are your most powerful ally in understanding your prospects and increasing conversion rates. Study them carefully and regularly. Some examples of what you should look for include:

• Via what page do prospects who sign up for the service enter your site?
• What search term do the highest converting prospects use to find your website?

Website owners rarely pay much attention to choosing a payment processor. However this is an important decision. Renewal payment failures are a real waste of profit. Make sure you select a payment processor who specialises in doing recurring billing.

12. Create a sense of community

• Pick a niche topic which you are passionate about and create unique content.

• Build authority through your expertise by providing free content and participating in the broader online community covering your subject.

• Make sure your website looks professional and is easy to use. Pay particular attention to making the sign up process simple.
• Look after your members by answering their questions and making them feel part of a special and exclusive community.

Those are the questions many people ask when setting out to create a membership website, along with a need to understand the many differences between unmanaged standalone software and a managed service. The differences are extremely important and as such, it is worth spending a little time understanding what they are before choosing the right solution for building your membership website.

Membership Software

Membership software, in its unmanaged form, usually comes as a paid-for web download, which is usually installed as either a plugin for a CMS e.g. WordPress, Joomla or Drupal, or as a full solution in its own right which you would install on your server.

You will need to choose the CMS platform to use and select a reputable web host, as well as take responsibility for maintenance, backup, security and upgrades to the membership software you select.

The development of the membership software is effectively frozen in time when you make the purchase. This is fine until you need to upgrade. Usually, the software company will charge additional money for upgrades and leave you to implement the changes, so that they are not responsible for any problems, system conflicts or lost data.

If you have reasonable technical skills this process is usually not a problem. However, if you have no or limited technical skills you should not tackle upgrades yourself. This does mean however paying for a developer to upgrade the software for you.

The big advantage of buying your own membership software is that you ‘own’ a full working copy of the software, so if anything happens to the company that created it, for example, they go bankrupt, your site will continue to run. In the medium term, you would still have to look for an alternative solution because there would be no one to provide upgrades or support.

For more details about membership software please read The Membership Software Guide.

Managed Membership Software

The alternative to using unmanaged membership software is to use a fully managed membership software service. This is where a company undertakes to provide its customers with a fully operational web-based membership service, using hosted, managed and supported membership software, ready for the publisher to use.

Many people use managed services without even realizing they are doing it. For example, services such as Hotmail, Gmail, eBay, and iTunes are all managed services.

When you sign up for a managed membership site service you are usually given a user id and a password. You can log in through a normal web browser and immediately start building and managing your membership website. There are no downloads and no installation or upgrade issues.

The big advantage with a managed service is that the company providing it takes care of all the boring (but vital!) technical issues such as hosting, security, design integration, payment processing integration, bandwidth provision, daily monitoring, and upgrades.

For non-technical people, this is a dream come true! When you use eBay, you don’t want to worry about what version of the software they are using!

It leaves the publisher (you) to focus on creating content and looking after their customers.

The downside is if the company providing the service runs into trouble, you could lose your website.

Therefore you must research and choose an established and reputable company, with a large client-base, such as the SubHub Membership Platform.

How do prices compare between Unmanaged membership software and a Managed membership Service?

This question is a bit like how long is a piece of string. However, in general membership software tends to be an expensive upfront cost and then requires irregular lump sum payments over the life of the software, to pay for upgrades and support.

Managed membership software services tend to be less of upfront investment and then require fixed monthly management fees to pay for the hosting, upgrades, maintenance, etc. On a like-for-like basis, there may be little difference in the costs, but there is a big difference in the amount of work that you will be required to undertake! Also for new businesses, a managed service enables you to spread the payment out over the year, whereas membership software is fully paid for upfront when cash is tight.

In Summary

Highly technical people may feel more comfortable with owning a membership software license and being in control of the administration and maintenance of their membership website. They may prefer buying an unmanaged membership website software package.

Non-technical people should go for the managed membership site service, so that they can leave the technical and maintenance issues in the hands of the experts.

All-in-one membership website builders have emerged as transformative tools that simplify the process of creating, managing and earning an income from your knowledge. They empower individuals by letting them establish their online presence quickly, efficiently and affordably.

These comprehensive platforms offer an array of features and functionalities under a single roof, eliminating the need for coding or the use of multiple tools.

With all-in-one website builders, you can effortlessly design, customize and publish your website. These platforms typically include user-friendly drag-and-drop editors, templates and a variety of built-in functionality so all aspects of your business are in one place.

If you're ready to start a membership website then this article will provide guidance and examples for the top website builders and their best use cases.

What basic features should your builder have

• User registration and login: the ability for users to easily create accounts and log in securely.
• Content restriction: you should have the ability to restrict access to specific content to incentivise memberships and provide value to subscribers.
• Membership levels: this feature is crucial to creating distinctive member tiers and effectively monetizing your audience.
• Responsive design: ensure the platform is accessible and functional on various devices and screen sizes.
• Integrated payment processor: your builder should be able to securely process payments using gateways like Stripe and PayPal.
• Automated workflows: time saving functionality that streamlines administrative processes by sending welcome and renewal emails.
• Analytics: data tracking and reporting tools are essential to making informed decisions about your website’s performance.
• Customer support: access to reliable and responsive customer support for troubleshooting and assistance.

How to select the right all-in-one website builder

When selecting which website builder to choose, start by considering your specific use case, content, goals and audience needs.

By defining the scope and purpose of your membership site, you’ll be able to determine what functionality you’ll need and which platform has the capabilities to deliver it.

Most membership website builders are designed with specific use cases in mind and their features and functionalities reflect this specialization.

For instance, platforms like MemberPress and Wild Apricot are focused on providing solutions for online communities or associations with tools for managing membership.

While education-focused builders like Thinkific and Teachable cater to instructors, offering features tailored for online course creation and management.

The key is to identify your specific needs and objectives, then choose a builder that aligns with your intended purpose. You should also evaluate factors such as pricing, scalability, security, and reliable customer support.

Top 5 membership website builders and their best use cases

Circle is a platform for building, managing and monetising your online community. It's easy to use with a clean and intuitive interface and responsive support.

This platform is particularly useful for those seeking to foster engagement, discussions and collaboration around a shared interest, topic or brand. The cornerstone of the platform is its community facing features.

Features include:

• Community building: tools for creating and customising your online community with categories, topics, or channels.
• Member profiles: so users build a sense of identity within the platform.
• Discussions and posts: initiate and participate in discussions, ask questions, share knowledge, and post content.
• Notifications: features to keep members informed about new posts, replies, and updates.

The platform also includes online courses, live streaming, automation workflows, metrics and more.

Standout feature: is its interactive community space that provides chat rooms, private messaging, event spaces, live streams and more. An alternative to using a private Facebook group.

Use case: best suited for individuals and brands looking to build, manage and monetize their online communities.

Best for: established community centered creators.

Starting at: $49/mo with 4% transaction fee and 10GB of storage.

Kajabi is a premium priced, all-in-one website builder designed for creating and selling online courses, memberships and digital products.

Whether you're a subject matter expert, coach, or organization wanting to provide structured learning experiences, Kajabi offers a comprehensive solution with many built-in tools.

Kajabi provides tools for creating and hosting courses, managing members, marketing your content and processing payments, all within a single platform. It's a versatile choice for those seeking to deliver educational content, whether it's in the form of video courses, e-books, webinars or other digital products.

Your website is built using an editor that allows you to select and assemble content blocks from a menu.

Kajabi has a user-friendly interface but, as with most all-in-one platforms, there is limited customisation that can be done to your website's design.

Features include:

• Course creation: robust system for creating, hosting, and selling online courses which include videos, documents, quizzes, and more.
• Website builder: powerful website builder lets you create a professional looking website.
• Email marketing and automation: built-in email marketing tool lets you to send newsletters, automate email sequences and segment your email list.

Standout feature: is its built-in email marketing editor to create custom email campaigns.

Use case: best suited for coaches and creators looking to monetize their knowledge through online courses.

Best for: established coaches and creators as it is a premium priced option.

Starting at: $149/mo for 3 products, 1000 customers, unlimited landing pages.

SubHub is an all-in-one website builder that specialises in membership and turning all forms of content into income.

It's strength lies in its flexibility, making it a suitable choice for a wide range of membership use cases.

SubHub provides the necessary tools for managing subscribers, selling online courses, delivering content, processing payments and building an online community around your niche or expertise.

Its built-in store adds a significant layer of e-commerce functionality to your membership website. It's particularly useful for those who want to sell additional products beyond just membership subscriptions.

Features includes:

• Robust membership features: unlimited member levels, recurring subscriptions, content segmentation, Stripe & PayPal integration.
• Content monetization: sell membership, courses, digital downloads and store products all-in-one place.
• Committed support: a dedicated 5-star support team that always goes above and beyond client expectations.

Standout feature: multiple tools to monetize your content with memberships, courses, digital downloads and pay-per-view products.

Use case: best suited for individuals and businesses looking to monetize their content through selling memberships and stand alone products.

Best for: knowledge experts, coaches and creators with content rich websites.

Starting at: $47/mo, 500 members, unlimited products and pages.

Vonza is a platform tailored to the needs of course creators, coaches, and digital entrepreneurs. With an array of tools and features, Vonza simplifies the journey of transforming your knowledge and expertise into a thriving online business. It's all-in-one platform provides a comprehensive set of tools to create and deliver online course content.

While Vonza has an array of functionality, its website builder has limited design flexibility compared to other platforms. So its websites can have a generic appearance.

Features include:

• Course creation: easily create and host online courses which include video, quizzes, assignments and progress tracking.
• E-commerce: sell physical and digital products, memberships and courses.
• Email marketing: integrated email marketing tools and lead nurture.

Standout feature: is its powerful online form builder to create online surveys and quizzes.

Use case: best for course creation.

Best for: new coaches and creators.

Starting at: at $99/mo for 5 courses and 10 products and Stripe integration.

Kartra is an all-in-one platform with built-in, comprehensive marketing tools. Whether you're looking to build a website, manage email campaigns, sell products or create marketing funnels, Kartra gives you the ability to centralise all those functions in one place.

Many membership websites use social media to drive traffic. However, if you want to create targeted campaigns then Kartra's integrated marketing suite of tools lets you build and manage lead generation pipelines with opt-in forms and landing pages.

While Kartra's purpose is to simplify e-commerce, the platform is so comprehensive that the learning curve is long and setting up workflows can be complex. So you need to be prepared to commit time to learning the system.

Users also report that the website page builder has design limitations and can be slow to load.

Features include:

• Marketing automation: to create and manage campaigns, set up email sequences, follow-ups and segment your audience to deliver personalized content and offers.
• Affiliate management: recruit and manage affiliates to help promote your membership site.

Standout feature: is its automated, sales-driving marketing funnels.

Use case: best for marketing campaign creation and selling products.

Best for: product marketers.

Starting at: at $119/mo for up to 2,500 contacts, 20 products and 100 pages.

In summary

All-in-one membership website builders cater to a wide range of use cases, from education to content subscriptions and community building. The best choice for you depends on your specific goals and requirements, so it's essential to consider the features and integrations that align with your website's purpose.

Niche content membership websites have become an increasingly popular means for individuals with specialist knowledge to offer exclusive content, build a community and generate revenue. However, despite the potential for success, many membership websites fail to achieve their goals.

Before launching your membership website, it's crucial to understand the typical reasons that lead to failure. By identifying these stumbling blocks, you can take proactive steps to avoid them and increase your chances of building a successful online business.

In this article, we identify into the top ten reasons why membership websites often falter. We examine each failure point, and present you with knowledge and strategies to overcome them and position your membership website for long-term success.

1. Lack of clear value proposition

What do members get out of joining your site? If you can't answer this question clearly and concisely, then you're going to have a hard time convincing a visitor to become a member.

Without communicating a compelling and distinct value proposition, your membership website will struggle to attract and retain a loyal user base. Here's why a clear value proposition is crucial for a successful membership website:

• Differentiation: A clear value proposition sets your membership website apart from the competition by highlighting its unique benefits and value.
• Member Motivation: A well-defined value proposition addresses the needs, desires and pain points of your target audience. It demonstrates how your platform can provide solutions.
• Clear Communication: Your value proposition should be concise and easily understandable ensuring that potential members quickly grasp the essence of your membership website.
• Conversion Optimisation: Value propositions that are well crafted and persuasive can significantly impact conversion rates by effectively persuading visitors to become paying members.

Tip: You can strengthen your value proposition by defining your customer persona. Through understanding your customer persona, you're able to identify and address their pain points in your messaging. This lets you position your membership website as a solution provider and can enhance its perceived value.

2. Poor quality content

High quality content is the lifeblood of any membership website. It's what keeps members engaged and coming back. Regularly updated and relevant content creates a sense of anticipation, value and exclusivity. It increases conversions. When people find your content to be valuable, they are more likely to take action, such as signing up for your newsletter or purchasing a product.

By delivering content that addresses member pain points, educates or provides insights, you reinforce your value proposition and build trust.

Compelling content helps differentiate your membership website from its competitors. By offering niche content, you can carve out a unique position in the market. This differentiation enhances the perceived value of your website and gives members a reason to choose and stay with your platform.

Quality content also helps to drive traffic to your website. When people find your content to be informative and helpful, they're more likely to share it on social media. Other websites will reference it and these backlinks will improve your search ranking because Google then sees your site as a trusted authority on your subject.

Tip: By creating content that targets relevant keywords, you increase the visibility of your website in search engine results. This can attract new members who discover your content through organic search, expanding your potential audience.

3. No free content

The natural tendency of membership website owners is to hide all of their content behind a paywall. This is a mistake.

Every membership website should make a percentage of its content free. Providing free, regularly updated content serves several purposes:

• It drives organic search traffic and shares.
• It builds trust with visitors by sharing valuable content for free.
• It enables you to establish authority and credibility on your topic.
• It gives visitors a reason to return or sign up for a newsletter.

Offering free content is a powerful marketing tool. It demonstrates the value and credibility a membership to your website provides. It's a powerful tool to attract, engage, and convert visitors into paying members.

4. Bad user experience

Design is important.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. In fact, statistics report, you have less than 6 seconds to make a positive impression that convinces a visitor to scroll. A membership website that is difficult to navigate, has slow loading pages or lacks intuitive features can quickly turn off users. Frustrating user experiences can result in high bounce rates and low member retention.

There are many membership platforms to choose from. Do your research and find one that fits your needs and has excellent customer support.

5. Complicated membership options

Complicated membership plans and pricing tiers can introduce unnecessary friction in the sign-up process. This friction delays a visitor's decision to subscribe.

Simple membership plans play a significant role in the success of a membership website. They eliminate confusion and enable potential members to make quick and informed decisions.

When presented with a limited number of well-defined membership options, users can easily understand the benefits, features and pricing associated with each plan. This transparency reduces decision fatigue, fosters trust and promotes a positive user experience that increases conversion.

Tip: Ideally, you should offer no more than three plan tiers. Each plan should offer a distinct value proposition. The benefits of each plan should be clearly listed to differentiate the levels of content access and features. When a user can quickly grasp the value proposition and pricing structure, they are more likely to sign-up.

6. Ineffective Marketing and Promotion

Without proper marketing and promotion, even the most exceptional membership websites will struggle to attract an audience.

However, you don't need a big budget to effectively promote your website just social media savvy. Before launching your website, establish yourself on the social media platform where your target audience is most active. Build an audience by regularly posting and actively engaging with your followers. Use the channel to build trust, present yourself as an authority and drive traffic to your website.

7. Lost prospects

People rarely find a website and immediately reach for their credit card. You may have to convince them over time. The problem is over 90% of visitors, even if they like what they read, will never return and will become lost prospects.

In order not to lose these potential members, your website’s number one goal should be to get a visitor’s email address. Once you have their email, you can begin to build a relationship through ongoing communication like a newsletter or special offers.

Tip: To capture a visitor's email, implement an opt-in strategy using a compelling lead magnet. In exchange for their email, offer a piece of valuable content. Your incentive could be an ebook, discount, checklist or free online course. The lead magnet should align with the interests or address the pain points of your target audience.

Place the opt-in form strategically on your website, as a pop-up or banner and clearly communicate the benefits of subscribing. Keep it simple. Ask for only essential information like a name and email address and assure them their email will not be shared with third parties.

8. No sense of community

A strong and engaged member community promotes connection, engagement and collaboration. This leads to increased satisfaction, retention and advocacy. Active members are more likely to renew their memberships, reducing churn and sustaining long-term success.

Community can be nurtured through comments, forum discussions, live webinars and Zoom classes.

Active members are also ambassadors for your website. They can drive traffic and conversions through shared posts, testimonials and reviews.

9. Limited to a single revenue stream

While membership subscriptions will form your core revenue source, additional streams allow you to broaden your customer appeal and maximise your earning potential.

Some visitors may not be ready to commit to a membership, but will be interested in purchasing access to an individual course or specific piece of content. By diversifying your offerings, you can cater to different customer preferences and generate revenue from those who aren't interested in membership. You'll also capture their email for future marketing efforts.

Creating additional revenue streams isn't difficult. There are many ways you can repurpose and sell your existing content using different delivery methods. Blog posts can be offered as pay-per-view products and paid downloads. Your video tutorials can be adapted into courses. Access to events and webinars can be sold.

10. No social proof

Websites without social proof are at a disadvantage as they lack the validation of users.

Social proof should always play a prominent role on your website as it establishes trust, credibility, and legitimacy. It leverages the influence of existing satisfied members to attract and convince new members to join.

Sharing member testimonials and positive experiences provides potential members with a sense of reassurance and confidence in their decision to join.

Social proof can take various forms, including testimonials, reviews, case studies, user-generated content or social media engagement.

Tip: Make a concerted effort to get member reviews posted on a trusted review site. Open a Google My Business page and start collecting reviews.

Conclusion

Now that you know some of the factors that contribute to a website's failure, you can use this knowledge to build and grow a successful membership website.

D.N. Leo is an Australian novelist who writes supernatural fiction. She uses her membership website, DN LEO, to connect with and update her readers, market her audio and e-book collections and provide access to newly published, serialized stories.

Her goal is to immerse her audience in her unique world creation while growing her fan base one chapter at a time.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I'm a novelist with more than 40 novels published in the contemporary fantasy genre under D.N. LEO. With a background in film and television, I view my fiction business more as a show business than a literary business. I'd like my audience to enjoy the stories in whatever ways they want.

Why did you decide to build a membership website?

I offer my audience a 'world' where stories and characters come to life. My audience is familiar with my Multiverse Collection, and I want to create a multiverse community where they can enjoy episodic stories - like Netflix without pictures - and engage with like-minded audiences. The membership site is designed for that purpose.

Why did you choose the SubHub platform? What are the platform features most important to you?

SubHub is a robust and solid platform. Your support service is the best.

How did you get your first members?

I have an emailing list of followers.

What has been the most effective way to drive traffic to your website?

Emailing list and engaging content suitable for community.

Do you use social media to get members for your website? What platform have you found to be the most effective?

I use Facebook to grow my audience.

How have you grown your email list and how often do you send out email campaigns?

I use Facebook advertising. I send email once a week. In addition to SubHub membership site, I have my own website, a designated community app, and a shop.

What kind of content is most popular on your website? And how often do you post new content?

E-book format is the most popular format of my novels. I am trying to promote the membership site using serialized fiction. It's a work-in-progress.

What advice do you have for anyone launching a membership website?

Exclusive content and a sense of community is important for my fiction business.

How has the SubHub platform helped you to reach your goals?

The lifetime membership plan is one of the most popular plans I've offered. People love it because it increases accessibility to the stories in my world. Without SubHub and the ability to release serialized content, it would be almost impossible for me to grow my fan base by slowly introducing them to my fictional world. It's not about trying to sell a book. It's about inviting people to visit the 'happy world' I created and then making them fall in love with it, one chapter at a time.

Final thoughts

A membership website is the perfect vehicle for authors to establish a connection with their readers and promote their fiction. It's a base for your fans to peruse and purchase your published and online books, learn about your latest events and read reviews. So don't miss out on an opportunity to increase the visibility of your novels and professional reputation with a website dedicated to the promotion of your written work.