Compared to being an affiliate marketer, developing a SaaS company strategy is a significant undertaking. However, as we’ve seen, it has its own set of benefits. One of the most significant benefits is that it enables you to set up recurring income and earn far more money from a single visitor. Rather than a one-time payment for a download, you will receive a recurring payment from the same person over a period of months, if not years.
And, as it turns out, there’s a much quicker way to do it: simply create a membership site! This is a website or blog that charges a monthly membership fee, as the name implies. This usually works by giving away some stuff for free, then charging for additional knowledge and possibly discussion/community.
LongeCity is one such example (www.longecity.org). This is a website dedicated to complementing solutions that can help you live longer and function better in the brain. While you can read much of the forum for free, you’ll need to upgrade to a premium member to join in the discussions.
Lynda.com is another excellent example (www.lynda.com). This site focuses on teaching a range of skills; however, because it is a premium site, you must be a member to view the articles. This is how many newspapers with websites work, partially to discourage people from paying for newspapers when they can obtain the same content for free online!
Creating a Members-Only Website
The good news is that setting up a membership site isn’t difficult. Simply use WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org) to create a website or blog as usual, and then install a plugin to handle the recurring fee for you. ‘MemberMouse’ (http://membermouse.com/) is one instance.
When people are used to accessing things for free on the internet, convincing them to subscribe to your blog or website can be tough. To make it valuable, you’ll have to give them something they can’t get somewhere else or something more useful than what they’re used to getting for free.
People appreciate communicating with others who are interested in their issue and feeling like they are part of a “exclusive” membership club, thus building a large community is a fantastic method to do this. It’s almost as though you belong to a hidden society.
This is something that both of the situations we looked at excel at. Longecity.com is an example of a community debating potentially life-changing topics (such as IQ enhancement and life extension) and knowledge that isn’t widely available. This fits in with the “underground website” mentality, and it adds to the appeal of membership.
On the other side, Lynda.com offers skills and training that can help someone earn more money. As a result, they are getting a lot of bang for their buck and may be able to consider it an investment.
When building a membership site, your goal should be to create something fascinating, exclusive, and one-of-a-kind that people will pay to be a part of. In many circumstances, this will entail providing free content to demonstrate the product’s value.
See you in the next post.
Frederick Empaga
Founder, digitalecommerce365.com
Partner, myonlinestartup.com
PS.
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