Online businesses are the trend nowadays. Don’t you come across the phrase “passive income” regularly? Are you wondering in your mind what is all this about? Is it really possible to just learn and start? What if I told you there is an online business that has both passive and recurring income- a most ideal model for earning?

Are you curious already? Well, membership websites are what I am talking about. So, what is membership site? Tag along and you’ll find out.

My review of membership sites as a tool to make money online will take you through all there is to know about what is a membership site and how to make money with a membership site. After this article, you will leave not only well informed but ready to take action!

So, without further ado, let’s dive right in!

Who am I?

My name is Aparna. I am a dreamer who is passionate about every aspect of her life. Variety, adventure, and new things interest me and are what keep me going. Furthermore, I believe that you have to “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.

I avoid the nay-sayers, and the overtly careful. I prefer to forget the critics and believe that we should learn to cast aside our doubts and inhibitions. We are indeed the masters of our own destiny!

This life is our only chance. No one is getting out of here alive. It’s time to live our dreams, to take risks and to give it all we can. We only live once.

Today, I want to tell you about a really simple way to start making money online. Yes, it’s by creating a membership site.

I have always believed in conveying the absolute truth, and so my articles do just that. You will get both the good & the bad. Basically everything related to what is membership site about and whether it is really worth going in that direction when it comes to making money online.

Let us see how this whole “membership site” thing works now, shall we?

What Is My Aim?

My aim is to find you the best possible ways to make money online. I obviously understand that it has to match your interests.

While I shall be telling you about membership sites here, you should know that there are literally a thousand ways to get rich online. You have to choose one or two methods and stick to them. Consistency is what is important

The money comes, that’s for sure, but only after some amount of time and effort has been put in.

So do go through my article on how to make money with a membership site.

If you wish to check out the many common and uncommon ways of making money online, please go through my list below, and click on whatever suits your fancy. Take a look at my ratings for all these methods too.

Let’s make some money together!

Ideas For Making Money On The Internet	My Rating
Affiliate Marketing with Wealthy Affiliate	9.9/10
Affiliate Marketing with Authority Hacker (TASS)	9.5/10
Making Money on YouTube	9.5/10
Affiliate Marketing with Income School 24	9.3/10
Affiliate Marketing with RA Wealth Partners	8.7/10
Affiliate Marketing with 2020 Super Bundle	8.6/10
Sell a Service on Fiverr	8.5/10
Affiliate Marketing with Partnership To Success	8.4/10
Affiliate Training with Rich Dad Summit	8.2/10
Create a Membership Site	8.2/10
Making Money with the Amazon Associates Program	8.1/10
Affiliate Marketing with 12 Minute Affiliate System	8.1/10
Create a Niche Website	8.0/10
Affiliate Marketing with Legendary Marketer	8.0/10
Write and Publish an eBook	7.9/10
Affiliate Marketing with $1K A Day Fast Track	7.8/10
Affiliate Marketing with Click Wealth System	7.5/10
Making a Coupon Website	7.0/10
Affiliate Marketing with Super Affiliate System	6.0/10
Selling a Course on Udemy	5.0/10

Membership sites are a ludicrously simple way to make money online.

As soon as you start getting people to join your site, you’ll start generating income. The important thing is that you play the long game and strive to provide value to your members.

 GET THE WIN-WIN ADVANTAGE

As the owner of this website, I have tracked down special deals for some products and services mentioned herein. When you use the links on this page to make a purchase, I may also get a small commission, and you will definitely get a great bargain. For example, as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. This commission is paid by the product company and has absolutely nothing to do with the price you are being charged. The discount you get is due to my efforts to trace out the best available benefits for you. It’s a win-win situation all around. Full Affiliate Disclaimer.

A Quick Summary

Name of Program	Create a Membership Site
Website	Build your membership website here
What Is It?	Provide access to specific content on your website behind a member login page.
Price	Domain Fees of around $100 WordPress Charges of $4/8/35/48 a month depending on your plan
Owners	You
Located	Your place
Rating	8.2/10
Verdict	Membership sites hold the potential to generate you an income stream almost immediately so it is important that you keep delivering and be ready for the long and consistent journey
Review Time	200+ hours

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What is Membership Site About: Breaking Down Membership Sites

A membership site is a gated part of an online business where only members who subscribe can access the content placed behind the gates. Your membership site can be paid, free, or a mix of both. For example, let’s say you were to sell access to courses and informative material. You’d place that on a membership site. If someone wanted access to your courses and posts, they’d have to become a paying subscriber.

The formula is easy: you have the knowledge your audience wants, and they’re willing to pay for it. You can have a portion of your website that’s available to everyone, to draw paying customers in. Then, when they’re convinced of your content’s value, they’ll be more willing to become paying subscribers in exchange for receiving access to exclusive content.

Before I get into more details of what is membership site about and how to make money with it, it is important that I tell you about the importance of research in this field. I suggest you to at least look at a few examples of such websites (you can visit: Pacific Group Golf and Old Dominion Boat Club, they will give you a good idea of what we are working with here).

How to Build Membership Website?

Now that I’m done talking about what is membership site about, this is the part where I make the complex step of building and getting started with a membership site as easy as ABC.

What Type of Membership Site Should You Opt For?

Membership sites work best if they speak to a highly-targeted audience. For example, a membership site for marketers would encompass a lot of topics. You couldn’t personalize for anyone. But a membership site for content marketers would get you very far, as that’s a particular niche. Additionally, being a specialist at something will help you increase your influence and authority.

Also your skills matter too; you need to have required skills for creating membership site content for your target niche.

Also look at the competition in your market given your idea. Little competition means maybe your idea is not going to be very profitable, high competition means high risk. Look at your competitors and answer the question: are there a lot of courses/workshops on this niche? Is this niche constantly changing and developing or is more stagnant? Does the target audience need regular updates on the topic, and if so what are the reasons behind it?

These questions set for the market and competitors in your desired area will give you a strong idea of the competition and profitability of the specific market and niche you are about to enter with your membership website.

The most common types of membership sites are- videos, courses, e-books, podcasts, and how to guides. The important thing to remember is your type of content matches the need of audience: a site about yoga would obviously need videos as content for the users.

You Need to Know This Before You Decide Upon a Platform & Target Audience

Well in this step there are several ways you can go about to attract attention. A common technique used is to give away some of the content for free so that customers are enticed to go ahead for the full purchase. Social media presence and marketing are the most common tools nowadays, virtually used by any business venture so these two are evergreen for use. Mailing list, one the most common techniques, will also work here since the audience is a specific, targeted group.

Paid advertising and collaboration with other entrepreneurs can also prove to be effective. Again, the method you use will be dependent upon the desired reach, budget, available resources, and the competition/need.

While there are website builders like Squarespace and even some dedicated membership or course creation tools, WordPress is the best option for most membership websites. WordPress is free, open-source software that powers over 35% of all the websites on the Internet.

Moreover, with a WordPress membership plugin, you can easily turn your website into a membership site. There are other useful plugins too (such as Elementor and bbPress) but as a rule of thumb, beginners always start with WordPress since it is the most common and easy to use.

A Sneak Peek Inside the World of Membership Sites

You can create a coupon website on WordPress. Here is the step one of the process:

You’ll then be required to pay a plan for using the content management system’s services:

Here is the dashboard of WordPress:

How to Make Money With a Membership Site?

How to Make Membership Website?

Now that you know all about what is membership site, let’s talk dollars. To make Membership Website, you’ll need a WP plugin membership plugin first of all. How to choose the best WordPress membership plugin? Well there are several considerations for this step. Think about the ways in which you can restrict access to content. The main idea behind a membership site is being able to restrict access to some or all of your content, so your plugin choice should allow for this in a flexible manner.

For instance: the Paid Member Subscriptions plugin lets you restrict entire categories or types of content, as well as individual pieces of content. This makes sure that every piece of content has proper access permissions.

Next, consider how you can give access to restricted content. Do you want to have different levels of membership, each of which can see different types of content? Or do you want to give all your members access to everything?

How to Make Money With a Website?

If you want to sell access to your membership content, you’ll also need a plugin that comes with built-in payment support. There are two basic types of payments:

• One-time payments
• Recurring subscriptions (great for recurring revenue)

These are the main considerations, other than that a lot of small choices will also have to be made depending on what type of work and idea you have in mind for your website.

One good way to determine pricing is to determine how much you would like to earn. If you want to make $1,000 per month for your membership sites you can charge:

• $1000 per month and you’ll only need 1 member to hit your goal
• $100 per month and you’ll need 10 members to hit your goal
• $1 per month and you’ll need 1,000 members to hit your goal.

This is an intentionally simple framing but it’s a powerful one because it forces you to have a goal in mind vs. just putting something out there.

It is also important that you research membership site pricing.

• Do a competitive analysis: what are similar sites like yours charging? Is your service higher-end than their or meant to appeal to a wider audience?
• Do surveys: if you already have an email marketing list, send out a survey and ask what people would be willing to pay. If you don’t have a list, you can use free online survey tools to see what your target audience would be willing to pay. Remember, people often say one thing about pricing and actually shell out for a different amount. Still, this survey data is a great bit of directional data for pricing your membership sites.
• Do tests over time: Your membership site will evolve over time and so will the pricing. You can do experiments like a big Black Friday sale or even test a price increase on the most devoted users. Take those leanings into your larger pricing strategy.

Then, lastly, make sure your content is up to date and providing value to your members. Always be working to increase membership and replace members who drop out. Consider having a community aspect to your membership to keep members engaged with you and others in the community since that is what is membership site about.

Check Out These YouTube Videos On What is Membership Site

What is Membership Site: My Final Assessment

What I Think About Membership Sites

Well we are at and end here, what now? You have learned all the necessary details about what is membership site and how to start this business but should you, given the countless other earning options available online? Well I will break down for you this discussion so you can decide easily, per your own preferences.

Well the first no brainer for membership websites is that they involve steady income, the popular idea of passive income, since they are based on membership fee. Running such a site also ensures that in some time you become an authority on that nice, which means that you can also expand your work to blog writing about the topics and other such options are available since you have now a trusted, loyal audience.

Moreover, with increasing membership, momentum increases, and so not only passive but your recurring income will also increase. Thus, this model is one that has constant room for growth and also reaps consistent benefits for the growth. The fact that it is based on mainly access to available resources on membership means that the update in functionality and resources/content does not have to be very rigorous and constant once good quality content and audience is established. Also, automation and fixed framework mean that there is no fixed timing for work.

On the other end, membership websites are no simple tasks. Consistency in terms of trends and updates in your niche are required to stay relevant and profitable. Even after establishing good content, the people who have already consumed it would desire new content and so some sense of regular update for contents becomes necessary.

Membership seems to make things simple but paradoxically it is that which the main part of such websites is. Even with a strong base, stagnant membership growth means that there is threat of decline in the future, membership website owners are continuously wary of recruitment and growth. Also, when starting such a website (related to the discussion about WordPress and plugins) some technical knowledge is needed.

So all in all, should you go with it or not? Will you be able to earn substantial amounts? Well, as you can see from the discussion above, these questions are not that simple, the answers lie in the gray area. For example with membership websites you start to earn immediately due to membership payment but they require technical skills and a lot of effort in initial development and consistency. So while it is a great business venture, make sure you are ready for the long and consistent journey, you can’t be ‘passive’ about such businesses over time.

No matter what you decide upon, alway remember that you might start out making some extra cash on the side – and later, with enough hard work and persistence, make a comfortable living out of it. The important thing is that you keep trying.

“Only in persistence shall you find success.“

That’s a quote by me so please take it with a grain of salt 😋

Membership Site IS For…

• People who like to interact with, guide, and lead a community. 
• It is great for people who have in-depth knowledge of any particular domain.
• It is for people who are able to research new things and constantly generate new and helpful content.
• It is for people who wish to attain financial freedom and spend more time counting their earnings than worrying about it.

Membership Site IS NOT For…

• It’s not for those wanting to get rich quick.
• It’s not for people who have no time.
• It’s not for those who are not willing to put in the work it takes.

Final Verdict About Membership Sites

What is Membership Site? A Hit or Miss?

• Membership Site is most definitely NOT A SCAM.
• Membership Site is great for gaining exposure and money depending on the business model that you choose.
• It is definitely in the TOP FEW ways to learn and earn through internet.

Are There Any Good Alternatives?

Membership Sites can be a good tool for money-making depending upon your situaton and the business model that you choose. However, there is other thing that I’d like to talk about. Have you ever heard of Affiliate Marketing? Why does everyone online seem to be doing affiliate marketing? What is it really about?

Well, let’s take a moment to understand the concept of affiliate marketing, shall we?

What is Affiliate Marketing?

So, lets say that you just got into the online money-making scene and exploring your avenues? Well, let us tell you about the easiest way to make a pay check online and that is affiliate marketing.

You basically get paid to promote the product of others. So, no skills, product, or even a brick and mortar setup is required. You just need your laptop and an internet connection. Could it be easier? Affiliate marketing has given us some millionaires and they call it the best business strategy in today’s online world. Check out the Top 5 of them:

• Neil Patel
• Pat Flynn
• John Chow
• Dan Lok
• Missy Ward

Others like Bob Proctor, and Zig Ziglar, and Russel Brunson, and Dean Holland, and Brian Clark, and Ian Fernando, and Zac Johnson are all internet gurus who worked towards being the greatest today.

Imagine Working Anywhere, Anytime and Making Money While You Sleep! That’s unbeatable, trust me.

And the money is GOOD. It’s not a side hustle we are talking about here. You can bid farewell to worrying about loosing your job. You would probably be spending more time counting your money and thinking of ways to spend it!

If you wish to understand a bit more about Affiliate Marketing, please check out the infographics in the short articles below!

As Always …

As an affiliate marketer, Membership Sites are a good option that can utilize to make money online. If you have come this far in my Membership Site article, please remember that only by taking positive action can you truly know what a program is like. I took the same plunge, a while before you, and I would not have been where I am today, had it not been for some wonderful programs that earn you good money.

Taking action is what counts for making money online. Only that can change your life.

Believe me, internet and social media marketing is a great way to go! It may take time to build up your system because just like any good business, it cannot be built overnight. But when it’s built, the money literally comes in while you sleep at night.

The important thing is that you must join a program that is good, and learn exactly how to start making money online.

I Believe In Action

If you are still unimpressed with the Membership Site idea, I suggest you do not take it up. Part of the deal is that you have to be completely convinced for it to be of value. The reason for that is that it is going to be you who has to implement the system. And if you are not sure, then you may not work on it like it is required.

But there is also this other program that I wish to talk to you about.

Pull Open the Curtains

My top recommended money making system is a program called Wealthy Affiliate. It’s actually my #1 suggested program. According to my research, it is the easiest way to make money online.

Long ago, I took action by investing in and starting with a training course called Wealthy Affiliate. It is the ULTIMATE foundation course for learning affiliate marketing and getting your online business set up. It takes work, but if you work, so does the system. Completely GENUINE and easily the best training you can get online. And did I forget to mention, it is FREE to join, and not even a Credit Card is required.

I always talk about getting into a system that teaches you as well as helps you get set-up with a workable system that can earn you money. Well, that is exactly what Wealthy Affiliate is. It helps you to learn and put into practice what they teach side-by-side. By the time you finish the training course, you also have a website fully-ready to make you money. Now that’s what I call a proper “money-making program”.

Wealthy Affiliate is not really a resource or a tool. It is a platform that trains you to become an affiliate marketer and also helps you side-by-side to set up a full-fledged business, while they take care of all the resources and tools that you need along the way. Find out what is Wealthy Affiliate about, and give it a go for FREE. It is, in fact, the best way to make money online.

Sign Up For Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate is totally FREE. Not even a credit card is required. They give you time to understand the Premium level of the program fully for 7 days, without spending anything. In addition, you get a website free along with hosting, security, SSL, and other benefits. Even after the 7 days free Premium trial is over, you can continue with the free website. Please go to the Wealthy Affiliate login here.

If you wish to upgrade to Premium later, you can do that as it obviously gives better tools & functionality within the platform. Or you can continue to learn and build your website, without paying anything at all.

You can check out my reviews or Signup for Wealthy Affiliate by clicking below:

If you have any contributions to make, or questions to ask, you can put them down in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.

Good luck with your dreams. Remember, the best way to make your dreams come true, is to wake up.

Regards,

FAQs