10 Amazing Killer Reasons to Add a Membership Website Feature
Whether you’re an online creative working solo or an established brand looking to branch out, adding a membership website feature is always a killer way to monetise your content.
But the benefits of creating a membership website go way beyond the obvious advantage of more revenue. Membership sites are all about creating a relationship and providing value for your members. And, the more valuable the advice, resources, and information you offer to your members, the more they’ll find the encouragement and motivation they need to succeed. This, in turn, helps foster a rewarding situation that both you and your loyal supporters will benefit from.
But how, exactly, can a membership feature help you reach your goals? Keep reading to find out the key reasons why you should create a membership website.
1. Increased Revenue
Whether you sell e-books and online courses or make money through affiliate links, ads, and sponsorships, adding a membership site means another revenue source for your business. Diversifying in this way makes it easier to protect yourself from the fears and losses that entrepreneurs often face with greater long-term financial security. A cancelled contract or a seasonal downturn won’t faze you as you’ll already have other irons in the fire.
And, if you’re not sure what content you could offer as part of your membership site, consider what most of your followers look to you for. Membership website ideas can be as diverse as templates and stock photography, creative mentorship groups, adult content, or health and fitness guidance. Find your niche and work with it to create a membership website that brings the supporters flocking in.
2. More Reliable Income
While you might need to invest in a membership website builder, once your members-only site is up and running, it won’t just allow you to generate more revenue, it will allow you to generate recurring revenue.
Your total revenue will increase every time you get a new sign-up as members pay a monthly or yearly fee in exchange for access to your exclusive content. But, even better – memberships are ongoing unless cancelled. This makes membership websites a more predictable, reliable, and consistent source of income. Which is, let’s be honest, every internet entrepreneur’s dream!
3. Greater Industry Authority
These days, consumers have access to a lot of online content. But over time, they find themselves drawn to the websites and online voices who best demonstrate their authority.
When you create a membership website, you’re announcing that you’re a specialist in your niche. Even if you don’t have traditional credentials or official qualifications, you have the knowledge and experience to back up your claims. And you’re using your unique position to create authoritative content that is valuable enough to demand payment.
This payment then affords you the freedom to dedicate more time and resources to creating more content. And this growing body of work builds on your industry authority as you continue to offer more content and more value.
4. Customer Trust and Loyalty
If your followers trust you to deliver accurate and valuable information, they have no reason to look for that same information elsewhere. Each time you have the answers for them, they become more trusting that you’ll have the answers for them in future, and more loyal as a result.
Creating a website with member and user login demands loyalty from your customers. But taking their money in exchange for their subscription gives you the chance to nurture and build on this loyalty. If they’re already invested enough to want to sign-up, you know that continuing to provide for them guarantees that they’ll continue paying for access to your content.
5. A Sense of Community
When you create a membership website you also create a community. Your members sign up because they are already interested in the content you create. But their becoming a member speaks to their interest in also becoming part of the exclusive community that you have created through your content.
Paying to enter makes members feel more connected to you and the other members consuming that same exclusive content. This connection encourages communication between the members themselves, offering you a unique perspective to observe and get to know them. As a result, you’ll find that this sense of community strengthens your customer base and allows you to improve your content by making a direct connection with those consuming it.
6. No Physical Product
Managing an e-commerce site usually means finding somewhere to store your products, paying to ship them out, and maybe even hiring a team to manage sales. And that’s before we get into the potential hassles of late deliveries and missing parcels.
One of the biggest advantages of a membership site is that your product is virtual rather than physical. You can reap all the benefits of supply and demand without ever needing to worry about where you can store your content or what happens if it gets lost in the post.
Of course, you’ll need to work hard to ensure you meet your members’ demands and make sure to keep up with website maintenance for an optimal user experience. But at least you only have to depend on yourself to get new content to your members’ inboxes.
7. More Marketing Opportunities
Creating a website with member and user login requirements gives you access to a captive audience for any new business services. Since members are already interested enough in your content to pay to consume it, they’re the perfect candidates for marketing and retargeting. Members are also in a better position to offer you useful feedback about the kind of new content they most value.
What’s more, the passion and commitment that paying members already show towards your brand and content mean that they’re far more inclined to make further financial investments in your site. As a result, up-selling opportunities such as webinars, one-to-one coaching, and consulting to members will be easier than trying to sell to people consuming your content for free.
8. Unlimited Growth Potential
One of the best reasons to create a membership site is the unlimited capacity for growth. Rapid growth in most other digital businesses would call for increased overheads, inventory, and more staff. But membership sites are easy to scale up to accommodate new members without you having to worry about making any major changes to your current business model.
As long as your website can handle it, there are no limits to the number of new sign-ups. This makes creating a membership website one of the easiest digital enterprises to grow and maintain.
9. Self-Motivating Business Model
When you create a membership website you have to commit to providing your paying members with a continuous supply of quality content. With your audience to hold you accountable, you’ll get the push you need to grow and reach beyond your comfort zone.
No longer can you rest on your existing content and coast along with no effort. To maintain your industry authority and the reliability of your new revenue source, you need to keep making good on the commitment you made to your members.
But, your members’ expectations shouldn’t be seen as a burden. Rather, that their support will inspire and motivate you to create continuous value through your content. And your reward will be an ever-growing loyal community of supporters.
10. Enhanced Value
There’s no denying that there’s a lot of excellent free content out there. But producing free content comes with a lot of restrictions that getting paid can release you from.
Charging for content doesn’t automatically make it more valuable. But getting paid does mean that you can devote more time and effort into making it more valuable. It’ll also be easier to produce more content and keep to a more consistent schedule.
Members are investing in you and you, in turn, invest their contribution back into researching, perfecting, and creating content for them. And their investment shows in the enhanced value of that content. Over time, your content and site will only ever become more valuable, increasing your authority and attracting more members. This kind of cumulative value – in all senses of the word – is what makes membership websites such a unique and attractive business model.
Why Adding a Membership Website Feature Should Be Your Next Move
A membership website is far more than a great business model with amazing earning potential. It can also be your ticket to freedom.
As well as greater creative freedom to expand and explore your niche, you’ll experience the freedom to grow your business without limitation. Combine that with a reliable source of revenue, valuable marketing intel, and a sense of community, and you have just about the perfect setup for creating one of the most rewarding ways to make a living.
So, if you’ve got any membership website ideas up your sleeve, it could be time to get to work!
Looking for more information on how to create a membership website? Interested to learn other key ways to boost your brand’s online presence? Feel free to get in touch with us at Cosmik Carrot today!
