© 2008 by Edmund Loh
This one is sure to enter my Top 10 Internet Businesses “Hall of Fame”. In fact, building membership sites ranks my no. 1 favorite Internet Business Model. Over the past couple of years alone, more and more people are starting and operating membership sites, though this model had existed during the early days of the Internet.
If you like the idea of residual income, being in control and building your brand, you will do well to consider starting and building membership sites too.
WHAT IS IT IN A NUTSHELL?
In layman terms, a membership site is just like any other web pages you see on a website, except that these areas of the website are secured and password-protected. This directly implies that the contents are not open widely to the public, and requires either an act of registering or signing up as a paid member.
The latest example of popular membership sites comes in the form of Social Networking websites like FaceBook.com, MySpace.com, Friendster.com, and more.
You don’t have to limit starting a membership site in web 2.0 area though. You can also build a free or paid membership site in niches on demand like Health & Fitness, Investment, Trading, Internet Marketing, Cookery… you name it.
WHY IT ROCKS
In my personal opinion, a membership site is what I regard as a strong and solid Internet Business Model. For one, the profit points are flexible and many:
1. Charge for admission on a one-time or recurring fee.
2. Build a solid mailing list.
3. Place, trade or sell advertisements in your member’s area.
4. Build your credibility online and brand yourself as an expert.
5. Endorse new products or third party recommendations to your members.
6. Sell the business away as an exit strategy.
WHY IT DOESN’T
Unfortunately, running a membership site is also one of the most challenging Internet Business models. I would be lying if I said running a membership site is easy, though not necessarily extremely difficult.
Unless you have a good support team, operating your membership site can be time consuming and finding new content can quickly turn into a chore.
IS THIS FOR YOU?
If you don’t mind a bit of hard work in the initial stages – or better still, have a plan to outsource the maintenance to other people during operations – you can enjoy residual income from your own membership site.
Hope this helps!
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