8 Membership Website Ideas (Ways To Make Money Now)

If you have an existing business or ready to start one, you might be wondering how to entice and keep clients.

Membership websites are one of the most engaging and profitable ways to connect with your customers.

Whether you want to offer online classes or a free discussion forum, membership websites provide value for both you and your clients.

However, you may be wondering how you can get started and what you should include on your site.

In this guide, we discuss the best membership website ideas.

Each option allows you to connect further with your clients.

We also discuss the value of membership websites and why you should have one.

So, let’s get started!

What Is a Membership Website?

A membership website contains exclusive content for its subscribing users.

Subscribers either pay or sign up with their personal details to gain access to this content.

Users who don’t login cannot see the content.

There are different kinds of membership websites.

Some entirely cater to their exclusive customers, while many other websites have public and membership content.

They may use their regular content to entice users to sign up for the exclusive parts.

Offering free memberships at first can be an excellent way to build a customer base, especially if your business is new.

Any kind of business can have a membership website, including anything from educational to travel companies.

Why Should You Have a Membership Website?

Membership websites allow you to provide more value for your customers and make more money from your site.

The extra income is a no-brainer. By getting members to subscribe for content, you can gain a higher profit from your site.

This income is passive in the long-term as well.

As soon as you build up your site and core content, future subscribers will simply add to your paycheck.

If you don’t charge for the membership, the subscription still has value.

You are building an ongoing relationship with the client, who will be more likely to recommend your services and products.

Membership websites also provide a lot of value to your clients.

They can gain extra expertise from your exclusive content, workshops, and educational material.

The networking possibilities are also invaluable, especially if you organize events or provide discussion forums.

Best Membership Website Ideas

1. Exclusive Content

Offering exclusive content is one of the best membership website ideas. If your site already has a blog, you should still provide free content.

However, exclusive paid content will entice your readers that want to learn more.

This is a common tactic with many bloggers that use Patreon.

The bloggers publish their regular content free on their website but encourage readers to subscribe for additional articles.

The paid items are usually more personal, controversial, or have extra value.

Rather than using a third-party site like Patreon, you could build a membership area on your own website.

Doing this would allow you to control all of the content and keep all of the profits.

For this approach to work, you will probably need to spend some time building your audience and customer base.

It will be better if you have a niche business that stands apart from the competition.

You should also engage frequently with your users.

If you choose this option, you should also put effort into advertising it alongside your free content.

Clients will not want to pay for what they can get for free, so your paid content needs to add value. It should be accessible and marketed well.

With exclusive content, you can either provide access to all material or release it slowly in a drip-feed method.

The latter option could be beneficial if you want to build anticipation, engage customers over the long-term, or create a content sequence.

Depending on your business and strengths, you could offer any of the following exclusive content:

• Blog posts
• Videos
• Music
• Interviews
• Articles

2. Courses and Classes

Educational content like courses and classes are one of the most innovative membership website ideas.

Depending on your company, you could be teaching anything from ordinary college subjects to SEO or marketing.

For these courses to sell, you need to have the expertise to back up your claims.

For this reason, a membership website like Masterclass is so popular.

The programs have information that theoretically you can find for free on the internet.

However, because experts in the field teach the content, people will happily pay for it.

If you want to offer courses related to your company, it’s essential to consider what you can provide that is unique.

You could survey your current customers or do comprehensive market research to find your company’s niche.

You should teach with a clear goal in mind. Rather than putting together disconnected videos, consider the overall purpose of the course.

Do you want people to learn how to optimize their blog posts for SEO or master a particular cuisine?

Especially in the early stages, you should seek feedback from your clients.

This feedback allows you to customize and edit your content to increase its value.

If you offer different levels of progression, you can encourage existing clients to keep learning.

If you want to build upon this part of your website even more, you could consider offering affiliate links to your customers.

Affiliate marketing incentivizes your clients to promote the products to potential clients.

Because they make a commission, they recommend the content to others.

3. Discussion Forums

Active discussion forums offer limitless value to your clients.

If the other customers are experts in their field, the discussions can provide valuable advice, feedback, and guidance.

Because only paying members can access the forums, it creates a sense of exclusivity and trust.

Members can gain information that isn’t freely available on the internet and further their own career or personal goals.

If you decide to offer discussion forums, you should try to strike a balance between your contributions and the expertise of users.

You might like to start threads on exciting topics or allow members to create their own.

In either case, you should be reading the content regularly and contributing where appropriate.

By doing so, you ensure that your company and brand continues to add value to the forums.

You should also have clear forum rules and moderate content to set standards.

It’s vital that users understand limits and that the discussions are safe and comfortable for your clients.

You might like to offer both free and paid forums.

The open forums could have limited content, enticing interested users to pay for the more valuable discussions.

An example of a website that does this well is Simple Fitness Habit.

Their website focuses on the popular field of fitness and healthy living.

While many websites target these, Simple Fitness Habit takes it a step further.

Their paid forums have user discussions about the techniques they use to get fitter and live healthier lives.

If you have a similar website where users can support each other, adding a paywall protects their privacy and makes it profitable for you.

4. Member Chat

Paying clients to choose your product because they value you and your content.

They likely consider you an expert in your field and value your opinion and input.

Providing new ways for members to communicate with you can be extremely valuable.

If your clients are trying to build their skills or their business, they could appreciate some one-on-one discussion with you and other experts.

There are various ways that you can approach this discussion:

• Instant messaging
• Voice calls
• Video calls

It won’t be possible to provide this service all of the time, but you can structure your schedule.

If you create a time every week where users can contact and talk to you, this can help you and them.

The personal touch is sure to keep your clients subscribed and invested in your business.

If you offer multiple tiers of membership, one-on-one chats or calls could be part of a higher-paying subscription.

This structure can motivate serious customers to pay more for your specific expertise.

Allowing members to chat with each other also fosters networking and communication.

If your users are students or professionals in a particular field, they can build valuable relationships through the chat feature.

You can enable your site to support third party software like Skype or Zoom.

Alternatively, you can design a chat inside your website that is exclusive to your brand.

Whichever you choose, make sure you have reliable tech support for any issues.

5. Webinars

If you don’t have the capacity for one-on-one discussions with your clients, webinars can be a great way to provide similar value.

Especially with so many people living in different places, webinars allow you to achieve the same thing as a conference or in-person seminar.

However, you can conduct it entirely remotely, allowing you to reach a broader range of clients.

Whether you’re teaching users how to start a blog or dominate the stock market, holding an online conference can improve engagement and networking with your clients.

To host a successful webinar, you should have a balanced mix of content and discussion.

If you want to expand your reach, you can invite other experts in the field to present as part of the webinar.

Let your users know the time and topic well ahead of time.

By doing so, they can set aside the time in their calendar and also prepare questions.

Make sure to include questions and answers within the seminar and encourage user participation.

Whether you choose to charge for webinars is up to you.

You could offer some free to all users to generate interest and interactivity.

You could have exclusive paid seminars or encourage users to subscribe to a particular package to gain access.

One website that does online seminars well is The Nomadic Network.

The company is an offshoot of Nomadic Matt, who is arguably the most popular travel blogger on the internet.

He offers conferences on a donation basis, encouraging users to pay what they can afford.

In this way, he gains trust and a stronger relationship with his readers.

Therefore, they are more likely to purchase his members’ only content like Patreon articles or his travel blogging courses.

6. Member Directory and Groups

Members may want to take their valuable network connections outside of your website.

If you provide ways for users to contact each other and communicate more, you solidify your site’s value.

There are a few methods you can use. You could create a member directory where users fill in their contact details.

Other clients can look them up and contact them privately if they want to communicate further.

You could also create independent discussion groups on existing social media like Facebook.

By adding paying members, they can continue forum-style conversations and improve their professional relationships.

If you allow users to build these relationships outside of your site, you cannot observe or control the interactions.

However, you are the facilitator and providing a valuable service to your clients.

7. Gamification

If you provide educational courses or lessons on your membership website, gamification can take it to the next level.

Gamification is a design element that turns learning into a game.

By progressing through your content, users can get rewards.

In turn, they are more engaged in your content and more likely to subscribe to more courses.

It is more engaging for users because it adds an element of fun to learning.

This motivates them and helps them to retain the information more easily.

It also appeals to competitive users who want to be the best.

However, gamification cannot be successful if your content is not valuable to begin with.

Users won’t automatically engage with your courses just because of game-like elements.

However, it can take them to the next level if the content is already substantial.

You can introduce gamification to your site with an independent plugin like the LMS Gamification Plugin for WordPress.

Alternatively, you can write the code yourself or employ a web designer to do it for you.

There are various ways you can gamify your educational content.

Quizzes

Quizzes are an excellent way for students to see how well they are learning your content.

They also have a gamified element by incentivizing students to learn the material and perform well.

You can combine quizzes with other methods like unlocking content.

For example, a user may need to achieve a particular score at the end of one module to progress to the next one.

These quizzes don’t need to be complicated, but they should cover the primary material.

Keep it quick, straightforward, and beneficial to your clients.

Progress Tracking

If your membership website provides longer courses, you should give progress tracking.

Achieving small goals generally makes people want to keep going with the content to achieve larger goals.

It also provides realistic signposts for your clients.

If they can see how much content there is left, they can budget the time needed to complete it.

This progress tracking can serve as a motivator.

Social Sharing

Social sharing is another excellent gamification tool. It allows students to achieve certain levels and show them off.

You can link to existing social sites like Facebook or Twitter so users can display their progress.

Alternatively, you can create your own achievements and display them within the membership site.

Khan Academy uses this technique to allow students to show off their badges.

Unlocking Content With longer courses, you might consider using drip-feeding.

If you provide 100% of the content to new members, they may feel overwhelmed or learn the material in a disorganized fashion.

If you release it slowly, you can keep clients on track.

Making clients complete specific tasks before they can unlock more content is also a motivator.

If they want to keep learning, they will need to finish all of the previous material.

You can combine this with quizzes to keep it thoroughly engaging.

8. In-Site Currency

In-site currency directly links to gamification. You can incentivize your users to complete tasks by rewarding them with ‘currency.’

This money allows them to purchase additional content like more courses.

Using currency is an engaging way to keep users involved in the long term.

If they keep participating in tasks on your membership website, they can gain access to even more content.

This ongoing loop keeps them coming back for more and more.

Conclusion Membership Website Ideas

In conclusion, there are many things that you can offer on a membership website.

Depending on your business, you can provide exclusive content, networking opportunities, educational courses, and special events.

Membership websites are an excellent way to get more income from your brand.

However, you need to remember that the client comes first.

All content should directly benefit them, so they will keep using your company and recommend you to others.

If you’ve been on the fence about starting a membership website, we recommend taking the plunge.

You can always provide a free trial for new customers and observe the results.

Good luck!