Types Of Membership Sites
Free
The word “free” in this case of free membership sites denotes just that. Access to your site and to your site’s information is free to the reader and trafficker to your online site.
Free membership sites are fairly easy to establish and easy to operate. The challenge with free content sites is that there must be fresh and consistently timely content to offer to the readers who frequent the site. Although the content is free and access to the content is free, there must still be a reason given to your niche audiences as to why they should come to your site on a regular basis.
One drawback to free sites is the type of traffic and the content that will sometimes seem to gravitate towards the site. People tend to associate paying with value, thereby reducing the richness or value of material simply because it is “free.” Although the content may be high quality, because it is free, your audience may take it for granted and be unappreciative.
Ezines are one venue that will allow you to provide free information to your readers. You can offer them to your audience on a regular basis and provide key information. Publishing your ezine whether weekly, bi-weekly or monthly will keep your product or service in front of your audience and ideally make you the “go-to” person when they need a particular service.
You can use the ezines to eventually transfer the free access members to paying members on your site. Once they see the value in the content that you provide, you can then convince them to begin paying for the information in a more expanded, comprehensible format.
You can also use the free access membership site to attract and secure outside advertising vendors for your members enjoyment. You can either approach niche-based advertisers for your products or wait for those vendors to come to you. This will help keep the site content-valuable and readily available for your readers.
Fee-Based
Fees for membership sites are generally where and what online business owners are interested in. The fees can vary anywhere from $9.97 to $97 per month or more. It all depends on the type of content that is being offered, the frequency of the offering and even to what niche market the fees are being assessed.
Paid membership sites not only bring in a steady stream of income but also have the potential to provide more “back office” type of materials for other products and services. These other services can also be in the form of highly useful articles, products and services that provide value to the member.
Fees can be assessed on the site that will cover administrative expenses and website design access, hosting and development. Fees for the site are generally collected monthly for full site access, or can be assessed quarterly depending on the host’s requirements.
Fee membership sites and free sites both have one common goal in mind and that is to provide full access to the website and enjoy all of the benefits and features that the site has to offer.
My Blog 