The concept of membership websites has become increasingly popular on the Internet recently. Since it is an easy way to build your business and increase revenue, building a membership website is an idea that many entrepreneurs worldwide embrace. However, when you build a membership website, you must remember that every traffic source will bring revenue. If you are not generating revenue, there is no incoming traffic.
Creating a website becomes more straightforward if you are looking for the best membership website builders on the web. However, there are better paths to make a quick buck. First, you should be ready to dedicate your time to the venture. Without doing so, you will never understand how to set up a membership website and maintain a steady source of income.
Before you build a membership website, you should work on the exclusive content that you would publish on it. After all, your content is the most significant factor of this website, as you have to provide it to the people who sign up.
What is a Membership Website?
A membership website is a particular type of website that requires permission before the viewer can gain access to the specified content. It is a website gated by login credentials and passwords that the site members can only fulfill. When you build a membership website, you must remember that the people viewing your content have paid to do so. You must ensure that the content uploaded on the website is top-tier and exclusive.
Image taken from Stellar Platforms
When you build a membership website, you allow your viewers to sign up and pay to feel the urgency of viewing something special or providing additional value to the content. When your viewers feel that your content has lived up to the hype, they will return to your website to access more content. Being an entrepreneur, you build a membership website to let loose and showcase your true self to the online community that you are building.
How Membership Websites Work
When you build a membership website, you encourage followers to subscribe. During the subscription, each individual will be given unique credentials to view the exclusive content that the non-membership users won't be able to see.
Membership websites can offer access to different types of content based on the subscription plan. In addition, the subscription plans may vary in length for different content access, such as one-time, annual, or lifetime access.
Importance of Membership Websites
Usually, users who subscribe to a membership website are highly interested in a specific niche or industry. Furthermore, they may have high respect for the quality of content the website produces regularly.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
It means that the business owners who understand how to set up a membership website must also pay attention to high-quality website content regularly for the members to consume. It is important to note that the offered content should differ from the free content found elsewhere on the Internet. The most common type of membership websites includes the following content:
- Blogs
- Podcasts
- Vlogs
- News
- Community forums
- Books or ebooks
- Listicles
- Webinars or tutorials
If you want to create and publish informative content, build a membership website today and support your business. You will eventually build a vast online community by offering engaging content.
Membership websites can be highly profitable for your business, but the key lies in convincing your viewers to subscribe to your website. To ensure that you start earning money through your website, you must have a social understanding of your target audience. You must know your target audience and where you can find them. Moreover, you should provide them with evergreen content relevant to your niche.
Once you have ready-made and shareable website content on your membership website, you can employ the following marketing strategies:
- SEO-optimized blogs
- Ads published on search engines and social media platforms
- Email marketing campaigns
Marketing strategies will help you to attract different users to your site. Initially, you will get new subscribers by providing teasers of the gated content or offering discount memberships for the first month.
The main objective of a membership website is to build a solid online community that wants to pay for the content you produce regularly. Once you see an increased number of subscribers, you will generate a steady income stream. For example, if you have 200 subscribers on the plan of $10 per month for a year, you will earn $24,000.
Build Membership Website on Strikingly
Strikingly is a professional membership website builder that allows you to build the membership of your dreams within minutes. Make sure you go through the following steps on Strikingly to build your website.
1) Register on Strikingly
Registration is the easiest step in developing your membership website. Once you register on our platform, you will gain access to our compilation of responsive website templates.
Image taken from Strikingly
Remember to choose a website template that suits your plans. We provide our users with ready-made and customizable website designs, saving them time. Moreover, they can learn programming or coding skills to customize the website designs given on our templates. In addition, our website templates are optimized for desktop and mobile versions, so you will not lose out on potential traffic to your platform.
2) Check the Site Membership Function
When you build a membership website on Strikingly, the best thing is that they have a particular function dedicated to helping you. You can access our membership feature by upgrading your subscription plan to VIP or Pro.
This feature allows you to add free and paid subscriptions to your platform. Every visitor can register or create an account for free. The use of this membership feature depends on your business model. If you are building your website for the first time on Strikingly, you can take time to learn about this membership feature. However, it would help if you decided how to use it to optimize different features of your membership website before you proceed.
Image taken from Strikingly
You can go through the following steps as you use the membership feature on your site:
- From your website editor, click on 'Audience.'
- Choose 'Membership.'
- Select the type of membership you want to offer before clicking 'Next.'
- Select the registration method from the provided options before clicking 'Save.'
There is no programming or coding involved in this part of the process. Instead, the support staff at the platform's backend covers all the technical aspects.
3) Perform the Basics
Before converting your site into a membership website, you must go through all the basics of website development. The basics are done by all the website developers regardless of what type of website they are building. For example, you should add basic information about yourself and your business. If you don't have one, select a unique brand name and use it as your website domain. You also need to check the availability of your domain name alongside the top-level domain extensions (TLDs). Your domain name should be simple and relevant to your sharing content. Finally, remember to include the contact information in the last part of your web page.
Strikingly provides free SSL certificates to all the websites built on their platform for security purposes. Therefore, you don't need to invest extra money in your website security.
4) Explore Ecommerce Options
Usually, people build a membership website to sell products, services, or digital downloads. To convert your website into an eCommerce store on Strikingly, add a simple store on your website and add your products. In the Strikingly product editor, ensure you upload a quality product image alongside the product name, price, color, and description. You can also build eCommerce product pages to sell digital downloads accordingly.
A store attached to your eCommerce website will help add to the revenue you are already making through your business. In addition, once you see more people joining your membership website, your platform will bloom much more going forward.
5) Decide Options for Viewers
When you build a membership website, there are plenty of ways to earn money. Hence, choosing all these methods and generating revenue would be overwhelming. On Strikingly, you can select one of the following options as you set up your membership feature:
- Free membership
- Paid membership
- Buy a product to register
Image taken from Strikingly
If you go by the final option, you must have an online store on your website. If you are under our VIP plan, you can set up multiple tiers. You can cancel the membership by clicking 'Disable Membership' in the editor options.
Conclusion
Launching a membership website can be a good idea for entrepreneurs with a perspective in their niche and credible content to share. However, you can reach your membership objectives today by understanding how to create a membership website and how simple it is to maintain it.
If you build a membership website, it is vital for your online development because businesses and sales are becoming more and more internet-oriented. Membership websites are a great way to generate steady revenue and increase user engagement.
It takes a lot of time and energy to create a membership website. These websites may allow you to explore your interest in a new way. If you want to manage your schedule correctly, consider building your website on Strikingly. If you need help building your website, contact our Happiness Officers today.
