The Growing Popularity of the Coaching Business

Today, the coaching business model has become one of the most popular ways to share expertise while making a profit. In fact, life coaching is one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. In 2022, there were over 23,000 registered life coaching businesses, with 1.7 million active coaches on LinkedIn. If you run a coaching business in 2024, taking it online through a membership website is a smart way to expand your reach globally and scale your business quickly.

What is a Coaching Membership Website?

A coaching membership website is a platform specifically designed for selling coaching services and products, usually through a recurring subscription. It creates an online ecosystem where individuals can access resources, connect with experts, and join a supportive community. This subscription-based model promotes ongoing learning and personal growth, making it an attractive option for both coaches and clients.

What Content Can You Expect on a Coaching Membership Website?

Key features of a coaching membership website typically include:

• Structured Content
  Most coaching websites offer structured learning materials such as videos, webinars, and written resources. These are designed to help members build their knowledge and skills over time. Content may be organized into categories or presented as part of a course curriculum.
• Access to Coaches or Experts
  Members can interact with coaches or experts through live Q&A sessions, discussion boards, forums, or one-on-one coaching. This personal interaction allows members to get tailored guidance and answers to their specific questions.
• Community and Networking
  Coaching membership websites often foster a strong sense of community. Members can connect with each other, share experiences, and collaborate via forums, social media groups, or private chats.
• Regular Updates
  To keep members engaged, these platforms frequently update content with new courses, live events, or exclusive resources.

Who is a Coaching Membership Website For?

Coaching membership websites benefit both coaches and members across various industries and niches. Coaches can share their expertise with a global audience without needing to travel or host physical events. Meanwhile, members gain access to valuable coaching resources from anywhere, at any time.

This model works well for all kinds of coaching, from business and fitness coaching to niche areas like nutrition, sports, gardening, and beyond.

How to Start Your Coaching Membership Website

1. Choose Your Niche
   Selecting the right niche is essential to the success of your coaching membership website. Ideally, your niche should focus on topics you are passionate about and that have a proven demand. Here are some popular niches for coaching membership sites:
   • Entrepreneurs and Business Professionals
     Coaching for business owners, executives, and professionals on leadership, management, marketing, and business growth strategies.
   • Students and Graduates
     Coaching that helps students with academic support, career advice, and skills like study habits, job searching, and networking.
   • Fitness and Health Enthusiasts
     Coaching websites offering fitness routines, nutritional advice, and personalized guidance for improving health and wellness.
   • Personal Development Seekers
     Focused on personal growth, these platforms offer resources on mindfulness, self-confidence, goal setting, and more.
   • Creatives and Artists
     Coaching for artists, writers, musicians, and other creatives, covering creative techniques, marketing, and career development.
   • Lifestyle and Wellness Enthusiasts
     Coaching platforms that provide tips on travel, cooking, parenting, and other lifestyle improvements.
   • Language Learners
     Language coaching websites that help learners acquire new languages, improve communication, and understand different cultures.
   • Tech Enthusiasts
     Coaching platforms focused on coding, app development, and other tech-related skills for career or hobby interests.
   • Hobbyists and Enthusiasts
     Coaching websites that offer expert guidance on hobbies like gardening, photography, or DIY projects.
   • Wellness and Mental Health
     Websites offering coaching on emotional well-being, stress management, and mental health strategies.
   • Specialized Skills
     Coaching platforms that help individuals develop targeted skills like public speaking, negotiation, or conflict resolution.

By choosing a niche that aligns with your passion and has an active audience, your coaching membership website can thrive.

Determine Your Content Delivery Method

How will you deliver value to your audience? If you're already coaching offline, start by thinking about how to translate your current methods into an online format. For example, if you hold group coaching sessions or special events through in-person meetups, you can save money and reach a wider audience by offering group calls, live online events, or webinars.

Here are some effective ways to deliver your coaching expertise online:

• Courses
  Courses are a popular way to structure membership content. They are typically organized into modules or lessons and can be delivered all at once or progressively. Pricing varies widely depending on the depth of information provided, and courses are a great way to offer structured learning.
• Webinars
  Webinars are an excellent way to introduce your coaching services, share valuable information, and promote your main offering. You can host them live or record them for later use. For example, a webinar on “How to Lose 10 Pounds in 20 Days” can offer participants actionable weight loss tips while also promoting a 6-week coaching program for more personalized guidance. End the webinar with a specific offer or a call to action.
• Events
  You can sell tickets to live events or charge for online coaching sessions. Summits, where multiple speakers present on related topics, are especially popular for coaches. For example, if you're a nutrition coach, you could host a summit featuring experts on weight loss, fitness, yoga, and various diets. Summits boost your credibility and can be a key part of your coaching membership website.

3. Offering different membership tiers allows you to tailor your coaching services and price them accordingly.

Pricing
Pricing can be tricky, but it’s important to set your rates and stick to them. Whether you charge a one-time fee, a monthly subscription, or a tiered membership structure, consistency is key. For example, you could offer three tiers: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Bronze members get access to basic content and community forums, while Silver members join group coaching, and Gold members receive one-on-one sessions and other perks.

Offerings
You can start simple with just one coaching program, but most coaches offer different levels of service at various price points. For example, you might have a Basic tier with access to recorded videos and community forums, and a Premium tier with live coaching calls or one-on-one sessions.

4. Choose a Platform

When building your coaching membership website, the platform you choose is crucial. WordPress is a popular option because of its flexibility and the wide variety of plugins available for customization. However, it requires some technical know-how, as you’ll need to manage the backend of the site.

Alternatively, you could choose an all-in-one platform that offers built-in functionality for membership levels, payment processing, email marketing, and more. These platforms tend to be more expensive, but they require less technical work. Choose a platform based on your needs and budget—new coaches may not need all the advanced features that come with more expensive, all-inclusive platforms.

Must-Have Features

1. Multiple Subscription Levels
2. Mobile responsive
3. Email marketing integration
4. Course Setup
5. Community Forum
6. Automated emails
7. Member database
8. Member accounts
9. Reporting and analytics
10. Reliable customer support

Nice-To-Have Features

1. Unlimited video upload
2. Built-in marketing funnels
3. Built-in webinar platform
4. Affiliate programs
5. Events ticketing and promotion
6. Chatbots

Many of the nice-to-have features, like video hosting or chatbots, can be integrated with third-party tools, reducing the need for more expensive platforms. For example, videos can be embedded easily into the SubHub platform from any video hosting service.

The result is a less cumbersome system that is free from lag or buffering. This allows your members to have a smooth experience from log-in to log-out. Audio files can also be easily embedded, as can live streams, chatbots and more.

5. Metrics and Feedback

Tracking metrics goes beyond just numbers like visitor counts or sign-ups. It’s crucial to understand how your members feel about your coaching services. Regularly ask for feedback through emails, community forums, or during group calls. This feedback will help you adapt your offerings. For instance, if many members find the basic tier too elementary, you can create a more advanced tier that better meets their needs.

Your coaching membership website should evolve with your clients. It’s more than just a static website—it’s a dynamic way to engage with your audience, helping them grow while expanding your coaching business.

Ready to start your online coaching business? Open a free SubHub platform trial and take it for a test drive. We offer 5-star support every weekday, so let us know if you have any questions.

One of the questions we get asked most frequently at SubHub is "what are the good membership site ideas?"

The answer is very simple: whatever your passion is.

You can create a membership website based on any type of business, but the one thing you don't want to do is choose one just because you think it might make money.

There is no way your website will generate paying members if you are not passionate about the subject of your membership business.

Yes, you can't just be passionate about making money!

There are dozens of successful membership sites in the niches below, which clearly suggest that there is money to be made from these subjects.  But keep in the mind that the owners of these sites are truly passionate about what they do, and truly want to help others. So before you start, just make sure with a quick check that you also fall into that category!

Having said all that, however, just because you're passionate about your membership business idea doesn't mean it will be easy to be profitable, either. Let's face it, successful membership website niches are also competitive. There will be competition in whichever niche you choose. Your job is to show your potential members how you are different from the competition.

Here are just a few examples of membership website ideas to inspire you, from SubHub clients who at one time were just like you - trying to determine how to start a membership business. They have since developed their audiences and built successful membership websites.

If you want some SubHub examples, check out our Case Studies.

Subject #1 - Fitness and Yoga

Fitness and self-care are evergreen subjects. They will always find a willing audience happy to pay for advice. Meditation and self-growth classes are excellent candidates for evergreen courses.

Example membership site in this niche - fitin15.io and sacredspaceonline.com

Subject #2 - Health & Wellness

If this is your niche, you can go with a combination of audio files, videos, checklists, e-books and any number of other resources for your members. Audio files can be uploaded or embedded.

Example membership sites in this niche: freywellness.com and functionfirsted.com

Subject #3 - Business Coaching

Business coaching is big business these days, especially online business coaching. If you have expertise in digital marketing of business services or products, this could be your niche.

Example membership sites in this niche - osimtov.com and profitandbeauty.com

Subject #4 - Online Magazine

Online magazine subscriptions are another way to monetize your expertise. Membership levels might include a free newsletter round up of the latest publications, access to current editions, and access to archives.

Example membership sites in this niche: growingformarket.com and returningcitizensmag.com

Subject #5 - Non-Profit & Association

Community development through associations and non-profits organizations is a huge industry as people of like interests come together to exchange information and learn from each other.

Example membership sites in this niche: sportinhistory.org and iprassn.org

Subject #6 - Investment/Financial

Investment tips are a great use of a membership website, and something very much in demand. You can share reports, performance spreadsheets, trade examples, screen shares, videos, personal coaching and more. SubHub's built-in forum lets your subscribers hold discussions to discuss tips and investment methods.

Example membership site in this niche - marketbehaviortrends.com and leadlagreport.com

Subject #7 - Life Coaching

Nutrition and diet is a subject that always commands attention. Similarly, stress management and self-improvement/personal empowerment niches offer a huge opportunity to start a new membership business.

Example membership sites in this niche: mylifestylerescue.com and pushmoments.com

Subject #8 - Online Training Courses

Online training is one of the most burgeoning fields on the internet right now. SubHub's course editor makes it easy to set up drip or evergreen classes to share your expertise, whatever niche you are in.

Example membership site in this niche: stemsmart.net and HTRmethod.com

Subject #9 - Children's Education

We all know that educational budgets can limit the abilities of teachers and educators to do what they would consider their best work. Membership models can supplement those efforts with materials and coaching help.

 Conclusion

Of course, you do NOT need to write about one of the subjects above to create a successful subscription or membership website. With global reach and a deep knowledge of where your customers can be found, even the most specialist subject can become a successful membership site.

Paid-for content revenues are growing across the world.

There has never been a better time to start a subscription or membership website.

Start today! Open a free SubHub trial website.

All-in-one membership website builders have emerged as transformative tools that simplify the process of creating, managing and earning an income from your knowledge. They empower individuals by letting them establish their online presence quickly, efficiently and affordably.

These comprehensive platforms offer an array of features and functionalities under a single roof, eliminating the need for coding or the use of multiple tools.

With all-in-one website builders, you can effortlessly design, customize and publish your website. These platforms typically include user-friendly drag-and-drop editors, templates and a variety of built-in functionality so all aspects of your business are in one place.

If you're ready to start a membership website then this article will provide guidance and examples for the top website builders and their best use cases.

What basic features should your builder have

• User registration and login: the ability for users to easily create accounts and log in securely.
• Content restriction: you should have the ability to restrict access to specific content to incentivise memberships and provide value to subscribers.
• Membership levels: this feature is crucial to creating distinctive member tiers and effectively monetizing your audience.
• Responsive design: ensure the platform is accessible and functional on various devices and screen sizes.
• Integrated payment processor: your builder should be able to securely process payments using gateways like Stripe and PayPal.
• Automated workflows: time saving functionality that streamlines administrative processes by sending welcome and renewal emails.
• Analytics: data tracking and reporting tools are essential to making informed decisions about your website’s performance.
• Customer support: access to reliable and responsive customer support for troubleshooting and assistance.

How to select the right all-in-one website builder

When selecting which website builder to choose, start by considering your specific use case, content, goals and audience needs.

By defining the scope and purpose of your membership site, you’ll be able to determine what functionality you’ll need and which platform has the capabilities to deliver it.

Most membership website builders are designed with specific use cases in mind and their features and functionalities reflect this specialization.

For instance, platforms like MemberPress and Wild Apricot are focused on providing solutions for online communities or associations with tools for managing membership.

While education-focused builders like Thinkific and Teachable cater to instructors, offering features tailored for online course creation and management.

The key is to identify your specific needs and objectives, then choose a builder that aligns with your intended purpose. You should also evaluate factors such as pricing, scalability, security, and reliable customer support.

Top 5 membership website builders and their best use cases

Circle is a platform for building, managing and monetising your online community. It's easy to use with a clean and intuitive interface and responsive support.

This platform is particularly useful for those seeking to foster engagement, discussions and collaboration around a shared interest, topic or brand. The cornerstone of the platform is its community facing features.

Features include:

• Community building: tools for creating and customising your online community with categories, topics, or channels.
• Member profiles: so users build a sense of identity within the platform.
• Discussions and posts: initiate and participate in discussions, ask questions, share knowledge, and post content.
• Notifications: features to keep members informed about new posts, replies, and updates.

The platform also includes online courses, live streaming, automation workflows, metrics and more.

Standout feature: is its interactive community space that provides chat rooms, private messaging, event spaces, live streams and more. An alternative to using a private Facebook group.

Use case: best suited for individuals and brands looking to build, manage and monetize their online communities.

Best for: established community centered creators.

Starting at: $49/mo with 4% transaction fee and 10GB of storage.

Kajabi is a premium priced, all-in-one website builder designed for creating and selling online courses, memberships and digital products.

Whether you're a subject matter expert, coach, or organization wanting to provide structured learning experiences, Kajabi offers a comprehensive solution with many built-in tools.

Kajabi provides tools for creating and hosting courses, managing members, marketing your content and processing payments, all within a single platform. It's a versatile choice for those seeking to deliver educational content, whether it's in the form of video courses, e-books, webinars or other digital products.

Your website is built using an editor that allows you to select and assemble content blocks from a menu.

Kajabi has a user-friendly interface but, as with most all-in-one platforms, there is limited customisation that can be done to your website's design.

Features include:

• Course creation: robust system for creating, hosting, and selling online courses which include videos, documents, quizzes, and more.
• Website builder: powerful website builder lets you create a professional looking website.
• Email marketing and automation: built-in email marketing tool lets you to send newsletters, automate email sequences and segment your email list.

Standout feature: is its built-in email marketing editor to create custom email campaigns.

Use case: best suited for coaches and creators looking to monetize their knowledge through online courses.

Best for: established coaches and creators as it is a premium priced option.

Starting at: $149/mo for 3 products, 1000 customers, unlimited landing pages.

SubHub is an all-in-one website builder that specialises in membership and turning all forms of content into income.

It's strength lies in its flexibility, making it a suitable choice for a wide range of membership use cases.

SubHub provides the necessary tools for managing subscribers, selling online courses, delivering content, processing payments and building an online community around your niche or expertise.

Its built-in store adds a significant layer of e-commerce functionality to your membership website. It's particularly useful for those who want to sell additional products beyond just membership subscriptions.

Features includes:

• Robust membership features: unlimited member levels, recurring subscriptions, content segmentation, Stripe & PayPal integration.
• Content monetization: sell membership, courses, digital downloads and store products all-in-one place.
• Committed support: a dedicated 5-star support team that always goes above and beyond client expectations.

Standout feature: multiple tools to monetize your content with memberships, courses, digital downloads and pay-per-view products.

Use case: best suited for individuals and businesses looking to monetize their content through selling memberships and stand alone products.

Best for: knowledge experts, coaches and creators with content rich websites.

Starting at: $47/mo, 500 members, unlimited products and pages.

Vonza is a platform tailored to the needs of course creators, coaches, and digital entrepreneurs. With an array of tools and features, Vonza simplifies the journey of transforming your knowledge and expertise into a thriving online business. It's all-in-one platform provides a comprehensive set of tools to create and deliver online course content.

While Vonza has an array of functionality, its website builder has limited design flexibility compared to other platforms. So its websites can have a generic appearance.

Features include:

• Course creation: easily create and host online courses which include video, quizzes, assignments and progress tracking.
• E-commerce: sell physical and digital products, memberships and courses.
• Email marketing: integrated email marketing tools and lead nurture.

Standout feature: is its powerful online form builder to create online surveys and quizzes.

Use case: best for course creation.

Best for: new coaches and creators.

Starting at: at $99/mo for 5 courses and 10 products and Stripe integration.

Kartra is an all-in-one platform with built-in, comprehensive marketing tools. Whether you're looking to build a website, manage email campaigns, sell products or create marketing funnels, Kartra gives you the ability to centralise all those functions in one place.

Many membership websites use social media to drive traffic. However, if you want to create targeted campaigns then Kartra's integrated marketing suite of tools lets you build and manage lead generation pipelines with opt-in forms and landing pages.

While Kartra's purpose is to simplify e-commerce, the platform is so comprehensive that the learning curve is long and setting up workflows can be complex. So you need to be prepared to commit time to learning the system.

Users also report that the website page builder has design limitations and can be slow to load.

Features include:

• Marketing automation: to create and manage campaigns, set up email sequences, follow-ups and segment your audience to deliver personalized content and offers.
• Affiliate management: recruit and manage affiliates to help promote your membership site.

Standout feature: is its automated, sales-driving marketing funnels.

Use case: best for marketing campaign creation and selling products.

Best for: product marketers.

Starting at: at $119/mo for up to 2,500 contacts, 20 products and 100 pages.

In summary

All-in-one membership website builders cater to a wide range of use cases, from education to content subscriptions and community building. The best choice for you depends on your specific goals and requirements, so it's essential to consider the features and integrations that align with your website's purpose.

Membership websites thrive on effective marketing strategies to attract, retain, and engage their members. Landing pages play a crucial role in achieving these objectives. They can be tailored to target specific segments of your membership, serve as sales pages, entice visitors with enticing offers, promote special promotions, and facilitate event sign-ups. In this article, we'll explore how to use landing pages effectively. Here are 5 ways to utilize landing pages to market your membership website.

Targeting Specific Segments with Landing Pages: Downsells and Upsells

One of the strengths of membership websites is their ability to cater to diverse member needs. You can use landing pages to target specific segments within your membership.

For instance, if you have premium and basic membership levels, create landing pages that offer upgrades (upsells) to basic members or downgrades (downsells) for premium members looking to reduce their subscription. Customize your messaging and incentives to match the unique interests and pain points of each group. You can do the same thing with prospective members. Here are a couple of downsell examples:

Downsells for prospective members

Social media is a great springboard for capturing leads, and selling via landing and sales pages. Let’s say you are using a funnel to attract leads that includes a webinar and a series of emails. A certain percentage of these leads will convert to sales, but for those who don’t, a downsell is a good way to keep the person in your orbit at a lower (or free) price. If you have someone who hasn’t taken you up on your membership offer, but is obviously interested in your service, a landing page offering 2 free months or a severely discounted rate for a short period of time might be enough to keep the lines of communication open. 

Downsells for cancellations

Another downsell idea is to make an offer at the time of cancellation. If a member cancels, that is a perfect time to send an email with an offer to allow them to stay for a period of time at a discount.   Your landing page could reiterate the benefits of membership and possibly offer a bonus of some kind to stay on “temporarily”.  Hopefully, the member takes you up on it and decides to stay.

Sales Pages for your Primary Offering

Your primary offering is the cornerstone of your membership site. A dedicated landing page can serve as an effective sales tool for this core product or service. Provide detailed information about what your membership includes, showcase its value, and make the enrolment process simple and appealing. Use persuasive copy, compelling visuals, and clear calls to action to guide visitors toward membership sign-up.

You’ve probably seen sales pages that go on and on forever. But if you really examine them, you’ll find that they adhere to a fairly simple formula.

 1. An attention-grabbing headline. Don’t get fancy with this. Simply state what the offer is and the benefit to the potential customer in plain words. Consider using power words and addressing the visitor's pain points to pique their interest.

2. Persuasive sales copy. Here is where you want to reassure the audience that you understand their pain and have the solution. Benefits should be emphasized over features. For example, a feature of your membership might be 6 20-minute videos per week. But what benefit is that? As a member, you can consume the content at your own pace; the content is detailed enough to provide real benefit; the content is also simplified enough that the time commitment won’t be overwhelming.

3. Testimonials. As many of these as possible will help to drive conversions.  Try to ask current members for their feedback.  Reviews and testimonials are one of the most effective ways to reassure potential clients that what is being offered will help them. Video reviews are even better than text. A mixture of both is ideal.

4. Effective call to action. Sounds like a no-brainer, but consider it carefully.  Keep it simple. One call to action is sufficient - sign up, find out more, opt in, and book a call are popular calls to action. 

5. Money-back guarantee. You may have heard that most customers don’t utilize money back guarantees, and you would be right. But the main reason to offer one is simply to give your clients peace of mind.  It can be a real incentive to sign up for a trial subscription if there is essentially no risk.

Opt-in Landing Page with Free Gift

Enticing visitors with valuable free content is a powerful way to grow your membership website. You can create landing pages specifically for opt-ins where visitors can receive free gifts, such as PDFs, e-books, guides, or video tutorials, in exchange for their email addresses. These leads can then be nurtured through email marketing and eventually encouraged to become paying members. 

It’s important to start and maintain an email list of potential clients. You can use an email service like Mailchimp to create a series of autoresponder emails to go out once someone has opted in. These types of landing pages can be much simpler than the sales page:

1. A compelling headline
2. A persuasive and easy to complete opt-in form
3. A list of benefits of your free gift.
4. A visually-compelling photo of your ebook or other gift.

Most landing opt-in pages ask only for name and email address to avoid barriers to signing up. Be sure to include a statement about your privacy policy.  When describing your free gift, try to frame it as a quick solution to at least some of their problems. For instance, if your opt-in landing page offers a free 7-day email course on photography tips, describe it as a "7-Day Photography Mastery Course" and emphasize the benefits of improving photography skills in a short period of time. 

Special offer page for promotions

Promotions can be a strong catalyst for membership growth. Landing pages tailored for special offers, such as free trials, limited-time discounts, or bundled packages, can significantly boost conversions. Clearly outline the offer's terms, benefits, and value, and emphasize the urgency of taking advantage of the promotion. 

Be very clear about the benefits of this special offer, and how it differs from your regular pricing model. Are you offering a 20% discount? 60%? You can also make it a dollar amount.  Either way, you want to encourage visitors to act quickly. Be sure to include urgency in your offer. You can do this by having the offer expire in a certain number of days or hours. Most platforms allow embedding of a countdown timer for this purpose.  Lastly, make your call to action meaningful. Choose specific words that reinforce your offer, such as “Shop Now”, "Yes! I want to change my life Today!", "Save 50% Now". 

Event or Webinar Sign-up Landing Pages

If your membership site hosts events, webinars, or exclusive content releases, dedicated landing pages can simplify registration processes and increase attendance. These pages should provide essential event details, schedules, and clear sign-up forms. Ensure that the pages are responsive for mobile users, as many people access such content through their smartphones.

Event and webinar registration pages have a dual purpose: to explain the benefits of the event or information they’ll receive on the webinar is one. The other is to be very clear on how the event is going to be accessed. If it’s an in-person event, how will they receive details of date, time and location? Are there any special instructions they need to be aware of before registering? if it’s an online event, be sure to make it clear how and when they are going to receive the access information.

Make the sign-up process as simple as possible, without too much customization of the registration form.  If you can stick to name and email to start, you can always follow up later to request more information using your email service.

Conclusion

Landing pages are versatile tools for membership websites, catering to a variety of marketing needs. Whether you're targeting specific segments of your membership, presenting your primary offering, enticing opt-ins, promoting special offers, or facilitating event sign-ups, a well-designed landing page can significantly impact your membership growth and engagement.

To make the most of your landing pages, continually analyze their performance using web analytics, conduct A/B testing to optimize elements, and keep refining your strategies. By strategically implementing landing pages in the ways outlined above, you'll be better equipped to attract and retain members while achieving your membership website's goals.

SubHub’s landing page builder is the perfect tool to create landing pages for your sales and marketing campaigns. Simply click on Landing Pages and start building. 

Ready to get started? 

Niche content membership websites have become an increasingly popular means for individuals with specialist knowledge to offer exclusive content, build a community and generate revenue. However, despite the potential for success, many membership websites fail to achieve their goals.

Before launching your membership website, it's crucial to understand the typical reasons that lead to failure. By identifying these stumbling blocks, you can take proactive steps to avoid them and increase your chances of building a successful online business.

In this article, we identify into the top ten reasons why membership websites often falter. We examine each failure point, and present you with knowledge and strategies to overcome them and position your membership website for long-term success.

1. Lack of clear value proposition

What do members get out of joining your site? If you can't answer this question clearly and concisely, then you're going to have a hard time convincing a visitor to become a member.

Without communicating a compelling and distinct value proposition, your membership website will struggle to attract and retain a loyal user base. Here's why a clear value proposition is crucial for a successful membership website:

• Differentiation: A clear value proposition sets your membership website apart from the competition by highlighting its unique benefits and value.
• Member Motivation: A well-defined value proposition addresses the needs, desires and pain points of your target audience. It demonstrates how your platform can provide solutions.
• Clear Communication: Your value proposition should be concise and easily understandable ensuring that potential members quickly grasp the essence of your membership website.
• Conversion Optimisation: Value propositions that are well crafted and persuasive can significantly impact conversion rates by effectively persuading visitors to become paying members.

Tip: You can strengthen your value proposition by defining your customer persona. Through understanding your customer persona, you're able to identify and address their pain points in your messaging. This lets you position your membership website as a solution provider and can enhance its perceived value.

2. Poor quality content

High quality content is the lifeblood of any membership website. It's what keeps members engaged and coming back. Regularly updated and relevant content creates a sense of anticipation, value and exclusivity. It increases conversions. When people find your content to be valuable, they are more likely to take action, such as signing up for your newsletter or purchasing a product.

By delivering content that addresses member pain points, educates or provides insights, you reinforce your value proposition and build trust.

Compelling content helps differentiate your membership website from its competitors. By offering niche content, you can carve out a unique position in the market. This differentiation enhances the perceived value of your website and gives members a reason to choose and stay with your platform.

Quality content also helps to drive traffic to your website. When people find your content to be informative and helpful, they're more likely to share it on social media. Other websites will reference it and these backlinks will improve your search ranking because Google then sees your site as a trusted authority on your subject.

Tip: By creating content that targets relevant keywords, you increase the visibility of your website in search engine results. This can attract new members who discover your content through organic search, expanding your potential audience.

3. No free content

The natural tendency of membership website owners is to hide all of their content behind a paywall. This is a mistake.

Every membership website should make a percentage of its content free. Providing free, regularly updated content serves several purposes:

• It drives organic search traffic and shares.
• It builds trust with visitors by sharing valuable content for free.
• It enables you to establish authority and credibility on your topic.
• It gives visitors a reason to return or sign up for a newsletter.

Offering free content is a powerful marketing tool. It demonstrates the value and credibility a membership to your website provides. It's a powerful tool to attract, engage, and convert visitors into paying members.

4. Bad user experience

Design is important.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. In fact, statistics report, you have less than 6 seconds to make a positive impression that convinces a visitor to scroll. A membership website that is difficult to navigate, has slow loading pages or lacks intuitive features can quickly turn off users. Frustrating user experiences can result in high bounce rates and low member retention.

There are many membership platforms to choose from. Do your research and find one that fits your needs and has excellent customer support.

5. Complicated membership options

Complicated membership plans and pricing tiers can introduce unnecessary friction in the sign-up process. This friction delays a visitor's decision to subscribe.

Simple membership plans play a significant role in the success of a membership website. They eliminate confusion and enable potential members to make quick and informed decisions.

When presented with a limited number of well-defined membership options, users can easily understand the benefits, features and pricing associated with each plan. This transparency reduces decision fatigue, fosters trust and promotes a positive user experience that increases conversion.

Tip: Ideally, you should offer no more than three plan tiers. Each plan should offer a distinct value proposition. The benefits of each plan should be clearly listed to differentiate the levels of content access and features. When a user can quickly grasp the value proposition and pricing structure, they are more likely to sign-up.

6. Ineffective Marketing and Promotion

Without proper marketing and promotion, even the most exceptional membership websites will struggle to attract an audience.

However, you don't need a big budget to effectively promote your website just social media savvy. Before launching your website, establish yourself on the social media platform where your target audience is most active. Build an audience by regularly posting and actively engaging with your followers. Use the channel to build trust, present yourself as an authority and drive traffic to your website.

7. Lost prospects

People rarely find a website and immediately reach for their credit card. You may have to convince them over time. The problem is over 90% of visitors, even if they like what they read, will never return and will become lost prospects.

In order not to lose these potential members, your website’s number one goal should be to get a visitor’s email address. Once you have their email, you can begin to build a relationship through ongoing communication like a newsletter or special offers.

Tip: To capture a visitor's email, implement an opt-in strategy using a compelling lead magnet. In exchange for their email, offer a piece of valuable content. Your incentive could be an ebook, discount, checklist or free online course. The lead magnet should align with the interests or address the pain points of your target audience.

Place the opt-in form strategically on your website, as a pop-up or banner and clearly communicate the benefits of subscribing. Keep it simple. Ask for only essential information like a name and email address and assure them their email will not be shared with third parties.

8. No sense of community

A strong and engaged member community promotes connection, engagement and collaboration. This leads to increased satisfaction, retention and advocacy. Active members are more likely to renew their memberships, reducing churn and sustaining long-term success.

Community can be nurtured through comments, forum discussions, live webinars and Zoom classes.

Active members are also ambassadors for your website. They can drive traffic and conversions through shared posts, testimonials and reviews.

9. Limited to a single revenue stream

While membership subscriptions will form your core revenue source, additional streams allow you to broaden your customer appeal and maximise your earning potential.

Some visitors may not be ready to commit to a membership, but will be interested in purchasing access to an individual course or specific piece of content. By diversifying your offerings, you can cater to different customer preferences and generate revenue from those who aren't interested in membership. You'll also capture their email for future marketing efforts.

Creating additional revenue streams isn't difficult. There are many ways you can repurpose and sell your existing content using different delivery methods. Blog posts can be offered as pay-per-view products and paid downloads. Your video tutorials can be adapted into courses. Access to events and webinars can be sold.

10. No social proof

Websites without social proof are at a disadvantage as they lack the validation of users.

Social proof should always play a prominent role on your website as it establishes trust, credibility, and legitimacy. It leverages the influence of existing satisfied members to attract and convince new members to join.

Sharing member testimonials and positive experiences provides potential members with a sense of reassurance and confidence in their decision to join.

Social proof can take various forms, including testimonials, reviews, case studies, user-generated content or social media engagement.

Tip: Make a concerted effort to get member reviews posted on a trusted review site. Open a Google My Business page and start collecting reviews.

Conclusion

Now that you know some of the factors that contribute to a website's failure, you can use this knowledge to build and grow a successful membership website.

In another blog post, we explored reasons why membership website owners should provide a good amount of free content on their sites.

We came to the conclusion that free content has many benefits, all leading to the ultimate price of a website visitor becoming a member. But what will convince them to cross that free line into paid territory?

In this post we’re going to look at the free/paid content issue from another angle:

What makes people willing to pay for content? 

First, it's important to realize that they may not be willing. There are so many news sources on the internet, web users can always find free alternatives for general news. They don’t even have to look very far as the aggregation news sites pull it together for them. And that’s just for news articles.

With the plethora of AI tools available now, anyone can have a detailed article at their fingertips on just about any topic. ChatGPT and Bard (Google’s counterpart to ChatGPT), for example, can scrape up tons of content on any subject in a matter of seconds.

This saves all kinds of research time that previously would be been spent combing Google results, typing various searches into a Google search query, going to various information sites like Quora.com, and checking out YouTube’s search engine for videos on the topic.

So now that it's fairly easy to find free content on any subject, most people probably just do that, right?

Think again. Research shows that at least 65% of internet users have paid for online content. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2010/12/30/65-of-internet-users-have-paid-for-online-content

But why? We've come up with 5 compelling reasons why users will pay for online content.

Time is money

Doing that kind of research, even with the advantages of ChatGPT, Bard and others like them, still requires time.

Let’s not forget that the idea behind a membership website is to provide information, knowledge or expertise on a recurring basis. That means that as a membership website owner, your potential customer is going to have to go through all the search and research options regularly to be able to access the same or similar content that you can provide with no time or effort on their part. By providing a paid option that doesn't require the research on their part, you will be saving your clients time, and as we all know, time is money.

Farm experts GrowingForMarket.com know this very well. As a seasonal online publication, they are saving their members many hours of time and effort to find the latest growing information and tips available for each growing season.

Convenience

This might be the number 1 reason why people are willing to pay for free content. Let’s say you’re looking to take up a yoga practice. You could go online and search on Google or YouTube and find millions of search results showing you a multitude of different poses and types of yoga. Where do you start? Which kinds of yoga are for beginners? Which style should you adopt? What if you’re looking for specialized styles like yoga for seniors?

You can sift through all that, or you can sign up for an online yoga class with an expert like Cheri Schultz of inspireencourageempower.org and be guided through a series of yoga routines that fit your schedule and your strength level, simply by signing up to a low-cost recurring subscription. Which sounds better? 

Exclusive content

People will pay for content that is not available elsewhere on the internet. Or content that is not available in the way that you have packaged it.  If you have a “secret” or little-known approach to building wealth, you may have something completely unique to offer. Even the most determined researcher can spend hours on ChatGPT, or researching on Google and not come up with the specific ideas that you have to offer.  A few dollars per month may very well seem like a small price to pay for recurring content that they can’t get anywhere else.

Community

People will also pay to be part of a community. Quite often, you’ll find website owners offering a course or membership-based subscctipion to content, with access to other members as a bonus. It’s great to have the perspective of yourself as the website owner, but let’s face it, you’re not always going to be available. And your members’s peers will 99.9% of the time be happy to help other members if they can.

So don’t be afraid to charge members for access to other members. This kind of community also offers a safe haven for people who may not want to post on a public forum, but feel comfortable asking questions among a closed group of like-minded individuals. SubHub clients like mylifestylerescue.com are doing just that by encouraging members to interact on the built-in forum on their websites.

Premium services

Finally, there is something that people will always pay for - personal one-on-one access to the expert (that’s you!). High-end business coaches can charge thousands of dollars per month for personal coaching. A membership website is ideally suited to offer premium services like individual coaching - at a premium price.

There are many ways of going about it: 

1. Offer consulting services by the hour
2. Offer coaching programs on a recurring fee basis
3. Offer non-recurring subscriptions to a course with live coaching
4. Offer evergreen courses

Conclusion

It’s true that people won’t pay for content on the internet if they can easily find free alternatives. But the catchword there is “easily”. Easy means with little effort, little time, and no money.  Even with all the search and AI options available, it still takes time and effort to research a topic, eliminate what isn’t useful, find a way to utilize the valuable information, and put it into practice.

If you can provide all these qualities in a neat package at a reasonable cost, you will be way ahead of the game. 

Kevin, along with his business partner Anthony, launched the educational resources website Function First to empower physical therapists and fitness professionals with effective pain management treatments. The website is dedicated to sharing the advantages of employing functional movement training to alleviate a client's chronic pain.

It provides a comprehensive range of online courses, webinars and workshops to inform pain management practitioners in using evidence-based methodologies and exercise solutions to improve patient outcomes.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

We work with folks experiencing chronic musculoskeletal pain, & our education company teaches practitioners how they can work with this demographic.

Why did you decide to build a membership website?

In 2011, I could sense there was a shift in what consumers were looking for. Providing education online (as opposed to strictly live-events) was THE future. As the sophistication of platforms got better, and the explosion of membership streaming demand grew, so did our need to find a platform that could deliver the multitude of content we created over many years.

Why did you choose the SubHub platform? What are the platform features most important to you?

After researching myriad platforms, it was clear SubHub understood exactly what I had envisioned for a membership site. I was able to schedule a call and ask them specific questions, which (surprisingly) isn't available with all membership platforms. Not only did they have custom course builder templates & multiple subscription tiers, I was able to hire their development team to customize the site in a way that other's were not offering. Simply stated - SubHub and their entire staff won our business!

How did you get your first members?

We have over 25 years in our industry, and have built a substantial email list over the years.

What has been the most effective way to drive traffic to your website?

Creating content that has actual value, and establishing an online community that gets involved & can share your website | content with prospects. Non-organic, paid avenues such as Facebook ads have been effective also.

Do you use social media to get members for your website? What platform have you found to be the most effective?

Instagram & Facebook are the most effective social media platforms for us.

How have you grown your email list and how often do you send out email campaigns?

We have used SubHub's Zapier integration to help us expand our ever growing (and complex) email lists. The automation of email campaigns has been an enormously helpful tool. From the moment we acquire new members, to continually providing automated emails of content, emailing our list is a huge aspect of our business.

What kind of content is most popular on your website? And how often do you post new content? 

We are constantly posting new content to our site. The most popular content comes from our video shorts. Our customers want video content, that is not overly time consuming.

What advice do you have for anyone launching a membership website?

Hire the people who understand your concept | vision, and work with a platform like SubHub that not only has a great product, but outstanding customer service as well.

How has the SubHub platform helped you to reach your goals?

By constantly providing a product & service that we can rely upon to exceed our members expectations of an elite online education experience.

Conclusion

Function First illustrates the undeniable role that online education websites now play in every discipline. No longer is training limited in-person classes. Valuable instruction is now available in many online formats. By being able to provide comprehensive, up-to-date training resources to a wide audience of practitioners, Function First achieves its goal of helping individuals with chronic pain lead better lives.

Personalization has grown to be a crucial component of the subscription industry. The likelihood of retention and happiness is higher when each member's experience is more individually tailored and personalized. Personalization fosters a closer relationship with members and has a big impact on how quickly a company expands. Here's where movies can be useful. Videos have developed into a useful instrument for personalization, and they aid in giving members a more interesting and interactive experience.

When you use videos in your membership company, you can personalize your communications and produce content that is tailored to the wants and needs of each member. Videos can be used for many different purposes, such as onboarding new members and producing personalized video messages for each user. This strategy can foster long-lasting relationships with your members by fostering confidence and loyalty.

Understanding your members

Understanding your members' requirements, interests, and problems is crucial before you start making personalized videos for them. Your ability to produce videos that appeal to and benefit your members will depend on your ability to comprehend them. Here are some techniques for better comprehending your members:

Demographics: Analyze your users' demographics to start. Their age, gender, location, level of schooling, and line of work are all included. You can use this knowledge to produce videos that are suited to their requirements.

Interests and preferences: To learn about the interests and preferences of your members, conduct surveys or collect input. You can use this information to produce videos, like tutorials, product reviews, or behind-the-scenes material, that are tailored to their particular hobbies.

Pain points: Determine the difficulties or pain spots your members are experiencing. You can use this knowledge to produce videos that speak to their particular issues, provide answers, and foster a sense of trust. You can use this data to produce personalized video material that engages your members more deeply.

You can use personalized videos to greet new members, share updates, or promote special deals. The secret is to produce movies that are sincere, pertinent, and beneficial to your subscribers. We will look at how to make personalized video content that appeals to your members in the following part.

Creating Personalized Video Content

You need the appropriate methods and instruments to produce personalized video content. Here are some pointers to assist you in producing customized movies for your subscribers:

Use clip maker tool: You can swiftly and easily create customized videos with the aid of a clip maker tool. It allows you to include text, music, graphics, and other elements that are consistent with your identity and appeal to your members.

Be authentic: When making personalized videos for your users, authenticity is essential. Avoid using a salesy tone and be sincere and honest in your videos.

Use storytelling: A great way to emotionally engage your users is through storytelling. Use tales to share your brand's journey, highlight the advantages of your membership, or highlight the accomplishments of your members.

You can make customized video material for your members by using a clip maker tool, being genuine, and using storytelling. These videos can be used to introduce new goods, give subscribers updates, or promote special deals. Additionally, personalized videos can be utilized to welcome new participants and help them feel a part of the group.

Integrating Personalized Video into Your Membership Business

It's time to incorporate the personalized video content you've created into your membership-based company. The following advice will assist you in incorporating customized videos into your membership business:

Create personalized welcome letters with videos: A great way to introduce your new members to your business and give them a sense of value is through welcome emails. By extending a warm welcome and introducing them to your business, personalized videos can assist you in achieving this objective.

Use customized videos in your marketing campaigns: Customized videos can be used in your marketing campaigns to highlight your goods, provide privileged discounts, and captivate your audience.

Use customized videos to increase member retention: Customized videos can be used to address the problems that your members are experiencing, provide answers, and foster a sense of trust. You can increase member retention and create enduring relationships with your members by using personalized videos to handle these problems.

Your membership company can increase member engagement, retention, and satisfaction by incorporating personalized videos. Additionally, customized films can assist you in differentiating your company from the competition.

Measuring the Impact of Personalized Videos

You need to monitor metrics like engagement, retention, and conversion rates to gauge the effect of personalized videos on your membership company. The following techniques can be used to gauge the effect of customized videos:

Engagement: Track how many people watch, like, comment on, and share your customized videos. You can learn more about your audience's reaction to your videos using these measures.

Retention: Measure your users' retention rates both before and after you start using personalized videos. A better retention rate demonstrates how well your personalized videos work to maintain members' interest and satisfaction.

Conversion rates: Check your customized movies' conversion rates. This includes the quantity of leads produced, the quantity of sign-ups, and the income produced by your customized videos.

Using Data to Improve Your Personalized Video Content

Data can be used to enhance and increase the effectiveness of your personalized video material. You can find ways to enhance your personalized video material by looking at metrics like engagement, retention, and conversion rates. Here are some strategies for enhancing your customized video material with data:

Examine engagement data to discover the kinds of videos that are most popular with your audience. Utilize this knowledge to produce additional videos with a related theme or manner.

To determine your members' pain spots, analyze your retention metrics. Utilize this data to produce customized videos that discuss these problems and present answers.

To determine which personalized videos are most successful at producing leads and sign-ups, analyze conversion rates. Utilize this knowledge to produce additional videos with a related theme or manner.

You can make customized videos that are more engaging, pertinent, and successful in helping you reach your business objectives by using data to improve your personalized video content. In conclusion, personalized videos are a great way to engage your members more deeply and increase member retention, happiness, and engagement.

Conclusion

In conclusion, personalized videos are a great way to establish a more personal connection with members and raise their level of engagement, happiness, and retention. By adjusting your message to each member's specific hobbies and preferences through personalized videos, you can give them a more tailored and pertinent experience.

In conclusion, customized videos are a crucial tool for any membership business seeking to establish a more personal connection with its customers. You can give your members a richer, more meaningful experience and eventually propel the success of your membership business by utilizing the power of personalized videos.

If you're an expert in a niche subject and want to start a business to earn an income from your knowledge, then starting a membership website is the answer.

A membership website allows you to protect your exclusive content behind a paywall so access is only granted to subscribers.

This article will list the steps you need to take to start building your membership website.

1. Identify your target audience

Growing an audience of paying users requires creating content tailored to their needs.

It may seem counter-intuitive but by focusing on a specific niche subject you'll be able to more effectively create content that appeals to your target audience.

Knowing the customer persona of your target audience, enables you to identify and create impactful content specific to their needs along with effective marketing strategies to reach and engage them.

A narrow audience allows you to craft targeted marketing messages that will resonate with potential members resulting in successful marketing campaigns.

2. Determine your membership model

Once you identify your audience, you need to decide the content that you plan to offer, how it will be delivered and the sales model. Employing multiple revenue streams will maximise your ability to monetise your content. For example, by providing a visitor, who doesn't intend to sign-up to a membership, the opportunity to purchase a course, digital download or pay-per-view product means you still capture revenue. The SubHub platform gives you the ability to create multiple revenue streams.

Offering membership tiers which unlock more content and perks depending on the level is another upsell option to employ. But remember, too many choices can have a negative impact. According to Hick’s Law, the more choices you present to a user can prolong their decision making process. So limit the membership levels to no more than four.

Membership fees can be set up as a one-time payments or on a recurring basis. Recurring fees have the advantage of providing a steady and reliable income flow. For members that might need a nudge, including free trial days can entice them to sign up.

3. Choosing the best membership platform for your needs

These days there are a wealth of membership models to choose from. They include WordPress, where you can build your site's functionality with plugins, to all-in-one SaaS solutions. Which you select will depend on your budget, tech skills, membership objectives and the content you want to sell.

WordPress offers the most flexibility when it comes to the design and functionality you can achieve with your website. However, those benefits also come with costs and disadvantages. Unless you have technical skills or the budget to hire a developer, a WordPress site can be out of your price range.

The other major downside with WordPress is plug-in maintenance. When you build a website based on the interaction of multiple plugins, you must insure they are all compatible. One incompatible plugin, can break your whole site. This often happens when a plugin needs to be updated. And when it does, you'll need to hire a developer to fix it.

Alternatively, a SaaS solution (Software as a Service) is a complete service that provides you not only with the website but hosting, maintenance and customer support. Popular SaaS examples are Wix, Shopify, Teachable and SubHub. A SaaS solution reduces the stress of running an online knowledge business. If something breaks, you just need to submit a support ticket. And SaaS companies are always working to improve their product offerings.

You'll want to select a platform you can grow with. The design, functionality, and scalability should be flexible enough to modify to meet your target audience’s changing needs.

Many SaaS solutions specialise in the delivery of specific types of content. If you plan to only sell online courses, you might select an eLearning platform like Teachable. If your focus is website membership, but also want the additional revenue stream of selling courses then the SubHub platform is the answer.

Lastly, choose a platform that provides dedicated customer support. When you run a membership website, there will be issues. Read client reviews support by people who really understand both technology and online publishing is vital.

4. Building your website

If you've selected a SaaS solution, you can start right away creating your site with that solution's website builder. Most SaaS solutions are intended to be intuitive enough for a non-techie to easily use.

Your homepage will be the most important page on your site as it will influence whether or not a visitor becomes a member. Be sure to carefully craft the copy of your banner and body text so that it informs and engages with your potential members. Clearly define, the benefits of your membership proposition.

Your homepage must also be SEO optimised with keywords so that your site is found in search results.

Include a testimonial section as client reviews can have a persuasive impact by showing visitors that others value your product, it’s a vote of confidence in your product.

Pay attention to page speed as a slow loading page will cause visitors to bounce.

These are just a few tips to create a converting homepage.

5. Upload initial content

Before launching, you'll need to have uploaded enough content to satisfy your first members. This could be in the form of blog posts, courses, downloads, videos etc. Then you'll need to stay committed to a regular schedule of adding new content.

Make sure your content is meaningful and is of value to your audience.

6. Follow SEO best practices

Just launching a website isn't enough to get found. From the start, be sure to follow SEO best practices when creating your site and adding content. This will improve your chance of getting found in search results. Using keywords, the proper heading format, internal links and requesting backlinks are all necessary to insure that when Google and other search engines index your site that they understand what your site is about, how content relates to each other.

• The same focus keyword needs to be present in your meta title, article headline, first sentence and a few times in the article body.
• Once you create an article, submit it to Google search so that it is indexed within 24 hours.
• Use the proper heading (H1, H2, H3...) format on your pages. H1 must only be used ONCE on any page. Proper headings inform search engines about the structure of your site and the hierarchy of your content.
• Internal links are created when you include links of similarly-themed content to each other. Again, this help search engines understand the content on your site and how it relates to each other.
• When a site links to your site, this is a backlink. It proves to search engines that your content is relevant and trustworthy.

7. Grow a community on social media

Drive traffic to your website using your social media channels. It's best to select a single social media platform and then dedicate all your efforts to building an audience. Choose the platform where your prospective members will be hanging out.

Conclusion

Membership is one of the most exciting business opportunities on the internet today. It is established enough that you will not have to reinvent the wheel. Everything you need to be successful is available and accessible to novices and experts alike.

You just need to take the first step and open a free 14-day trial with SubHub.