So, creating a SaaS business model is a rather large undertaking compared to becoming an affiliate marketer. But as we saw, it definitely does have its advantages as well. And one of the biggest of those advantages is the fact that it allows you to set up recurring income and to earn much more from a single visitor.
Instead of getting a one off payment for a download, you get a recurring payment from that same person for months or maybe even years. And as it happens, there is an easier way to accomplish this which is simply to set up a membership site! As the name suggests, this is a website or blog that charges a recurring fee for membership.
Normally this works by presenting some information for free but then having more information and perhaps discussion/community behind a pay wall. An example of this is LongeCity (www.longecity.org). This is a website all
about techniques you can use to live longer, or that you can use to improve your brain power using supplementation. While the main site is free and you can even read much of the forum, in order to participate in the discussion you need to become a paid member.
Another good example is Lynda.com (www.lynda.com). This site has a different topic – teaching a range of skills – but is once again a paid site meaning that you need to be a member in order to access the articles. Many newspapers with websites also do the same thing – but partly this is to avoid preventing people from paying for their papers by getting the same content online for free!
Creating Your Membership Site
The good news is that creating a membership site is really relatively simple and straightforward. All you need to do is to create a website or blog as you normally would – using WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org) and then to
install a plugin that will handle the recurring fee on your behalf. These include ‘AMember’ (www.amember.com) and ‘MemberMouse’ (http://membermouse.com/).
The hard part here then, is getting people to want to subscribe to your blog or website when they’re so used to getting content online for free. In order to make it worthwhile, you’re going to have to offer something that they feel
they can’t get elsewhere or that is more valuable than what they’re used to getting for free. Building a big community is also a great way to do this, as people love getting interaction with others who are interested in their topic and they love feeling as though they are a part of an ‘exclusive’ membership program.
It’s like being in a secret club! The examples we looked at both do this very well. In the case of Longecity.com, you have a community discussing things that are potentially very valuable (raising IQ and life extension) and information that isn’t available everywhere. This lends itself very well to the ‘underground website’ mentality and makes becoming a member very appealing.
Meanwhile, Lynda.com provides skills and training that someone might be able to use to earn more money. Thus they are getting real value for money and they may even be able to consider it as an investment. Your job when creating your membership site then is to create something that is exciting, exclusive and rare so that people are willing to pay to become a part of it. And often this is going to involve giving some content away for free in order to demonstrate the value on offer.
YouTube
Note that there is another option available for those looking to make money from paid content. YouTube has a ‘paid content’ option that allows you to keep certain videos behind a pay wall. This is a great option as YouTube will make it easier for you to handle payments and to promote your content.
Check out how to do this here: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3249127?hl=en-GB.
Instead of getting a one off payment for a download, you get a recurring payment from that same person for months or maybe even years. And as it happens, there is an easier way to accomplish this which is simply to set up a membership site! As the name suggests, this is a website or blog that charges a recurring fee for membership.
Normally this works by presenting some information for free but then having more information and perhaps discussion/community behind a pay wall. An example of this is LongeCity (www.longecity.org). This is a website all
about techniques you can use to live longer, or that you can use to improve your brain power using supplementation. While the main site is free and you can even read much of the forum, in order to participate in the discussion you need to become a paid member.
Another good example is Lynda.com (www.lynda.com). This site has a different topic – teaching a range of skills – but is once again a paid site meaning that you need to be a member in order to access the articles. Many newspapers with websites also do the same thing – but partly this is to avoid preventing people from paying for their papers by getting the same content online for free!
Creating Your Membership Site
The good news is that creating a membership site is really relatively simple and straightforward. All you need to do is to create a website or blog as you normally would – using WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org) and then to
install a plugin that will handle the recurring fee on your behalf. These include ‘AMember’ (www.amember.com) and ‘MemberMouse’ (http://membermouse.com/).
The hard part here then, is getting people to want to subscribe to your blog or website when they’re so used to getting content online for free. In order to make it worthwhile, you’re going to have to offer something that they feel
they can’t get elsewhere or that is more valuable than what they’re used to getting for free. Building a big community is also a great way to do this, as people love getting interaction with others who are interested in their topic and they love feeling as though they are a part of an ‘exclusive’ membership program.
It’s like being in a secret club! The examples we looked at both do this very well. In the case of Longecity.com, you have a community discussing things that are potentially very valuable (raising IQ and life extension) and information that isn’t available everywhere. This lends itself very well to the ‘underground website’ mentality and makes becoming a member very appealing.
Meanwhile, Lynda.com provides skills and training that someone might be able to use to earn more money. Thus they are getting real value for money and they may even be able to consider it as an investment. Your job when creating your membership site then is to create something that is exciting, exclusive and rare so that people are willing to pay to become a part of it. And often this is going to involve giving some content away for free in order to demonstrate the value on offer.
YouTube
Note that there is another option available for those looking to make money from paid content. YouTube has a ‘paid content’ option that allows you to keep certain videos behind a pay wall. This is a great option as YouTube will make it easier for you to handle payments and to promote your content.
Check out how to do this here: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3249127?hl=en-GB.