10+ Membership Sites that’ll Inspire You to Start Your Own

author
Published in Business May 15, 2024 6 min read

Looking to start a membership site and share your expertise online? Awesome! This is one the best ways to build passive income and do what you really like, create a community, and find your fans.

But what is actually a membership site? Today, there are loads of digital projects that can qualify as memberships – from apps with paid access to video libraries, one-to-one coaching, and online gyms. The key concept is, however, paid member-only content that is released on a regular basis or is more static.

One of the most well-known types of membership sites today is an online newspaper or magazine site that offers paid subscriptions to get access to their latest materials, forum discussions, and sometimes even professional merch. Another example is music streaming services, so yes, Spotify premium is a membership solution.

Let’s now, however, take a look at various paid membership site examples and communities existing online!

Obe Fitness

Obe Fitness website

Advertised as a personalized fitness made for women, this membership site offers tons of helpful workout programs, showcasing a beautiful website with a distinct female vibe.

Customers can discover live and on-demand fitness classes, including HIIT, strength training, dance, and yoga. As for options, there is a general plan or even add personal training to their membership for one-on-one support.

👉 Obe Fitness website

Cookidoo

Cookidoo website

This clean-looking and well-structured website offers a membership account for culinary enthusiasts. To unlock access to truly working actionable recipes, it’s needed to become a member.

To entice users to purchase a membership after a free trial, the Cookidoo website offers over 80,000 recipes to suit any lifestyle, new dishes from all around the world, and tools to choose, plan and prepare perfect meals with filters, personalized shopping lists, and grocery ordering. Members can also save favorite recipes and collections in their account. 

👉 Cookidoo website

Martha Beck

Martha Beck website

This is a nice example of a website that uses the power of an influencer. Martha Beck is a Harvard-trained sociologist, world-renowned coach and New York Times bestselling author, also offers coaching membership programs on this website.

On her website, you can discover various membership coaching programs, all about helping you find your way. The membership program includes monthly group coaching calls, a private online community forum, and access to a library of past calls and resources.

👉 Martha Beck website

BirdieTime

BirdieTime site

Inspired by golf, this membership site example offers beautifully crafted member-only video courses, designed for various levels of expertise. It has a dark design with videos in the main-light.

Golf coaches create a video library of exercises and workouts and allow customers to unlock them with a free trial, and then a chosen subscription payment if they are satisfied with the result.

👉 BirdieTime website

Drowned in Sound

Drowned in Sound website

This website is for music enthusiasts who want to join the community and fellow fans. They can choose the needed plan, either only for monthly music recommendations or longer texts, expert analysis, advice for musicians and even take part in the discussion of the editorial plan. Members can get exclusive content, read insightful essays, and more for a monthly fee.

👉 Drowned in Sound website

Making Design Circular

Making Design Circular - website

This is a creative community membership site and online learning platform for designers and craftspeople, who want to make art, take care of the environment, and learn from each other. There is a community, podcasts, courses and insightful coaching. A membership website example focuses on the people and places, a background video adds a creative vibe to the website.

👉 Making Design Circular website

Runway ML

Runway ML website

There are many AI membership websites that either allow to test AI products, study AI, or run an AI community. Often sporting sleek, futuristic designs with dark color schemes, these websites often use the power of video and even virtual reality to create unforgettable website experiences. 

👉 Runway ML website 

Booklovers

Booklovers website

A membership community of book lovers that offers a membership subscription for downloading books and organizing the reading content inside a member account. It looks rather classical and offers many interactive elements, showcases chosen books, and inspires readers to take a look.

👉 Booklovers website 

The Futur

The Futur

This website features a community of teachers who provide various tools and resources for freelancers in the design, marketing, and advertising industries. They offer a paid membership that gives you access to exclusive courses, resources, and a community of other top creatives. 

👉 The Futur website

The League

The League site

This website offers a vetted community of entrepreneurs and business consultants who share best practices, offer advice, and collaborate on projects. They have a selective application process to ensure a high-quality membership.

👉 The League website

Yoga World

Yoga World website

This is a popular Yoga Journal magazine, which, among news and articles, offers a vast library of yoga classes, workshops, articles, and pose breakdowns. Their membership provides access to an online community forum where yogis can connect and discuss yoga practice, philosophy, and lifestyle.

👉 Yoga World website

LawTrades

LawTrades website

This website features an online marketplace where businesses can post legal projects and receive bids from lawyers, but besides that, LawTrades offers a subscription plan that provides businesses with access to a network of pre-vetted lawyers.

👉 LawTrades website

CEO Teacher

CEO Teacher website

This online marketplace allows teachers to sell their own original resources, such as lesson plans, worksheets, and activities. Teachers can also purchase resources from other educators, thus creating a professional community with a friendly vibe.

👉 CEO Teacher website

To conclude: How to create your own membership website? 

Start with WordPress, the most popular platform for creating websites of any type and scale. WordPress is especially popular with membership businesses, offering many full-scale membership WordPress plugins on offer, many social, forum and discussion features, and the options to develop and any tools you would need along the way.

With its variety of designs, you can build a needed look for your site, simply and easily create your member’s login area, upload your content, and release it to users at your own pace.

Other Helpful resources:

Brain Denim

Brian Denim

Meet Brian, a WordPress expert with a decade of experience in web development and a passion for technical writing, watching movies, and camping.

Leave a Reply

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Stay in the loop with the latest WordPress and web performance updates. Straight to your inbox every two weeks.