Best Ideas for Membership Site to Start Earning in 2024

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Published in Resources February 17, 2023 12 min read

You know an average American possesses around 4.5 subscriptions and spends a whopping amount of $924 yearly getting access to various types of membership sites. You want to take advantage of this vast market of membership models but are afraid to get lost in the crowd? That’s what we are for, to solve your confusion and give you the best membership site ideas.

We are going to divide the membership site examples into eight different categories and then explore online membership to grow your business. Are you ready to make the most out of this opportunity? Then read on to be inspired by our curated list.

Teaching and Learning: Best Membership Website

The e-learning industry is going to see a rise of 57 million online learners by 2027. Around 30% of students studying in America have purchased at least one online course and the retention rate of online learning ranges between 25% to 60% which is quite high from the 8% to 10% of traditional learning.

This is a very wide market and is an ever-increasing one. With the flexibility of learning online and gaining certifications to support their professional endeavours, teaching and learning is a great arena to explore. But what to teach? There are multiple options for training membership site like,

  • If you’re good at a computer language, make short courses for it. Provide video content, specific tips and tricks, suggest tools and software to quicken the process and so on in your membership program.
  • Provide finance education to the town. If you are well aware of your Government’s finance schemes, study the stock market regularly, keep a track of ups and downs, then spread this knowledge. You might be helping your friends with their financial planning but start earning out of it by creating a membership site. This is a successful business idea to explore. 
  • Test Preparation is another such topic. There are various professional tests that an individual needs to clear to get a certain job or secure an admission. IELTS, TOEFL, ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, Medical Examination are the examples of such tests. If you have gone through such a test, then provide the tips to prepare for it, crack it, and how to manage time for studying for this topic. You can define various membership levels to provide education. 
  • Teach a language. If your proficiency in your native language is professional, then start teaching it to others. There are many people who want to learn languages or have to learn because of shifting to another nation. People even opt for learning a language to enhance their professional resume. Charge a membership fee per language and build your perfect membership business model.

Find ways to market and attract students to your online courses. There are many people offering varied courses. Provide genuine knowledge and look out for partnerships with companies, industry professionals, universities, to provide a joint certification that can attract more people. You might need to use a different WordPress plugin to launch a membership site.

Look at the following examples of membership sites of k12dive and MotelyFool to understand this opportunity.

e-learning membership site

Artistic Endeavors: A Successful Membership Site Idea

Being an artist is not easy. You give years and years of training and practice to it. Now you can make this accessible online for others and charge your fees by making it your membership area. Such artistic skills are rare and people pay ample money to enroll themselves or their children for such things. These sites are a great example to build a community membership site for artists.

  • Are you a music maestro and have been trained through years? Then what are you waiting for? Offer exclusive training and give out your notes to others and help them develop their musical notes.
  • You can even teach an instrument online with the help of either live sessions or pre-recorded courses for the enthusiasts to learn at their own pace. You can define different membership levels to suit audience proficiency. 
  • Teach art, drawing, illustrations, DIY crafts, origami, dance, or even set up your gardening Website wherein you give suggestions on taking care of plants based on the season. 
  • Pet Training and Pet Grooming are also some interesting artistic skills. Pet lovers and pet parents would appreciate such advice and tricks to keep their pet baby happy.

Lookout for the best way to utilize your passion, your skills, your art. Create a successful membership site around this membership idea. Look at how this Website is monetizing their violin knowledge.

membership site for art

Membership Website Idea to Teach Life Skills

There is a group of people who are not acquainted with certain life skills like changing a light bulb, fixing a flat tire, basic cooking ingredients and how they are used, or any such quick fixes that are needed in day to day life. This is a great membership website example.

Create a membership site surrounded by providing such life skills and knowledge. If you are passionate about building furniture, that can be your niche. If you have ample knowledge and tricks about maintaining cars, that’s what your membership channel should be about.

Identify a life skill that is required on a regular basis and have your popular membership channel around it. Examples of membership sites around this idea are howcarworks or spedadulting.

Tips and Advice based Subscription Website

If you have gone through certain experiences in life, then sharing about it might help others in their journey. Make your membership community and build a membership platform for discussions.

  • A site based around parenting wherein you can specify the niche as guidance for first time parents, how to deal with tantalizing teenagers, help your autistic child through growth, how to support physically special children in their journey. Herein, you identify a specific problem and provide solutions around it.
  • Providing relationship advice and counseling. People look out for genuine relationship advice as the arena has started becoming more and more complex in 2024.
  • Educational Counseling can be provided to students who are on the precipice of choosing a path from varied options. They always look out for third party suggestions to get an unbiased opinion and suggestions
  • Legal Counseling and Legal Help is another such topic that can be explored. Nowadays, users look for everything online and also require some secrecy. Thus, online legal help can be a great way to bridge this gap.
  • Cooking Membership Sites is another such niche which is popular. Such a membership site allows the users to get access to special recipes, be a part of a membership base to share tips and learning.

Tips and Counseling can be a great way to monetize your membership site. You can also take help from an appointment booking tool if you wish to go for a slot-wise one-on-one module for your site and provide a service-based membership.

tips membership website

Profitable Membership Website with Audio Content

Audio Books, Podcasts, Audio Stories is a booming sector in 2024 and a perfect membership website idea.. The global audio entertainment market is expected to surpass US $75 billion by the end of this year in revenues. The annual revenue is expected to grow at the rate of 3.35% by 2029. Thus, this membership site model is the one out of which you can reap maximum benefits.

Instead of hosting your audio content on some third-party platform, create your own membership site to provide exclusive content to your members. A membership site might feel challenging to run, but it will give you complete freedom over your content. 

Creating a Paid Membership Website to Sell Stock Photos

If you are a photographer or a designer, selling stock photos, templates is the best route for you. Come up with ideas of various templates like resume, business cards, invitation cards, social media designs, editable charts, graphs, and so on. You can even create specific designs looking at the need of the market and sell it as pay per post on your membership site.

For a photographer, the arena is wide. Blog writers, video creators, designers are looking for photographs to include in their content. However, all types of pictures are not readily available. Understand this demand and work out a way to sell such pictures.

One of the best ways is to provide a free trial or free membership. The way in which users interact with your offerings will give you better ideas to enhance your site into a winning membership site.

stock images membership website

Create a Membership Site for Fashion and Beauty

An evergreen topic holding numerous opportunities. Here, you have ample of options to select your niche and decide what your site offers. Here is a list of membership site ideas that can be included in your membership plan. 

Haircare: Have a membership website just around haircare and product reviews. Various treatments, its pros and cons, alternatives, promoting natural hair growth, are a few of multiple things you can deal with.

Skincare: This is another wide spectrum on which you can land. It can be gender specific as well if you wish to further funnel it down. People are becoming well aware about themselves and what they use. It is a good opportunity to create a type of site that gives rightful skincare suggestions and also sell products by partnering with a genuine brand you trust on.

Nails: Men and Women equally are crazy about nails and are in search of latest styles, trends, and ideas. If you are a nail artist, build a membership site focused on giving nail suggestions. You can even post premium videos to tutor a specific type of nail design or style.

Makeup: From basic to advanced, the world of makeup is ever evolving and people need a guide to keep up with it. If you are heavily involved in exploring and trying makeup trends, membership sites are a great way to build a loyal army who eagerly wait for your updates.

Fashion Advice: Fashion Advice is once again a vast topic that can be internally categorized based on your knowledge or interest. Styling guides based on specific body types, guides on how to accessorize, office wear special, and so on.

Every membership site should include a main niche offering. The sub niches can be formed around the main idea to cater to a specialized group of people.

membership site for fashion and beauty

A Great Membership Site for Health and Fitness

Just like fashion and beauty, starting a membership site for health and fitness will always be a great idea. US consumers are second most spenders in physical activity after Monaco. The rate is $810 per capita! This is the market heavily in demand.

The ideas that fit this category are nutrition plans, balanced diet, strength exercise, learning the right form, Yoga, meditation, Pilates, cardio, and so on. You can provide various courses and membership plans to choose from.

If you own a Gym, you can create an alternate way for people to stay connected with you and access guides and online programmes. This will be a profitable membership site as it would generate walk-ins to your physical location. Look at how Anytime Fitness is pushing their online as well as offline presence to give full value to membership site owners.

fitness membership website

Considerations Before Launching Your WordPress Membership Site

While working on the idea of a membership website, you will have plenty of examples. However, make sure you have the right amount of knowledge and resources to keep the site growing. You cannot hook in members, get payments, and then not provide enough value to them. 

You must share ideas and information that are genuine if you want to be in the race for the long run. People are smart enough to know real from fake and do not take much time in spreading the information.

However, if your offerings are genuine and reliable, they would not hesitate to give money and also refer to others regarding your business. Strong customer base would help generate revenue for your online business.

Use a WordPress membership plugin and explore the tons of free resources available on the platform. Personalize an online dashboard where members can engage in discussing innovative ideas. 

Take your time and go through the list once more. It might spark some idea in you to create an amazing membership website. Look at the work of successful membership site creators and what kind of service membership they offer. You must also learn how to create online courses if that is going to be your main offering.

FAQs for Membership Site Ideas

What is the investment to start an online business on a subscription site?

If you do not have a site that offers membership, you would need to pay for a domain name, and get a good membership plugin. It can range between $250 to $1000 based on the services you choose. Membership plugins are usually a one-time cost, however, the domain name would require monthly/yearly payment.

How much are people willing to pay for a subscription site?

An average user is bound to spend USD 30 to 100 for various subscriptions based on their age, requirements, and the quality they receive. Use WordPress membership to create a community membership site wherein like-minded people gather on one platform.

Can I Sell Individual Post in an online community instead of Memberships?

It is easy to sell a single post if you are selling stock photos, photographs, curated audio, podcasts, magazine issues. The buyers will pay only for the item that they want to access and not the whole membership. It is a win-win for you and the buyer, both

What is an important point to validate membership site ideas

You must take care of the quality of your offering and frequency. To keep growing, your site also should keep communicating with your users/buyers. Membership and Subscription sites work on engaging communities.
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.

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