25 Killer Membership Site Ideas, Including Low-Cost
February 14, 2024 12 min read
Probably one of the best things about membership websites is that you can start small and grow over time, only increasing your database of customers. Ready to start learning membership sites ideas?
Currently there are 1.1 Billion Websites in the world. Well, don’t be worried because only 18% of them are active and the rest 82% stay inactive. Siteefy suggests that 175 Websites are created every minute. However, the total number of inactive Websites is 5x more than the active ones. This is a clear gap in the market wherein numerous website membership programs are launched but the users have no idea which ones would be active membership sites. It is time to grab this opportunity to create your own membership site. But, you must look through the ideas and checklist before launching a Website. It will aid you to not end up in the pile of the 82% inactive ones.
If you are looking for low-cost membership site ideas, or even want to build a membership site atop your existing business, we hope our membership website ideas will spark your inspiration and creativity!
We’ll be talking about entrepreneurship, tourism, health, education, and more! To simplify your understanding, we’ve decided to briefly describe the idea and also provide a few examples of the membership platform you can start. Let’s now list membership site ideas that are valuable and profitable!
What is a Membership Website?
A membership website is a type of site that allows the users to be a member or subscribe to a membership community in order to have access to gated content. It is a library of content available only to the members who have paid some membership fees.
But who will buy a membership of a Website? It’s no Netflix subscription, right? Well, look at the cooking membership site of allrecipes, known as America’s #1 trusted recipe resource! It is a Website about food but they have it all. It has Content for casual browsers for free, a magazine subscription, and a subscription to allrecipes Website as well, thus a perfect membership subscription site.
With just a simple idea of sharing recipes, this Website has a community of over 60 million home cooks. So an answer to your confusion is, Yes, an average American spends as high as $273 monthly for various subscription services.
Service-based Businesses Membership Site Ideas
Are you confident in one-to-one conversations? Then consulting services would be a great start for you. Organizing Strategy sessions, creating custom plans, or helping marketing, career development, and finance can be your niche.Curated Consulting
Idea: A platform for freelance consultants from various industries who can share exclusive advice, resources, and templates to members of the website.
Example: A membership website, where marketing experts, HR consultants, and financial advisors share lessons, schedule consultations, and run workshops.Astrology and Tarot Reading
Idea: With an increased interest in Astrology and Tarot Card, make a membership Website designed around giving astrological suggestions. The users can select a one-on-one consultation plan or be a member to keep viewing your updates.
Example: Look at the website of the Tarot Lady to understand how you can create a membership plan around that knowledge.
Professional Development Expert
Idea: If you are a seasoned professional, then offer your expertise as career development. Many people are looking for tips to progress in their career; why not offer them services such as resume reviews, interview coaching, and industry-specific insights that would be truly actionable?
Example: Observe the Website of the muse who are involved in a diverse career coaching with various models.Health and Wellness membership
Idea: Health and Wellness is a topic that would never go out of trend. There is a group of fitness enthusiasts and a group of wannabe fitness enthusiasts. With a lot of noise around the health and wellness market, you can be a true torch-bearer.
Specialize your Website around fitness for growing kids,fitness for teen girls, wellness for postpartum journey, health tips for ex-athletes. This will help you create a separate market segment and target in a specific direction instead of hitting in the dark.
Example: Take a look at activekids Website. There are various programmes for kids, most of which are free while some are premium offerings.
Legal Resource Centre
Idea: A personal or multi-expert hub for updates of legal industry trends and case studies, where legal advisors can share their insights with details, which are very often omitted when the information is shared publicly.
Example: A website, where lawyers and legal experts share successful (and non-successful) legal strategies to educate and inspire their colleagues. Lawasia is one such example.
Online Courses, Education, and Coaching
The Global e-learning market is expected to reach $457.8 billion by 2026 and the boom of the online education market has been on the rise ever since Covid. Thus, if you have certain specific skills, set up your website and start selling online courses.Language Learning Community
Idea: The World is blurring boundaries day after day. With this globalized approach, the demand for foreign language learning is on the rise. Create a commercialized website or an app to offer language courses, study groups, and cultural immersion experiences. Embrace the native culture and create a level from basic to advanced.
Example: Babble is a beautiful language learning Website that can inspire you.Coding Boot-camp Platform
Idea: Programmers all around the world require some support in between to understand specifics of professional coding. Make your coding tutorials available to subscribers, project collaboration opportunities, and even create mentorships.
Example: Womenwhocode is a perfect example of a niche specific, coding platform who focuses on Podcasts and Blogs.Parenting and Child Development
Idea: Courses on parenting techniques with personal consultations are very on-demand, especially among young parents. You can teach child psychology and sell educational activities for different age groups. Partner up with such experts to offer parenting solutions on your membership Website and create a wholesome community around parenting.
Example: Positive Parenting Solutions is a beautiful membership site that offers online courses as well as specific plans to become a member.
Product-based Industries (E-commerce & Retail)
Fashion and Beauty Club
Idea: Offer fashion enthusiasts early access to new collections, exclusive discounts, make-up and styling tips from industry experts, including lifestyle techniques. This can start with something as simple as teaching basic skincare to helping people know their color palette based on their skin tone. It is a mad industry with lots of potential.
Example: Professional Beauty Association is a community based membership site that offers suggestions and memberships to every level of beauty enthusiasts.Gourmet Food Subscription
Idea: Special knowledge base for food lovers with access to exclusive gourmet food products, recipes, cooking demonstrations, and various types of tips.
Example: Remember Charles Boyle’s Food Blog from Brooklyn 99? That’s the perfect example of a food blogger’s subscription site surrounded by specific gourmet food and experiences.
Tech Gadgets Insider
Idea: Are you a tech fan or a professional? Think of this membership site idea: share your insider information on upcoming gadgets, exclusive discounts from the shops you cooperate with, and tech-related tutorials.
Example: Check out the TechTO Website for inspiration for this kind of membership.Artist’s and Creatives
Idea: Create a space where artists, designers, illustrators are engaged with each other. Or you can collaborate with such people and list their digital products to be sold as pay per post. If it is a community, the opportunities will be endless. You can post online courses to help them sustain the AI revolution, blogs on various topics, and moderate give and take of creatives.
Example: A platform for interior designers, home decor experts, graphic designers, illustrators to share their content and sell their artworks to site visitors.Outdoor Adventure Club
Idea: Outdoor sports enthusiasts seek inspiration on forums and love trying new gear. A membership site for them can become a new level of finding new things and like-minded people, where they can find exclusive discounts on adventure gear, travel guides, and expert advice.
Example: An online community of outdoor experts, travel bloggers, and probably travel companies contributing to the community. TripAdvisor is the biggest example of one such site.
Content-driven Membership Website Ideas
Websites like Medium or giant news platforms like the New York Times that can deliver human-made research have been already providing paywall-protected content to readers willing to pay for quality.Premium news portal
Idea: A paywall-protected membership site with human-made high-quality materials that can deliver in-depth analysis, exclusive articles, and expert opinions on current events and industry trends.
Example: Those can be created by current news websites as well as journalists and analysts who want to start their own subscription-based sites. An e-book subscription model can also be laid out.
Photography Masterclass
Idea: Courses on photography, providing stock photographs, and helping photographers find a gig can be a part of your membership Website. You can give suggestions regarding gears, optimum exposure in various situations, how to find independent gigs and so on.
Example: Professional photographers and designers who can create actionable tools and provide guides.Book Lovers’ Library
Idea: Why would anyone need to create a membership site about books while there are so many free resources? Such a book membership site can act as a curator, selecting high-quality content – book recommendations, author interviews, and exclusive access to book releases – and organizing it in a way that’s helpful for book lovers.
Example: A digital library, where authors, literary critics, and book enthusiasts share experiences and resources.
Community-focused Membership Website Ideas
There can be tons of examples, when communities can monetize their resources.Green Living
Idea: While eco-conscious individuals seek to make their resources open to maximum people, still offering sustainable living tips, eco-friendly product recommendations, and community events are better appreciated in a community of like-minded people.
Example: Environmentalists, sustainable living experts, vegan revolution, and eco-friendly businesses.Travelers Troupe
Idea: Share travel guides, sell travel itinerary, suggest best places to eat, stay, and explore, connect members with each other for them to travel and meet and so on. This kind of a Website will bring together explorers and travel enthusiasts and you can be a virtual guide and community moderator to them.
Example: Members can mark their travel destinations and share recommendations with others; featuring member stories and destination guides. Traveller’s Point is one such example.
Non-profit Organizations
Create a commercial or free membership platform for non-profit organizations. Create a Model for Volunteer opportunities or lay down an education for all concepts. Provide member discounts on eco-friendly products or products created by underprivileged.
Example: Membership-based invitations to community events and gatherings. Check out the Child Rights Connect Site for reference.
Spirituality and Mindfulness Membership Site Ideas
With these membership website ideas, you can focus on mindful living, stress reduction, or self-compassion. A community of meditators, Yoga practitioners, guided Meditation sessions, spiritual growth site, sound healing, and virtual mindfulness retreat can be curated.
The market is wide enough for setting up a membership Website. You must pinpoint a problem and provide its solution with the help of a membership website. Take expert guidance before setting up a membership website in 2024.
Look at various examples and find out what can work the best for you in this market. Remember that there are very less active Websites. So, have a long term plan before launching your online course Website. This will help keep up your goodwill and attract more users.
Innovative Membership Site Ideas
The world is a place of out-of-the-box thinkers. Let us look at how they utilize a membership model for an interesting Website.Online Dog Training Website
Look at the membership site of the onlinedogtrainer. It is conceptualized to help the dog parents with reactive dogs and gives tips on calming them. They have various programmes for different requirements and also sell dog products!A Snack Subscription Website
There are various Websites like Indifix and Snackible who provide a monthly box of snacks to the subscribers. Indifix is a US based Indian Snack business that targets the foreign students. A temptation to provide them with the food of their country on a monthly subscription! What an amazing idea.
Artvana Paint at Home
The site Artvana sends you an art supplies package every month for you to connect with your creativity. It provides a monthly subscription model with many benefits and access to tutorials and art instructors.A T-shirt Club
If you are a T-shirt enthusiast and want the original, first designs of the tees, you can join a monthly T-shirt subscription. Isn’t this a crazy idea? If you create something, then provide early access to members or create member’s only designs to boost your membership business.Global Spices Subscription
Piquant Post is a global spice subscription wherein a member receives a box of spices every month. Picked from various regions across the world with recipes. This is an idea we love. Alternatively, you can create a membership site around your traditional, home-recipes and share them with members only.
FAQs for a Perfect Membership Website
1. Do Membership Sites Allow to Make Money
Membership sites providing genuinely good content and keeping customers engaged through internal communities make ample money. You need to dedicate yourself to an idea and work towards it consistently.2. What is the User Intent to Buy Service-based Memberships
Users need quick and easy solutions for their problems. If your membership site solves their problem, they would not mind paying recurring fees for the premium access. Thus, solve a unique problem or a problem in a unique way.3. How to Charge while starting a Memberships Site?
You need to evaluate how much time you would require to create digital products and what will be the amount or frequency in which users will receive exclusive content from you. Based on that you can categorize charges among different membership plans.4. How to Receive Payments from Foreign Members on Membership Site
A good membership plugin like ARMember will provide you with multiple Payment Gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, Bank Transfer, Mollie, and many more. You can activate all the required payment gateways based on the currency.
More insightful articles:
👉 What is the Difference Between Subscriptions vs Memberships?
👉 How to Create Membership Levels and Pricing Plans with ARMember
Brian Denim
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