Membership Websites

Mark Ragan of Ragan.com and Ragan Select, tells publishers how their new membership website and social network has brought profitability from 31% to 49% … Continue Reading »

With traffic and sales doubling in the past year, Taunton’s Janine Scolpino discusses some keys to membership website success
… Continue Reading »

With advertising sales dropping, many publishers are considering charging for content. Will you?

After hearing Jim Malkin, CEO of SourceMedia spoke this week at FOLIO about how he intends to transform into a paid-subscription model, we thought now might be a good time to talk about membership websites and the Five Deadly Membership Website Mistakes you can make. … Continue Reading »

Executives from ESPN, Rodale and Harvard Business Review discuss the challenges and benefits of charging users for online content

General Manager & Editorial Director of ESPN Publishing Gary Hoenig admitted he didn’t know anything about SEO 6 months ago. The concept of using SEO to acquire subscribers (link to some article we’ve done about this please) fascinates him, but admitted it isn’t exactly easy. “You can harness it if you try really hard,” said Hoenig. “You must allow the search engines to work for you, not against you.” … Continue Reading »

Do you know how users consume print and digital media? If you think they’re the same, you’re wrong. And if you’re building or running a membership website with that mindset, you’re in trouble. … Continue Reading »

Many publishers refer to a Newsletter Website as a Membership Website, but the truth is that Newsletter Websites stand on their own. … Continue Reading »

Giving away the same content customers once paid for is no longer an option – think of it as your new circulation marketing program. … Continue Reading »

Download our complimentary Membership report today and learn what every magazine, newsletter and book publisher needs to know before launching a Membership Website … Continue Reading »

Adapt to changing subscription models … Continue Reading »

Make 2.0 Work for You … Continue Reading »

Optimize Your Marketing Mix … Continue Reading »

Defend Against Economic Downturn … Continue Reading »

The casual visitor makes an impression of your subscription website based on numerous factors. Whether consciously to unconsciously, most potential members are looking for certain elements that indicate to them that you and your business are legitimate. … Continue Reading »

Digital editions are quickly creeping up on the magazine industry. If you are a magazine publisher and haven’t looked down this avenue, you might have another thing coming. You might think that users prefer paper, but you’d be surprised to know that users now prefer to have both, and you don’t really have a choice unless you’re prepared to be the underdog. … Continue Reading »

One of the biggest problems a Membership Website can have is that it’s not a Membership Website

Membership Websites are as commonly used as they are misunderstood.

Hiding information behind a firewall with a username and password gate and charging for access does not automatically make a Membership Website.

A Membership Website should be designed to be a unique destination—not another place to provide access to your print publication’s content. … Continue Reading »

Does your membership website measure up in all these important areas?

A membership website is not a shortcut to Internet riches. In fact, unless you consider all of these elements and execute each with precision, your membership website or online newsletter will probably fail. … Continue Reading »

If you’re promoting your online newsletter or membership website in person at a trade show or seminar, you might want to hand out CD-ROMs to potential members.

CD-ROMs are not expensive to duplicate. And they can enable a prospective membership website subscriber to experience a portion of your site’s content without having to logon to the Internet and visit the actual website.

It’s a little gimmicky, but it’s likely to grab their attention, especially if you add value by providing some other free information files on the CD-ROM. … Continue Reading »

Emphasizing the benefits of joining your membership website means appealing to your prospect’s self-interest

People do not subscribe or pay for access to your membership website, per se. They are really paying for the benefits of access to your membership website, or for the benefits of membership in your organization.

Features are descriptions of what premium information they will find beyond the turnstile when they join your membership website. But features are not benefits. … Continue Reading »

Internet publishing profitability boils down to four elements

If you serve a small niche market, then generating website revenue may require creating additional information products, doing joint ventures with other entrepreneurs, and joining the affiliate programs of other Internet publishing businesses that offer quality products and services. … Continue Reading »

Offer an additional bonus to new members for information about how they found your membership website

Do you know where your best membership website traffic is coming from? Not merely the casual visitors to your home page but the serious customers who actually join your membership website?

Is it Google, Yahoo! or MSN? … Continue Reading »

Great testimonials can be very persuasive. The value of member corroboration and its ability to get new subscribers to your membership website cannot be under-estimated.

Know this about the buying process: Whether they know it or not, everybody has a personal strategy for rationalizing his purchase decisions.

All purchase decisions are emotional, but in order to be congruent, buyers need to create reasons for their choices. … Continue Reading »

When you build a membership website, provide an incentive to subscribe and offer instant gratification

Many membership website landing pages promote the overall value of their site’s content, but fail to create a sense of urgency about joining.

In broad, sweeping generalizations the landing page characterizes the content that awaits you if you join the membership website, and promises a boatload of new articles to be delivered over the course of your membership, but offers no incentive to join RIGHT NOW! … Continue Reading »

Brevity is the soul of wit, according to the Bard. And all the more so online. So of course, someone created rules for you to follow when writing for the Web. OK, so maybe they are more like guidelines than hard and fast laws of cyber language. That said, here is what you want to strive for in most of your content.

Try to follow these seven guidelines when writing for the Web. … Continue Reading »

First impressions really do count, especially online. If the look of your site doesn’t immediately gain the respect of visitors, you are in trouble.

Studies have shown that visitors decide within the first 10 seconds whether they will investigate further or move on. That’s how long it takes to run the look of your site through their mental filters and determine whether you are worth their time.

The quickest way to lose visitors: design your site to look like an amateur did it. … Continue Reading »

Consumer Reports revenues top $190M in 2005 by pursuing a simple integrated media strategy driven by three simple concepts and the world’s largest membership website.John Sateja is a happy guy. The man in charge of information products for what may be the most trusted media brand in America is on a roll. … Continue Reading »

“What should you consider when starting a membership website?”

The answers are not always obvious, even to a seasoned print or electronic publisher. Starting a new website is very different from running an existing property. Over the past 10 years, Mequoda Daily Editor Don Nicholas and team have worked on over 100 successful website startups, as well as several that were not successful. His understanding of website publishing is rooted in the world of print, which has given him insight into the similarities and differences between the two types of launches. These tips will document the best practices he’s seen, and been part of, over the past decade. These tips are geared toward a website that will generate $2 to $5 million per year in total revenues after three to five years. … Continue Reading »

Mequoda Founder and Membership Website Expert Don Nicholas announced today the release of 5 Deady Membership Website Mistakes, a free eBook available at the Mequoda Daily, a free website and newsletter about best practices for Internet marketers, publishers and designers. … Continue Reading »

Over the years, Holly and Larry Pike have each had numerous careers, but they eventually quit their jobs to become full-time online entrepreneurs. Today, as husband and wife, they own and operate a subscription website for needlework hobbyists that ought to be the envy of every membership website publisher. … Continue Reading »

Member sites are hot! As more subject matter experts and information entrepreneurs begin online publishing ventures, the demand for automated content management software continues to grow. For the second time in a month, a Mequoda member has introduced a product to help membership website publishers manage their online content. … Continue Reading »

This membership website is an online community for embroidery enthusiasts to meet and exchange ideas, discuss new design and software releases, chat about life and make new friends … Continue Reading »

What hands-on, take-charge-of-your-own-health Baby Boomers really want is reliable information about alternatives to the traditional model of practicing medicine. One tireless medical detective is betting they will pay a premium to access his subscription website for answers. … Continue Reading »

Perhaps the best way to sell volumes of information products, including subscriptions to member websites, is to follow fads and trends. Anticipate what the market wants, and then create custom products to satisfy the demand. … Continue Reading »

This is an online matchmaking service with unlimited profit potential. It enables you to advertise your rental home to more than one million annual visitors to its website for a mere $148, and takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information. … Continue Reading »

When Cherice Calhoun started Black in Los Angeles in 1999, she did it to fulfill a personal need: the ability to find “at the drop of a hat” an African American physician, lawyer, organization or event without having to remember 20 different web addresses. … Continue Reading »

I admit it. I’m beginning to have “senior” moments when I momentarily forget well-known things. The experts say not to worry, it happens to everyone from time to time. I prefer to worry. … Continue Reading »

Motocross, if you are not familiar with it, is a cross-country motorcycle race over a closed course of rough terrain with steep hills and sharp curves. … Continue Reading »

At first glance, BookReporter.com simply looks like the ultimate online destination for people who love to read and talk about books. It’s very well designed and features thoughtful book reviews, in-depth author profiles and interviews, excerpts of the hottest new releases, literary games and contests, and more. … Continue Reading »

PublisherMarketplace.com is a membership website that is beneficial for anyone in the publishing industry

This membership website calls itself a dedicated marketplace for publishing professionals to find critical information and unique databases, to find each other, and to do business better electronically. … Continue Reading »

Membership website based on helping people find employment or career advancement
The Freelance Work Exchange offers its members career advice and strategies as well as hot freelance job opportunities. Its freelance and work-at-home jobs database includes opportunities in: … Continue Reading »

Membership website meets social networking site

Imagine a collaborative website for exchanging business contacts that is basically a cross between the online marketplace of eBay and the social networking site of Friendster.com. … Continue Reading »

This excellent resource for photographers of all skill levels charges members less than $50 annually and despite competition from similar websites, gets upwards of 700,000 page views per month. … Continue Reading »

The International Code Council (www.iccsafe.org), a membership association dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states that adopt codes choose the International Codes developed by the International Code Council (ICC). … Continue Reading »

Working in a call center must be tedious. Every caller requires courtesy, attention to detail, and service with a smile. And the calls keep coming, hour after hour. So how do the operators cope?

And how do managers train customer service people to do the repetitive tasks? How can call center workers deal effectively with very-often-unhappy customers, without burning out?
… Continue Reading »

For most of us past the age of 25, business travel has long lost its glamour. And while traveling for a holiday may hold the promise of an exciting destination, getting there is no longer half the fun. The security measures in place at airports are only part of the challenge. Most airline seats are smaller than ever and configured three across. Airline food, the butt of jokes ever since Orville Wright packed a sandwich at Kitty Hawk, is now worse than ever or non-existent.
… Continue Reading »

Home exchange websites are popping up everywhere. Ostensibly, they offer affordable vacation housing without the hassles of owning a time share.

Most have extensive computer databases of homes available for rental or swapping. That’s a smart use of the Internet. But because home exchange businesses generally do not screen their members, making contact via e-mail with other members is essential to establishing a trusting relationship.
… Continue Reading »

More than 15,000 adult members now belong to a website that helps them organize pick up games of everything from croquet to Ultimate Frisbee. Looking for a fourth for golf or a pickup game of hoops? Find teammates in your own neighborhood on this nationwide website for players, teams and managers. … Continue Reading »

Imagine owning a membership site where most of the content is provided at no cost to you by other people, plus you have at least three profit centers. This business model is fun, especially if you like eating at restaurants and want to extract your revenge when you get bad food or service. … Continue Reading »

According to a year-old study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the “online faithful” are devout and they use the Internet for personal spiritual matters more than for traditional religious functions or work related to their places of worship. … Continue Reading »

Steve Sztopek says that, metaphysically, you have to be out of your mind to be successful. Whatever he is doing, it seems to be working.

In the following inspiring interview, he tells us how he followed his bliss, learned picture framing, marketing, and finally, online publishing.
… Continue Reading »

Mequoda has waited a long time to pin down our good friend Jerry Minchey for an in-depth interview about his online businesses. Jerry has a number of successful Internet enterprises that he wisely chooses not to discuss in a public forum. But fortunately for Mequoda members, he is very candid here about his very popular and successful subscription website, SearchEngineU.com. … Continue Reading »