Selling memberships If you have a large base of expertise and are able to produce a significant amount of content around it, you may want to create a membership site to distribute it. As people have become more and more comfortable making purchases online, the concept of paying an expert to teach you something from the web has gained in popularity. In addition, it allows a user to feel a sense of solidarity with an established community (“I am a card-holding member”). Often a membership site will distribute a portion of it’s content for free as the “hook” to entice prospective clients to become members. For example, if you had a site that created editorial articles, you could release 1 out of 10 as a free article with an offer to join in the conclusion of the article. Membership sites tend to work really well in conjunction with other methods. A membership site about digital photography would have no problem selling an ebook written by the experts that run the site or even selling a product that integrates with Adobe Photoshop for image post processing. In fact, once you have a site with an established membership base, you can ask the members what they would like to purchase from the site. You will have an entire community of pre-qualified leads. Membership sites are an excellent online business platform because, by their very nature, they provide ongoing, recurring income. There are so many ways to make a profitable online business, this article has only scratched the surface of what’s possible. Remember to think about scalability in any online venture. If you create something that generates income, but it requires an enormous, continual investment of time, then you may be better served to look at another business model. Do you have creative ideas for online businesses? I would love to hear about them. How about success stories? Get the accolades you deserve; post your stories and ideas in the comments below.