In 2006 Nextpimp had over 70,000 active paying subscribers at 19.95 every 6 months. Thats just over 3 million dollars for that year alone. Many people would just look at the numbers and call that a huge success. Well I can tell you its one of my biggest failures learning experiences ever.
The real deal was that I had ZERO experience on how to run a subscription site and what I did learn came from a very costly trial and error education. While we made millions I have no doubt we lost 2-3x more because we really had no clue what we were doing.
Why do I bring this up? Well a couple weeks ago I did a interview with Yaro and before the interview we talked about subscription revenue. Yaro frickin GETS IT probably as much if not more than anyone I have ever talked to about making money from subscriptions.
This morning Yaro emailed me his new Membership Site Masterplan guide which talks all about his techniques on creating a subscription revenue site.
Its awesome stuff and I highly recommend you signup for it right now.
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2414 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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Awesome, i just signed up, and will see whats up with that. By the way, i was wondering are you going to be using the same technique for Shoemoney Tools?
Dinono.com
re: MarijuanaReviews.com – April 27, 2009 at 10:56 am
“You’ll have to protect this content with your life which is why companies like http://www.removeyourcontent.com exist.”
Hey there.. actually, we came into existence as successful adult affiliates who were fed up with content theft and decided to do something about it. Piracy impacts affiliates just as it does the producers. All the best,
Eric
I’m trying to figure out a subscription model for my poker site, so I can get people to pay me for my awesomeness. But I can’t really think of a reason for someone to pay me for content.
There’s a ton of subscription models you can try for a poker site — access to one-on-one coaching/consulting, beginner/intermediate/expert level training, how to play online w/ advice where to play/pros&cons of sites/how to become a professional poker player – taxes, business side of things, etc. That’s a great niche to target – my boyfriend and his friends all want to be millionaires and try to play poker online but there’s probably a ton of stuff they are missing. Sell the dream
Private coaching calls/ or exclusive interviews with poker pros. Videos showing you playing specific poker hands, and what to do… As long as you can build value around your content, people will buy it. Keeping them onboard.. is another story.
The more your students make with what you taught them, the longer they can afford to use your membership site! It seems like a great model if you can teach them all to play well enough.
Thanks for the recommendation Shoe.
You made me laugh with the name you gave my report “Site Mastermind”. I think you just pulled that up from your subconscious…lol.
I hope everyone enjoys the Membership Site Masterplan
its one of my jedi mind tricks =P
fixing… lol
Yeah Yaro is pretty clever when it comes to a subscription based thing. You should talk about what you did when you tried it.
Thanks for the link to Yaro’s class. I am signing up right now. And the link to NextPimp is good. On Yaro’s interview page the nextpimp link was erroring out.
For most people, being able to set up a subscription site is not the problem. It’s having good content. I do not like ebooks/programs like this because they imply they give you all the info you’ll ever need.
You need quality content, something 95 percent of the people who buy that course will not be able to produce.
Agree 100%, if you’ve got nothing of any quality/exclusivity to put in your members area then you’re just ripping people off right? The technicalities of creating a membership website are simple, the marketing of it is the same for any website?
The one thing that no report will do for you is create unique high quality content and that’s the most important factor in making something a success.
It is good that you don’t look at it as a failure. Everything thing is a lesson unless you do it over and over expecting different results. You learn how to not do things again.
I hate to keep comparing what we are all doing here to porn but in this case it is very relevant.
The subscription model has made countless adult webmasters of all skill level hundreds of millions of dollars.
The key is to have 100% exclusive content (adult or mainstream) that can be found ONLY on your paysite. You’ll have to protect this content with your life which is why companies like http://www.removeyourcontent.com exist.
Also, in order to make the big bucks you’ll need to be able to retain your paying members. Rebills are where the real $ is at.
It can be MUCH harder to convert a new sale than it is to retain a current member. And if you are making the same amount of money from each, well you do the math.
I strongly advise anyone who is considering a mainstream paysite spend a little time on adult industry forum like http://www.askdamagex.com. While the content is much different, the biz. model is very similar and they have it mastered.
–Chubbs
What was the mistake with nextpimp? 70 000 active members is a great number!? Maybe I miss something …can find the answer on previous post….maybe you can help me
It is definitely a great report. I just got done reading some of it earlier this morning and he really does get how to create a membership site. It sucks that I won’t be creating a membership site for a long time.
Hey, Does masking that link hurt when it comes to SEO? Shoemeisters opinion?
By saving money you experience greater profit potential, this profit can be the encouragement you need to refine and improve SEO techniques that will have a further impact on site visitation and product purchases.
Seems good thing to sign up with i will surely do that and refer few of my friends as well. As at this point of time i am looking for subscription solution for my automotive websites.
Shoe – not spam here. I’m looking for some job candidates for a internet related gig and thought I’d give your community first shot since I’ve been reading your stuff a year now (consider it good since many ppl are out search for opps). Big Corp, salaried pay.
Anyway – looking for Digital/Interet Product Sales Manager. Markets are Rochester, Charlotte, Seattle, Oahu, St. Louis, and Lexington. Good luck Shoemoney Community!!!
http://jasonmatthewmurphy.com/2009/04/24/digital-sales-manager-and-interactive-advertising-consultants-needed/
sign up now
I am writing content to help people get a high paying marketing job in these tough times. I like the idea of creating a elesson set up and have people be able to buy the content early at a discounted rate. Ie 8 lessons over 8 weeks for $160 or all 8 right now for $79.99.
However, no one can give me very strong advice on traffic building…any good links to help build the site traffic?
I would do Joint Venture with people who have a list in that niche, but you’ll need to give them incentive, like 50% commisson on sales made through the JV’s list.
As the founder and publisher of a membership site, you know exactly what you need to deliver — content. You don’t need to guess what people want. You don’t need to test products and services or guess at the next step to drive this business model. You’re in the business of delivering on the promise of your particular niched site. And that promise comes in the form of content delivered on a regular basis in exchange for the fees or dues that you’re receiving from your subscribers.
I’ve read a lot about this and have decided to give it a go, even though a subscription site would probably not be a good move for me right now.
Yeah, the Masterplan is a great read… I’ve had 0 experience with membership sites and it’s really amazing how much money they can make if done right. Gotta try it someday…
Excellent. I always wanted to start a membership site. Now at least I can deal with some reading I can trust! Thanks!
Well, that indeed deserves a closer look. Thank you for making the mistakes for us!
Jeremy,
I went through the whole thing yesterday night… (i’m in Aus)… and its a fantastic read. Really well written and with great depth.
I’m looking at a few of my businesses and have been contemplating ‘porting’ them over to a subscription/membership based business model. Ad revenue just not my thing anymore!
Cheers
Will
Thanks for the info. Signing up right now. I have plans for a membership site right now, and want to launch it this summer, so this is right on time.
If you and JC are both spamming us with the same ebook, it must be awesome.
this site is really great. i’ll sign-up for this one also
I received Yaro’s Membership Site Masterplan Guide and am ecstatic over the information and the results!
Yaro sure does know his stuff.
The book is super. Yaro does some awesome stuff. His coaching programs have been very successor though they cost quite a lot.
Thanks for the info Shoe.I believe so, Yaro has extensive experience in his area as a pro blogger.
A membership website is ingenious. I think it’s more work to keep up than anything. So Yaro has the answers, well I will looking in this today, thanks Shoemoney.
I agree with everyone else on this one; if both you and John Chow are mentioning this the ebook has to be worth reading. I will definitely download it later today.
Unless you can give the members something of real value that cannot be cloned by someone else, membership sites will be dead again.
Freemium will only work if you have a very unique product.
Nextpimp is hardly unique and if adsense and other affiliate banner make it even marginally profitable, it would be mighty easy for anyone to take away all the customers..
As long as a site is profitable by being free, the site should be free.
lol $2.8 million/year doesn’t justifity it?
It was a long time ago
And It was aimed at shoe saying he might have made much more.
Sheeeet…I’ll be more than happy with 2.7 million a year! Sheeeeet!…I’ll be ecstatic!
What happened to Strip and Grow Rich? You’re RSS feed shows the article but it’s a 401 on your site.
Haven’t dating sites been doing membership sites for years? It seems like its just internet marketers adapting their businesses to this model now.
I guess this would be a very good thing if you used subscriptions to makes sales. Pretty good though
Not saying this fella doesn’t know his beans but I’m always wary of marketers marketing…..
Case in point – a marketer is now offering a membership site on how-to-do-membership- sites
We’ve followed Yaro for sometime now and he is a guru like you J in his field. Gotta love the way mentors are also the pioneers in so many ways.
Hey Alex,
Just to clarify, I haven’t been a marketing trainer all my life.
I cut my teeth online running a proofreading business called BetterEdit and a community site dedicated to the card game Magic: The Gathering.
If you read my blog you will see my experience goes a lot deeper than just teaching in the make money market.
Magic is still around!? Wow! That was freshman high school for me man…And I’m 29 now!
thanks for quality information…
Hi..
This site is really great. i’ll sign-up for this one also..i love it…:)
What’s the biggest hurdles Shoe, if your subscribers turn their back?what’s the next move??
That’s dumb…let’s be realistic…not everyone will turn their backs…and even if they did…success breeds success…Shoe will come back bigger and bolder! Sheeeeeet…That’s all I gotta say ’bout that!
When you have someone who have enormous experience and knowledge than I think you should follow him quietly and trying to get and absorb as much knowledge as you can.
This is a great guide for subscription based sites, your tips are helpful.
Thank you for sharing, I keep my site analysis, progress.
There is visibly a bundle to realize about this. I believe you made some nice points in features also.