Successful subscription web sites....

Does anyone know of any successful (that is, profitable) subscription-based web sites?

I've think I remember reading somewhere that the Wall Street Journal's web site www.wsj.com is a profitable subscription-based web site....

I suspect (but I'm not 100% sure) that www.stratfor.com is probably another profitable subscription-based web site....

On a smaller scale, I believe Bill Myers' Idea Bank was also a successful subscription-based model....

If you know of any more that you think are profitable, I'd be grateful.... :)

I'm interested in this because there only seem to be a few things you can do for an online-only business (with no physical products at all).... Such as sell ebooks or online music (selling online movies has to come eventually too), sell software, sell advertising, online auctions, or selling subscriptions....

I believe that selling subscriptions will become much bigger than it is now, but what works online is still being figured out.... With everything being given away for free, selling subscriptions has so far been languishing (with a few exceptions), but I believe that selling highly specialized information in a subscription format does seem to work....

Thanks for any feedback!

- Dien

Here are some more profitable subscription web sites I've come across....

For kids, there's Disney's Daily Blast, which apparently is making a profit....

Another, smaller operation is Ultrastar, which was co-founded by rock star David Bowie. They specialize in creating subscription-based web sites focused around pop stars (like David Bowie himself, or the pop group Hanson).... Fans can pay a subscription to interact with these pop stars and even play a role in their creative output....

If you know of any other profitable subscription-based web sites, please let me know.... :)

- Dien

Hi!

There's Gary White's new thing; White is a smart cookie and a member in good standing of the Hit It Out Of The Park Multiple Times Club. Also, I'm a member of Terry Dean's excellent NetBreakthroughs member's only site ($19.95 a month). I'd be very surprised if either of them were losing money. Also, there's about 5,000 profitable Adult member's only sites. Also, there's actually a new kind of profitable Free member's only site that I heard of recently.

Hope this was useful.

Best,

-Boyd

Thanks Boyd!

> There's Gary White's new thing; White is a
> smart cookie and a member in good standing
> of the Hit It Out Of The Park Multiple Times
> Club. Also, I'm a member of Terry Dean's
> excellent NetBreakthroughs member's only
> site ($19.95 a month).

Yes.... In my searches around I noticed that Terry Dean has talked a little bit about using a subscription model in one of his reports.... I guess he practices what he preaches! :)

I didn't know about Gary White. Thanks for the info.... :)

> I'd be very surprised
> if either of them were losing money.

> Also, there's actually
> a new kind of profitable Free member's only
> site that I heard of recently.

Really? I'm interested in hearing more about this. :)

- Dien

Hi,

You wrote:
> Really? I'm interested in hearing more about
> this. :)

I'll email you the info, in fact I just did. Please write me back what you think about it, OK?

Best,

-Boyd

Many of Bill Myers Idea Bank Members are using his newest product MemberGate. Probably the most successful user of MG is Greigg Roberts. His site is at http://www.newdentistadvisor.com.

As a former dentist himself I doubt he has any problems getting members.

Hope that helps. Take care,

Dennis Anglin


member site

Dien,

I just wrote an article about subscription websites in last months issue of The Business Fastlane." My research found a number of them...doing very well. Many of them are actually have a paid ezine/website combination.

Monique Harris has an excellent one:

sellyourbrainfood.com/

Try daytrading-university.com

Another one is is cheapsk8.com

They have over 13,000 subscribers at $18/year-do the math!

The key to most of these is they have a narrow niche. Terry Dean and a few others might be able to succeed with the topic of "make money on the net" but soon that topic will probably be saturated from everyone else jumping on it just like it is with free ezines. Also choosing a narrow niche is easier because there isn't so much free information available that you are competing with.

The best thing about these is that since you have no printing, shipping or other product hard costs is that you can be profitable with just a small subscriber base-even 100 subscribers can produce $2,000+ a month.

It's a great model.

Ron




The Business Fastlane...carryiing on in the tradition of George Haylings

Hi Dennis,

Glad you like the forum! :)

> Many of Bill Myers Idea Bank Members are
> using his newest product MemberGate.
> Probably the most successful user of MG is
> Greigg Roberts. His site is at
> http://www.newdentistadvisor.com .

> As a former dentist himself I doubt he has
> any problems getting members.

Thanks for mentioning this.... His name keeps coming up as one of the people who has most successfully implemented MemberGate software (which is pretty nice software, though it's expensive)....

What I'm noticing is (as Ron Ruiz mentions below) that successful subscription web sites generally have either a strong brand name (eg. Disney) OR they have a narrowly focused target niche (eg. www.newdentistadvisor.com , www.stratfor.com )....

More about this in my reply to Ron.... :)

- Dien

Hi Ron,

Wow, thanks, great post!

> I just wrote an article about subscription
> websites in last months issue of The
> Business Fastlane." My research found a
> number of them...doing very well. Many of
> them are actually have a paid ezine/website
> combination.

> Monique Harris has an excellent one:

> sellyourbrainfood.com/

> Try daytrading-university.com

> Another one is is cheapsk8.com

> They have over 13,000 subscribers at
> $18/year-do the math!

Thanks for these, I didn't know about the last two, and I hadn't looked at Monique Harris's site in a while, but as Gordon has pointed out, she's a great internet success story!

> The key to most of these is they have a
> narrow niche. Terry Dean and a few others
> might be able to succeed with the topic of
> "make money on the net" but soon
> that topic will probably be saturated from
> everyone else jumping on it just like it is
> with free ezines. Also choosing a narrow
> niche is easier because there isn't so much
> free information available that you are
> competing with.

YES, this is what I've been noticing too!

I started to think, WHY was the Wall Street Journal making profits with the subscription model, while an eminent newspaper like the New York Times failed with the same model?

I believe the reason is because of specialization.... The WSJ is more specialized in a specific niche than the NYT. A lot of the information in the NYT can also be read in your local city newspaper, or from various other newspaper web sites around the world.... That's less true of the WSJ.

And as you point out, whatever info you want to sell on the net, to some degree you are competing with what's out there which is free. The more specialized and niche targeted your offer is, the less likely it is that someone will be offering the same info out there already for free....

The other successful subscription web sites seem to be the same. For example, www.davidbowie.com and www.hanson.net are tightly targeted at David Bowie and Hanson fans respectively. People who fall out of these narrow niches probably won't be very interested. However, those who are PASSIONATE about these pop stars are more than willing to pay a monthly subscription to interact with them to some degree...!

I think it's probably important to offer something unique which people can't get for free already.... Although I'm not 100% sure that www.stratfor.com is profitable, I strongly suspect that they are.... They are also tightly targeted for those who want world "intelligence" information (more than just "news"). Another web site I suspect is probably profitable is www.janesonline.com , which again targets a highly specific niche....

I LIKED your example of www.cheapsk8.com - it shows that (contrary to much popular wisdom) that you can make money from that particular target market.... It just needs to be a cheap subscription. :)

> The best thing about these is that since you
> have no printing, shipping or other product
> hard costs is that you can be profitable
> with just a small subscriber base-even 100
> subscribers can produce $2,000+ a month.

> It's a great model.

Thanks Ron! Those were great insights.... :)

- Dien

Why do we buy the type of vehicles we buy? Or the type of houses, shoes, friends we choose etc. We all have niches in everything we do.

There is another very sucessful members only site that is for the popular PT Cruiser fans, sorry but cannot remember the url. Why? Because Pt Cruiser enthusiasts want a place to go where there is only one topic, the Cruiser. If there are other former Idea Bank Members here, maybe they might have the url as it was mentioned by Bill when he introduced MG.

This is a reason why I visit this board every day. Everyone here seems to stay on focus, which to me is very attractive. Member sites with a certain niche have an appeal on our comfort level when we visit the site.

Happy Trails to all,

Dennis