Successful subscription web sites....

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 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

Hi Dennis,

> 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.

Yes, that's true.... :)

> 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.

Yes.... I think it can be a danger trying to be all things to all people....

Though I like Gordon Alexander's approach - to use "EduTainment".... Everyone likes entertainment! It combines well with everything.... :)

> 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.

I can certainly relate to that, and the web sites I visit. Though I never really thought of it that way, I agree with you completely.

Thanks Dennis!

- Dien

I don't know the PT Cruiser site, but here is a site dedicated to T-Birds -
http://www.tbirdfans.com/
Imagine how much fun a site like this would be to run - if you like T-birds....


T-Bird site

Hi everyone,

Here's the PT Cruiser URL .

5,500 members at $39 pa.

Thanks for this forum - I find it informative, with a pleasant atmosphere.

Tim




http://ptcruiserclub.org/