You have great ideas for a membership website that will earn recurring revenue every month. You'd love to monetize and watch recurring payments grow way above your wildest dreams.
However, are you hesitant because of the startup costs that you think you might incur to get off the ground?
The truth is that it is quite possible to run a successful membership or subscription website that can start paying for itself very quickly.
What factors should be considered when estimating the cost of a membership website?
- Content Management System or Platform (the 'software')
- Website Hosting
- Domain Name
- SSL Certificate
- Payment Processing
- Email Marketing Service
- File Storage
- Payment Gateway
- Content Creation
- Design Development
No wonder why you're hesitant!
How you Can Afford to Start up a Membership Website
Many of the above factors can be used at a free or low cost to begin. Review the below to learn why and how.
Full CMS - $97/month
MemberGate's All in One (MG100) option includes the MemberGate Software, Hosting, SSL certificate, and incredible support for only $97/month for 100 members. This means you can check off numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 off your list.
If your membership fee is $9.70 per month, you would only need 10 members to cover all of that forever.
Domain Name - as low as 99 cents
A domain name registrar like GoDaddy can be used to register your domain name on the cheap. Our advice, Google something like 'low cost godaddy domain' to receive an offer from GoDaddy for special priced domain registration.
Email Marketing Service - FREE
MemberGate is integrated with Brevo. Brevo offers the ability to send up to 300 email messages PER DAY for free. You know those 100 members that you have with the MG100 plan? You can send them 3 emails everyday for free. Yes, it's $0.
MemberGate is integrated with Brevo so the name and email address of those 100 members can automatically populate in your Brevo lists when they become members. It's all on autopilot after the initial connection is made.
Payment Gateway - Pay only when used
MemberGate connects with Stripe. Stripe has a pay only when used approach. There are no flat rate monthly or yearly fees. If you use their service (ie, collect money from someone), Stripe earns 2.9% + $.30 for each transaction. You earn 97.1% - $.30 for each transaction.
If you do not process a transaction, you pay $0.
File Storage -FREE
Every membership website is not going to need a File Storage service. However, this type of storage service does make sense for media intensive sites.
Should you find yourself with a large amount of files that are streaming or being downloaded, we do recommend using Amazon S3. MemberGate connects directly to your S3 account so you can choose your files directly from MemberGate. For your convenience, MemberGate also includes an S3 File Manager so you can upload any files to be stored at Amazon S3 right from your control panel.
Amazon S3 costs will vary, but they do offer a startup option that is free to use.
Content Creation - FREE
Using an AI Bot like ChatGPT or Bard are examples of content creators that will provide you with content literally in seconds. Some things that took you hours of writing and research can now appear for your use in no time at all.
Design Development - FREE
There are easy to make graphics options available. Professional looking graphics can be made quickly and will look great even if you do not have any design experience or artistic abilities. Using an AI image generator like Adobe Firefly might fit your needs, otherwise services like Canva, Adobe Express and Vista Create are great options as well.
Besides the Above, What Else Can MemberGate Provide?
MemberGate is an all in one software platform that is built with everything that you need to run any successful membership website. Would you like a reliable content management system? A learning management system? A place to sell physical and digital products? Live credit card processing and member management? Multi-Media Suite? Check, check , check, check and check...plus so much more that you didn't realize that you needed!
All of that is indeed included. You do not need to research and research and find the best 20 plugins to manage everything that is already included in MemberGate.
Bottom Line
If you add up all of the expenses above, a professionally built with literally everything that you need membership website can be started with $97. Once you reach just 10 monthly members @ less than a $10 membership fee, every additional paying member is all profit.
Visit MemberGate on Social Media!
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