Membership Websites: Online Bust or Boom?
Selling customers content that is hiding behind a firewall is a popular online business model, but why does it work for some businesses and not others? That question is answered, in part, by a special report released by the Mequoda Group, a business that helps publishers master the Internet.


    Adam T. Sutton, Managing Editor
Mequoda Group
530 Wood Street Unit B
Bristol, RI 02809
(401) 396-9334
adam@mequoda.com

Membership Websites: Online Bust or Boom?

/Rhode Island News Articles/ - BRISTOL, RI, May 31, 2007 - Selling customers content that is hiding behind a firewall is a popular online business model, but why does it work for some businesses and not others? That question is answered, in part, by a special report released by the Mequoda Group, a business that helps publishers master the Internet.

In Five "Deadly" Membership Website Mistakes, the Mequoda Group's Managing Director Don Nicholas and Senior Editor Jane Zarem say that paid-access-only websites should avoid pricing content "by the pound."

"Buying access to a membership website is not like buying fish...it must be based instead on the price consumers have shown they are willing to pay to receive the publisher's other information—not by the volume of information the publisher makes available."

The report explains that publishers only selling access to an online version of their publication's current issue are not selling enough memberships, which are the primary revenue source for the membership website business model.

To be successful, a membership website has to be "a massive encyclopedia on a particular topic. It requires a robust amount of online content—perhaps 5,000 to 8,000 pages at launch, climbing into the tens of thousands as time goes on," the report says.

Those thousands of pages of information also need to be organized and searchable by topic to be easy enough for customers to navigate, otherwise users will never find the information they need.

The report also asks publishers to consider if a membership website will work with their print publications economic history before launching one.

If a publication's main revenue source is paid advertisements and sponsorships, then "the economics favor an ad-driven online publishing strategy," the report explains.

"If a publisher operates a user-driven business in the physical world or online, where circulation is the primary source of revenue, then a membership website makes sense."

The Mequoda Group's research team has studied over 2,000 websites to develop marketing and business strategies for its audience of large and small publishers. Publishers can visit http://daily.mequoda.com/membership-website-ebook.html to claim a free copy of this report.

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Press Release Contact Information:

Adam Sutton
Mequoda Group, LLC
Managing Editor
530 Wood Street Unit B
Bristol, RI
United States 02809
Voice: 401-396-9760
Fax: 401-396-9732
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