You already know that starting a membership site is one of the best ways to monetize your expertise and earn a recurring passive income from your content.
But you’re struggling to find profitable membership site ideas because you’re not sure what successful membership sites offer and whether you can turn your interests and expertise into a membership program.
Well, let me tell you a secret. It isn’t as complicated as you think.
You don’t need anything extraordinary to make money with membership programs. Instead, you only need to find and solve a problem by offering helpful content, tools, and resources (check out these membership site examples for inspiration).
In this article, I’ll share several unique membership site ideas to show you how you can make money from this business model.
With each idea, I’ll share several examples of membership sites. Visit them to understand what makes a successful membership site and try to emulate their model. You can also take a look the best membership site platforms on the market to help you launch and grow a thriving membership offering.
Let’s get started.
Membership Site Idea #1: Fitness and Weight Loss
Did you know that more than 100 million adults are obese? If you’re a fitness expert or have successfully lost weight without compromising your health, your knowledge can greatly help anyone struggling with obesity.
People would willingly join your weight loss membership program if you can provide them with the right resources, guidance, and community support to transform their bodies and adopt a healthier lifestyle.
You can help your members with meal plans, exercise routines, motivational videos, weight loss equipment, and case studies of people who’ve successfully transitioned into a more active lifestyle.
Nerd Fitness, one of the most popular fitness membership sites, is an excellent example of this niche.
Its members can access a private community to discuss their problems, watch video training lessons, download fitness-related checklists, get low-fat meal ideas, and many other resources to help them on their weight loss journey.
AceFitness, another hugely popular fitness program, focuses on fitness trainers and helps hobbyists become certified professionals.
This unique angle opens new possibilities and allows you to create content for a different audience in the same niche.
You can also collaborate with experts to create content on topics outside your specialization For example, you can hire a Yoga trainer to help members with meditation and mindset. Similarly, you could hire a dietitian to help with meal plans.
The best thing about this niche is that people need at least a few months to lose weight. And even after achieving their fitness goals, they need to stick to healthy routines to stay fit.
So, your average member should stay subscribed to your program for at least 8-10 months (guaranteed revenue) if you can provide them solid value.
Membership Site Idea #2: Parenting
Every parent wants to be the best example to their children and raise them as confident and successful individuals. But they often need help and support to navigate parenting challenges.
This is where your insights and expert advice can be a lifesaver for them.
If you’ve raised children or have a professional qualification in parenting, you can easily create a membership program that provides parents with the resources, tools, guidance, and mentorship to grow a healthy family culture.
Parenting is a multi-billion-dollar niche with numerous angles and opportunities to start membership sites and sell digital products.
For example, the challenges of a first-time parent are entirely different from parents having difficulties raising teenagers. Similarly, a single mom or dad’s parenting problems differ altogether from a regular couple.
You can create separate memberships for each audience.
SingleMomsPlanet is an excellent example of a membership program targeting a sub-niche of parenting.
The Parenting Reset Membership targets parents struggling to connect with their teenage children.
Young Parenting Mojo is a membership program for parents with children under six years of age.
These membership programs solve unique parenting problems, targeting specific segments of the parenting niche.
But they all offer community support, forum discussions, parenting worksheets and checklists, live and recorded workshops, and one-on-one coaching sessions to help their members become better parents.
If you think you have valuable advice for parents, this might be the perfect membership site idea for you.
Membership Site Idea #3: Relationship Advice
Relationship advice is another hugely profitable niche with many sub-niches, angles, and audience segments. You can turn each sub-niche into multiple membership site ideas and earn a healthy recurring passive income for your content.
For example, dating advice is the most popular sub-niche in the relationship space. You can create dedicated membership programs helping men, women, or both find their right match, spot red flags, navigate first dates, and build long-lasting relationships.
Similarly, advice for married couples is another sub-niche with multiple segments. Your membership program can help newlywed couples lay a solid foundation and plan their future life. Or you could help married couples in a relationship crisis reignite their love for each other, recover their lost trust, and rebuild their families.
Married People’s membership program is a classic example of this sub-niche.
Membership programs helping couples handle divorce-related challenges is another sub-niche in the relationships space.
Divorce Club is an excellent example of one such membership program.
These programs offer different types of resources to help their members. For example, some are only community-based memberships where you can connect with other members and expert consultants for advice. Other programs offer relationship roadmaps, recorded lectures, therapies, and live coaching calls.
Membership Site Idea #4: Business And Career
One of the most lucrative membership site ideas is to help businesses and professionals grow their income, impact, and influence.
If you have a track record of building successful businesses or have excelled in your career, people will gladly pay for your advice and subscribe to your content.
Again, there are so many different angles and sub-niches you can target.
For example, you can build a community for entrepreneurs with resources, training content, and personalized support to help them with their day-to-day challenges.
Michael Hyatt’s Business Accelerator program is an excellent example of this membership model.
Similarly, you could build a membership program for people suffering from mid-career crises and seeking professional support.
Freelance career advice is another high-demand sub-niche you can target. If you can help freelancers with branding, positioning, client negotiation, lead generation, marketing, and other challenges of self-employment, you can build a thriving membership business.
Brennan Dunn’s Double Your Freelancing program does exactly that.
And finally, you can help new job seekers with positioning, interview skills, and navigating the early days of their professional careers and land their dream job.
Ramit Sethi’s Dream Job program is designed to do just that.
All of these ideas help people and businesses make money. So, if your advice is practical and effective, people would gladly invest money in your programs.
Membership Site Idea #5: Make Money Online
Making money online, earning a passive income, and being your own boss are dreams that have inspired people across the world for the last couple of decades.
But the demand for this niche is higher than ever.
And like other broad membership site ideas, this one has room for numerous angles, sub-niches, and segments.
For example, you could build a membership community for SEO professionals where they can share challenges, discuss the latest developments in the search industry, and collaborate on new projects.
Think Traffic Tank is a classic example of this membership idea.
Making a passive income through affiliate marketing, advertising, and sponsorships is another lucrative online business model that people pay thousands of dollars to learn.
eCommerce through Shopify, Amazon FBA, Etsy, or drop shipping are separate niches. Each platform requires a different strategy and approach. So, if you’ve mastered any of them, you can easily build a membership program offering practical advice to aspiring eCommerce entrepreneurs.
For example, Anton Kraly’s Dropship Lifestyle is a membership program helping beginners become drop shipping pros.
And finally, creating, selling, and scaling online courses is another multi-million-dollar sub-niche in the make-money-online industry. It has immense potential because professionals, experts, and even beginners want to monetize their skills and make money by sharing knowledge through eLearning programs.
You can attract thousands of members to your program if you can provide the right resources, training, tools, and strategy guidelines to start selling online courses.
Membership Site Idea #6: Creative Skills
If you’re a professional writer, painter, or specialist in any other creative field, you can easily turn your expertise into a profitable membership site and earn thousands of dollars every month in recurring income.
The great thing about this niche is that most people who want to learn creative skills are incredibly passionate about them. If they believe you’re offering real value, they’ll pay higher than usual monthly fees to learn their craft.
For example, you can create an online art school with lessons on painting, drawing, and digital art. Or you could create a membership program for photography enthusiasts offering monthly video tutorials, guidelines, equipment recommendations, and coaching sessions.
Food Photography Academy is an excellent example of a membership site targeting a sub-niche in the photography space.
Talking about creative skills, you can start a writing school helping talented writers publish their first book and sell it on Amazon and other publishing platforms.
SelfPublishingSchool is a great example of this membership site idea.
Other membership site ideas in the creative space can include AI art academies, music schools, poetry groups, and filmmaking programs.
Membership Site Idea #7: Personal Development
You can make a fortune if your membership program helps people become better versions of themselves.
Why? Because personal development is one of the hottest niches on the internet, where people spend millions of dollars on different products and resources every year.
It’s a broad space that covers anything that helps people improve as individuals and professionals.
For example, you can help people struggling with focus and long-term goal setting. Guide them through SWOT analysis and self-assessment to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Another profitable membership angle is personal finance. Build a community where your members can access actionable personal finance advice, manage debt, and make smarter financial decisions.
Helping members develop leadership, public speaking, and communication skills are other attractive membership site ideas to help you grow thriving online communities and monetize your passion.
Membership Site Idea #8: Food And Recipes
Who doesn’t like tasty food? If you’re a talented chef, a food enthusiast, or a nutritionist, you can start a membership program that serves new recipes every month and helps members cook healthy food.
There are numerous angles in this niche as well.
For example, you can focus on vegan recipes only as it is one of the fastest-growing trends in the world. Help members with recipes they easily use to replace their old eating habits. Give them vegan recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and special occasions. Similarly, show them how to make delicious desserts without cow milk and other animal products. You’ll be surprised how many people will join your program if you can create valuable content.
Veecoco, a vegan food and recipe membership program, successfully runs a community of thousands of members, helping them with healthy and delicious vegan recipes every month.
You can also start a membership program for a specific region’s food if you specialize in it. This would help you position your program differently and attract a well-defined audience.
Similarly, you could start a baking club teaching members how to make cakes, cookies, bread, and other baking recipes. It would be an instant hit since baking is a passion for millions worldwide.
If you’re a dietitian, you can start a meal planning group where you help people with their weekly, monthly, and quarterly meal plans ensuring they get the required nutrition while maintaining their weight loss goals.
This is another multi-million-dollar industry because thousands rely on monthly meal planning subscriptions to save time and stay healthy.
Other membership site ideas in this space could be a community of BBQ enthusiasts or a membership dedicated to dessert recipes.
Membership Site Idea #9: Beauty And Fashion
Everyone wants to look attractive. This is why people spend trillions of dollars every year on apparel, skincare, hair styling, and other fashion products.
According to Statista, the skincare market in the US alone is expected to touch $190 billion by 2025. But, of course, that’s just one sub-niche of the beauty and fashion industry.
Imagine its total size and worth.
If you’re a qualified beautician, skincare expert, hair stylist, fashion consultant, or someone who could help people look good, you can make a fortune with your membership programs.
Let me share a few membership site ideas in this industry.
For example, you could start a vintage fashion club for people who want to look different and stylish using classic fashion trends. Share different style trends from the past, share ideas on how to mold those styles to the modern world, create videos about vintage fashion, and give members exclusive product listings to share and sell their work online.
Vintage Fashion Guild is an excellent example of such a membership program.
Similarly, a skincare members program can help you attract hundreds of men and women with different skin problems. Since skin care directly impacts how a person looks and feels, people are always willing to spend more in this niche. So, for example, you can share different skincare routine videos, tips for healthy skin, remedies for acne and other skin problems, product reviews and recommendations, special discounts on skincare products, and one on one consultations for members who wish to discuss their specific skin problems.
Alternatively, you could target aspiring skincare professionals, train them, and help them become field experts with your content, tutorials, videos, and resources.
This is precisely what SkincareLit’s membership program offers.
MyHairDressers is a membership program aimed at professional hair stylists and barbers. It provides them with access to over 500 educational videos, training content, PDFs, and exclusive fashion tips helping them polish their hairstyling skills and charge their clients higher rates.
You can also target specific countries in this niche since every region has different fashion cultures and preferences.
Membership Site Idea #10: Addiction
Most addictions drain human energy and prevent people from achieving their potential. Thankfully, most addicts understand that addiction is bad. Which is why they look towards support groups and resources to help them kick the bad habits.
If you’re an addiction survivor or an expert in specific addiction treatment, your knowledge and insights can help you grow successful membership sites and leave a lasting impact on people’s lives.
Like the other niches in this article, addiction has multiple sub-niches you can target and use for membership site ideas.
The most obvious addiction example is alcohol addiction. If you can create a community to help people get sober and provide them with the support, resources, techniques, and alternative therapies to ensure they don’t relapse, you can attract thousands of subscribers to your program.
Smartphone addiction in teens and children is another sub-niche quickly gaining significance because of the increased smartphone use in our daily lives.
Concerned parents are looking to join support groups and membership programs to help them protect their children from addiction and provide them with alternate and healthier activities.
Community support, discussion groups, and mentorship are critical in such programs. In addition, you can provide weekly videos with tips to overcome and stay consistent, books and resources, and access to community events.
How To Find Winning Membership Site Ideas
Before closing this article, let me share a few tips to help you find profitable membership site ideas on your own.
How to come up with new membership ideas?
How to determine if you can make money from them?
How to check if there’s enough demand for them?
Let me quickly explain.
Start With Your Passion
When finding new membership ideas, start with your passion areas. List everything you enjoy doing without overthinking or trying to be perfect because you’re just dumping everything in your brain on paper.
So, it could be gardening, music, painting, cooking, counseling, or anything else you enjoy doing.
Evaluate Your Expertise
Next, think about the topics you understand really well and can talk about in a gathering. You’re the first person your friends think of when discussing this topic. You might have a professional qualification, worked in that field, or read dozens of books about it. Whatever it is, if you know more about it than an average person, write it down.
Check Profitability
Now evaluate your ideas for profitability and see if people actually spend money to learn about them. To do that, search for existing online courses, membership programs, and digital products about it.
Udemy, YouTube, and Amazon are great places for this type of research. If you can find enough existing resources like videos, eBooks, and paid courses or communities for an idea, it’s a strong indicator of its profitability.
Ensure Evergreen Demand
Make sure the topic or membership site idea you’re pursuing isn’t seasonal. It must have evergreen demand, so people stay subscribed to your program throughout the year. Because if what you’re selling comes in demand for only a few months, you won’t be able to build a business around it.
Room For Growth
And finally, how much room for growth do you see in your niche? You must be able to create new content regularly to retain your audience’s interest. In addition, look for the possibility of branching into complementing niches to add more content to your site. If your topic or membership site idea is too narrow, your subscribers will disappear after a few months.
Are You Ready To Find Your Winning Membership Site Idea?
Building a membership site is an ongoing process that takes time and effort. But the first part is to find a profitable membership site idea. As I’ve shown you in this article, there are profitable membership sites in dozens of different industries covering unique topics that you might not have thought about. So, if you have a membership idea, evaluate it using the tips I’ve shared and use our membership site-building guide to turn your idea into a profitable business.
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Learning Revolution founder Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business.
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