If you've read my book, you know that my favorite affiliate business model is selling subscription memberships that pay commissions on a recurring basis.
Sage-Hearts.com is based almost exclusively on that model. Most of the programs that I promote pay 50% recurring commissions on dating service memberships – which most people maintain for around 5 months.
Given a choice between a one-time flat fee of 200% of the purchase price or a recurring commission of 25%, I'll almost always choose the latter.
Why?
Well, take a 10 buck a month hosting plan for example. I could take a cut-and-run commission of 20 bucks on a sale, but I'd rather have 2.50 a month for the next five or ten years.
The beauty of this is that you only need to make the sale once, yet you get paid over and over and over again.
The most lucrative products to sell online all have a recurring theme, such as health and beauty products – things that people use day after day, month after month and year after year.
Offline companies that sell recurring products are also some of the best in which to invest.
Take Johnson & Johnson for example – They've built a conglomerate around products that people use day in and day out.
Not much chance that anyone is going to stop using toilet paper any time soon!!!
And although I like to promote and invest in companies that sell recurring products, the most lucrative position to be in is to sell your own recurring product… especially online.
Imagine having a couple hundred or a couple thousand people subscribing to your own service.
Woohoo!
And the good thing is that setting up a membership site is not limited to the ‘big boys' anymore.
You've probably noticed that even smaller mom-and-pop type sites are starting their own membership sites and benefiting from recurring monthly subscriptions – most of which have nothing to do with IM products.
The first example that comes to my mind is Kim Standerline, a nurse who sells content for health-related sites through her own membership site.
If you like the idea of having your own membership site (and you should at least consider the option), but are wondering what the heck you might sell, check out this video (scroll about a quarter of the way down the page) that gives clues and shows examples of very successful sites in unexpected little niche markets.
The video is produced by Tim Kerber and Ryan Lee.
Tim manages 400+ membership sites, and Ryan owns nearly 50 membership sites. Both bring in six figures per month with their membership sites… and they're going to spill the beans on how they do what they do in a closed-door Coaching Club.
Although the Club membership may seem a bit pricey – and they intend to raise it on Friday July 27th – the good news is that they're charging a flat fee for their club membership.
Don't know about you, but that strikes me as somewhat ironic. 🙂
Anyway, if you've ever wanted to start your own membership site, the Membership Site coaching club is your best opportunity yet to learn from some real pros.