Online course vs. membership site: Which monetization method is better?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 9:03 am
When monetizing your expertise online, there’s no shortage of options to consider.
If you’ve narrowed your choices to courses and membership sites, you may wonder which model suits your needs. After all, the two business models demand different levels of commitment, technology, and content.
This article aims to help you make an informed decision.
We’ll compare and contrast an online course vs. a Phone number library membership site to show you the pros and cons of each monetization method.
Are you in a rush? We’ve summarized our findings in the table below:
Online Course Membership Site
Help students acquire skills quickly, with minimal intervention and less community focus. Retain members for recurring income, focusing on community support and ongoing engagement.
One-time payment for lifetime access, often with a higher upfront cost. Recurring income with monthly/yearly fees, usually priced lower to accommodate the subscription model.
It can become a passive income stream after spending time on content production & Marketing. Ongoing commitment with time spent maintaining the community and producing new content regularly.
One-time content production: once the course is created, no further content is needed. Continuous production of diverse content (videos, articles, eBooks, etc.) tailored to member needs.
Microphone, camera, editing software, landing page builder, course platform, and possibly keyword research tools. Membership platforms with private forums, chat, and video-conferencing require robust payment and email subscription systems.
Transactional relationship with students; community building is optional and usually off-platform. Community-oriented members benefit from continuous interaction, networking, and shared experiences.
Possible but more challenging to attract sponsors due to the one-time nature of student engagement. Better for sponsorships due to the recurring nature of engagement and evidence of an active, engaged audience.
Table comparing the key differences between online course & membership sites
The pros and cons of online courses
There are several pros and cons to creating and selling online courses. If you’re thinking of exploring this online business model, here’s what to expect:
Pros
Less effort: Aside from the occasional update, you don’t have to keep churning out content when you create an online course. You create the course once, and your work, as it relates to content creation, is over. This pro is one of the biggest draws of starting an online course business.
Decent price potential: As an online course creator, you decide the value of the skill you’re helping your students develop. Depending on the skill, you can charge a premium price for your course, letting you earn a decent income at launch.
You don’t need a large audience: Building on the above pro, you don’t need a large audience to make decent money. You can adjust the price of your course upwards to earn more money from fewer students.
For example, if you price your online course at $500, you’ll only need two people to buy it to make your first $1000 online. But of course, the online course must deliver enough value to justify the high price tag.
You can sell complementary products: When you create an online course, you create a digital asset. This digital asset can provide other money-making opportunities and directly make you money. You can offer coaching, sell your products, or promote affiliate products related to your online course. You can even build a membership site that serves as an online community for your students.
Cons
One-time payments: Standalone online courses don’t provide opportunities for recurring revenue. Once the student pays for the course, that one-time payment marks the end of the financial relationship. Even updating your online course won’t provide new opportunities to make money, as the students who’ve paid have lifetime access to it.
Never-ending marketing: Since your customers pay a one-time fee to access your online course, you must keep marketing it to bring in new students.
That’s true even if you’re using one of the best online course platforms, and its algorithm ranks your course high in the search results. You’ll still be competing with other course creators and will have to keep sending traffic to your course’s page.
Overall, online courses may be the way to go if you want a low-effort online business model.
Learn how online teachers use GetResponse
The pros and cons of membership sites
A membership site is a website with gated members-only content. The site’s members have to subscribe for continued access to it. Think websites like 7 Figure Flipping (pictured below):
If you’ve narrowed your choices to courses and membership sites, you may wonder which model suits your needs. After all, the two business models demand different levels of commitment, technology, and content.
This article aims to help you make an informed decision.
We’ll compare and contrast an online course vs. a Phone number library membership site to show you the pros and cons of each monetization method.
Are you in a rush? We’ve summarized our findings in the table below:
Online Course Membership Site
Help students acquire skills quickly, with minimal intervention and less community focus. Retain members for recurring income, focusing on community support and ongoing engagement.
One-time payment for lifetime access, often with a higher upfront cost. Recurring income with monthly/yearly fees, usually priced lower to accommodate the subscription model.
It can become a passive income stream after spending time on content production & Marketing. Ongoing commitment with time spent maintaining the community and producing new content regularly.
One-time content production: once the course is created, no further content is needed. Continuous production of diverse content (videos, articles, eBooks, etc.) tailored to member needs.
Microphone, camera, editing software, landing page builder, course platform, and possibly keyword research tools. Membership platforms with private forums, chat, and video-conferencing require robust payment and email subscription systems.
Transactional relationship with students; community building is optional and usually off-platform. Community-oriented members benefit from continuous interaction, networking, and shared experiences.
Possible but more challenging to attract sponsors due to the one-time nature of student engagement. Better for sponsorships due to the recurring nature of engagement and evidence of an active, engaged audience.
Table comparing the key differences between online course & membership sites
The pros and cons of online courses
There are several pros and cons to creating and selling online courses. If you’re thinking of exploring this online business model, here’s what to expect:
Pros
Less effort: Aside from the occasional update, you don’t have to keep churning out content when you create an online course. You create the course once, and your work, as it relates to content creation, is over. This pro is one of the biggest draws of starting an online course business.
Decent price potential: As an online course creator, you decide the value of the skill you’re helping your students develop. Depending on the skill, you can charge a premium price for your course, letting you earn a decent income at launch.
You don’t need a large audience: Building on the above pro, you don’t need a large audience to make decent money. You can adjust the price of your course upwards to earn more money from fewer students.
For example, if you price your online course at $500, you’ll only need two people to buy it to make your first $1000 online. But of course, the online course must deliver enough value to justify the high price tag.
You can sell complementary products: When you create an online course, you create a digital asset. This digital asset can provide other money-making opportunities and directly make you money. You can offer coaching, sell your products, or promote affiliate products related to your online course. You can even build a membership site that serves as an online community for your students.
Cons
One-time payments: Standalone online courses don’t provide opportunities for recurring revenue. Once the student pays for the course, that one-time payment marks the end of the financial relationship. Even updating your online course won’t provide new opportunities to make money, as the students who’ve paid have lifetime access to it.
Never-ending marketing: Since your customers pay a one-time fee to access your online course, you must keep marketing it to bring in new students.
That’s true even if you’re using one of the best online course platforms, and its algorithm ranks your course high in the search results. You’ll still be competing with other course creators and will have to keep sending traffic to your course’s page.
Overall, online courses may be the way to go if you want a low-effort online business model.
Learn how online teachers use GetResponse
The pros and cons of membership sites
A membership site is a website with gated members-only content. The site’s members have to subscribe for continued access to it. Think websites like 7 Figure Flipping (pictured below):