Subscription Business Model Series – Blog

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to start making money online is to start a blog. The variety of income earning opportunities that blogs present make them attractive as a business model. In today’s series of subscription business models, we are focusing on blog subscription businesses.

For most people looking to make money online, starting a blog is usually the easiest route to go. The low startup costs make blogs an ideal route for people who are not technical in nature. To make money with your blog, you simply need to find an offer and present it to people searching for it.

Blog Content Marketing

Successful blogs are driven by high quality content. However, if you are looking to make serious income with your blog, you have to treat it as a business. You need to identify your market, get an offer, drive traffic and generate leads to make sales.

Some of the ways through which you can earn money with blogs include advertisements, affiliate sales, consulting/coaching, providing services such as writing, social media marketing and so on. All these revenue generation methods can be implemented concurrently thus offering you multiple streams of revenue.

However, if you are looking for a sustainable blog business, you should focus on subscription business model.

Blog Subscription Businesses

A blog subscription business is easier to run  and can assure you of regular revenue. Just like every blog business, the subscription business will probably be centered on a particular type of content that your market will be willing to pay for. Depending on what you prefer, you can have a hybrid model of free and premium content or exclusive premium content only.

Let’s look at 2 case studies of subscription blogs that are getting it right:

a) Fizzle.co

The Fizzle blog targets people who want to start successful online and offline businesses. What makes the blog stand out is that most of its content comprises of videos and interviews of experts and other entrepreneurs for the benefit of its members.

Fizzle offers subscribers two pricing options; the Standard that costs $29 per month and the Deluxe that costs $49 per month. The blog has opted for an exclusive premium content model. This means there is no free content for users although the founder, Corbett Barr, has other online marketing sites such as Think Traffic that promote Fizzle.

b) SEO Book

Another successful blog subscription business is SEO Book by Aaron Wall. This is an SEO focused training program that offers everything a person would need to learn about SEO. Members get access to training videos and modules, SEO tools, private members SEO community and a host of other features for$300 per month. There are no minimum contracts.

SEO Book is following the hybrid content method where non-members can access some content on its blog and resources such as free SEO tools, eBooks and others. The hybrid method of allowing non-members access to some content can help to close sales especially when the content provided is helpful and engaging.

Elements of a Good Subscription Blogs Business Model

Subscription blogs are driven by content and audiences. You need to identify your audience and what they need, and then provide an innovative or helpful solution. One thing that is clear with blog subscription sites is the need to always keep the content flowing. Subscription blog owners have to constantly produce content and offer support to members to keep churn low, build brand awareness and culture loyalty among their subscribers.

Which other successful blogs do you know of that are running the subscription business model?