Subscription platforms, especially content creator community platforms, where creators can connect with their fans, build a community, and make money.
Creators can leverage subscription platforms to offer exclusive content, including images and videos, to their fan base while setting up a sustainable business model for themselves.
If you are thinking about how to start a subscription website, stay on this blog; you are going to learn how.
What is a subscription platform, and how does it work?
Subscription platforms allow content creators to make sustainable revenue while building a fan community. The success of a subscription website lies in the exclusive content offered by creators and the value the fans receive when they join the community.
Subscription platforms find success no matter the niche or product offered- be it exclusive content, podcasts, online courses or videos.
Building A Subscription Website- Steps To Follow
If you are an entrepreneur who wants to make money by selling exclusive content or want to build a creator community marketplace like OnlyFans, it is a lucrative idea.
Start with a market study to know whether the scope is huge or not. Understanding the industry’s potential and trends will ensure you are entering a successful business.
The main purpose of subscription websites is to offer customers ongoing value and convenience while generating a stable source of revenue for platform owners. Choose the features and functionalities accordingly to allow creators to manage their fan base with a one-size-fits business model.
Here are the steps you can follow to build a subscription business:
Find A Purpose
The very first step to follow when creating a subscription-based community platform is to have a motivating purpose. List out the reasons why you want to start a subscription-based creator community platform.
Having the purpose and goals set will help you create a drive a community. After finding your purpose, validate your business idea.
Perform a Google search to see if your niche and keywords have a decent search volume.
While there is OnlyFans, Patreon, and other fan club websites, the demand for niche community platforms is still high, which means the demand continues.
Understand Who Your Target Market Is
When starting a subscription website, knowing who you are trying to target is important. Identify who they are, what they want from your subscription services, and everything you can learn about them.
While creators of all sorts can benefit from subscription platforms, not everyone can be your audience. Study about them and define your target audience so that you can curate a great experience for your audience.
Choose Your Business Model
When starting a subscription business, you must choose a business model that defines how your subscription platform generates revenue. It can be through commissions or offering services for a set price.
Choosing a subscription price or how much to charge for your subscription price is important. Consider your profit margin to sustain your subscription business.
You can start your service with a freemium model that offers limited free access to basic services and charges a premium price for users for higher services.
Select The Development Approach
Building your subscription business is critical to building your subscription platform. But how do you build your subscription platform?
You can choose to build your platform from scratch or choose to build and launch your subscription business.
Software like Fanso can help you build and launch your subscription platform for creators. Fanso allows you to customize the platform according to your business requirements and preferences.
Decide The Features Of Your Platform
Building and launching a subscription platform is a lot of work, and choosing the important features is a significant aspect of it.
Let’s have a look at the important features a subscription platform must have:
User Profile Creation
Incorporate profile creation that allows creators to build their profiles and add profile descriptions to show their niche to their fans. Creators must be able to add links to their websites and social media profiles.
Recurring Revenue Model
Subscription or membership platforms work on monthly or annual deductions and earn consistent and recurring revenue, which is a lucrative business model.
Membership Tiers
Most subscription platforms allow creators to sell membership tiers to their audience, which helps them to cater to fans with different requirements.
Community Creation
A subscription platform must allow creators to build and nurture their fan community. It must include features like messaging, responding to replies and commenting on posts.
Analytics
Offer built-in analytics and performance tracking features to help creators track the performance metrics.
Payment Processing
Incorporate flexible payment gateways in your subscription platform so that users can process payments in a flexible way.
Offer multicurrency choices and popular payment getaways to make payment processing more accessible for customers across the globe.
Crowdfunding
Most subscription platforms support crowdfunding goals where they can meet their fundraising goals for noble causes.
How Much Does It Cost To Build And Launch A Subscription Platform?
The cost to create a subscription platform is generally a hefty fee, according to the development approach you choose.
Building a subscription or a creator community platform will cost around $20,000 to $50,000 or even more.
Moreover, it will take a lot of effort and time, and you will have to wait for months to launch your subscription platform.
When you choose Fanso to build a platform affordably, you can build the subscription website within the budget of $2000, including the price of the software, hosting, buying a domain name, hosting charge, etc.
Fanso is a whitelabel solution with an OnlyFans clone script and all features and tools to build your subscription platform. Customized features, unique branding and other features to make it unique.
Conclusion
Subscription platforms can be of different niches and are an excellent addition to the creator space.
That is why creator community marketplaces and fan club websites like OnlyFans are mushrooming to cater to audiences of all niches.
Today’s Entrepreneurs have the technology to build their subscription platform to cater to their audience and preferences.
