A successful subscription site will create content or sell products that are compelling and needed, have sustainable amounts of traffic and visitors that convert into paid subscribers, and an owner who is willing to stick it out. Here are some of the questions you should consider before taking the plunge into the subscription economy:

1. Who should start a subscription business?

In theory, if you have knowledge or credentials in a specific area, you can start a subscription site. Growing it into a profitable enterprise is the difficult part. If you are one of the following people, a subscription site may be right for you:

• Professional consultants, particularly experienced in a niche industry or market, are used to communicating with people interested in a specific space. They can easily explain topics and may already have their own email list, blog and established name.
• Independent online publishers who already offer their content for free can monetize their traffic by implementing a paywall.
• Journalists, especially those in the B-to-B press, can apply their topical experience and industry contacts into quality content for a subscription site. It also helps that large publishers have traditionally had trouble pivoting to the paywall model, and there may exist a space to fill.   
• Non-fiction book authors who are experienced at explaining things clearly and have deep knowledge of a particular niche can put their experience to use.
• Professional speakers who talk to people for a living and offer them targeted content that’s spoken, rather than written. You don’t necessarily have to be a writer to do a subscription site, you can publish videos instead. Professional speakers also have a ready-made audience that may want continue their experience year round.
• You have something to sell. You may be a subscription box company, software provider, or telecommunications company, among many others, where the subscription business model makes sense for you.

2. What personality is needed to run a subscription business?

A solid, sustainable subscription business will take a minimum of six months to get up and running.  Above all, you should have the patience to be willing to stick with it for at least this period of time to see whether it’s going to work. Other than the virtue of patience, a subscription business may be a good if you:

• Enjoy explaining things
• Have strong opinions
• Don’t mind spending time on a little marketing
• Are good at multitasking
• Are a little bit comfortable with technology
• Can make a real time commitment

3.  How do you find the right focus for your subscription business?

If everyone knew which topics sell and which topics don’t, there wouldn’t be a need for this article.  The overarching truth here is that you really don’t know what reaction your topics will get until you start to publish content.

But to start, the classic topics that sell   are what could be referred to as “health and wealth.” Health is along the lines of fitness and nutrition, but also mental wellness and lifestyle topics too. Wealth could be something like a stock market advisory real estate investing, or how to get a better job or make money.

Passionate hobbies are often good topics as well. This could mean anything from dating to sewing, cooking, or bodybuilding – they are just topics that people feel very passionate about in their personal lives. Also, since business to business topics account for almost 30% of all online subscription sales, there are some opportunities in that realm.

Overall, you need a topic where your readers have a passionate interest that lasts longer than a day, one where they’ll be willing to come back again and again for more information, that’s when a membership site can really work for you.

Also, remember to avoid broad topics. Entering into too broad of a market is a problem and your topical expert site is not geared toward that outcome. Your members aren’t going to want to buy something that’s broad because they won’t feel like it really applies to them. It’s much better to be in something that is really applicable.

Of course, if you are a subscription box company or other business utilizing the subscription model, you already know what your market needs, and you shouldn’t venture into subscriptions until you are completely sure they are viable for your business. 

Overall, remember that it isn’t about what your target market needs, but it’s about what they want. It’s about their desire. If you can tap into that pain or that desire, they’ll buy it. In this case, niche is golden.

4. How do you gauge the size of your market?

It’s key to avoid starting a subscription site if your marketplace is really small. Find out the size of your market with some research within a free Google AdWords account. Research the keywords that describe your topic and your expertise and see how much traffic there is for the terms.  Do your terms get 50 hits a day, 50 hits a month or 50,000 hits a month? Get a general feeling for how much interest there is in your topic.

Gauge your competition by looking for the places where people are talking. It might be a bunch of bloggers, people on Twitter, or an online publisher or trade association. Above all, remember that competition within your market isn’t a bad thing. Rather, the opposite is true, as it’s not a good sign if there’s nothing written on the topic. In fact, it’s a warning sign. Avoid the topic at least until there’s somebody else out there, and if there is, it doesn’t matter so much if they’re in your business model. What you should care about is if your competition has thought leadership and they are writing about the same thing you’d like to? If so, they’re proving that readers are out there, and it isn’t just you who’s crazy about this topic.

Competition can also be good for your bottom because without others in your space, who are you going to get back links from? Who are you going to do marketing barters with? Who are you going to do your webinars with? Where are you going to get your PR? You need that feeder by making friends with your competitors.

If you’re still not sure, start by setting up a blog and try to create an audience with it. Get people to read it and get them to opt-in to an email mailing list. Keep on posting at least every couple of days for a couple of months. You will prove to yourself if it’s worth investing in, if it’s worth launching a business. If you already have a blog or a content site or any type of site for yourself, start collecting prospect names immediately. Getting that list ready is the first big steps toward making your subscription site a reality.

5.  What are the most common barriers to entry?

If you’re the right kind of person to launch a subscription business, part of the reason is because you really do enjoy sharing your knowledge and you want to help people. But as much as you love to share your expertise or bring your product to market, in the end you also need to make a living.

The good thing is the initial barrier to entry can be pretty low. While twenty years ago an investment in custom programming was required, while today there are many companies out there that make it easy, with “plug and play” technology that provides a great deal of site help for you. A few hundred dollars a month can get your site started. Some people often are intimidated by the many hats they will have to wear, because running a membership site means you have to be somewhat good, but not brilliant, at all of the different roles you will take on.

For instance, while you won’t have to program, you’ll at least need to know how to work a blog or content management system. You may not have any accounting experience, but once your company gets big enough, you can hire a bookkeeper. If you’re not great at marketing, consider bringing on a partner who is.

On that note, a lot of subscription business entrepreneurs tend to have a partner. Often it’s a husband and wife team, or two really good friends. Sometimes it’s a licensing situation. There’s a lot of different options but some people do it all themselves and really enjoy it because they never get bored because of all the hats they wear.

6. Where will you find your first subscribers?

The factors that affect how much money you make are properly observing the market, publishing high quality content, aggressively marketing your products, and driving traffic and converting visitors into buyers.

Once your visitors become buyers, getting them to stay and become a lifetime customer, to stick around for more than a month or two is a skill in itself as well.

The following are good examples of beginning resources that may make a big difference in how quickly you become profitable:

1. An existing list of buyers. No matter what you previously sold, the chance of them are carrying over to your subscription business is pretty high.
2. Opt-in readers who have signed up for your email. If you already have a list and have been engaged with them through regular emails, launching a subscription business is relatively easy because at the very least you have readers to convert into paid members or recurring customers.
3. An existing non-subscription website or company. While it doesn’t have any opt-ins at the moment, it does have existing traffic to potentially convert. Also, if you have an existing company that hasn’t implemented a subscription model, you have a good platform on which to start.
4. A business partnership or licensing agreement. If you know someone who already has a paid membership site, an existing list of buyers, or an existing list of opt-in readers, consider entering into a mutually-beneficial agreement with them.
5. Selling additional products and services. Offering items for sale on your website like eBooks, consulting, coaching, workshops, webinars, seminars and events is another great way to drive traffic and revenue.     

Brian Hood is a contributor to Subscription Insider.