Many business owners would prefer to have a steady stream of recurring revenue instead of relying on daily sales. A good way to achieve this is to create a membership website using subscription software. It is gaining popularity, because in a slowing economy, having guaranteed sales on a weekly or monthly basis is a must. If you offer subscription services to your visitors and provide them with good value, you are bound to build a large following.

The way that a membership website works is it uses a subscription software to capture each member or subscriber's data. In order to offer subscription products, content or services, you are responsible for delivering as promised and let the software handle and manage the membership interface and recurring billing. Payment is deducted from the member's credit card at a given date each week or month or quarter depending on your preference for the entire time he or she is still a member. The subscription or membership can be canceled when the member no longer wants products or services from the business, thus ending the relationship as well as the recurring payments.

There are a variety of ways you can offer subscription based services or products on your e-commerce site. Almost all online businesses that require the use of a subscription software will fall into one of three business models. The first model is a membership website that acts like a community. People will be billed on a recurring basis to become a member in order to connect with other people in their field, get professional advice on a certain subject or get access to data that they cannot find anywhere else on the web. The second type delivers new products or content to people in the form of a subscription. Your subscribers can either receive information online such as e-zines or newsletters or receive tangible products in the mail such as chocolate of the month club. The third model is for products or services that the customer has to use on a continual basis. A good example of this is Proactiv, it's an acne product that is sent to the customer every three months so they never run out of the product.

If you are interested in any of the above business models, you will need an e-commerce solution with a reliable subscription software to help you create your own membership website. Here is a list of some features to help you offer subscription on your web site:

• Get tracking reports of all customer charges each billing cycle


• Define your own terms and conditions for subscriptions


• Choose when to charge your subscribers


• Automatic credit card transaction processing each billing cycle


• Set number of days to wait before trying to charge declined credit cards again


• Set number of payment declines before deactivating a member's account


• Select your own billing cycle according to days, weeks, months or years


• Member account can be disabled at any time by the customer


• Configure countries to accept subscription from

There are several benefits for creating a membership website. It does not require a lot more from you than what you would typically do for an e-commerce website. The subscription software takes care of all of the membership and payment aspects of the business, all you need to do is keep providing your members or subscribers with valuable content, products or services. You will be able to offer subscription services by either building an exclusive membership website or have this feature integrated with your ecommerce store where you would be able to make money from both one time sales in addition to ongoing sales. You don't have to waste time or money marketing to your current customers, instead focus on new customer acquisition. Keep building that list, the more subscribers you have the more guaranteed sales revenue for your business.

Isn't it time you built your own membership website? Getting a reliable subscription management software fully integrated with your online store is simple with the correct e-commerce solution. Manage all of your subscribers and monitor their recurring payments from your own store control panel. Build your list and let the software take care of the rest.