Membership and Classified Web Sites

Some co-workers of mine went to a web site usability session conducted by a director from the Mequoda Group and came back with some materials that I've been perusing. This material has some good descriptions of the types of web sites that exist today that I think are worth describing here. This second part in a three part series covers the membership and classified web site models.

Membership Web Site

A membership web site is one where all or some of the content is gated. To get passed the gate and access the content, a user must register and possibly pay a fee. This model is similar to subscriber-supported print magazines or newsletters. The fact that a membership site is user-supported doesn't preclude it from also seeking revenue from advertising. These sites are often thought of as being similar to a book, encyclopedia, or even a library of information. However, the online, always available nature coupled with frequent updates give the membership web site a distinct advantage over its more traditional counterparts. A publisher with a large quantity of searchable an well-organized content is an excellent candidate for a membership web site.

Membership sites are relatively expensive to build because of the infrastructure needed to support a large amount of content and the inter-connectedness of this content. However, once set up with a good content management system (CMS), they can become an excellent revenue opportunity for the site owner. The best ones include forums to help establish a loyal following that can communicate with like-minded people to share news and do research on topics of mutual interest. Even if you have a print product with similar material, users are often willing to pay for the ability to search archives.

Classified Web Site

This model of web site is architecturally unique compared to other archetypes. However, despite having a unique structure, the commerce-based classified web site is becoming more and more popular. This is actually becoming a problem for the traditional classified vendors i.e. newspapers. The bulk of the classified sites advertise jobs, real estate, or cars. In the usual model, the seller pays to list a product for sale or an available job. A less-common model is where the buyer or employer pays for listings.

Some classified sites such as Monster.com, are discovering alternative streams of income. For example, the online nature of such sites means that they may be able to collect and then sell user information e.g. resumes. These aspects of classified web sites make them sponsor-driven and user-driven.

Directory sites are another variation of the classified archetype. The directory version is a list of resources, similar to yellow pages. Often, every company that qualifies receive a basic listing for free, but those that want an enhanced listing must pay a fee. However, these slight differences are transparent to a user.