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Since your paid content will be password protected, for members only, even best offerings can't sell themselves. Therefore you need mouthwatering descriptive bullets making content sound unusually tantalizing and valuable and testimonials from members who explain how they've more than gotten their money's worth from site.
Instead of a dry, factual recital of what people will get from their site subscription, inject suspense and color into your descriptions of what they'll get. Especially, make explicit benefit people get from your content:
* "Unlimited use our secret vault jam-packed with over 3,000 pages of cutting-edge articles, programs and training tips created by professional strength coaches that are proven to give you results." (www.sportspecific.com)
* "Product Reviews: We search for best luxury products, and because we accept no advertising, you receive unbiased product reviews." (www.luxurylifestyleadvisor.com)
Testimonials are equally important to persuade people to set aside their skepticism and fears and take leap to pay for something they can't touch and examine in advance. Ask your earliest users or colleagues who have a reputation with your target niche to put into words what's valuable about your site. Particularly valuable are blurbs from people who got concrete results because of their subscription - made money, lost weight, found a sponsor, improved their SAT scores, etc.
With content that passes value test, mouthwatering marketing copy and quotes from satisfied site subscribers, you'll soon be proprietor of yet another successful subscription site.
Marcia Yudkin is the author of Poor Richard's Web Site Marketing Makeover, Six Steps to Free Publicity and 9 other books. She has recently created month-by-month marketing plans for site owners hoping to convert a free site to paid or to start a subscription site from scratch. Details: http://www.yudkin.com/plans.htm.