There was a time when setting up paid membership sites on the Internet -- where you have a site only people who pay you an ongoing fee can access -- was all the rage.

Lately it seems this isn't as popular as it was. Mostly because so many of them fail. In fact, in many cases, it seems people drop out the bottom as soon as they sign up.

Even so, there are a few smart Internet marketers who have been able to make it work.

And one of those ways to make paid membership sites work is to simply offer content people simply cannot get anywhere else.

In other words, youre probably not going to get them to pay you an ongoing fee to access your content unless you offer them something thats just not possible to get online or offline anywhere else but from you and your site.

Yes, that sounds simple, but that's really what it all boils down to.

The whole key to making paid membership sites work is giving people something unique, valuable, proprietary to you, and that you, and only you, can provide.

For example, there is a marketer named Matt Furey. He has a monthly membership site and he gives away a ton of material to people who sign up for a year. Not material people can download online somewhere else, but real, valuable books, CDs, and even personal assistance with members' questions.

These are all things you can't get anywhere else but through him and so his membership deal thrives and grows. You can do the same thing.

It doesn't take a whole lot of sophistication or technological savvy, either. Just follow the model above with what you're selling and you will be fine.