Remember the times when Facebook was only starting out? These were the middle 2000s, and online social networking as we know it today was just shaping. At that particular time, in 2004, NING came into being as an attempt to create a platform allowing users to build their own customized social networks.
NING in retrospective
At its early stages, NING was just an open source toolkit for creating custom social applications. Over time, it acquired a graphical user interface and a decent arsenal of inbuilt features for content sharing and online social interaction. When NING matured as a digital product, it successfully carried out the transition toward the SaaS model of software licensing and delivery.
Thus, NING entered a newly developing market of website builders. However, it turned out to be a unique product in its own niche. On one hand, it allows you to design your website without writing a single line of code, just like most of its competitors do. On the other hand, NING websites offer so many networking features that they are viewed as full-on personalized social networks.
After the remarkable popularity surge between 2005 and 2009, NING started to lose the edge due to frequent management changes and high staff turnover.
However, in 2013, the company released a social website builder of the next generation, NING 3.0. The updated platform got plenty of new features aimed at expanding the software functionality and improving the user-experience.
In 2016, the period of internal turmoils for NING was finally over with the new team and management taking the helm. The company starts working on further improvements and updates, launches the new marketing campaign, and expands its outreach exponentially.
In the early summer of 2018, NING successfully launches its long-anticipated monetization platform designed to enable users to make money from their content.
Monetizing content with NING
To satisfy the requirements of the vast part of its clientele, NING has finally rolled out its e-commerce platform which is now expected to appeal to the new type of audience – experts and professionals offering valuable knowledge and expertise for money.
The monetization feature is readily available to all NING users allowing them to make money from their online communities in three different ways:
- Paid Access
The feature is designed for selling digital content on NING social websites. It is the easiest and most effective way to monetize premium content assets without blocking access to the entire network. In this sense, Paid Access works as a barrier preventing unauthorized users to view specific content unless they pay for it.
The feature is great for selling both single content items and bundles (content packages), offering a convenient way to make money online for all who used to share useful and engaging information on the web. It will clearly find lots of appeal among people selling online lessons, training videos, educational materials, podcasts, and other digital goods.
- Paid Membership
The option is ideal for monetizing entire websites. In simple terms, the Paid Membership feature is a paywall that makes entering a website impossible without paying a subscription fee.
Being a more radical model of online monetization, it makes sense as long as your potential subscribers have a strong incentive to join in, e.g. uniqueness of content, exclusive benefits or common goal that unites community members.
Ensuring higher profits for individuals and organizations with a solid reputation and large credit of trust, the Paid Membership feature will be highly appreciated by celebrities, reputable life coaches or mentors, online tutors, industry experts, business consultants, fan club owners, etc.
- Donations
The third and the final monetization option offered by NING is for those who’d like to withhold from selling anything to their audience. The Donations feature allows network creators to raise funds for charity purposes or other needs. Thus, users can easily set up donation campaigns and ask their network members (or just website visitors) to support them financially, pitch in a common goal or contribute money for the right cause.
Paid Access, Paid Membership, and Donations are the pillars of the monetization platform developed by NING. But there are more pleasant surprises to look forward to! Overall, it’s a great solution for everyone planning to start making money online in 2018.
Looking into the future
NING is a website builder that has been around for more than a decade now. Today, NING seems to be stronger than ever before with a new team and management determined to turn the platform into the ultimate website builder for enterprising content creators.
For all who are contemplating an idea of making money from content, now is the perfect time to take a closer look at NING.