One of the most profitable ways to earn income is to create a membership site. Getting leads is one thing, and very important. But the big riches isn't just giving away a "free" e-book and then selling them a more in depth one for $12.95. It is to get people to sign up and have a recurring income coming to you.
When you look online and see people selling the e-books, you might think that they are making their money with that. That is called a front-end product and is there to entice people, although of course giving them value, but to get them to go to the back-end product. Which can be a deeper more expensive training, or the best would be a membership site.
A lot of times you wont see the back-end product if you have not purchased the front-end product and that is because of the sales conversion and getting you to go through each of the steps.