The Membership Guys Podcast - Practical Advice For Membership Website Owners

Despite what the slickest of snake oil salesmen will try to tell you, there is no secret sauce or golden formula for building a successful membership website. The key to the long term success of your membership site lies beyond marketing tactics, sales spiel and fancy production values; and the memberships which do best are those which - at their heart - understand and embrace a core set of fundamental principles. In this episode, I outline 7 essential principles shared by the most successful memberships around.

The path to membership success is paved with a litany of mistakes. Along the way you’re going to screw up, especially in the early days. It’s all part of the learning curve and it happens to the best of us – yes, even your friendly neighbourhood Membership Guys! However you will come to a point where it feel like you truly have your house in order, you’re now on the right track and those initial stumbles are far behind you. But time and time again we see seasoned membership site owners falling into the same traps as they attempt to manage and grow their business. In this episode, we’ll take a look at some of the most common pitfalls for experienced membership owners and, more importantly, how you can avoid them.

There are many reasons people are attracted to the membership model. The most compelling for us is how dramatically different (and better) making recurring income from a membership is compared to servicing clients on a one-on-one basis. This is particularly true if you’re a “one man band”, where you’re solely responsible for the delivery of what you sell, so that might be: Website developers Business coaches Graphic designers Marketing consultants Or anyone else who works with clients one on one or even in small groups. Your business is holding you back. In this episode, I’m going to explain why the membership model is far superior to offering one-to-one services, as well as show you how you can start incorporating memberships and subscriptions into your own business.

Retain Live 2019 was a phenomenal success - especially for our very first live event! However as we discussed during the first part of our "debrief", it was a little rocky in the build up. In this concluding episode, Callie and I talk through the event itself, breaking down everything that happened and how it all came together; sharing some of our biggest lessons and top takeaways for anyone thinking of running a similar event. In this episode... The moment we realised that all of our hard work, and the complete burnout we'd experienced, was totally worth it. A recap of the sessions, speakers and surprises from across the 3 days of the event How we added special touches and memorable moments to make our event truly remarkable Answering that all important question about whether we'll be running another event like this one

Two weeks ago, we kicked off our very first live conference: Retain Live 2019. It's the first time we've run an event of this scale, and to say it was a new, interesting and challenging experience would be a major understatement! While the event itself was a huge success and we've had overwhelmingly positive feedback - getting there certainly wasn't smooth sailing. In the first of our two-part debrief, Callie joins me on the show to discuss the weeks leading up to the event - as the workload (and stress levels) ramp up. In this episode... Why we hated the whole process of selling tickets for our event, and the reason we ended ticket sales early The big discovery we made about ourselves while preparing for the conference and working with our event team Unexpected challenges and frustrating obstacles that led to us hitting breaking point the week before the event Our biggest lessons and top takeaways for anyone thinking of running an event like Retain Live

If you have a great idea for a membership, you need to validate whether or not it’s destined to fail or succeed. Like Rome, the world’s leading membership sites weren’t built in a day. They started as an idea in someone’s mind, which was nurtured, tested and validated until there was undeniable proof the idea was a winning concept. When you’re excited about an idea for a membership, it’s easy to let your bias belief that your idea is gold get in the way of reality. This frame of mind can give you a false sense of security and cause you to invest everything in an idea that will never get off the ground. Before you pursue your membership idea, you need to test and validate it with an MVP. This will help you to discover whether your idea has true potential or not. In this episode, I reveal the importance of using an MVP to test and validate your membership idea and how to create one. Episode Summary: What an MVP is and how it will validate the potential success of your membership idea The characteristics

Deciding how much you should charge for your membership site is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Charge too little and you risk losing out and making no profit. On the other hand, if you charge too much, there’s a chance nobody will be able to afford your membership. So, how much should you charge? Unfortunately, there’s no one-size fits all approach when it comes to pricing your membership. But there are four key areas to look at to help you land on a price that you and your members are happy with. Tune in to hear what they are and discover a few helpful tips when it comes to defining your membership pricing strategy. Episode Summary: Why you need to know your cost of member acquisition How to make sure your membership site is profitable and sustainable How to move the focus away from the price of your membership and towards the value of your site instead Considering your competitors when working out what to charge Why you need to consider the profile and financial situation of your

Have you ever wondered what the main differences are between B2B memberships and B2C memberships? When it comes to membership sites, most of the strategies that we talk about on the podcast and inside the Membership Academy can be applied to pretty much any niche or market. But, there are a few key differences to look out for between a B2B membership and a B2C membership. These differences are important because they can potentially impact how you approach your strategy, marketing, and even your mindset when it comes to your membership site. Dive into this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast to hear what those key differences are and how you can use that knowledge to plan your membership content accordingly. Episode Summary: How vast the range of potential impact your membership can have with a B2C market vs. B2B The importance of assessing where you fit on the scale - between something that’s seen as a hobby and something potentially life-changing How attitudes towards cost and affordability vary b

Holy smokes, has it really been four years already?! It honestly feels like yesterday that we were gearing up to open the doors to the Academy. I'm not sure we fully realised the awesome journey we were about to embark on. Join us as we celebrate the 4th anniversary of Membership Academy by taking a look back at the last 12 months and highlighting the 7 'ups' and 3 'downs' from the past year. In this episode, Callie and I discuss: How the changes we'd introduced a year ago have changed the way the Academy runs in a major way The HUGE milestone we hit, and why we haven't been shouting about it from the rooftops! What effect planning the Retain conference has had on our business (and our lifestyle) Our top priority as we head into year 5...

Like it or not, membership cancellations are going to happen. Hopefully if you run your site well those cancellations will come at the end of a long tenure, but regardless they will happen. How you deal with these cancellations has numerous implications for the continued success of your membership site or online course; so it’s important to know how to handle them and also what to avoid. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I share my top tips for dealing with member cancellations the right way.

Having a hard time deciding which membership plugin is for you? Although the main feature of a membership plugin is to give you control of the content in a restricted ‘members-only’ area of your site, there’s a lot more to consider when selecting the right one for your site. So, what should you keep an eye out for when choosing a membership plugin? Tune in to hear four factors that could be huge game changers and make all the difference between making the right choice and making the wrong choice when it comes to your membership plugin.  Episode Summary: Why the customer support options offered by the developers of the plugin are so important What to look out for when looking at the specifics of the license that your plugin comes with and the potential restrictions The problem with having a plugin with encrypted code including customization drawbacks and potential issues with your web host Why you should check when the plugin was last updated Key Quotes: “If you bought a plugin where the only suppo

Have you ever had somebody tell you that your membership is overpriced? Honestly, it would be a surprise if you haven’t. Discussions like this are usually followed up with a bargaining attempt to reduce the cost of your membership. You might have experienced when a somewhat pushy potential member tries to haggle your price down. Or, they might even ask for a discount or a free trial run that lasts for an entire month. If somebody tells you that they can’t afford your membership fee, it’s important to take it with a pinch of salt. Don’t take what they’re saying to heart because the truth is that not everyone will be able to afford your membership, and that’s okay  Listen in to find out what you should do the next time someone tells you that they can’t afford your membership site. Episode Summary:  Why you shouldn’t read too much into it when someone questions your affordability Whether it’s ever a good business strategy to offer a free trial and if so, when? How to reframe things to ensure people focus

Our members often ask questions about how we run our membership and how our business has grown over time. The first thing we tell them is that our success didn’t fall out of the heavens and onto our laps. It took a lot of hard work, dedication and strategic thinking to get to where we are today. We’ve intertwined a concoction of approaches and strategies that have helped move our business forward. In this episode, we pull back the curtain and reveal five things that have positively impacted the growing success of our business as well as a few that we thought would work but ultimately turned belly side up. Essential Summary: Why you shouldn’t stray from your niche and risk confusing your audience How segmentation helped us to craft compelling lead magnets and grow our email list The importance of creating a killer opt-in and how to know if yours is good enough to move the needle How our unique Memberoni Theme for WordPress has helped us attract new members What we include in our weekly email blasts to

How do you ensure that your membership doesn’t get the chop when your members decide it’s monthly subscription payment Armageddon? With so many businesses moving into the membership space, consumers are faced with an overwhelming amount of choice. There comes a point when rather than juggling a countless array of subscriptions, your members will do a brutal clear out and scrap anything they consider non-essential. No mercy. So, what can you do to ensure your membership is classed as essential, and doesn’t get tossed on the scrap pile? Tune in to hear my six top tips to dodge the chop when people are battling subscription fatigue.  Episode Summary: Why you should take steps to personalize your member’s experience How to combine subscription products to stack your value proposition The value of creating multiple pricing tiers and how this can help keep members in your ecosystem Why giving members the ability to pause their account can be a better alternative to losing them completely How to remove the

Memberships have been a hot topic in recent years. Everybody is talking about them, and it seems like everyone and their dog is starting a new membership; but what happens when all of this hype dies down and people move onto the next thing - what will that mean for the future of the membership model? Are memberships just the new shiny fad? And is there any point starting a membership if the bubble is about to burst? I address these questions head on in this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, and dissect whether memberships are a passing fad or whether there's a future for this industry. Episode Summary: Why it feels like everyone is suddenly jumping on the membership bandwagon What is the "recency illusion" and how does this affect the membership market? Signs that the stage is set for significant growth in the membership industry The real danger that the rise of memberships and subscriptions poses to your business

It's an exciting time for us here at The Membership Guys as we unveil a fresh new update for our brand, and also announce that Member Site Academy is now Membership Academy! While on the surface it may not seem like a major change, there's a lot more involved than meets the eye... In this episode I give a bit of backstory about why these changes mean so much, and walk you through the process we used to update our brand identity. Episode Summary: Why changing Member Site Academy to Membership Academy is such a big deal for us The $10 secret behind The Membership Guys brand... Why your logo is one of the least important elements of your businesses brand Our top takeaways for anyone going through a brand refresh

Membership site owners wear a lot of hats and juggle a lot of tasks on a day to day basis. With so many moving parts, and so many plates to keep spinning, anything that we can do to streamline our workload and become a little more efficient is a big win. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I talk about 4 specific things we do within our business to make us far more productive in running our membership Episode Summary: The one small change to our video creation process that cut production time in half The specific way we involve our team members in our regular live calls that seriously lightens the workload for us How batch creating several months worth of content at one time is far more efficient than doing it on the fly The importance of documenting processes for any task you repeat more than once per month

Are you trying to be all things to all people with your content? The truth is, the more broad your content is, the less compelling, relevant and effective it's likely to be for the individual reader. By trying to cater to everyone, you end up catering to no-one. This is where segmentation can be a gamechanger. By identifying 3-5 key segments within your audience, and tailoring not only your content but also your lead generation strategy, your sales funnel and your email marketing to those segments; you can move the needle right across all the important KPI's in your business. More traffic, more leads and ultimately more membership sales. Episode Summary: Why trying to help everyone with your content results in you actually helping nobody! The 3 main options for segmenting your audience, and how they apply to memberships How to apply segmentation to not only your membership site, but also your content and sales funnels Examples of how we use segmentation in our own business, and the dramatic results

Are you delivering an exceptional member experience? Your membership could have the best content in the world, but if your member experience isn't up to scratch then people just aren't going to engage. They're less likely to log in, less likely to consume your content or participate in your community, and ultimately less likely to stick around long term. Much of crafting a remarkable member experience comes down to finding ways of making your members feel extra special, and in this episode I highlight 6 simple ways to do just that. Episode Summary: Don't underestimate the importance of personally welcoming new members to your site How making a deliberate effort to loop other members into conversations can be hugely empowering Why you need to be attentive to your power users and reach out to people who are slipping away How using your platform to showcase members and celebrate their successes is a major win-win

Attracting the right people to your membership is essential for the growth of your business. Not all members are created equal - the best ones will consume your content, positively engage with your community and actually use what they're paying for. These are the members who will stick around for the long term. But how do you tailor your marketing to ensure you're attracting more of the right type of member? Episode Summary: Why trying to get sales at any cost is a dumb mistake we see too many people making The qualities and characteristics of members who are more likely to stay subscribed long term The gulf in difference between a member who is interested in your topic, and one who is committed to it Steps you can take to better identify your ideal members, and adapt your marketing to appeal to those people