The Membership Guys Podcast - Practical Advice For Membership Website Owners

Cancellations suck. There's no denying it. Obviously a member ending their subscription is pretty much the worst case scenario. By nature of the business model it's pretty much the last thing we want to happen, right? So why would you make it easier for members to leave by giving them the ability to cancel their membership themselves without you being involved or having a chance to talk them round? In today's episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I dive into the pros and cons of allowing members to cancel their own subscriptions vs implementing a process that requires them to contact you first if they want to leave.

Live calls are a great way of delivering value to your members without a lot of the headaches and added effort that goes into creating many other forms of member content. Webinars, live Q&A's, member coaching calls - this sort of content is ideally suited to most types of memberships. In today's podcast episode, I dive deeper into how to get the most out of live member content and give my top tips for raising the bar and improving the quality and impact that it can have. Episode Summary: Why live calls such as webinars and Q&A sessions are a great addition to your membership Recommendations for reducing the tech barriers for members to attend How one change can help you to create a more personal connection Ways to get more people to turn up live to your calls

Offering a trial is a great way of moving people off the fence and encouraging them to give your membership a try. However should that trial be free, or should it involve a nominal charge? In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I cover the pros and cons of each option, and dive deeper into the benefits and considerations of offering a trial for your membership. Episode Summary: How offering a trial on your membership can significantly increase sales Why most people instinctively choose to make their trials free The psychology behind a trial period, and how it differs from free vs paid The only metric that matters when assessing the performance of your trial

The launch of a new membership site can be a nerve-wracking time, and adding to that anxiety is the question of whether you have enough content to open your doors. Is there a set amount of content that a membership site needs to have before you release it to the public? What content should you be creating and how do you know when to say “when”? In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast I tackle this question, and provide my top tips for approaching content creation as you gear up for launch. As well as looking at the key things to consider when thinking about your membership launch content, I also discuss specific examples from our own membership – the Member Site Academy; and provide insight into our specific approach to content creation as we were preparing to open our doors. It’s easy to get sucked into the trap of grinding out high levels of content just so we can say that we offer the most course, tools, resources or whatever other widgets we have on the market – but as membership site owners, e

If a membership site launches with no audience to notice, has it truly launched? In this episode we answer the much asked question of whether it's possible - or advisable - to launch a membership site when you do not have an audience. I also discuss why audience building is particularly important for membership website owners, as well as my top tips for how you can get started on building an audience for your membership, fast. Episode Summary Why "build it and they will come" is a terrible business strategy The main benefits of building your audience before building your product Why piggybacking on other people's audience is a limiting approach How to get started on building an audience for your membership

It's very easy to fall into bad habits as a membership site owner when it comes to over-working and putting too much pressure on yourself. This often leads to burnout, which in turn adversely affects your membership site. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I give my tips on how you can avoid burning out when running a membership site. Episode Summary Why over-burdening yourself is not only bad for you, but for your members too The importance of context, and understanding where your membership fits in the grand scheme of things How to set and manage member expectations What areas of your business you should develop in order to avoid burning yourself out

Conference season is upon us! For some that means cramming into a drab hall in a hotel out in the middle of nowhere, listening to long-in-the-tooth experts drone on for hours on end. For others, it's a chance to take time away, fly to somewhere sunny and fill your brain in between running up a huge bar bill on company expenses. Whichever end of the scale you land on; conferences represent plenty of opportunities for anyone running a membership website. Check out the 10 ways that membership owners can really get the most from industry conferences.

When it comes to membership sites, you’ll often find that people will come for the content, but they’ll stay for the community. An active community is the glue which holds a successful membership together. It’s where your members will form relationships, where they’ll receive and give support, where they’ll build connections and even make friends. It’s things like that which will keep people subscribed to your membership for months and years to come. However starting a community from scratch can be daunting. Which platform should you use? How do you get your members to participate? How do I avoid my community becoming a ghost town? Getting that initial momentum for your community is key to it becoming successful long-term; so here are my top tips for getting started with your membership community.

Have you ever thought about writing a book? Perhaps you already have? Being a published author can be a huge feather in the cap for anyone running a membership site - particularly one which is based around a personal brand, where you're the expert or thought leader. Chris Ducker knows just how powerful writing a book can be for membership owners. His first best-selling book Virtual Freedom played a huge part in laying the foundations for what has now become his Youpreneur community. And it's that very community that has since fuelled his brand new book 'Rise Of The Youpreneur.' To celebrate its release, I invited Chris back on the show to discuss how the book factors into the growth of his membership site, and the how being a membership owner has affected the process of writing a book. Episode Summary: How having a membership is beneficial to the process of writing a book. Where your book fits into your membership business. Tapping into your member-base for case studies and testimonials. Which shou

Your membership content comprises a large part of the ongoing value your site offers. But how do you keep momentum going once the ideas and inspiration for what content to create start to run dry? In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I discuss a few effective ways to generate a continuous stream of awesome ideas for fresh membership content. Episode Summary: Ways to "crowdsource" content ideas for your membership How to identify and take advantage of knowledge gaps in your industry Methods we use ourselves inside Member Site Academy to solicit content ideas from our members What to do with the ideas that you generate

The most successful memberships are those that cater to a specific niche. Having a niche makes your offering more targeted, which increases the likelihood of someone identifying with the problem your membership solves. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you can’t just blend in with the crowd. You need to have a specialty. But how do you figure out your niche? And what happens once you’ve become successful in a specific area? Should you stay put, or expand your reach? I answer all of these questions and more on this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast. Episode Summary: Why being a specialist beats being a “jack of all trades” The biggest mistake people make once they become successful in a niche The 3 different ways to pick a niche and differentiate your offering Why “For X” is the most powerful phrase for positioning your membership

If you're trying to make more money from your membership business there are two ways you can go. One is to try to increase revenue from your existing membership site - and the other is to look at opportunities for offering additional products and services to your customers. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I explore the 7 main options worth exploring - along with the 3 avenues you absolutely should NOT go down... Episode Summary: The no-brainer areas you should focus on first to increase membership revenue How putting your price up can actually attract (and keep) more members What complementary products and services make sense for membership owners The 3 revenue streams you should stay clear of

Far too often, creating content gets confused with delivering value. Membership owners find themselves on a treadmill of grinding out epic course after epic course because they're convinced it's the only way to keep their members happy and - ultimately - keep them subscribed. It's not as simple as that. Memberships aren't a competition to see who can give members the most "stuff" - it goes deeper than that, and often you can deliver a lot of member value for a relatively small amount of effort. In this episode, I look at 4 no-brainer ways that you could be ramping up the value proposition of your membership. Episode Summary: Why providing value doesn't mean just grinding out epic content How to use your podcast and blog to make your membership more valuable The benefits of giving members priority access and preferential treatment A key part of your role as community leader that's also a major value-add

Membership pricing is an inexact science. It's natural to wonder whether you've found the sweet spot in terms of what you should be charging your members. However we've seen an increasing amount of people taking completely the wrong approach due to not really being able to wrap their head around the membership model, and as a result making some poor decisions when it comes to setting their membership pricing. In this episode, I help you to figure out whether you're actually undercharging for your membership, or if you're just thinking about it the wrong way. Episode Summary: How to determine whether you're at the lower end of membership pricing Terrible reasons for wanting to dramatically increase your monthly fee The main factors that determine the pricing 'sweet spot' What 3 choices you have if you do want to raise the price of your membership

In those early stages of running a membership, your priorities are pretty clear. Most of the time you're mainly going to be focused on getting enough new members to pay the bills, and making sure you're doing enough keep them happy. But what happens once you find yourself on solid footing with the basics? What comes next? Once you're over that initial hump, it's not all plain sailing! Truly scaling your membership comes with it's own set of challenges. In today's episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I highlight the core things you need to be prioritizing in order to grow your membership and take it to the next level. In this episode: The most effective way to improve membership sales and retention Why (and how) to escape the day to day grind and focus on bigger goals "Solid processes are the bedrock of successful membership sites" How you can work with us to plot out your entire years membership strategy

Anyone who has followed us for a while will probably know that we tend to put more effort into talking people out of starting a membership than we do to trying to convince people they should start one. Simple reason is that there are countless snake oil salesman out there portraying memberships as something they're not. We try to save people from that. In fact we kicked off last year with a show all about the reasons NOT to start a membership! However, today's episode of The Membership Guys Podcast breaks from our norm as we take a look at some of the most compelling reasons you should consider starting a membership website in 2018. In this episode: Why Mike usually tries to talk people OUT of starting a membership website! The upsides of recurring revenue for both profitability and business stability How working 'one-to-one' limits you in more ways than you realise The importance of being fulfilled as a business owner, and how memberships help

And just like that, another year is almost over! How was your 2017? In what's becoming a bit of a tradition, I'm wrapping the year up by taking a look back at some of the fantastic episodes of The Membership Guys Podcast, counting down the top 10 most downloaded episodes of 2017. Thanks to each and every one of you for your continued support of the show - here's to even more membership awesomeness in 2018! Episode Links (not in order - don't want to ruin the suspense!): Chris Ducker on Running Live Events to Grow Your Membership https://www.themembershipguys.com/100/ (Insights & Advice from Experienced Membership Owners (Episode 100)) Advanced Tips and Tactics for Offering a Membership Trial Grant Baldwin on Growing Your Membership with Public Speaking How to Use Live Video to Market Your Membership with Luria Petrucci Insights & Reflections on Year 2 of the Member Site Academy https://www.themembershipguys.com/jeff-goins/ (Jeff Goins on Monetizing your Skills and Creativity) Tips and Tricks for I

When it comes to marketing your membership, not everything is about finding that killer sales funnel or running huge promotions. More often than not, membership success comes from maintaining a consistent baseline of day to day activity – it’s about doing the “little and often” things that keep you top of mind for your audience. This episode of The Membership Guys Podcast digs into the strategy we use for keeping up this consistent strategy, and explores the sort of tactics you should be using to market your membership. In this episode: Why is consistency important in your marketing? What is the DWM Method of membership marketing? What marketing tasks should you be completing on a consistent ongoing basis? The 3 key objectives of a solid membership marketing strategy.

Your membership won't be right for everyone, and there are countless random reasons why someone may decide not to join. However in our experience of working with hundreds of memberships, we often see the same 5 objections coming up time after time. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I reveal the 5 most common objections people have to joining memberships - and more importantly what you can do to overcome them. In this episode: How to stop people thinking that your membership is too expensive. Why social proof and risk reversal are crucial components in your membership sales strategy. The most important thing to have on your checkout page. Why convincing people NOT to join your membership is actually a good thing!

Much of what we do as membership site owners involves experimentation. Regardless of what some people may try to tell you, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy or magic formula for membership success; you have to test and figure out what works for you. We recently pulled back the curtain inside Member Site Academy to share our own experiments and tests with our members as part of the new 'Membership Lab' - and feedback has been incredible. In this episode, I give an overview of 3 of the most recent tactics we've been experimenting with ourselves. In this episode you'll learn: Why we decided to have full transparency by documenting and sharing new tools and tactics we're experimenting with How we're able to provide a personal touch even with a large scale member base Our spin on offering a trial period to entice new sign-ups, and how it's performed so far The methods we're using to keep members updated about new content