The Membership Guys Podcast - Practical Advice For Membership Website Owners

How do people view your brand? Businesses don’t achieve brand loyalty because they’ve picked a great color scheme for their website. You earn brand loyalty by aligning and effectively communicating your principles and purpose. You probably already know your membership’s values, vision, and mission, but does your audience? These key elements play a big part in how people view and interpret your brand. Your brand is far more than just your logo. In this episode, I break down what elements make up a brand and how you can use them to set up your brand for success.  Essential Learning Points: What a brand actually is (and what it isn’t) Why your brand’s principles are important How to position your brand correctly Important Links & Mentions: https://simonsinek.com/product/start-with-why/ (Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why) https://www.membershipacademy.com/course-listing/ (Membership Academy Courses) https://www.membershipacademy.com/?utm_source=tmg&utm_medium=ctalink&utm_content=main_menu&ut

Does your WordPress membership site have sufficient security measures in place? Many membership site owners live in fear of their website being attacked, and for good reason... If someone manages to hack into your Wordpress website, install something nasty or delete or steal your data, it could cripple your membership business. That's why it's so important to be extra vigilant and make sure you take adequate steps to keep your site secure... In this episode, I'm sharing my top tips for keeping your membership site secure and advising which plugins and services you can use to help. Essential Learning Points: Whether or not WordPress is an insecure platform to build your site on Why it's crucial that your membership site has security measures in place The eight top tips to proactively safeguard your membership site What you can do if the worst happens and your site is hacked Important Links & Mentions: https://managewp.com/ (ManageWP) https://sucuri.net/ (Sucuri) https://www.wordfence.com/ (Wordfence) https

Are you considering increasing the price your existing members are paying? When you first launched your membership, you might have offered your initial members an amazing deal to entice them to join. However, it’s now a few years later and your membership has evolved. You’ve added lots of new content, your community’s grown, and your membership is much more valuable. You’ve increased the price for new members, and now you’re questioning the fee that your initial members are paying – and thinking about raising the cost of their subscriptions. In this episode, I explain why this is a short-sighted approach and highlight why you shouldn’t increase membership prices for your long-term members. Essential Learning Points: Why you might be considering raising costs for existing members Three reasons why you shouldn’t put existing member prices up The one situation where you can increase existing member prices Important Links & Mentions: https://www.facebook.com/MembershipGuys/groups/ (The Membership Guys Faceboo

Are you celebrating the milestones in your membership business? If not, you should be! Whether it's an anniversary or hitting an important goal, it's worth making an effort to mark those significant achievements. In this episode, I share my top tips for celebrating your membership milestones in style...

Turning your membership idea into a reality can take a lot of time and, often, a lot of money. As such you might be trying to find a way to raise funds earlier in the process. Some membership owners do this with a pre-sale. A pre-sale works like this: you have a great idea for a membership, so you test its viability by taking it to your audience to see if they are willing to invest in your concept (even though it doesn't exist yet!). If they are, then you can generate seed money to help finance the development of your membership. However, before pre-selling your membership idea, it's important to know the pros and cons... Essential Learning Points: How a pre-sale works, and how it relates to terms like "seed launch" or "founder launch" What the three main benefits to a promoting a pre-sale are Three big drawbacks to a pre-sale that you need to consider Our preferred alternative launch strategy with better chances of success Important Links & Mentions: Pros and Cons of Offering Lifetime Memberships https:/

Customer service is at the heart of the member experience. No matter how great your membership site is, you’re going to have members contacting you for additional support at some point. Providing your members with good customer service is an easy way to elevate their experience of your site, and similarly a bad customer service experience will quickly turn their opinion of your membership sour. In this episode, I break down the 4 step approach to master your customer service strategy, as well as specific tactics for streamlining customer service as your membership scales.

As a membership site owner it’s easy to tie yourself in knots trying to come up with the best ways to get your members to engage with your site, your content, and your community. From fancy progress tracking to complex loyalty schemes; laborious member outreach programs through to advanced gamification systems. However it can be easy to forget that often some of the less glamorous methods of engagement are the most effective. So in today's episode I’m going to take a look at one of my favourite tactics for member communication, engagement and retention – the humble “member roundup email”.

When people think about launching a membership, they think about the day that they finally open their doors for the very first time and welcome their first crop of new members. It's a big deal! However that grand opening isn't the only opportunity you have to launch... There are different launch types for each stage of your business, depending on how far along you are in the membership site creation process, or what you might need your members to do to help get your product ready for market. Listen in for a full breakdown of the 6 different launch strategies you can use at various stages of your membership journey...  Essential Learning Points: Validating your membership idea by running a pilot program The difference between launch strategy for open memberships vs closed door How to generate seed money to help you develop your membership idea The best way to reduce the stress of a big launch and ease yourself into the membership model Important Links & Mentions:  https://themembershipguys.com/27

Have you launched your membership and then found yourself regretting your choice of technology that runs your website? Or maybe you haven't yet launched but you live in fear of that turning out to be your reality. “What if I make the wrong choice and then in 6 months’ time I discover I’m stuck with it?” Because of this we see a lot of people have a lot of anxiety about deciding on which platform or plugin is right for them. In this episode I reveal everything you need to know about switching your membership platform. Essential Learning Points: The questions you need to ask yourself before deciding to switch platforms Why data migration is the most crucial aspect of switching How to communicate this big change to your members What you need your members to do, and how to get it The reality of what switching platforms can cost you Important Links & Mentions: https://www.themembershipguys.com/plugin-comparison/ (Guide To Choosing A Membership Plugin)   Key Quotes: “This isn't something you do on a whim,

Do you know the difference between good marketing advice and bad marketing advice? The marketing industry is full of information. Some can help you build meaningful customer relationships and effectively generate sales. But some is based on misinformation, pressure tactics, and “shortcuts” that could lead to slower audience growth or even a damaged reputation. I find it so infuriating that people are being pressured and pushed around by membership marketing myths that they believe are the industry standard. In this episode, I get on my soapbox to bust the most common marketing myths and help steer you away from the nonsense. Essential Learning Points:Why pressurizing leads can drive them to buy elsewhere How to prevent your customers getting buyer’s remorse Why a good product isn’t enough to generate sales The number of followers you really need Important Links & Mentions: https://conversionengineering.co/open-every-day-book/ (Open Every Day by Ross O'Lochlainn) https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fan

How much should you charge for your membership site? And, what should your pricing strategy look like? Well, the answers to both of those questions depend on your membership. However, there are some advanced pricing tactics that successful membership sites use when it comes to determining their prices. As I’m sure you’re aware, getting the price of your membership right is so important. But it’s often more than that, you also need to make sure that you use effective pricing strategies to convince people to join your membership. In this episode, I reveal my top and most advanced tips and tactics to help you with your membership pricing strategy! Essential Learning Points: The differences between B2C and B2B pricing Why you need to consider the numbers within your price How to create compelling discounts Three ways to leverage price anchoring for your membership Important Links & Mentions: https://www.responsesuite.com/ (ResponseSuite) https://www.membershipacademy.com/ (Membership Academy)   Key Quote

Is your membership community a ghost town? Are you constantly banging your head against a wall trying to figure out ways to get your members to actually converse with each other? This guide has got the answers. We’ve said it many times before - people come for the content but they stay for the community. However, getting an active, thriving community inside your membership is easier said than done. It’s not a case of just setting up a Facebook group and assuming that all the conversations will start flowing, and connections will happen automatically. You need to put in the work to drive the discussion and the connections within your community. It can take quite a bit of time to get the discussion flowing, particularly in the early days where this can feel like trying to push a boulder up a hill. But these steps will help get it done. Essential Learning Points:  Start The Discussion Yourself Encourage “Low-Hanging Fruit” Conversations Don’t Rush To Answer Every Questions Yourself Tag Other Members In

Wow... 5 years of Membership Academy! And what a rollercoaster ride our fifth year has been. Listen in as Callie and I recap the highs and lows of the past 12 months of Membership Academy, and look ahead to what's in store in the next year and beyond. In this episode, Callie and I discuss:The real impact that running our first conference had on our membership business How we navigated personal illness and a global pandemic Changes we've made to our content strategy, and the results we're seeing so far The big step up we're taking in the coming year Dig further into our journey so far...https://www.themembershipguys.com/tmg009-behind-the-scenes-of-a-membership-launch-pt-1/ (Inside the launch of the Membership Academy) https://www.themembershipguys.com/12-months-member-site-academy/ (Looking Back at the First 12 Months of the Membership Academy) https://www.themembershipguys.com/member-site-academy-year-two/ (Insights & Reflections on Year 2 of the Membership Academy) https://www.themembershipguys.com/membe

A membership has many moving parts, lots of technical elements, and will take plenty of hard work to get started. But there is one element of running a membership site that is constant and, if you don’t have it, you won’t keep your membership alive. If you don’t have an audience, you won’t have a membership. So, if you’re just starting out and eager to get your membership going, it’ll pay dividends if you invest in finding and growing your audience now. This classic episode of The Membership Guys will show you how. Essential Learning Points: Why it’s important to build your audience before you release your product Where the best places are to look for your potential audience How finding your audience will also help you fine-tune your membership content and marketing strategy Where you can go to learn more about establishing and growing your audience Important Links & Mentions: https://www.themembershipguys.com/how-to-generate-email-leads-for-your-membership-site/ (How to Generate Email Leads for Your Memb

Setting boundaries is essential if you want your membership to be productive and positive for you – and your members. But how do you do it without cutting people off, coming across as aloof or inaccessible, and how can you ensure your members are having their questions answered whilst still respecting your boundaries. It’s certainly a balancing act, but it’s one you can perfect by putting into practice some of these tips and tricks. We’ve tested and refined these approaches over time with our own Membership Academy and our members have also found these approaches to be beneficial in their memberships too. Tune in to find out how we, and many other membership site owners, set healthy boundaries with our members that benefit everyone.  Essential Learning Points: Why opening yourself up to more communication can actually reduce contact overwhelm Some of the best tools and tactics we’ve used to set healthy boundaries within our membership Why setting the right boundaries will benefit your members as much as

“Cancellation” is a word that sends a shiver down the spine of any membership site owner, but are membership site owners missing a trick when it comes to how they handle cancelled members? In our own membership, Membership Academy, 25% of members who leave end up rejoining. This is why it’s essential not to burn your bridges – and to put a rock-solid win-back strategy in place. Join us in this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast to learn what a win-back campaign is, how to structure it, and what some of the essential tactics you need to use are. Essential Learning Points: Where many membership site owners are getting it wrong when it comes to cancelled members How to create a win-back sequence that gives lapsed members a great reason to come back What the three key notes you need to hit are if you want to create a compelling case for re-joining your membership Important Links & Mentions: https://www.themembershipguys.com/prevent-cancellations/ (Try These Tactics to Pre-empt and Prevent Member Cancellat

Your blog and your website host all of the content used in your marketing – so how do you join the dots between your blog and your membership? There are plenty of ways membership site owners can do this, but many don’t because they’ve heard bad advice from marketing ‘gurus’ or they’re worried about sounding salesy. The good news is there are direct and indirect ways of linking from your blog to your membership – and all of them are good, easy ideas to implement! So, listen in to this episode to learn why it’s so important to build that path from your blog to your membership and how you can do it – with examples from ourselves and our members at Membership Academy. Essential Learning Points: Why it’s so essential that you use your blog as a promotional channel for your membership Direct and indirect approaches you can use to drive traffic your membership from your blog Why you need to discount one particular piece of advice that some internet marketers swear by Important Links & Mentions: https://www.theme

Despite my protests over the years, I’m ready to admit that there are a few instances where it is a good idea to use a closed door membership model. Some of them are very niche, some of them require a few “ifs” and asterisks, but they are entirely valid and are all better suited to a closed door model. This episode is well worth checking out if you’re just starting out or if you’re trying new things with your membership. It could make a foundational difference to the way you run your membership! Essential Learning Points: What the difference is between closed door and evergreen membership models The six situations that suit a closed door membership model best The one universal truth that applies to every membership model Important Links & Mentions: https://www.themembershipguys.com/5-reasons-why-i-dislike-the-closed-door-membership-strategy/ (5 Reasons Why I Dislike the Closed Door Membership Launch Strategy) https://www.themembershipguys.com/run-beta-test-membership-site/ (Why You Should Run a Beta Test

Community is often the heart of membership sites but working out the best way to introduce it to your membership isn’t as easy it might seem. Often, we see debates around how to host membership communities that end up focusing on quantity of engagement, rather than quality. Quantity isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not always what you’re actually aiming for. If you want to find the signal in the noise and determine the right community model for your membership site, you’re going to need to dig a little deeper into your purpose, your membership structure, and the goals your audience have. This episode of The Membership Guys podcast will help you do that digging! Essential Learning Points: What the Signal vs Noise ratio is in communities and why understanding the differentiation is important Why understanding your membership and its purpose is key to deciding the role your community should play What we have learned (and are still learning) about our own experiments with forums and Facebook groups Important Links &am

Member retention is critical to the long-term success of your membership website. It costs 7-10 times more on average to win a new member than it does to hold on to an existing one; and if you’re losing more members than you bring in then your business won’t last long! In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, we’re giving you 21 quick tips for improvements you can make to your membership strategy in order to improve your member retention.