The Membership Guys Podcast - Practical Advice For Membership Website Owners

Every superhero has an origin story… And as we're celebrating a huge milestone of recording 300 episodes of The Membership Guys podcast, Callie and I decided to do something a little bit special and share ours. In this episode we talk about things we’ve never talked about publicly before, giving you an insight into how The Membership Guys came to be and how we got to where we are today.  Hopefully some of our story will resonate with you.  Enjoy!   Episode Summary: The story of how Callie and I met Our business journey, including bad partnerships, 20 hour work days, and of course… memberships Some personal struggles with depression, burnout and general health that we've never talked about before PLUS we discuss how Callie has never seen the movie Karate Kid (shock), how in a weird multiverse The Membership Guys may never have come to be and much more!

What if your membership has a natural end date? While no membership will last forever, some hit a natural point where members drop off.  This doesn’t necessarily mean the content was bad or you did anything wrong. That’s a whole other story. Sometimes members get everything they need and simply don’t need to remain a member.  For example, if you have a membership site for helping people pass a driving test, that has a natural end date. After they pass, they probably won’t need your content anymore.  So, what can you do? Do you just accept it, or do you fight to keep these members? In this episode, I discuss some of the tactics you can use to retain members, but also some alternatives and different ways of looking at it. If you’ve been scratching your head trying to come up with a solution, give this episode a listen, and hopefully, it’ll give you some fresh ideas to try out. Essential Learning Points: Why you need to question whether the membership model is right for you How you can extend t

We all want to win over as many new members as possible. But did you know that keeping those members is often more important? Member acquisition is still essential. But unless you’re keeping those members, you’ll find yourself always relying on short-term, one-off members to make ends meet. Making people stick around is often harder than getting them interested in the first place. However, this is exactly what will help you grow your membership business.  In this episode, I discuss the six top member retention mistakes I see businesses make. I also talk about why retention is often more important and valuable than member acquisition.  Essential Learning Points: Why member retention is so important Why cancellations are not always a bad thing How important feedback is for keeping members The best ways to approach canceling members Important Links & Mentions: https://www.membershipacademy.com/ (The Membership Academy) https://www.intercom.com/ (Intercom) https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/the-mem

The guiding principle of membership sites is that they are a value exchange. People subscribe to your site and you provide them with enough reasons to keep their subscription going. And so far, you are probably doing a fantastic job at solving their biggest problems and creating amazing content. But why stop there?  You can sweeten the deal for your members by amplifying the perceived value your membership site has to offer. In this episode, I review four simple ideas to incorporate more incredible value for your members. And I promise that these won't require more effort and time on your part! Have a listen and, hopefully, you will be inspired to take action on one or all of these strategies. Essential Learning Points: How solving small problems creates big value. Ways to feature your members on your platform. Why your site is the perfect platform for building connections. How to make your members feel like they are flying First Class. Important Links & Mentions: https://www.membershipacademy.com

Choosing where to house your new membership site is a major decision. And you are not alone in feeling confused and uncertain about the options. In this episode of the Membership Guys Podcast, we will provide some clarity around this topic and hopefully, you will get the facts you need to choose what works best for you. In case you were wondering, we are not talking about which web hosting company to use, or whether you should use shared hosting or a dedicated server. We are talking about whether you should: a)     have your membership site hosted as part of your main website, b)     have the site live on its own with a separate, dedicated domain, or c)     have the site live on a subdomain. We will discuss these three options and the pros and cons of each. Essential Learning Points: The three key implications that could impact your decision Why a single site is more appealing to the tech-averse folks How branding can factor into you

So, you've launched your membership site and are ready to reach those goals and fulfill those dreams you imagined for yourself and for your membership. A word of caution: you may face a few challenges once your site is up and running.  We want you to be prepared for the potential issues you may face when you become a new membership site owner. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I go through six of the most common challenges new owners face after a brand-new launch and share my advice on how to deal with them head on. Essential Learning Points: How to keep your start-up costs in check and avoid ‘shiny object syndrome’ Tips for mitigating finicky tech issues – whether you’re tech-savvy or not What the momentum conundrum is and the 90 / 9 / 1 rule How to manage your time better so your membership site doesn't fall off your priority list The highs and lows post-launch and what to do when your motivation runs dry   Important Links & Mentions: https://www.membershipacademy.com/?utm_sour

Did you know that private podcasting could enhance your membership business? By now, most of us are familiar with podcasts. Many of us are avid listeners already. Private podcasting hasn’t quite taken off as much as regular podcasting, mostly because of a lack of systems in place to create them. But, if you could get your private podcast set up the right way, it could be a great way to offer your members exclusive content and extra value. At The Membership Guys, we use Captivate.FM to host our podcast. Captivate is a great podcasting host which offers private podcasting. Using a selection of great automation tools, Captivate has really nailed their private podcasting system. In this episode, I’m joined by Mark Asquith, the CEO and founder of Captivate.FM to discuss how private podcasts work and how they can enhance your membership business. I also reveal some great strategies to help you create a private podcast for your membership. Essential Learning Points: ●      What priva

Did you know that every membership has a revenue ceiling? The revenue ceiling refers to the absolute peak of how much your membership is capable of generating. Knowing what your revenue ceiling is will help motivate you to achieve your full earning potential. And, if you’ve already hit the revenue ceiling for your membership business, you can begin to explore ways to raise the ceiling. If this is the first time you’ve heard anything about a revenue ceiling, you’re not alone. However, it is worth taking the time to consider whether or not you’ve hit the revenue ceiling for your membership business. In this episode, I help you calculate your revenue ceiling and discuss how you can raise the ceiling if you’re not ready to stall just yet. Essential Learning Points: How to calculate your revenue ceiling What to do if your monthly revenue is higher than your revenue ceiling calculation Why hitting your revenue ceiling isn’t a bad thing How to raise your revenue ceiling Important Links & Mentions: https://www.

If you run a membership site (or any business for that matter), you've probably heard things like, "You're leaving money on the table," from other so-called business professionals. They might encourage you to launch a new product, start hosting events, or doing one-to-one coaching sessions, etc., with the sole purpose of generating more revenue. While this may be true for some people, it doesn’t mean it’s the right move for everyone. In this episode of the podcast, I reflect on why it’s okay to “leave money on the table” if it's not a table you want to be at, how to be more confident in your decisions, and why you need to trust that you know what’s best for your membership site. Essential Learning Points: Why it’s okay to leave money on the table when it’s a table you don’t want to sit at Understanding why people like to share “business advice” and why you shouldn’t feel under pressure to listen! The true meaning of success and why you should choose opportunities carefully Important Links & Mentions: http

Are you struggling to encourage disengaged members? Member engagement can be a tricky thing. We want people to consume the content, engage with the community, and really use the membership that they’re paying for, but we don’t want to nag people with constant emails either. Once someone becomes disengaged, it can be difficult to nudge them back into action. In this episode I look at the ways you can maintain a careful balance between encouraging engagement without getting on people’s nerves, from soft unsubscribes to using email tags to using remarketing ads to gently encourage your members back to courses and back into the community. Essential Learning Points: Why it’s important to maintain a balance between nudging and nagging Using tools in your CRM and messaging apps to create a buffer to reduce the nagging How to use soft unsubscribes to reduce email overwhelm How you can mix up the formats you use to send reminders Making sure you don’t overdo it with your messages and emails Why it's important to rem

Do you have an effective membership exit survey in place? It’s a depressing fact that no matter how hard you try, you cannot stop people from leaving your membership site. Cancellations are just par for the course in the membership game. But don’t despair, because there is one tool that can make all the difference and that all membership site owners should have in their arsenal – the exit survey. In this episode, I explain why it is so important to have exit surveys in place, what 3 simple questions will give you the information you need to change that person’s mind as well as creating a last final plea page, and gathering valuable data that could improve your content and marketing strategy in the future. Essential Learning Points: Why exit surveys are so important for your membership site What questions to ask on an exit survey What to do with that information once you have collected it How to use the survey answers to create conditional messaging and a final plea page Why it is so important to keep your e

Do you want to launch a membership, or have you launched already and now found that there are big, established competitors in your market? Don’t panic. Your competitors may have a massive library of content, years and years of experience under their belt, or thousands of members, but don’t let that intimidate you. Your size, your uniqueness, and your ability to zig when your competitors zag, gives you an edge – if you know how to take advantage of it. In this episode, I share many tips on how to differentiate yourself from the competitors. From zeroing in on your specialty and niche to emphasizing your personal brand and offering a personalized service, these tips will help you get a share of that membership pie. Essential Learning Points: 1.   How understanding ‘why you exist’ can help you differentiate from your competitors 2.   Why specializing and niching down on your topic and who you serve can help your positioning 3.   The benefits of focusing on your perso

Are you finding Instagram a frustrating platform to promote your membership? Instagram is the one social channel where it is hard to add links to promote your content. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore it. As well as just using it as a content outlet to promote your blog, podcast, or video content, there are multiple ways Stories can be used to promote your membership business. In this episode, we share 7 ways you can make the most out of Instagram Stories. From creating native content to utilising interactive Stories badges. We have lots of suggestions about how you can use Stories to showcase your social side and promote your business at the same time. Essential Learning Points: How to creatively use Instagram Stories to promote your membership Ways to use native content on Stories to engage your members The benefits of using Stories to show behind the scenes content How you can use Stories to share social proof and brag about yourself The benefits of features like the Stories countdown and questi

Did your membership achieve its goals this year? If it did, congratulations! If not, could your approach to goal setting have improved your chances? As the year draws to a close, there's no better time to take stock of how far you've come. Reviewing the last 12 months is a great way to appreciate your achievements and the first steps to planning for your membership's future. Goal setting is a vital part of setting your membership up for success. But it can be challenging knowing what goals to set for your membership and, once you've figured those out, even harder to know the right way to achieve them. In this episode, we're sharing a practical goal-setting process that will help you determine where you want your membership to go and reveal how to get you there. Essential Learning Points: How the CO-STAR process can help you set and achieve goals Practical goal setting examples and actionable steps Why your goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) The optimum time

Just like that, another year is over... And what a year 2020 has been! Rather than dwell on what could only be described as an insane 12 months, let’s end the year on a high and think about what we’ve all achieved.  It has certainly been a big year for Callie and I. We’ve:  Grown our team with two full-time hires - Kathryn, our Head of Digital Content and Tom, our Graphic Designer.   Launched some amazing new features in https://www.membershipacademy.com/ (Membership Academy) including our Game Plans and Member Huddles, and… Created another year’s worth of https://www.themembershipguys.com/podcast/ (The Membership Guys) weekly podcast and season 4 of Callie’s https://www.themembershipguys.com/behind-the-membership/ (Behind The Membership) podcast.  It’s been a lot of fun!  We hope it’s been a successful and productive year for you and your membership.  With only a few days left of 2020, it’s time for our traditional end of year recap show. Listen for our top 10 most popular

How are you planning to run your membership over the festive season? As a membership site owner, you have the freedom to choose how you run your membership all year round. However, the holidays present unique opportunities for producing content, running promotions, and taking the time to sit back and relax. In this episode, I tell you the six things you can start doing now to plan for the holiday season. From what seasonal content to plan, to when to start thinking about next year, these six things will help you figure out how your membership can effectively navigate the festivities. Essential Learning Points: Which content types are perfect for the festive season How to run a seasonal promotion Why taking a break is essential to your membership’s success How to prepare your members for your reduced availability What to reflect on and how it can shape your membership’s future How to start planning for the year ahead Key Quotes: “The holidays are a great time to run a promotional campaign, whether it's a disco

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...