The Membership Guys Podcast - Practical Advice For Membership Website Owners

Memberships are a marathon, not a sprint. Unlike other products where the sale is the end of the journey, with memberships it’s just the beginning. That “journey” – the Member Lifecycle – typically breaks down into 5 key stages: acquisition, onboarding, engagement, retention and reactivation. In this episode, we’re looking at each of these 5 stages and what they mean for you as a membership website owner.

Choosing the right membership plugin is a task that’s easier said than done. The fact that it can be a bit of a nightmare switching plugins after your membership has opened its doors is something which makes your decision even more important. There is no “one size fits all” best membership plugin for every situation, and so the process of deciding which to go with involves identifying your specific needs and then narrowing down the options; however making the final choice often requires you to dive deeper. To help you be sure you’re making the right choice, here are 8 questions you should ask before you purchase your membership plugin.        

Email automation can massively power up the marketing and operation of your membership site; enabling you to trigger various different actions and email sequences according to how your audience and your members behave. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I identify the 4 essential email automations that every membership website should have in place.

Live content is a great way of delivering ongoing value to your membership without the level of upfront work and other hassles that typically go into producing courses, tutorials or other types of “pre-made” content. However including this type of content in your membership does add a new wrinkle to worry about – member attendance. If the turnout for your live membership calls is low, this can directly affect the quality of what you’re producing; not to mention being demoralizing to you and possibly even be discouraging for other members who may interpret poor attendance as a sign of a disengaged community. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I share 9 ways that you can increase live call attendance

People join your membership because they have a goal they want to achieve; an outcome they want to realise – and it’s your content that’s going to get them there. But with so many plates to spin running a membership website, it’s easy to settle for “good enough” when it comes to creating that content. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I discuss why it’s important to focus on improving your content, and give you some examples and steps to start this process within your own membership.

In the early days of running your membership, you’ll find yourself preoccupied with the day to day, short-term stuff. How many new members did we get this week? Have we had any cancellations? Do I have enough time to get this new piece of content out to members? However once things have settled and stabilised then it’s time to think bigger in terms of how you’re going to scale and grow your membership over the long term. When that time inevitably arrives, there are 6 key areas you’ll need to focus on. Listen to this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast to discover what they are...

When it comes to offering trials of your membership site or online product, opinions tend to be divided between those who consider it a smart strategy and those who believe you shouldn’t give anything away, no matter what. We’re big fans of utilising trial periods as part of your pricing strategy; however we recognise that they’re not something which will necessarily be right for everyone. If you’re still on the fence, this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast provides some food for thought to help you determine whether to implement trials into your own strategy.

Most membership sites include some form of premium content locked away behind a paywall. But locking your membership content down is a double-edged sword. You could have the most incredible content in the world, but if the only people who know about it are your paying members then you’re missing on an opportunity to get so much more bang for your buck. So before you hit ‘publish’ on your next piece of membership content, try implementing the 7 tactics from this episode.

Your sales funnel is a key part of attracting new members to your community; and so it's no surprise that some membership owners have a constant itch to tweak and tinker with every little detail. Knowing when to adjust your sales funnel is an imprecise art, but people often fall foul to making changes too often. In this episode, I discuss how often you should be adjusting your sales funnel, how you can avoid the constant urge to make changes, and why making constant tweaks can actually hurt your business. Essential Learning Points: Why you should adjust your sales funnel once a quarter (at most) Why data, not desire, should lead your decision-making if you do make adjustments How overanalyzing paralyzes the effectiveness of your sales funnel Important Links & Mentions: https://www.membershipacademy.com/ (Membership Academy) https://www.themembershipguys.com/membership-content-ideas/ (How to Generate New Ideas for Membership Content) https://www.themembershipguys.com/tools-for-creating-your-membership

One of the strongest ways you can grow your membership at speed is to start a joint venture promotion. First of all, you may be asking what exactly a joint venture promotion is… Put simply, it’s working with someone who has a sizeable audience who you want to speak to in exchange for commission or some other value exchange. Now that we’ve got that cleared up – do you want to know how you can use joint venture promotions to boost your membership sign-up rates? Well, that’ll take a while to write out. Why not listen to this episode to find out instead? Essential Learning Points: The different ways you can grow your membership numbers Why contributing guest content to partners’ sites is a great starting point How to step up your joint venture promotions with affiliate programs Why the cost of affiliate programs is worth it for the value they provide How to perfect your joint venture promotion strategy and where to go for more information   Important Links & Mentions: https://www.membershipacademy.com/ (

Content marketing is the most valuable strategy a membership site owner can deploy. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again and again and again! But having a blog or a podcast isn’t enough – not for the most successful membership sites, at least. To really ramp up your content marketing to the top tier, there are certain approaches you might want to consider that will help you create a killer content marketing strategy. In this episode, you can discover six of the ways you can give your content marketing strategy an extra boost and start recruiting more members with the power of free content. Essential Learning Points: Why content marketing is so effective for promoting your membership site Six genius ways to create a killer content marketing strategy Where you can go to talk to other membership site owners to perfect your marketing   Important Links & Mentions: https://www.themembershipguys.com/creating-courses-janelle-allen/ (Creating Compelling Courses with Janelle Allen) https://www.themember

Whether you’re at the start of your journey to running your own membership website or a seasoned pro, there are some universal truths of this world that we all need reminding of every now and again. The Membership Guys and our podcast exist to make running a membership easier, more accessible, and less stressful. These 8 must-know facts are the cornerstone of running a happy, successful membership. So, wherever you are in your membership site journey, these tips will either be revelatory moments or timely reminders of the core tenets of your chosen path. Essential Learning Points: Why new and established membership site owners alike can benefit from these ideas The 8 truths of being a membership site owner – from compromise to cancellations Where you can go for more help, advice, and guidance Important Links & Mentions: https://www.themembershipguys.com/launch-content/ (Key Things to Consider When Preparing Content for your Membership Launch) https://www.themembershipguys.com/how-to-choose-a-membership-pl

Most memberships are based on the owner’s expertise and knowledge, so why would you start giving it away for free? It may feel counter-intuitive, but content marketing has proven time and time again to be a hugely successful way of growing memberships. The fear of free content is one of the most common topics in The Membership Academy, so I’ve brought together the three reasons why you really don’t need to worry about sharing free content and why, in fact, it is likely to help your membership grow. If you want to face your fears and learn to embrace free content as part of your marketing strategy, this episode will do the job. Essential Learning Points: Where the value of your membership truly lies How you are always in control of your content and how you share it Why human nature is going to stop most people from abusing your free content   Important Links & Mentions: https://www.membershipacademy.com/ (The Membership Academy) https://www.leadernetworks.com/2011/06/people-come-for-content-and-stay-f

Consistently producing valuable, relevant content for your membership is not easy work. If you’re feeling stuck for inspiration or ideas at the moment, I might be able to help! In this episode, I go through 5 of the best ways you can find ideas and inspiration for your membership site. They’re all different in their ways, but there is an overarching principle to them all – and that’s that we need to listen. Stepping back and taking the time to observe and reflect can really change things for the better. So, take a break now – step back from what you’re doing and reflect on this episode of The Membership Guys podcast. Who knows what ideas you’ll end up with? Essential Learning Points: Why listening is one of the most underrated skills and will reveal a lot to you How to maximize your email list to generate ideas and right wrongdoings What you can learn from other membership sites to create better content for your own Important Links & Mentions: https://www.themembershipguys.com/11-ways-membership-site-owne

When people want to learn something or make progress, they look for the experts. As a membership site owner, you want to make sure that means they’re looking for you. In the competitive world of online membership sites, being good isn’t enough – you need to be able to prove it and show up as the expert wherever you can. How do you do that? Well, the very first step is to listen to this episode of The Membership Guys podcast! I go through 10 different ideas you can follow to make your authority as an expert in your field abundantly clear to your prospective members. Essential Learning Points: Why you need to be clear on what you do before it’s clear to anyone else 10 ways you can become the go-to person in your industry, including: creating a signature product, leveraging social proof, and deciding the role you play Examples of these ideas in action, to prove how well these ideas work!   Important Links & Mentions: https://www.themembershipguys.com/niche/ (Why Membership Site Owners Need to Niche Down

Have you ever dealt with a hit and run member? If you’re not sure what one is – lucky you! These are the members who sign up, download everything, and dash back out the door before your beautifully crafted welcome email has settled in their inbox. Hit and run members abuse your trust and are generally bad apples. They’re rightly a concern for membership providers, but what can you do to stop them? And, are they even worth worrying about? In this From the Vault episode, I share some of the best ways you can prevent hit and run members, dive into whether they’re a genuine concern for most membership providers, and why you can’t let your fears take your eyes off the prize. Essential Learning Points: If someone wants to access your content and circumvent your membership badly enough, they will always find a way Why putting up a few simple barriers won’t cut it Four ways you can prevent hit and run members, which double up to add value to your genuine members Why you shouldn’t let one bad apple spoil the bunch – a

Having a niche is good. Scratch that. It’s essential. Finding your niche, owning it, and staying there is one of the surest ways you will find success in running your membership. If you want to niche down and dominate your market, there are three ways to do it – we reveal how in this episode of the podcast from our ‘From the Vault’ series! Essential Learning Points: The advantages of being a specialist at something, rather than a generalist Three key areas you must analyze if you want to find your niche How a niche can strengthen what you’re selling, not weaken it How niching down can make running your membership easier for you and more valuable for your members   Key Quotes: “Solving a specific problem is essential. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you can’t just blend in with the crowd. You need to have a speciality.” “Fandom comes from resonance. But, it’s harder to connect and resonate with your audience when you’re trying to be all things to all people.” Important Links & Mentions: https

Can you start a membership before you’ve grown your audience? It might sound tricky, but there are some sure-fire ways you can get started. Whether you’re right at the start and haven’t told a single soul about your membership or you’re partway there with a small audience, there are ways you can grow your membership right now and get on the path to having a successful business. Every successful membership has its own unique story of how it got member number one (and all the others after them!). These are five ways you can get to that stage. Essential Learning Points: Validate that your audience exists – you need to have more than just a hunch, find proof that your audience is out there and that they want your solution Build, borrow, or buy an audience – there are three ways to grow your audience from scratch Sell a big-ticket product before your membership – give people a one-off product that requires less commitment but proves your value A soft launch is still a launch – don’t be afraid to start small

Pinterest, it’s for wedding planning and redecorating inspiration, right? Or is it a platform with over 300 million users that some businesses are generating 200% ROI from? Clearly, it’s time for a rethink on Pinterest! That’s why I asked Cara Chace to join me on this episode of The Membership Guys podcast. Cara is one of the best in the business of Pinterest marketing – and she runs her own membership, so she’s even more clued up about how we membership site owners can get the most out of this underutilized platform! If you want to know how to start marketing your membership on Pinterest, Cara is the only person you want to hear from. My conversation with Cara on this episode has given me so many ideas and lightbulb moments and I’m already starting to implement them on Pinterest. I’ve no doubt you’ll find it just as useful, so sit back and enjoy… Just remember to take notes! Essential Learning Points: Who Cara is, what she does, and her expertise in Pinterest The basics of Pinterest What best practice on Pin

Some memberships need great video content. Others need a complex email campaign. Some need entirely unique elements. All memberships need a website. So how do you go about it? Do you hire in a professional or do you do it yourself? It’s one of the biggest questions you can ask as you launch your membership, so I got together with two of the finest web designers I know to dive into the best approach for membership owners. Martin and Lyndsay, owners of Jammy Digital and Make Your Mark Online, are web design experts and join me on this episode of The Membership Guys podcast to give some advice you might not be expecting… Essential Learning Points: Why it’s often better to make your own website When it’s better to hire a professional How to hire the right web designer What the right web designer looks like Our own experiences where DIY websites helped our businesses grow and paying a designer would have hampered us   Important Links & Mentions: https://jammydigital.com/ (Jammy Digital) https://makeyourma