Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

Whether you're teaching a specialist subject, or want to support others who share your interests; it's now easier than ever to reach a global audience and get paid for sharing your time, skills, experience and expertise. Two of the best models for doing so are online courses and paid membership websites. However with those terms often used loosely and interchangeably, it can be tricky figuring out...

We can spend months creating content, writing workbooks, pulling our hair out, and spending a small fortune on promoting a new membership site and then when we finally launch it… nobody joins. We all dread this as membership owners; and when it happens, the panic sets in and we start scrambling to rearrange the website, add testimonials, and change prices. This is all completely irrelevant stuff a...

One of the best things about running a membership website is that we can market and position it in a way that we attract the sort of members that we most want to work with. However no matter hard you try to get only the “right type” of people in your membership, you will inevitably experience problem members. Sometimes it will be a personality clash, where certain members just rub you up the wrong...

Creating membership content can be one of the most time consuming parts of running a paid membership website. If you’re billing people on a recurring basis, you need to deliver value on a recurring basis; and often delivering that value involves some form of content. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I discuss how to approach content strategy for your membership, and the steps to tak...

Less than a month ago, Callie bought a book. Unbeknownst to her, that simple act would be the start of the single worst buyer experience she's ever encountered, as she found herself subscribed to a membership she never signed up for, with no clear way out. In the interests of seeing how far the rabbit hole of terrible business practices went, she decided to see it through... Join us on this rather...

Many people measure success according to vanity metrics. How many followers you have rather than how much engagement you get; how much your turnover is rather than how much net profit you make; how many members you have rather than their average lifetime spend. But is success as a membership site owner all about how many members you have? Or is it about the money you make? Or the lifestyle your me...

If you’ve spent much time looking at online courses or membership sites and their associated plugins and software, then you are probably already familiar with the terms ‘drip feeding’ and ‘content dripping’. Drip feeding is essentially  time-releasing your content so that it isn’t all available to someone immediately  after they sign up to your site. But unlike simply providing ongoing content (wh...

It can be difficult to judge whether or not you're delivering enough value in your membership for the price you wish to charge. That's mostly because "value" is an abstract concept. There is no scientific formula behind it; it's not something you can accurately measure - it's entirely subjective, based entirely on individual perception. So how do you know if you're getting it right? It is even pos...

While the majority of online memberships tend to fall into the same 2 or 3 models in terms of how they deliver their premium content; there is much to be learned from those membership sites that do things a little differently. In this episode I discuss 4 content strategies for memberships that are fairly uncommon but certainly effective, and discuss ways in which you could incorporate aspects of t...

One of the key decisions to be made when planning a membership is whether to offer multiple membership levels or a single 'all access' option. While we always advocate for simplicity, there are definite pros and cons to consider. In this episode I discuss the key things you need to consider when deciding whether to have multiple levels in your membership, and provide my top tips for making this st...

Most membership owners - especially those earlier on in their journey - try to do everything themselves Chris Ducker refers to this as "Superhero Syndrome" - where you convince yourself that everything in your business rests on your shoulders; that you’re the only person who can possibly handle it all. But it’s a fallacy. You shouldn’t be trying to do everything yourself because it’s just not sust...

This year we embark on our biggest and most daunting challenge to date - running our very own live conference: Retain 2019 It's something we've wanted to do for years, and we're beyond excited to bring together hundreds of membership site owners from around the world for 2 days of amazing speakers and high-level networking. But the journey has not all been smooth sailing... In this episode of The...

Your membership sales page is perhaps the single most important piece of the puzzle for attracting member signups. Whether it's a cold lead or someone who has been following you for years - it's your sales page that needs to seal the deal and help them to make the final decision to join your membership. So it's crucial that you get it right! In this episode I walk through the key elements that eve...

Most online memberships involve content. A lot of content. Not only are you creating content for your membership, but often you're blogging, podcasting or creating videos as part of your marketing strategy too. It can be a lot to handle! That's why it's crucial to have a solid plan for your content production, so you know well in advance what you need to create in order to schedule accordingly and...

Considering starting a membership website in 2019? Perhaps you should be... In this episode I look at 6 types of people who are especially well suited to starting a membership site, and discuss some of the various strategies they could consider.

And so another year draws to a close... How was 2018 for you and your membership? Rather than lament the passage of time, once again we're wrapping up the year by taking a look back at the most loved episodes of The Membership Guys Podcast, counting down the top 10 most downloaded episodes of the past 12 months. Thanks to each and every one of you for your continued support of the show - here's to...

Lead generation is a critical part of the sales process for membership owners. For most membership businesses, this means getting people to subscribe to your email marketing list, where you can engage with them further on a more direct basis and guide them towards joining your membership site. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I talk about how to convert website visitors into email l...

It's easy to get carried away when creating a membership website. We often turn to other memberships for inspiration, and as a result end up with a wishlist of shiny bells and whistles that we absolutely MUST have for our own website. And the end result of cramming all of those features into your membership is a convoluted frankenstein's monster of a website that's a pain to manage and an even big...

As the year draws to a close and many inside your membership and your wider audience will be in a festive mood, what sort of things should you be doing as a membership owner? Whether you're a Christmas fanatic or a modern day Scrooge - the festive season brings with it a few unique opportunities for your membership business. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I talk about 6 things you...

Membership websites have a whole mess of moving parts - plugins, themes, integrations, payment processors - they all add up to make memberships one of the most complicated types of sites that you can build. And even if you have help getting everything up and running, chances are there'll be numerous times you'll need a bit of tech support in the day to day running of your membership. But finding r...

The "one to many" aspect of a membership site is what makes it such an attractive business model. The ability to leverage your time, skills, experience and expertise in order to serve hundreds or even thousands, without having to deal with issues of increased expensive, strained resources or limited capacity that can come when trying to grow other types of businesses make memberships one of the mo...

Much of what we discuss here at The Membership Guys revolves around building and growing a successful membership. But once you've reached a point where you can call your membership "successful" - what's next? For many, the continued growth of their membership - increasing member numbers and revenue - is the be all and end all of their ambitions. And that's a perfectly valid goal. But for those who...

Running a membership requires you to get into the routine of regularly showing up, serving your members by creating valuable content, interacting in your community, answering support queries and so on. These day to day habits are the cornerstone of any successful membership - however when developing those positive habits it's all too easy to also develop bad ones. In this episode, I highlight some...

Cancellations are an inevitable part of the member journey. Everyone running a membership deals with them. However that doesn't mean you just have to sit back and let cancellations happen! In this episode I share some simple ways that you can pre-empt cancelling members and reduce the number of people leaving your membership. Episode Summary: Why it's crucial to get feedback from outgoing members...

Are you worried about the churn rate of your membership?  Many membership business owners look at the numbers dropping and panic. They might even believe that the membership business model is flawed, and maybe they should try their luck elsewhere.  In this episode, I talk about churn rate and why it shouldn’t be the one thing you think about.  This episode instead focuses on THE mos...