Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

Retention is crucial for a successful membership site.

It costs more to win a new member than it does to hang on to an existing one; so it stands to reason that you should have a strategy in place  for ensuring that your members stick around.

In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast I discuss 3 specific tips and techniques that you can use to keep your members hooked and subscribed for longer.

As a recognised authority in your field, gaining access to you can be a major reason why people will join your membership website. This introduces a whole host of additional challenges when trying to run and grow your community.

In this episode, I'm joined by James Schramko from SuperFastBusiness, who shares his insight and experience from years of running a successful membership site that leverages his own authority as a highly regarded expert in online business and marketing.

In this episode, James and I discuss:

• How James went from managing a Mercedes Benz dealership to running a successful membership community
• The roadblocks that get in the way of people turning their ideas into reality
• Handling access to him and managing member expectations across multiple "tiers" of membership
• Building a larger business with your membership site at its core
• ...and a lot more!

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 site, fast.

As more and more businesses start focusing on memberships and subscriptions, what can you do to set up your membership website for long term success? 

In this episode, I'm joined by Robbie Kellman Baxter - author of the bestselling book 'The Membership Economy' and a leading strategist helping big name businesses such as Netflix and SurveyMonkey to perfect the membership model.

In this episode, Robbie and I discuss:

• Common mistakes businesses make when they attempt to transition to the membership model
• Robbie's top tips for member retention
• The core differences between transactional businesses and membership businesses
• The keys to surviving and thriving in The Membership Economy
• What the future holds for the membership model

We regularly get asked for our recommendations on the top tools for membership website owners.

The truth is that there's no such thing as the "perfect" membership site setup that will work for everyone - it all depends on what it is you want to achieve with your membership site, what features and functionality you need it to have, which email and payment software you're using and a whole bunch of other details that determine which tools are the best fit for you.

In this episode, we talk about the tools we use for our own membership website - the Member Site Academy - as well as the reasons why we choose those particular options.

Much of what we discuss in terms of membership site strategy and marketing is universal; however when it comes to the technical side of things we tend to focus almost exclusively on WordPress-based membership websites.

However there is a growing market in alternative cloud-based membership platforms such as Rainmaker or Kajabi which can solve a number of problems for anyone trying to 'DIY' their membership site.

In this episode we discuss why we use WordPress, what is meant by "cloud service" vs "self-hosted", which cloud-based alternatives are out there and what the pros and cons of each approach are.

We also discuss alternative 'self-hosted' solutions outside of WordPress, such as forum-only platforms such as Xenforo.

The reasons people have for joining your membership are as varied as the makeup of your membership. Ask 10 members why they joined your membership and you’re likely to get 8, 9, or 10 different answers.

But there are some reasons that are more common – eight of them, in fact.

In this episode, I break down the eight top reasons people join membership sites, why it’s important to know them, and how you can use this information to create more sustainable growth in your membership.

Essential Learning Points:

• The eight most common reasons people join memberships
• Why some members are going to stick around longer than others
• How you can use data about your members’ motivations to grow your membership

Important Links & Mentions:

• Should you use a Forum or Facebook Group for your community?
• Utilizing Guest Experts for your Membership Content
• 10 ways membership owners can become the 'go to' experts in your industry
• 4 ways to discover what your audience REALLY want from your membership

Key Quotes:

“People join membership sites because they want some sort of transformation.”

“Not everyone is going to join your membership because they want your material and your expertise.”

“It’s important to have an understanding of the spectrum of reasons why someone might want to join your membership site because that can inform the way in which you promote and position your membership.”

Would you like to know how to effectively use video for marketing your membership site? Joining us to talk about video, launch strategies and a lot more is Emmy Wu.

Emmy is a phenomenally talented videographer and launch strategist who has helped countless course creators and membership site owners to implement video into their marketing and sales strategy.

In this episode, Emmy and I discuss:

Without question this is the one thing we're asked about more than anything else. So how do you figure out which membership plugin to use for your website? Find out in this episode...

In this episode I talk to online course creation expert Janelle Allen. Janelle shares her insight and experiences in the field of e-learning, and has some great tips for anyone creating courses as part of their membership website.