Insights & Reflections on Year 2 of the Membership Academy

Just like that, another year is over. As we reach the 2nd anniversary of Membership Academy, we have some insights and lessons to share from the past 12 months.

In what is sure to become a tradition, I’m joined on this very special episode of the podcast by the real brains behind The Membership Guys, the one and only Callie Willows, to discuss year two of running the Academy.

Restrict Content Pro Review

Restrict Content Pro is a light weight, well developed option that is easy to setup and ideal for simple, single level memberships. 

It’s extensions also make it an excellent choice for magazine style memberships, group memberships and as a base for custom development.

Thinking Outside the Membership Box with Avalon Yarnes from Avalon Cakes School

In this episode of Behind the Membership Callie talks with Avalon Yarnes from Avalon Cakes School. What makes Avalon and her membership so different is just how creative she is, in both her marketing and her retention tactics.

Here we talk leaving her job to start the membership, thinking outside the box to create a great retention hook and gamify her site, creative marketing, the challenge of trying to do all the things, and much more!

Pivoting A Membership with Colin Gray from The Podcast Host Academy

Colin Gray from The Podcast Host Academy is joining Callie on this episode of Behind the Membership. Colin actually had a false start with his membership site, something many of us fear, but is now starting to thrive after pivoting his approach and brand.

Here we talk creating ongoing value, the flow between free and paid content, the part live support plays in his membership, how he went from a member a week to a member a day, why he’s not sure about having a community and where to look for marketing and retention inspiration.

Idea to Launch in 2 weeks with Stacey Harris from Hit the Mic Backstage

In the first episode of Behind the Membership, Callie is joined by Stacey Harris from Hit the Mic Backstage.

Stacey has been running her membership for 2 years now and we discuss the running of her site, including how she managed to launch in just 2 weeks, the sales funnel she uses to attract new members and how a $1 trial has effected sales, how her membership has evolved over the last 2 years and her challenges and highlights.

The Most Effective Tools For Reducing Your Membership Churn

Retention is king when it comes to membership sites. After all, for recurring revenue to be impactful, it needs to actually recur!

We’ve talked several times on the blog and podcast before about ways to increase retention, and it’s definitely a topic that we could easily spend hours on!

But it’s one thing to talk about improving retention and another thing to actually implement, so in this article we’re taking a look not at why retention is important, but at some tools you can use to up your retention game and reduce your membership churn (and no, you don’t need to be using all of them!)

Grant Baldwin on Growing Your Membership with Public Speaking

One of the most effective ways to position yourself as an authority in your industry is through public speaking, and done right it can be a great way to grow your membership business.

However for many the idea of standing up and speaking in front of a room full of strangers is the stuff that nightmares are made of!

And even if you’re comfortable with public speaking, then there’s the question of how you actually get booked, how do you make sure your presentation is good and – importantly – how do you make it a worthwhile activity for you and your business.

In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, we speak to Grant Baldwin from The Speaker Lab about how to get started with public speaking and use it as a platform to grow your business.

It’s Time for a Reality Check about Membership Site Tech

With our community of thousands of membership owners, we see the same patterns emerging when it comes to wrestling with membership site tech.

People starting their site build and then 6 months later they’re still stuck, spinning their wheels, trying to get everything perfect and making no progress!

Often they’ll blame this on the technology being too tough, but more often than not it’s because of their own unrealistic expectations.

In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I give a kick up the backside to anyone stuck with the tech side of building their membership site.

Jeff Goins on Monetizing your Skills and Creativity

We’ve all come across the concept of the “starving artist” – the notion that to pursue creativity and artistry is to sacrifice any hope of making money. Jeff Goins is on a mission to dispel this myth.

Many successful memberships are built around the skills and passions of their founder; however we’ve seen time and time again in our community that in more traditionally “creative” industries there can be a little resistance to the idea of monetization – almost as if to do so would be “selling out.”

In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, Jeff Goins breaks down where this whole idea came from and how you can shake this mindset and effectively monetize your skills and creativity.

4 Options for Tracking Vital Membership Metrics

As a membership site owner it’s really important to know the numbers behind your membership. And it’s something a lot of membership site owners don’t really do, or don’t do fully.

In this article we’re taking a look at some of the metrics you should be tracking each month, as well as different ways that you can do this, and how that may change as your membership grows.

Chris Ducker on Running Live Events to Grow Your Membership

Chris Ducker is the founder of the YouPreneur membership community and the man behind popular events such Tropical Think Tank and the upcoming YouPreneur Summit.

It’s through these live events that Chris has been able to help his community to build connections and develop relationships way beyond what’s possible online; and this has been a key factor in the success of his membership.

In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, Chris shares his insights into the benefits of running live events as a membership site owner; plus his advice on how you can orchestrate your own events.

Why Membership Site Owners Should Start A Podcast

Podcasts have made a significant resurgence in recent years, having never quite hit their full potential back when they first became “a thing” in the mid-2000’s.

This growing popularity, coupled with it being easier than ever to start your own podcast, makes for a great opportunity for membership site owners to really get ahead by incorporating podcasting into the content marketing strategy.

Insights & Advice from Experienced Membership Owners (Episode 100)

We made it! 100 episodes!

To celebrate our centennial, I invited 16 fellow membership site owners to share insights, experience and advice from their journey so far.

I asked my guests to answer 3 questions:

– What’s the one piece of advice you’d give anyone starting a new membership?
– What impact has having a membership site had on your life or your business?
– What would you do differently if you were starting your own site again from scratch?

The answers they shared are packed with golden nuggets for anyone planning or running a membership website.

Perfect Your Membership Content Strategy with these Podcast Episodes

Content is the lifeblood of most membership websites.

However creating a successful membership requires more than just throwing together any old content and haphazardly dumping it behind a paywall.

You need a content strategy that works for you and for your members.

Should You Offer a Money Back Guarantee for your Membership?

There’s always an element of risk for prospective members when they consider joining your site…

How will they know if it’s the right fit for them? 

The truth is they won’t until they login and take a look around.

But what if there was a way to give them some extra protection that might incentivize them to press that ‘buy’ button and find out for themselves?

Money-back guarantees can do that… 

They’re a simple and effective feature you can add to your membership that will work in favor of both you and your members.

Here’s how…

Advanced Tips and Tactics for Offering a Membership Trial

Offering users a free trial of your membership is a very effective way to increase your sales…

And engineer what Jay Abraham refers to as “risk reversal”…

Meaning you can prove that your membership delivers on your promises without any risk to the end user.

Offering a trial can move someone from feeling like they’re not quite ready to sign up to your membership…

To taking a test drive of your site…

It gets them over the hurdle of signing up and into the habit of logging into your website, consuming your content, and getting exposure to the quality and value of your membership.

Sounds good doesn’t?…

Especially when there’s no risk for them!

Once they’re engaging in your site, it’s often easier to convert them to paying members.

So we’ve covered the basics of trial periods and risk reversal before…

But now it’s time to share more advanced tips and tactics for offering an effective membership trial that not only attracts more people to your site…

But makes them want to stick around as paying members once the trial period is over.

So let’s dive in…