Does every piece of content you create need to go inside your membership?
You might be thinking “well yes of course it does, my business is all about my membership”…
But what if you want to sell it as a standalone product?
This is something that’s come up a few times in Membership Academy and in our Facebook community…
And it’s a strange one…
Because for some the answer is obvious…
Just to go ahead and create a standalone product…
But for others it’s a bit more complicated…
As creating separate products and content from your membership can sometimes cause a lot of confusion in your community…
And even result in some very disgruntled members…
So how can you navigate this?
Let’s take a look…
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Choosing the right topic for your membership is really important…
In fact, it’s fundamental to everything else you do thereafter.
And a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly…
Because if you get it wrong, then you’re starting your membership with a pretty unstable foundation.
So how do you go about choosing the right topic?
Well, there are four key components to consider when deciding whether or not your idea is the right fit for an online membership…
And this is something we recently explored when creating our brand-new Membership Roadmap course that we’ve just rolled out inside Membership Academy…
Something we’re so excited about that we’ve decided to share a little sneak peak with you…
This blog post is based on content taken from one of the lessons…
So keep reading for a special preview…
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Considering increasing the price of your membership?
Perhaps this is something you’ve been thinking about for a while, but are reticent to start the process.
Or maybe other people are telling you that you should do it, but you’re not sure that now is the right time.
In either case, we understand your reluctance.
Because pricing your membership may sound like a straightforward thing to do…
But in reality it’s often not!
You don’t want to under price it as it will be seen as cheap…
But you also don’t want the subscription fee to be so high that no one signs up.
And then of course there’s the timing of the increase…
It needs to be right.
And there are some clear indicators to help you decide if now that is that time…
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Ever heard the saying “members come for the content but stay for the community?”
Never has a truer word been spoken when it comes to online memberships…
Because if the community they find isn’t supportive or welcoming, your members won’t stick around for long.
After all, no one wants to actively participate in a community that’s stressful to be a part of…
Where it’s a toxic environment…
And there’s the constant worry of saying something and getting jumped on or trolled …
That’s not what your members sign up for…
And as a community leader, you have a duty to take action and keep the peace between your members…
So you create a positive, friendly hub for your members to hang out, have conversations and achieve what they set out to when they joined…
But how do you do it?
Follow these six simple tips to keep the harmony inside your membership community…
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Should you charge monthly or annually for your membership site?
This may sound like a straightforward question…
But if there’s one thing that’s not always simple when it comes to memberships…
Its pricing.
Deciding on what to charge, whether or not to have multiple tiers and a joining fee…
These are just a few things to take into consideration.
Then of course there’s billing frequency.
How regularly you charge your members can impact your sales, member engagement and retention.
Not to mention the implications on your wider business in terms of stability and cashflow.
With all of this to keep in mind, it’s not surprising that the whole process can become overwhelming for some.
But if you’re planning to launch a membership site, pricing is something you need to nail pretty early on in your journey…
And deciding the frequency of payments is a good place to start.
So should you charge monthly or annually?
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New member signups have dwindled….
Engagement is at a low point…
And your membership has become what can only be described as a ghost town…
This is every membership owner’s worst nightmare…
But a challenge many face from time to time…
When it comes to growing your membership, momentum plays a huge role in helping you achieve success…
And when it slows down and starts to stagnate, while it may be a worry, there are some things you can do to get it back on track…
If this is something you’re struggling with right now…
We’re here to help!
Here’s how to inject new life into a stale membership…
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It’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs selling products online to do so in a multitude of ways…
Many will sell eBooks, physical books, talk on paid podcasts…
And of course, online memberships and courses…
With a whole range of other things in-between.
And while many will choose to focus on one core business model…
Some will make the decision to introduce new products and revenue streams into their ecosystem…
So they sell a combination of products…
And when it comes to selling premium signature online courses, adding an online membership into the mix is an option.
If this is something you’re thinking about then we have some good news for you…
The combination of courses and memberships can work extremely well together…
But only IF you get the strategy right…
And we’re here to talk you through exactly how to do that…
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Wow… 6 years of Membership Academy!
It’s been a crazy year as we adjusted to running a membership during a pandemic and refocused our efforts and attentions on new areas of growth.
Listen in as Callie and I recap the highs and lows of the past 12 months of Membership Academy, and look ahead to what’s in store in the next year and beyond.
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Pricing your membership should be straight forward…
You do your research, decide on a price and you run with it, right?
For some people, yes that’s how it works.
But for others, it’s not that simple…
You see, when it comes to pricing your membership, there are so many different ways to approach it…
And a lot of different factors to consider.
Quite a lot of the time, pricing is downright illogical…
Because so much of it has to do with the perception of the value that your membership delivers…
And that’s not an easy thing to gauge.
So if you’re preparing to launch your membership…
And are struggling to price it…
Here are some important things for you to consider.
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In the final episode of season five of Behind The Membership, Craig Cannings, co-founder of Freelance University, joins us to share the story of how he and his wife Kelly transformed their business after switching to the membership model.
He tells us what inspired them to go down the membership route after selling a la carte courses for so long, why they made the decision to adopt the closed-door enrolment model and how they’ve found a way to stabilize growth in-between launches.
He also talks about what it’s like running a membership with his wife, the changes they made to the business during the global pandemic to better serve their audience and how they use badges and certifications to aid member retention… Plus much much more.
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Passive income… two simple but loaded words that have become associated with the world of online memberships.
It’s difficult to have a conversation these days on the subject without someone bringing it up…
And that’s because a lot of people think that starting a membership is a guaranteed way to make passive income…
You just set it all up once, sit back and watch the money roll in, right?
Erm, no not quite…
You’ll rarely see us talking about memberships and passive income in the same sentence…
And there’s a good reason for that!
There are a lot of so-called internet marketing gurus that point you in the direction of the membership model and promise that you can make money while you sleep…
The truth is, it’s just not that simple…
And if you’re reading this post looking for me to do the same, then I’ve got some bad news for you….
A membership is never going to bring you 100% passive income.
But does that mean you can’t make any passive income from your membership?
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Our guest on this penultimate episode of season five of Behind The Membership is Lisa Leander, founder of Women in Business Education.
Lisa’s story is a very interesting one. What started off as a planned side hustle targeting a very specific niche audience (possibly the smallest we’ve ever seen with only a few hundred people in the world in the market), quickly resulted in Lisa quitting her job and managing the membership full-time due to the pandemic.
During this episode, she shares what life is like as a membership owner. How she’s tapping into her 10 years of experience as a Director of a membership organization to build the business as quickly and efficiently as possible, why she made the decision to invest in building a team from the very beginning and how Lisa’s personalized approach to recruiting new members has a 50% to 70% conversion rate.
She also talks about why she only delivers live content to her members, how her site is structured to cater for different segments of her members to give them a specialized peer experience and her plans to grow her niche further later this year.
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Are you ready to hire your first employees for your membership business?
You may have already dipped your toe in the water by working with freelancers or contractors…
People who essentially work for themselves or third party companies and handle one-off tasks or work for you as and when needed…
But now you’re at a point in your business when you need more…
There are tasks that need to be completed on a regular basis…
And you don’t have the time or the bandwidth to do it…
So you’re now ready to hire your first employee…
And that’s a whole different ball game…
So where should you start?
Having completed our own recruitment drive here at The Membership Guys, we have some experience in this area…
And of course, as always we want to share our knowledge with you…
So here are our thoughts on how to go about hiring your first employees for your membership business…
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Our guest on this episode of Behind the Membership is offers an interesting and slightly different perspective on memberships…
Unlike the majority of our guests Ali McGee Kelly doesn’t actually own her own site, she manages The Social Media Marketing Society, a membership owned by one of the world’s biggest social media marketing blogs, Social Media Examiner.
In this episode Ali shares what it’s like to manage a membership as part of a wider team for a larger business, she talks about the changes the company has been forced to make as a result of the global pandemic and the Society’s unique approach to recruiting guest experts.
She also reveals some changes that have been made behind the scenes to enhance member experience, why the Society has decided to adopt the open door model and how Ali and her team manage content within the membership to ensure it stays relevant in an industry that changes almost daily.
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Is your quest to make everything perfect with your membership website holding you back?
When you’re at the beginning of your journey…
Or maybe even if you’ve been in business for a while…
The need to get everything right…
From features and tech to your content and community…
Can be all consuming.
So much so that it prevents you moving forward altogether.
You become stuck over-analysing, over-thinking and fretting over every little thing.
But it doesn’t need to be this way.
Here’s how to overcome perfectionism when starting a membership website…
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Sean Wilson joins Callie for this episode of Behind The Membership to talk about Sean Wilson Piano, his membership site for Gospel pianists.
During this episode Sean shares the details of his journey so far, how he tapped into a small but engaged audience to launch his membership back in 2017, why his approach to delivering content within his membership has changed and the positive impact the pandemic has had on it’s growth.
He also tells us how he recently overcame his subscription ceiling, now attracting over 100 members a month instead of 40, the steps he’s taken to make engagement skyrocket inside his community and how YouTube has played a huge part in the success of his membership … Plus so much more!
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