Guides
Nine guides on running a membership site
Written between 2009 and this year, revised when something changes. All free, none gated, none of them requiring anything from you. They are meant to be read in whatever order matches the problem in front of you.
Pricing and money
What to charge, how to shape it, when to change it, and what to do when the money does not arrive.
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Choosing a pricing model for a membership site
Monthly, annual, tiered, one price for everyone. How to pick the shape that fits what you actually publish, and what each one does to your cash and your workload.
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Free trials or freemium, and which one fits your site
Both let people in before they pay. They attract different people, cost you different things, and fail in different ways. A practical way to choose between them.
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Deciding when to raise your prices
The signals that say a price is too low, how to treat existing members when you move it, and the mistakes that turn a sensible increase into a bad month.
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Failed payments and the churn nobody chose
A quiet share of every cancellation is a card that expired. What causes failed renewals, how to recover them without nagging, and what to measure.
Keeping members
Why people leave, why they never really arrived, and how to find out rather than guess.
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Reducing member churn without gimmicks
Churn is a symptom, not a disease. How to find the real reason people leave, which fixes hold, and which retention tactics quietly make things worse.
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Onboarding a new member well
The first fortnight decides most of the first year. A plain plan for the first login, the first week, and the first thing a new member should finish.
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Running an annual member survey that tells you something
Most surveys collect praise and nothing else. How to write questions that surface the thing you did not want to hear, and what to do with the answers.
Content and community
How the material is arranged, and what happens when members can talk to each other.
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Structuring member only content
A library, a course, a drip, an archive. Four shapes for paid content, what each one asks of you every month, and how to move between them without losing people.
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Moderating a members community
What to write down before the first argument, how to handle the member everyone tolerates, and why a quiet forum is not always a failing one.