Why More Content Is Killing Your Membership Site – Before It Even Starts
When I first started thinking about creating a membership site…
I honestly thought the whole thing came down to one thing:
content.
More specifically…
having enough of it.
I remember sitting there thinking:
“How am I going to keep this going every week?”
“What if I run out of ideas?”
“What if people expect more and more over time?”
And the more I thought about it…
The heavier it started to feel.
The Moment It Started to Feel Like a Chore
At one point, I actually mapped it all out.
Week 1…
Week 2…
Week 3…
Trying to plan months ahead.
And instead of feeling excited about building something…
It started to feel like I was signing up to a never-ending obligation.
Always creating.
Always adding.
Always trying to stay ahead.
And if I’m honest…
That’s what nearly stopped me from doing it altogether.
The Assumption That Trips Most People Up
Looking back now, I can see exactly what was going on.
I’d made a simple assumption:
“The more content I have, the better the membership will be.”
It sounds logical.
More value.
More material.
More reasons for people to stay.
But in reality…
That way of thinking actually creates the opposite effect.
What I Didn’t Realise at the Time
The problem with “more content” is that it doesn’t just affect you…
It affects the person consuming it.
Because from their side, it can feel like:
- Too much to go through
- No clear starting point
- No real sense of progress
I’ve joined memberships like that myself.
Loads of material…
But no real direction.
You log in… scroll around… maybe watch a bit here and there…
And then drift off.
Not because it’s bad…
But because it feels overwhelming.
The Shift That Changed Everything for Me
At some point, I realised something that completely changed how I looked at this.
It’s not about how much content you have.
It’s about how that content is experienced.
That’s the difference.
Because people don’t join a membership to “consume more stuff”…
They join because they want:
- Progress
- Direction
- A result
And if they don’t feel that happening…
It doesn’t matter how much content is sitting there.
Why More Content Can Actually Hurt
This is the bit most people don’t talk about.
When there’s too much content:
- People feel behind
- They don’t know what to focus on
- They lose momentum quickly
And once that happens…
They disengage.
So ironically…
The thing you thought would help your membership…
is often the thing that causes it to struggle.
A Simpler Way to Think About It
These days, I approach things very differently.
Instead of asking:
“What else can I add?”
I ask:
“What does someone actually need to move forward?”
That one question simplifies everything.
Because it shifts your focus from:
- Quantity
To:
- Clarity
- Direction
- Simplicity
And that’s where things start to work.
Final Thought
If you’ve been holding back from creating a membership because it feels like you’ll be stuck creating content forever…
I completely get it.
That’s exactly where I was at one point.
But the truth is…
It doesn’t have to be that way.
And This Is The Part Most People Never Really Get Shown…
If part of what’s been holding you back is the idea of having to constantly create new content just to keep things going…
There is a simpler way to approach it.
I’ve put something together called Rapid Recurring Revenue, where I break down how to set up a fixed-term membership (FTM) site in a much more structured (and manageable) way – without feeling like you’re on a never-ending content treadmill!
If you’d like to take a closer look, you can check it out here — and there’s a $20 discount available with the code RRRTWENTY (for now, at least).
SHANE DOYLE
