Building and Growing a Membership Organisation

A personal perspective by Matt Lamont

Intro

Alongside my work with a range of clients in the membership space, I independently run Design Reviewed, a self-sufficient design archive built around a membership system of over 1,000 members, 10,000 newsletter subscribers and a combined social media following of around  267,700.

Design Reviewed has been a passion project and side venture since the formation of Out of Place Studio, and has grown into a platform that has gained international recognition and unlocked opportunities including press features, speaking invitations across the world and education partnerships.

The physical archive now holds over 12,000 artefacts with 8,500 documented online and continues to grow, serving not only as a resource for the studio but as a preserved record of 150 years of graphic design history. 

At Out of Place, I’ve also supported the development, maintenance and strategic planning of five further membership websites, including Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, the Association of Heritage Interpretation and The Exhibitions Group.

The Exhibitions Group membership website

More than content

Writing and gating members’ content is not, on its own, how you build a membership organisation. It’s tempting to treat “more content behind a paywall” as the growth lever, but from personal experience, a large share of the real work happens outside the content itself. With outreach to the right networks, understanding who your potential members actually are, and building a resource meaningful enough that people come back to repeatedly, not just once. Audience research isn’t a one-off exercise either, it should continually shape where you spend your outreach effort (especially if you have minimal time like me) and how you strike the balance between what’s free and what’s gated.

Consistency

Brand consistency and a regular posting schedule matter just as much as the content itself. Growing a membership depends on trust, and trust is built through predictability, a familiar and independent voice, a consistent visual identity, and a schedule people can rely on. Irregular output, even when occasionally excellent, makes it harder for an audience to form the habit of coming back. 

Building a system

All of our membership websites are built on MemberPress, with custom-built functionality and systems layered on top to meet each client’s specific needs,  from bespoke content-gating rules to integrations with email platforms and CRM tools. No two membership organisations operate the same way, so the underlying system needs to be flexible enough to support different subscription models, content types, and member journeys without becoming unmanageable.

Maintenance and support

A membership website is never really finished, it needs to be maintained and continually built upon. Plugins need updating, payment gateways change their requirements and API connectivity, and member expectations evolve over time. Ongoing maintenance and support for fixing what breaks, adapting to new needs, and keeping the technical foundation sound is as much a part of building a membership organisation as the initial build itself.

I test my systems every Saturday morning and keep track of member reports and analytics, so that any dip in revenue or membership isn’t left to become a trend, and so members can always access and use the resources, on sign-up and day-to-day.

Alongside that testing, I review Google Analytics and Google Search Console every week and look for areas to improve for search terms. After five years of building the site, that discipline shows in the numbers: over the last 90 days, Design Reviewed had 34,702 clicks from 1.71 million impressions in Search Console, at an average position of 6.5. Of the top 1,000 tracked queries, 229 rank in positions 1–3 and 891 sit in the top 10 overalls, a solid base of established rankings that weekly SEO work protects and builds on. 

Growing

Growth in a membership organisation rarely comes from one avenue. It’s a combination of consistent output, genuine outreach, a resource worth returning to, and a technical foundation that doesn’t get in the way.

Over the last 12 months I’ve built functionality to help keep members engaged, including:

• An automated sync from website members to MailerLite, with automated intro emails and onboarding funnels.
• A monthly update email covering everything new, including the latest members’ content.
• A Friday email introducing a key designer, with a CTA to become a paying member for more.
• A minimum of two social posts a day across most major platforms.
• Occasional reintroduction posts on LinkedIn and Instagram to connect with new followers and re-engage existing ones.
• Weekly updates to the site including a new members’ article, free content, and SEO improvements.