It’s been a year since I joined Podia and host all my digital products on it. That includes a few big programs, a book, workshops, and – of course – my membership and community Fearless Bloggers.

Now that I’ve been using it for a whole year and keep loving it, I decided to also share a bit more about its features and why it was the right choice for me. If you too are on the lookout for a membership platform, that might help you make a decision.

I’m going to keep it real as usual, be honest, not shy away from mentioning other platforms and my experience with them as well as making comparisons. At the end, of course, use your intuition and judgment to take the decision that’s right for you and your business.

Let’s dive in.

Why I Chose Podia

As I shared in this post, I switched from Teachable to Podia after doing extensive research and choosing my new course and membership hosting platform for many reasons.

These include:

• Pricing – Teachable increased their prices a lot and also limited the number of digital products I could have. It turned into a deal that simply wasn’t good for me. I had to find an alternative;
• I was also not happy with the lack of some features (even though they were and are constantly adding new ones), the interface, and just the overall experience. They are one of the best course hosting platforms in the game, though, no doubt about that. It’s a trusted platform and it keeps evolving. But I needed something else;
• I also had the idea for the blogging membership (Fearless Bloggers) and knew Teachable simply wasn’t the place for that (even if they would soon release such a feature for that too);
• Even though it was going to take me a lot of time to migrate my courses and students (thousands of students, and hundreds of video lessons and all kinds of other content formats), my course business needed a refresh.

So, as my annual subscription plan for Teachable was expiring soon (last year) and I was going to be charged the new price which was going to be much higher, it was time to take action.

I did my research, and ultimately picked Podia.

I was already familiar with it, as I was with many other course hosting platforms, as a user. I’ve joined many courses on business over the years, so I knew how things looked like from the inside, which creators I follow and trust have chosen what platform and why, and so on. That was definitely helpful info when choosing a platform.

After hearing some recommendations, listening to my gut, and even contacting support to ask all my questions, I signed up for Podia.

They helped me migrate most of my content, and exporting my students from Teachable and importing them to the new platform was easy.

I had many small and big tasks to do and details to take care of, so being organized and planning well is crucial if you have many digital products and many students enrolled in them.

I sent notifications to new students with the login details for the new platform, and made sure there’s as little confusion and overwhelm for them as possible.

Of course, mistakes can always happen when switching platforms, so plan in advance, ask the support team all your questions, do things earlier rather than later (like, at least a month before you announce it to your audience), and don’t aim for perfection from day one. 

Once everything is done, review each product. Even create a test account, enroll in your own products for free, and see if everything works correctly and looks and feels good from the inside.

Same goes for the sales pages, payment plans, email notifications, tags (hopefully, you have the course hosting platform connected to your email marketing tool and tagging people based on the product they’re enrolled in).

What to Look for in a Membership Platform

One of the main reasons I went with Podia, other than the great product that they offer, the great support, pricing and features, is the ability to create an awesome membership site/community.

It was a smooth experience and I’m loving it. I’m still constantly changing things about the membership and exploring the different features Podia offers. I love giving my best offers space to evolve, and that’s exactly what’s happening with Fearless Bloggers.

If you’re choosing a membership platform yourself, here are some things you’d want to look for:

• Trusted platform – I like picking a platform I know, like and trust, and which is used and recommended by others that I’ve been following for a long time and who I learn from in business. Names like that are Kajabi, Teachable, Podia, etc. I also noticed who switches. For example, I know many creators who were once on Teachable, but have grown their business and since then switched to other platforms. Watch what others are doing, not what they’re saying. But also keep in mind that the first platform they used might be more suitable for a smaller business, and the one they moved to might be quite expensive;
• Memberships are one of their specialties – some course hosting platforms out there are absolutely amazing, and the best of the best in the industry, and they might offer memberships and communities too, but they might not specialize in that. That might mean some important features are missing and it’s just not the best experience you can provide to members;
• Pricing – consider your budget and see what you can pay yearly right now. Check their different plans and pick the one that works best for you, and make use of discounts such as a Black Friday offer or a coupon code;
• Features – create the vision for your membership site, outline the idea, and list the features a membership platform needs to have to turn that into reality. Even if they lack one of them, there might be ways around it, so make sure you do research, think it through and ask the support team. Some platforms have the membership itself but don’t allow for a community/forum, and then you might need to have a separate space for it such as a Facebook group. Some platforms host their videos externally and want you to pay for that, or are priced higher because of the extra expense this leads to. Some might not have enough analytics. Some might have a limit on how many members or subscription plans you can have. If that would be a problem for you now or in the future, you might want to go with another company; 

• Great support – let’s face it, many big software tools and platforms actually have bad support, and that can be a dealbreaker. I’ve already contacted Podia so many times and they get back to me quickly and with kind attitude and great explanations. They’ve saved me a lot of research, testing and wondering, so I appreciate that;
• Other things you need – what else do you need from a membership platform? For example, I want it to be a course hosting platform too. Imagine paying for one service that hosts only my membership, and then having another annual expense for course hosting elsewhere. Sending my students/readers/subscribers to two different places and confusing them? I can’t allow that. Also because these two are connected in my business and I want people to have everything in one place – inside Podia in this case. Some programs might be added to the membership over time, others are bonuses for members but set up as standalone digital products and just added to their subscription plan. I also need to have unlimited digital products in my Podia plan. That was a dealbreaker with Teachable and one of the reasons I switched platforms. But I sometimes feel inspired to create a new workshop, or publish a book, or combine programs in a bundle. All that is released as a separate product inside Podia with its own sales page, content and checkout page. So define what your must-haves are and look for that in a membership platform.

Also read: A Last-Minute Black Friday Marketing Plan for Bloggers

Conclusion

Of course, your needs can change over time, you may outgrow your current platform and still switch to another one. We can’t predict everything. But these are some factors to consider if you’re looking for a new membership and community hosting platform for the foreseeable future.

So that was a quick overview of why I went with Podia and highly recommend it if you want to launch your own community and membership site. You can get a 30-day free trial with it. That’s what I did before signing up for a paid plan.

You can also join the free plan for Fearless Bloggers if you’d like to take a look inside and see how the member experience is.

Let me know if you have any questions. What else are you looking for in a membership platform?