“Hey! Can We Talk?” – Interviews On Your Membership Site

A question regarding getting interviews came into the forum a while back which I replied to and then
decided that it would be a good idea to write up a post based on that response.

I’ve heard the question posed before; “HOW do I set up an interview with an expert (or anyone) for my Membership site?”

What follows are some thoughts and suggestions to help answer that question which will enable you to score valuable interviews that can be posted on your site for your members to benefit from.

Interviews are a great way to gain and present other people’s knowledge to your members.

As much as you know about a topic, there is most often someone out there with even more knowledge on the subject (or who can at least present an alternate perspective than your own).  Fresh content is vital to a Membership site so you should seek it out in any and all forms that you can.

You may even want to interview someone with a conflicting view point. If done correctly, a discussion between two people with opposite opinions can be entertaining and informative for an audience.

Just be sure that this type of exchange doesn’t devolve into two individuals simply trying to convince the other they are wrong or a continuous case of each one talking over the other other as members will tend to tune this out.


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The “not-so-secret” secret is that interviews can actually be pretty easy – both to request and to conduct.

You would be surprised by how many people are willing to do an interview if you just ask them. Simply contact your desired interview subject and request if they would be willing to take part in a quick interview that you will be posting on your site.

These types of requests are usually met with questions like “what is your site about”, or something to that effect, and then typically either a “no thanks” or a “sure” reply after a brief back and forth.

Best part is, nothing has been lost on your part beyond maybe some minimal time and effort to request the interview.  If the answer you get back is “no”, you can then move on to your next target.


Of course, you can increase the chances of getting a “yes” by offering compensation or by “sweetening” the deal. The exact degree of sweetness directly depends on how much you want to interview this particular individual and exactly what you have for resources in the “sweetener” department.

Say the “expert” has recently released a book (or will be soon) or is promoting something.

Perhaps you could offer to purchase a number of their products (at a negotiated discounted price) in exchange for an interview.

You can then give away or package their product with your own (if applicable) to promote the upcoming interview.

“Buy my ABC Membership now and you will receive XYZ product from Joe Famous free!”

This approach will obviously require some number crunching on your end to determine how much you can put on the line in order for this to be profitable for you.  Or, perhaps you can offer a chapter of the book in PDF format at no cost.  This will help to promote the author’s book while working as an incentive to purchase your Membership.  That is what we like to call a “win/win” situation.

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There really are a lot of options to secure interviews and many won’t cost you any money.  All you need is some creativity.

One VERY important thing to keep in mind is that you definitely need to let the person you are interviewing know the interview is being recorded up front.

You should also tell them what you are using it for. Full disclosure is typically the best approach in these types of situations as you don’t want to be faced with an upset person down the line when they find out you have been making money off an interview with them.

This can turn into a very sticky situation so it best to avoid it in the first place by laying all your cards on the table with your potential interviewee.

As I have been writing this article, a number of other ideas on how to secure an interview have started swimming around my head which means there will be a Part 2 of this article in the coming weeks. We will touch upon some ideas that will cost you next to nothing but can still result in valuable interviews.

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In the meantime, what are some techniques that have worked for you when it comes to either requesting interviews or being wooed yourself as an interview subject?

Here’s a good exercise; if you needed to go out right now and get an interview by the end of this week, how would you go about doing it?

Do you have a clear idea of what to do? Either way, let us know in the comments below.

You’ll either be helping someone out by giving them some ideas or will be getting some help as the community answers your questions or addresses your concerns.