{"id":3138,"date":"2018-07-17T23:11:42","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T06:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/?p=3138"},"modified":"2021-06-15T08:01:18","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T15:01:18","slug":"gruppe-fur-visuelle-identitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/entwickler-spotlight\/gruppe-fur-visuelle-identitat\/","title":{"rendered":"Insider Tips from a Top Developer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Our mission at MemberMouse is to build technology that empowers you to run powerful and profitable membership businesses. We love it when designers and developers show us the awesome work they've done for clients using MemberMouse. In our second installment of Developer Spotlight, we are thrilled to highlight Jason Weamer and his team at the <a href=\"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/visual-identity-group\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"s2\">Visual Identity Group<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In this post we\u2019ll cover:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">How Jason got his start building membership sites<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">3 black-belt tips from a developer<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">6 key areas of focus for all membership site owners<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">And at the end\u2026 Jason reveals his superpower!<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"user user-feature\">\r\n<div class=\"user-avatar\"><img src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Jason-Weamer-Visual-Identity-Group.jpg\"\/><\/div>\r\n<h2>Jason Weamer<\/h2>\r\n<label class=\"color-blue\">Visual Identity Group<\/label>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<!--\/.user-->\r\n<h3><b>From Boards to Bacardi\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Jason founded Visual Identity Group 20 years ago. Since then, they've become an award-winning full-service digital marketing agency specializing in strategic marketing, branding, creative, development, and communications based in Aliso Viejo, California.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Before he started Visual Identity Group, Jason attended college and worked for family-owned snowboard companies Special Blend and Forum Snowboards.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0During the off-season, he worked with them on designs, logos and other projects.\u00a0<\/span>This experience fueled his interest in design and marketing, and lay the groundwork for his future path.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">After building his chops, he worked in real estate as a consultant designing and marketing websites for realtors and other small businesses in Southern California.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It didn\u2019t take long for Jason to catch tech fever and fall in love with web design and marketing technology. This keen interest combined with an ironclad work ethic ignited the birth of Visual Identity Group.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Since then, he\u2019s built a tight-knit team of talented web designers, developers, and marketers. They work with businesses of all sizes: from solopreneurs to Fortune 500 companies. Jason and his team have won numerous industry awards and were even nominated for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webbyawards.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><span class=\"s2\">Webby<\/span><\/a> \u2013 <i>no big deal\u2026 it\u2019s only like the Oscars for web design!<\/i><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img class=\"embed-center wp-image-2829\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wpgcbucket\/wp\/2018\/07\/68cf9915-webby.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"335\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Whether they\u2019re working with start-ups, family-owned small businesses, or international brands like Coca-Cola, Toyota or Bacardi, the Visual Identity Group helps business owners solve a similar dilemma:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>\u201cWe\u2019ve had the amazing opportunity to work with many types of businesses, all at different stages. Their problem is essentially the same: how to leverage powerful internet technologies to increase sales, solve business challenges and improve customer experience. This involves everything from establishing the right look and feel for the brand, building successful websites, improving user experience, generating leads and optimizing sales funnels.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So how did they start building membership sites? Well, it all began with a herculean task\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<h3><span class=\"s1\"><b>Turning Back Time<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Let\u2019s rewind to 2005. Jason and his team are humming along building award-winning websites and growing their business. One day, they get a call from an enthusiastic entrepreneur named John Doll with an interesting idea for a website.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">At that time, John had barely survived a life-threatening health crisis. He suffered for years with unexplained symptoms, numerous misdiagnoses and a near-death experience connected to complications of Celiac disease. Miraculously, John found life-saving healing after eliminating gluten from his diet (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.glutenfreedaily.com\/how-it-works\/our-story\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><span class=\"s2\">read his moving story here<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img class=\"embed-center wp-image-2838\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wpgcbucket\/wp\/2018\/07\/cf5dbc41-john-blue.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"367\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Back then, there was so much confusion and misinformation about Celiac disease and the gluten free diet. John felt called to share his discoveries and help others suffering from similar symptoms.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">But he had no website, email list or internet presence whatsoever. John had a message to share with the world. But he didn\u2019t know how. He didn\u2019t know where to start. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">That\u2019s when he connected with the Visual Identity Group.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Jason listened to his vision. They worked 1-on-1 to find a way to turn John\u2019s dream into a reality. In the end, they decided a membership business model was the perfect way for John to accomplish his mission. Thus, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.glutenfreedaily.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><span class=\"s2\">Gluten Free Daily<\/span><\/a> was born.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Keep in mind, we\u2019re still back in 2005. This was before the days of MemberMouse or many other membership solutions.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<h3><b>A Colossal Customization<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Since there were essentially no good options for membership software, Jason and his team built a completely custom membership platform for Gluten Free Daily. They not only built the website, but the membership platform itself. From scratch.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">According to Jason, <b>\u201cBuilding a 100% custom membership solution was a total pain and very time consuming. We encountered a real problem with billing which turned into an unsolvable issue, resulting in a major loss in revenue.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Without getting into the gory details, this experience inspired the search for another membership platform for Gluten Free Daily\u2019s site. After an exhaustive search of potential technologies, Jason discovered Wordpress and subsequently MemberMouse.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>\u201cI was thrilled when we discovered MemberMouse. It checked all the boxes for us. MemberMouse did everything we had poorly done before, but way better. Plus, it did a whole lot more. Stuff we had wanted to do to grow the business. We were able to start dripping content which was essential to the business. And, we were able to upsell our other offerings and increase profit margins.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">What had previously been manual, frustrating and time-consuming processes became easy and automatic. It was a game-changer for Gluten Free Daily.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<h3><b>Black Belt Techniques<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">After making the switch to Wordpress and MemberMouse, Gluten Free Daily\u2019s business took off. They implemented new systems and strategies to grow their business. They finally had the tools needed to create the business of their dreams.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I asked Jason if he had any black-belt techniques membership site owners using Wordpress could use to take their business to the next level. He recommends people leverage these 3 areas:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ol class=\"ol1\">\r\n \t<li><strong>Utilize Wordpress Hooks<\/strong>: Use hooks to send members email notifications about various changes and statuses of their membership and payments, such as 'received' or 'failed'. This personalizes the experience for the user and draws them further into the membership. You can also use them on certain pages to determine the user\u2019s status, and then display data depending on variables like membership level or how long they\u2019ve been a member (days, weeks, months, etc.).<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Maximize API Functionality<\/strong>: If you're thinking of incorporating a mobile app or third-party software and services for your membership site, you\u2019ll need to work with the MemberMouse API. Without it, a member-based app is not possible without tons of work trying to decipher all the different tables, statuses and schema.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Employ Push Notifications<\/strong>: Use these for specific actions such as displaying member status and data in areas that aren\u2019t core MemberMouse pages.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Implementing these techniques really helped get their business off the ground. Things ran smoothly for years, and John was able to effectively help thousands of people through Gluten Free Diet education.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Then came the app.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<h3><b>Is This App Gluten Free?<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">After years of growing their membership business, Gluten Free Daily envisioned an idea for a mobile app that would complement their membership site. Once again, they approached the Visual Identity Group to develop this project. Jason and his team set to work and delivered a true masterpiece.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/visualidentitygroup.com\/work\/gluten-free-daily-mobile-app\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><span class=\"s2\">Gluten Free Daily App<\/span><\/a> empowers its users to track their diets, monitor caloric intake, discover recipes and even scan items at the grocery store to check for harmful ingredients. It adds an entirely new dimension to their membership program and promotes member engagement.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img class=\"embed-center wp-image-2846\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wpgcbucket\/wp\/2018\/07\/14ecafa1-gfd-app.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"415\" height=\"477\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">According to John Doll, Gluten Free Daily CEO, <b>\u201cThe Visual Identity Group brought a lot to the table. Integrating all the databases in a presentable interface was a huge challenge that they pulled off. The app continues to drive engagement and membership is up.\"<\/b><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img class=\"embed-center wp-image-2848\" src=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wpgcbucket\/wp\/2018\/07\/f238612c-jd-quote.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"183\" \/><\/p>\r\nJason and his team built the Gluten Free Daily app from scratch using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ionicframework.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Ionic\u2019s Platform.\u00a0<\/a><span class=\"s1\">I was curious how they integrated the mobile app with the membership site. He reported how the Wordpress API and MemberMouse Hooks made it possible for Gluten Free Daily to\u00a0control everything from user authentication, member status, plan level and content accessibility.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<h3><b>Insider Tips &amp; Tricks<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I asked Jason for some practical advice to share with our community. For membership sites, he stresses the importance of 6 key areas:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ol class=\"ol1\">\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><b><\/b><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Optimization<\/b>: Everyone running a membership site needs to understand the importance of a high-performing, optimized website. Without it, your site can rank low in search engines and get poor organic search traffic. That means it needs to load fast, the images need to be optimized, the CSS and JavaScript need to be minified and not render-blocking. All these things and more are fundamentally important to how the page loads and how search engines like Google view their website.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>For questions or help on this topic, <a href=\"https:\/\/visualidentitygroup.com\/news\/membermouse-support\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">contact<\/a> Visual Identity Group for a free 30 minute consultation.<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><b><\/b><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Performance:<\/b> The litmus test Jason uses to assess the health of a website is based on its PageSpeed. Most business owners are unaware of how important this is. Google has a tool called <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><span class=\"s2\">PageSpeed Insights<\/span><\/a> that assigns a 0-100 score to a website based on how it\u2019s been engineered. It covers all the points I talk about above and assigns it a score. Getting this score as close to a 100 is an absolute MUST for membership sites if they want to succeed online. This score directly influences how Google indexes your website, determining how you\u2019re displayed in search engine results.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>For questions or help on this topic, <a href=\"https:\/\/visualidentitygroup.com\/news\/membermouse-support\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">contact<\/a> Visual Identity Group for a free 30 minute consultation plus 10% off!<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><b><\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>Research &amp; Strategy: <\/b>Careful planning and preparation are key to building a successful membership business. We help our clients to go in-depth with their market research, build consumer personas and develop engaging content and social media strategies.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><b><\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>Communications:<\/b> With the myriad of tools and techniques available to us these days, we recommend people focus on creating powerful paid advertising campaigns, fine-tuning the copy and messaging on their site, being intentional about building brand awareness, and using the appropriate social media and PR channels to drive lead generation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><b><\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>Analytics:<\/b> We\u2019re huge proponents of analytics and testing. In terms of marketing, membership sites owners should do whatever they can to analyze and understand the flow, funnel, and conversion of their site. A clear picture of these items will help you make better decisions and lead to business growth.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><b><\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>Creative:<\/b> Think about your brand\u2019s identity. What does your website say about who you are and what you are offering? The components of your site like the visual design, photography, and video often speak louder than words. Improving these areas can help elevate your brand.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<div class=\"quote\">\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\n<em>\u201cYou can build the most beautiful website but if no one knows about it, how will you get any sales? Having an appropriate marketing strategy in place with well-defined and measurable goals should be viewed equally as important as actually having a website in the first place.\u201d<\/em>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<label>\u2013 Jason Weamer<\/label>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3><b>Final Thoughts<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Jason and his team are experts in transforming the ideas and inspiration of business owners into successful brands and businesses. They're interested in working with anyone who\u2019s serious about making their business successful:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>\u201cThis may sound clich\u00e9 but it\u2019s true. Developing a successful business strategy isn\u2019t easy, but the clients who have a strong determination to make their business work, even if unfamiliar with building a membership website, are the clients that we enjoy working with. That determination and grit to \u201cget it done\u201d is the right attitude to have.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Though they\u2019ve done work for\u00a0<\/span>international brands like Coca-Cola, Toyota, Universal Electronics, US Foods and Round Table Pizza, they are budget mindful and tailor projects to each client's needs regardless of the size of the business. They work with small \"mom and pops\" all the way to large corporations.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>As Jason says, \"<strong>small clients can grow to large ones!<\/strong>\"<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In his spare time, Jason enjoys staying active by hiking, traveling, camping, golfing and snowboarding with family and friends. However, his most important \u201cdevelopment project\u201d is teaching his 2 sons to be trustworthy and respectful humans. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">At the end of our conversation, I asked Jason to reveal the Visual Identity Group\u2019s superpower and was surprised by his answer: <b>Listening<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>\u201cWe have to listen to the clients to truly understand their business. What makes them tick? How are they special and different from the competition? By doing this, we\u2019re able to view their business model from their eyes as well as their competitors. From there, we can help separate their brand from the noise and make it stand out.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">For more information and resources, please visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/visual-identity-group\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Visual Identity Group<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"info-callout blue\">\r\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Exclusive Resources<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nThe Visual Identity Group has some special offers they're extending to our blog readers:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n    <li>Free Performance Evaluation & 30-Minute consultation to review results and corrections necessary<\/li>\r\n    <li>Partner Deal: Mention this article and receive 10% off services such as: Custom Page Design & Theming, Custom Programming, MemberMouse Setup & Configuration, UX and Funnel Analysis, User Flow Analysis, Systems Integrations, E-Commerce, and Page Performance Optimization<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center; margin-botton: 50px;\">\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/visual-identity-group\" class=\"btn btn-blue\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jason Weamer von der Visual Identity Group verr\u00e4t \u00fcbersehene Strategien f\u00fcr den Aufbau erfolgreicher Mitgliederseiten.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":20918,"featured_media":3141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_strive_editorial_status":"not-started","_strive_copy_of":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_strive_checklists":"\"\"","_strive_active_checklist":"","_strive_post_notes":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-developer-spotlight","category-mm-dash"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20918"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}