How To Create A Membership Site With Squarespace

If you want to set up a membership website, the great news is that Squarespace now offers Member Areas! You’ll find advice a little lower down on how to make the most of this new feature.

But first of all, in Squarespace’s words:

Share your expertise.

Create classes, training, and packages for people of all skill levels and communities.

Choose how you charge.

Charge a fee every week, month, or all at once. You can also make it completely free.

Everything in one place.

Send emails, get insights, manage members, and choose where visitors sign up.

How to get started with Member Areas

• Create a website with Squarespace, and decide on a name for your member area.

• Add members-only content, from classes to newsletters, guides to videos.

• Customise your member area landing and sign-up page with details about what you offer.

• Connect your preferred processor so you can start receiving fees.

• Add a Member Areas subscription to your existing Squarespace website plan.

What can you do with a Squarespace Membership Site?

1. Collect recurring payments and donations.

Nonprofits, clubs, professional and trade associations, chambers of commerce and other groups can collect recurring membership dues payments and donations. Bloggers can use a membership plugin to handle member billing if they want to charge for and restrict access to their content.

The most profitable membership websites have a revenue stream that is predictably stable or growing. Revenue will be higher with automatic recurring payments than one-time payments. If you are asking a busy member to take action such as logging in to enter their credit card information again for renewal, you have created friction in the renewal process.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t offer one-time payments, but incentivising auto-recurring payments isn’t a bad idea. The easiest and perhaps most attractive incentive is a discounted membership rate for auto-recurring credit card payments. Offering the option of one-off payments may still be a good idea, especially for new members who may not yet fully understand the value and are reluctant to commit.

2. Create content that is restricted to members

You can now put content behind a paywall on Squarespace. Content can even be hidden from different levels of membership to accommodate tiered membership level pricing.

3. Display a public or private member directory

Groups such as chambers of commerce often have a mission to promote their members to tourists. Art collectives use directories to promote their members and their works. Professional associations publish directories for networking purposes. A public or private member directory is a great way to accomplish these goals.

4. Create events and sell member only tickets

A primary benefit of membership is the ability to connect your membership database to other features on your site such as your events calendar. When your member records are tied to event registration, you can create member only events as well as member only tickets that require login to access. Members feel special when they receive benefits that others do not; discounted member only ticket pricing is a great way to show appreciation and value.

5. Use a shopping cart to sell items to members or the public.

Membership software isn’t just a member database. Squarespace offers shopping cart features as well, for selling items like T-shirts, bags, promotional items and other one-time purchases. Some items can be made available only to members while others are open to all.

6. Create events and sell member only tickets

A primary benefit of membership is the ability to connect your membership database to other features on your site such as your events calendar. When your member records are tied to event registration, you can create member only events as well as member only tickets that require login to access. Members feel special when they receive benefits that others do not; discounted member only ticket pricing is a great way to show appreciation and value.

Have other ideas for using membership software on Squarespace? Let us know in the comments.