What Is A Membership Site & Why Your Club Needs One

Date: Monday 15th July 2024

Categories: Featured Articles | Membership Management

A membership site, also known as a membership website or club website, is an essential tool for effectively managing your club. It's like a normal website, but you can lock sections of it down to be viewable only by members of your organisation. This can be an excellent way to add extra value to your membership, elevate your members' experience, increase your membership, make more revenue, and generally improve your club.

So, with that in mind, let's have a look at what a membership site is, how it can help your club, and the best way to get one for your club.

What Is A Club Membership Site?

Don't worry; it won't take long to explain what a membership site is because it's pretty much a normal website but with a few extra bells and whistles that make it great for clubs, associations and other membership organisations.

Bells and whistles like the ability for members to log in to their accounts on your site, a place for members of the public to sign up to become members, and a way to lock down certain pages and content to be viewable only by signed-in members. Depending on who your membership site provider is you may or may not get a few extra things with your website but those are the big three.

Like I said, it's quite simple. Let's now dive into the benefits of a membership site over a standard website.

What benefits Do Membership Sites Have?

The big benefit of membership sites is that they allow you to lock down content, which means you can effectively put content behind a paywall. If someone wants to come to such and such event, view such and such guide, participate in the group chat or anything else that you’ve put behind the paywall, they are going to need to sign up and pay for a membership if they want to see that.

This is a really good way to add extra value to your club and encourage more people to sign up as members. Basically, it allows you to ensure that all of your member benefits, like how-to guides, online events, member chat rooms, and forums, are on an easily accessible website that’s convenient for your members to access but locked down so members of the public can’t get your member benefits for free.

By locking down content and pages to be members only, you are not only showing your members that you value them and the membership dues that they pay you, but you are also showing non-members that your club has valuable resources that they are going to need to be a member to see. This helps members feel valued and like they’re getting value for their money, and it helps encourage new members to sign up so they can access your club’s value.

If you had a physical clubhouse, you wouldn’t just leave the door open and unlocked so anyone could wander in and start using your facilities.

Membership Site Or Membership Platform?

Membership sites are available from two main sources. First, you can use website builder companies like Squarespace or WordPress. Squarespace offers the three main features we discussed earlier, while you will need to use third-party plugins to get these features with WordPress.

Alternatively, you can obtain membership sites from membership management software providers such as Join It, WildApricot, and Member Jungle (that’s us). These providers will give you a membership site as part of their software, which does a whole lot of extra stuff for your club.

It will, of course, do the main three things we discussed earlier, but the majority of membership management software will also provide your club with:

A Mobile App
Member Database
Online Member Renewal
Automated membership renewal system
Event Management
Online Store
Online Tickets Sales
Member Engagement Tracking
Digital Membership Cards
Member Directory
News & Blog Modules
Photo Gallery

And a fair bit more, depending on how much you're willing to pay.

Speaking of prices, membership management systems can vary significantly depending on the size and needs of your club. For a small club with limited needs, you might expect to pay between $50 and $100 a month for membership management software. For a club of average size with more advanced requirements, the cost is likely to be in the range of $150 to $300 a month. For larger clubs and associations, the cost is typically higher again. Regardless of your club's size, you should be able to find membership management software that meets your club's needs and fits into your budget.

A great way to get your head around how much membership systems cost in reality is to calculate the cost per member. Let me explain. For instance, if you have 500 members and pay $150 monthly in membership fees, the cost per member is 30 cents per month. When multiplied by the 12 months in a year, the total is $3.60. By increasing your membership dues by $3.60 annually, you could afford a well-equipped membership management system without impacting your club's budget. For our part, Member Jungle's prices start at $109 AUD per month.

For more on Member Jungle’s pricing see, How To Work Out How Much Member Jungle Will Cost Your Club.

Keep in mind that there are many factors to consider beyond just the price. If we only focused on price, software that exclusively offers membership sites would seem better than software offering a variety of systems. Squarespace's starting price is $16 per month, which is cheaper than most membership management software available. However, membership management software doesn't just replace website software; it also replaces email marketing software, event management software, printed plastic membership cards, online store software, and more. Therefore, we need to examine the combined cost of all these things for an accurate cost comparison versus a single membership management system.

For more on how to break down all these other expenses, check out How Much Are Your Systems Really Costing You?

Let's now dive into some other important factors that we need to consider when deciding between membership sites and membership management software.

Factors To Consider When Comparing Membership Sites & Membership Management Systems

When deciding between a membership website and a full membership management system, it's important to consider more than just the cost. There are many factors to examine, and while I won't be able to cover all of them in as much detail as pricing, I can provide a brief overview of each factor and some links to additional information to help you get started with your considerations.

What Are You Trying To Achieve?

What got you looking for membership sites in the first place? Were you only looking for a way to get content to be members only, or were there other problems you were trying to solve? Is running your club taking up too much time? Is it too expensive to run? Are you losing members and/or volunteers? Are you struggling to take digital payments?

Those are all problems that membership management systems will be much better equipped to solve than membership sites.

For a steer on how to start looking into solving any of those problems, please see:

How Much Time And Effort Will Membership Management Software Save You?

You need to consider how much time and effort you and your whole admin team would save with all the automated systems that come with membership management software, such as automated membership renewals, digital payments, and online event ticket sales. Chances are, membership management software will be able to take a load off your shoulders and allow you to get back to enjoying your club.

How Will Membership Management Software Benefit Your Members?

This isn’t just about your admin team (though they are an invaluable part of your club); you also need to consider how this will affect your members. How will your members benefit from some of the features of membership management systems compared to membership sites?

How Much Of A Rush Are You In?

The truth is that while membership management systems have free trials, you can sign up right now and start experimenting with them straight away. They are much bigger and more complicated than membership sites. Meaning that they will take longer to set up completely than a much less feature-heavy membership site. So, you need to consider just how much of a rush you are in.

The Timeline Of Onboarding At Member Jungle

Will Your Choice Give Your Club Room To Grow?

Another thing you need to consider is how much you expect your club to grow in the coming years and if the system you are choosing will be able to accommodate you in the long term. Choosing a good system for your club should be an investment in the future of your club, so make sure you invest wisely.

No link on this one; just food for thought.

How Do Updates And Support Work?

How updates and support work is a crucial part of this equation and will vary not only on what style of system you choose but which provider you choose. The support and updates at membership sites like Squarespace will be worlds apart from WordPress. SO ensure you choose a system that not only offers good ongoing and comprehensive support but is also actively investing in and improving their software.

You don’t want to put in all the effort to move to a new system only to find it outdated in a few short years.

What Are Your Next Steps?

The truth is your club or association does need a membership site. The real question here is, does it just need a membership site or a membership site plus a membership management system? Now, that’s not a question I can answer for you. You will need to examine your club’s needs and budget and do some research into your options.

Now, I can’t do that for you, but I can give you a nudge in the right direction to ensure you start your investigation off on the right foot.

For more info about the membership websites provided by membership management software, see How To Improve Your Club’s Communication With Its Members.

For more about membership management systems, read What Is Membership Management Software For Nonprofits? - All Your Questions Answered.

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