Membership websites open the door to better content
The web offers a vast expanse of content. If someone wants to find more information or learn more about what they’re into, they’ll likely find something out there. But this wealth of free content comes with a downside, and that’s the varying levels of quality. Sometimes you get what you pay for, with zero cost equaling zero value.
This is where membership websites come in.
Becoming a part of a membership website offers access to premium content, classes, downloads, tutorials, and other types of media that’s exclusive to being a paid member. They also offer the opportunity to be a part of a greater community. Where technology has compartmentalized so many aspects of life, they bring people together with common interests.
Those running a membership website get the chance to monetize their content and build up their brands. Creating content can be a time-consuming endeavor. You might as well make some revenue off of your expertise.
A membership website does have its complexities. Creating fresh content, and giving your audience something that’s worth paying for are top priorities. There are also more technical aspects. A system needs to be in place that makes it simple to offer different pricing tiers that unlock specific content, set up recurring payments and make editing it an uncomplicated process.
Right now, Webflow doesn’t offer a native system for running a membership website, but there’s buzz that one is currently in development. Thankfully there’s Memberstack, Outseta, and Memberspace, which are three practical software applications you can use with Weblow.
Memberstack
Founded in 2019, Memberstack may be one of the newer membership website platforms, but in a short amount of time they’ve built an incredible product with an active community of fans. With Tyler Bell and Duncan Hamra, two Webflow veterans as the founders, they’ve created membership website software that seamlessly fits into Webflow.
Whether you’re using a Webflow template, or starting from scratch, integrating membership functionality is as simple as placing in a JavaScript snippet to a website, adding in elements, and attaching attributes to activate Memberstack’s functionality. This is in no way complicated, all you need to do is copy and paste a short attribute ID for each functional element. Memberstack also automatically tests each attribute as well as the links, making sure that the website is properly working.
Creating pricing plans is also user friendly, all happening through a simple dashboard. Everything from the most basic of plans all the way up to premium membership can be created, with plenty of flexibility as far as what content each price tier unlocks.
With a slick user interface, ease of use, tight security measures, and an active community of enthusiastic users, Memberstack stands out as a fantastic option to use with Webflow in launching a paid membership website.
Outseta
The Outseta team has also been kind enough to pass on a discount to our community - Get 25% off with code FLOWBASE25
Outseta positions itself as a one-stop-shop for setting up and running a membership website with Webflow. From creating subscription levels, adding registration forms, and processing payments through Stripe to putting together email campaigns, managing customers in a CRM and offering customer help information, Outseta puts everything you need in a single place.
Along with a comprehensive piece of software, they communicate a strong sense of entrepreneurism and wanting to help others in finding success. They beckon people to, “Join a community of founders that rejects business as usual.” This is such great messaging - anyone who wants to launch a membership website is also guided by this same spirit of independence.
Outseta provides a bit more sophistication in creating pricing. Along with being able to set up varying subscription levels they also offer pricing for additional products. With the option for unit-based pricing, set up fees and the freedom to offer more add-ons and other services, you’re not limited to what you’re providing. This works especially well for SaaS related businesses and other companies who may need a variety of options in what they offer their customers outside along with what they get as a member.
Unlike Memberstack, with its attribute-based system of adding membership features, Outseta works through widgets. When you’re going through and setting up different aspects of your membership website, it generates code. You then copy the code that you’d like to use and embed the script into your design. If you’ve never worked with embedding scripts before, this may sound like a lot but it’s pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it.
Memberspace
Memberspace’s aim is to make membership websites possible even for those who may be intimidated by the more technical sides of running one.
Their software integrates well with Webflow, but also has an impressive list of other platforms like Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Weebly and others that you can use it with. And if you want to go the route and switch over to a different CRM in the future, they offer free migration.
They let you put together several pricing options. You can set up recurring monthly charges or even divide them up into quarterly payments for your members. They give you a great deal of control in letting you decide the best payment plans for your customers.
Another nice feature is that you have the option of offering glimpses of gated content to someone navigating through your membership website. A person can click on a link that takes them to a paid area and see a brief instance of it, before having it disappear. It’s an enticing way to encourage people to upgrade their accounts and generate more revenue.
Memberspace provides a simple way of integrating membership features. All you have to do is go through their dashboard and add a membership feature. You then get a link to this feature that you add to an element. Even for someone who has never touched a website before, this is a straightforward action.
Memberspace offers plenty of support to go along with their great product. Want to hear interviews with those who you use it? Check out their official podcast. Need to understand what goes into a marketing plan for your own web presence? Memberspace offers this complete guide. You can even book a Zoom meeting with one of their founders to get further guidance and advice.
Giving people a super simple product and plenty of customer support, Memberspace is a great option for anyone wanting to turn their Webflow website into a fully functioning membership website.
Launch your Webflow membership website
Webflow is an easy tool to use, with it’s no code based platform democratizing the web design process for everybody. No matter your area of interest, and whatever the type of content you want to put out there, you have a number of options to create your own membership website with it.
