How to Design Your Own Membership Website

Membership websites are becoming commonplace. Almost every website you visit requires you to sign up for an account, including retail websites where you are making purchases. The reason is primarily to allow the website owners to keep track of their visitors (or customers) and aid them in compiling a mailing list, which is a valuable asset in marketing. You may want to create a membership website to monitor who views the content of your website. A membership website can be free or you might charge a membership fee. You can design your own membership website without having any web design knowledge.

Instructions

1. Locate a web hosting service that allows you to do what you want to do (see Resources). The host should have online tools that will allow you to build your website without any html knowledge. Most web hosts offer these tools. If you plan to charge a membership fee, be sure you find a web host that offers an easy shopping cart script.

2. Create a front page that offers a sample of your membership site's content. Give enough of the sample to entice visitors to sign up, then be sure to deliver. You want members to renew their subscriptions. If you don't give them the promised content and updated content, you might get them once, but you won't get them the second time. On the front page of your website, you should include a "Sign-Up" link. This link should take visitors to the sign-up page.

3. Create a sign-up page that requires as little information as possible. You will want your visitors' user name, address and phone number, and they should be able to create a user name and password. All of this should be included in a form created by a script provided by your web hosting service. At the end of the form, you will have the terms of use and membership for your website, including any disclaimers you have, rights and other legal matters. You can find many examples of terms of agreement in standard form all over the Internet (see Resources).

4. Make a link from the sign-up page that takes you to the membership website. If you require payment first, the link should take new members to a payment page that has all of your payment options listed. Once payment is successful, the member will be directed to the membership website automatically. This is done with a prewritten script provided with your web host's shopping cart.

References

• Tips on membership web design
• Standard terms of agreement and website use

Resources

• Best Business Web Hosting
• Wild Apricot