84: Building a Thriving Membership Community with Squarespace
Ever dreamed of creating a cozy corner of the internet where people don't just consume your content, but actually connect with you and each other? A place where your audience transforms into a genuine community that shares ideas, supports each other, and values your expertise enough to pay for deeper access? That's the magic of memberships – and you don't need to be a huge brand to create one.
With Squarespace's built-in tools, anyone can create a membership site that brings people together around a topic they're passionate about. Let me show you how to build a thriving membership community using your Squarespace website.
What Exactly Is a Squarespace Member Area?
At its core, a Squarespace member area is essentially a folder that people have to log in to access. Think of it as a VIP section of your website where you can place any type of content:
A blog exclusive to your members
A portfolio of projects
As many pages as you need
Even an online store that only members can purchase from
The beauty of member areas is that they live right on your Squarespace website – matching your brand, hosted on your domain, and fully integrated with your business.
You can also set up custom navigation inside this folder, creating a seamless experience for your members without them getting confused by your main site navigation.
What to Include in Your Member Area
Every successful member area I've created includes at least two key components:
1. Course Section
You have two great options here:
Squarespace's dedicated courses feature: Perfect if you have video-heavy content
Portfolio organized into lessons: I personally prefer this for non-video courses as you still get that helpful bottom navigation that takes people from one lesson to the next
2. Resources Section
This is typically a page with downloads, files, templates, and useful links. I recommend using a portfolio format here too, so you can display one main page that links to all your resources in a visually appealing way.
Community Engagement
Here's where we hit a limitation – Squarespace doesn't have built-in community features like forums or chat (at least at the time of writing). The only native interaction option is blog comments within your member area.
My workaround? When I created my last membership site, I added a link to a private Slack channel in the member area navigation. This gave my community a place to connect, ask questions, and share wins – all while keeping access exclusive to members.
Is it a bit of a workaround? Yes. Does it work? Absolutely!
Setting Up Your First Member Area
Ready to get started? Here's how to set up your first member area:
In Squarespace, go to Content and Memberships in the main menu
Click the Create dropdown and select Member Site
Configure your settings, including pricing options (free, one-time payment, monthly subscription, etc.)
Remember: The most important thing is to provide value beyond what's available on your public site. Whether it's more in-depth content, personalized support, or a sense of community – make sure your members feel their subscription is worth it.
Content Ideas That Make Members Feel at Home
Courses
People love structured learning experiences that take them from point A to point B. Using Squarespace's Courses feature (or a portfolio organized into modules), you can create a guided learning experience that delivers real value.
A course doesn't have to be complicated – the key is organizing it cohesively to help members progress toward a specific goal.
Resource Libraries
Think templates, swipe files, checklists, and done-for-you assets that members can use right away. Resource libraries provide immediate value, which is why they're extremely popular in membership sites.
Exclusive Tutorials or Deep Dives
Perfect for addressing specific questions or challenges your audience faces. Unlike courses, these can be standalone pieces that members access when needed – quick, focused, and more advanced than your free content.
Community-Focused Content
Even with limited native features, you can foster engagement by creating content designed to spark conversation:
Monthly prompts or challenges
Discussion topics posted on a member blog
Blog posts with comments enabled
A members-only blog is particularly valuable as it allows scheduled posts and enables comments so people can interact. It might not look as beautiful as a standard page (no fluid engine sections), but it provides real-time connection.
Creating Community Beyond Squarespace
To truly transform your membership from a content library into a thriving community, you'll need to look beyond Squarespace's native features.
Email Communication
Email is your bread and butter for keeping in touch with members. Whether you use Squarespace Campaigns or a third-party tool like Flodesk, make sure to create:
Welcome sequences: Include practical access information and set the tone for your community culture
Regular content updates: Highlight what's new and draw attention to existing resources members might have missed
Check-in emails: Send these at strategic intervals (30 days, 90 days, 6 months) to touch base and ask for feedback
Community Platforms
This is where member-to-member interaction happens. Some options include:
Slack: My personal favorite, as it's familiar to many, works well on both desktop and mobile, and allows for public channels and private messaging
Discord: Popular with younger audiences and great for community building
Circle: A dedicated community platform designed specifically for creators
Connect these to your Squarespace member area through links in your navigation and throughout your content.
Remember: Community Doesn't Build Itself
Technology is just the container – you need to actively foster connections by:
Showing up consistently
Starting conversations
Recognizing member contributions
Hosting regular live events (Q&A sessions, casual hangouts)
Creating buddy systems or small groups within your larger community
People join memberships for the content, but they stay for the community. By thoughtfully integrating content, communication, and connection, you can create a holistic experience that keeps members engaged for the long haul.
Action Steps: Building Your Membership Community
Audit your existing content: Look at your blog posts, videos, and social media content. What could be repurposed or expanded for a membership?
Set up a basic member area: Even if you're not ready to launch, create the structure to visualize how your membership will work.
Choose a community tool: Select a platform like Slack or Discord that you can integrate with your membership.
Remember, you don't need everything to be perfect before you launch. Start simple, listen to your early members, and let your membership evolve based on what your community actually wants and needs.
Building a membership site is about creating a space where people feel supported and inspired to take action. With Squarespace as your foundation and these additional tools in your toolkit, you have everything you need to build a thriving membership community that transforms your audience into a genuine community.
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[00:00:00] What if your website could become this cozy little corner of the internet where people didn't just consume your content, but actually connect with you and each other? A place where your audience transforms into a genuine community of people that share ideas, support each other, and value your expertise.
[00:00:17] They value it enough that they're happy to pay for deeper access to you and your knowledge. That is the magic of memberships, my friend. And here's the thing. You don't need to be a huge brand or have a million followers to create this kind of community. With Squarespace's built in tools, Anyone can create a membership site that brings people together around the topic that you are passionate about.
[00:00:38] And that's exactly what we're going to talk about in this episode of Think Inside the Square. How to build a thriving membership community using your Squarespace website. Welcome to Think Inside the Square, a podcast full of tips and tricks to help you build a website that you're proud of. I'm your host, Becca Harpain, and I'm so glad you're here with me today.
[00:00:55] If you're new here, I'm a Squarespace expert turned educator, the creator of [00:01:00] InsideTheSquare. co, and I help people make the most of their Squarespace websites. In this episode, we're diving into something I'm very excited to talk about, and that is building a thriving community through memberships.
[00:01:11] If you want to reference anything we talk about today, you can find a full transcript of this episode along with the links to any resources mentioned at insidethesquare.co/podcast.
[00:01:21] The term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace, Inc.
[00:01:24] This content is not affiliated with Squarespace, Inc.
[00:01:27] This episode is sponsored by Christy Price, a Squarespace designer with over 20 years of experience in the industry. Christy has just released her brand new course, The Web Designer's Playbook.
[00:01:38] This is a comprehensive, self paced course that will help you streamline your clients projects, giving you clear, step by step systems that you can follow to manage every project from start to finish and wow your clients along the way.
[00:01:51] Learn more at insidethesquare.co/playbook
[00:01:55] That's insidethesquare.co/playbook
[00:01:58] now, on to the [00:02:00] episode.
[00:02:00] Squarespace released a member area feature not too long ago, and in this episode we're going to be talking about what that feature can do, and what it can't do, and how I have found ways to work around those limitations. I'm gonna walk you through the basics of Setting up this membership structure and share some creative ideas for content as well as some of my favorite tools that I think pair perfectly with Squarespace because let's be honest, Squarespace can do a lot of things really well. But it can't do everything. Sometimes we need third party tools to make it even more awesome. So I'll talk about a few of those in this episode. Now, let's start with the very, very basics here. What exactly is a Squarespace member area?
[00:02:39] A member area inside Squarespace is essentially a folder that people have to log in to access. Now inside this folder, it's so cool, you can have any type of page content that you want. You can have a blog that is exclusive to your members, you can have a portfolio of projects, as many pages as you need in there.
[00:02:58] You can even throw an online [00:03:00] store into a member area. So the only people that can purchase those products are people who have signed up for the membership on your Squarespace website. So again, a Squarespace member area is just a really big folder that can hold any type of page content. But people have to be logged in to access the content inside that folder.
[00:03:19] You can also set up your own custom navigation inside that folder. Which is what I've done for all the member areas that I've created. I create a second type of navigation. So I've got content in there that my members will want to access. And they won't get confused by the standard site navigation that I have on my main website.
[00:03:36] They're going to see the member area navigation instead. Now every member area that I've created has included at least two key components. I usually include a course section. and a resources section. For the course, I use either Squarespace's dedicated courses feature or I'll use a portfolio organized into lessons. The Squarespace course [00:04:00] feature is very heavily focused on videos and you might not have a lot of video content for your course.
[00:04:04] It could be a different style of course. So if that's the case, I would recommend creating portfolio. because you're still going to get that navigation at the bottom of the page that takes people from one lesson to the next. Now the resources section I create is typically a page with downloads, files, templates, links to other things.
[00:04:23] This resources section I also like to have a portfolio for so I can display one main page that links to all the resources. Visually, I think it's a better representation, but again that's my personal preference. So I usually create a course That is either using the Squarespace's course feature
[00:04:40] or the portfolio of projects, and then I'll also create a resources section.
[00:04:44] Course content and resources section aside, there are a lot of membership sites out there that encourage community engagement, interaction with each other, and a chance for people to chat. Things like open forums and different chat features. That's something that Squarespace doesn't have the [00:05:00] capability of, at least at the time of recording this.
[00:05:02] They don't have any built in community features. The only feature that we have that's built into Squarespace are blog comments. If you set up a blog inside a member area and you allow people to make comments on that blog, that is a way for them to interact with each other inside Squarespace, inside your member area.
[00:05:21] But if you want your members to be able to directly interact with each other through forums and DMs or group chats, you're going to need to integrate an external tool. You're going to need to use a different software program. When I created my last membership site, I had a link to a private Slack channel listed inside the navigation for my member area and in a couple of different spots throughout the content.
[00:05:42] This gave my community a place to connect with each other, to ask questions and share wins. It gave them a place to talk to each other outside of the community, but the only way to access that Slack channel was through the navigation in the member area. Is it a little bit complicated? Yes. But does it work?[00:06:00]
[00:06:00] Also yes. Despite these limitations, member areas are still an amazing way to create exclusive content to build a community around your expertise. The key here is to understand how they work so you can structure your membership in a way that's both valuable for your members and sustainable for you to maintain.
[00:06:17] And in my opinion, the best part about Member Areas is that it's already on Squarespace. I know how to make my Squarespace website look the way that I want it to, which means I can make my Member Area look the way that I want it to.
[00:06:29] It's going to match my brand, it will be hosted on my domain, everything is related directly to my business, and I love that feature. Now let's go ahead and talk about a simple way that you can set up your first member area. Feel free to do this for practice. You don't have to open it up to the world just yet.
[00:06:45] Inside Squarespace, you'll see an area for content and memberships in your main menu on the left hand side of the screen. At least at the time of recording this, we all know they change that all the time. But inside there, you should be able to see the create dropdown and select a [00:07:00] member site. Now, remember again, at the time of recording this member areas are just like folders. So the, although it says member site, it's not going to be a separate website. It will still live on your website. It will still match your site styles and your brand. It'll still be on your domain, but this is going to create a folder that you can place content inside of, and then members can access the content in that folder.
[00:07:21] Once that's created, you'll have all kinds of different settings like the pricing options, you can choose to have it be free, a one time payment, payment every month, you've got a lot of different options there and I'm not really going to direct you in those during this podcast because this is audio and that's going to be a lot more visual.
[00:07:37] But be sure to check out the show notes for this episode for links to additional resources. Again, you'll find those show notes at insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:07:45] The most important thing to remember about these member areas is that you should use this feature to provide value beyond what's available on your public site.
[00:07:53] Whether it's more in depth content, personalized support, a sense of community, just make sure that your members feel [00:08:00] like their subscription is well worth it. So let's talk about that. What should you actually put inside your member area? Creating the content that makes your members feel like they found your digital home.
[00:08:10] This is the fun part. One of the most effective types of content for a membership site is courses. Although they've been around for a long time, I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon. People love structured learning experiences that take them from point A to point B. And using Squarespace's Courses feature, or even just organizing a portfolio of projects into these different modules, You can create a guided learning experience that delivers real value.
[00:08:36] Now a course doesn't have to be complicated. The key here is just to organize it in a way that feels cohesive and helps your members make progress towards a specific goal. And again, I want you to explore both of these options.
[00:08:48] Yes, Squarespace has a courses feature. But personally, I found that to have way more settings than I needed. I didn't like the layouts of it, the complete and continue buttons. None of that really vibed with what [00:09:00] I was going for for my course, so I created a portfolio of projects. That has pagination at the bottom that takes people from one lesson to the next.
[00:09:07] And I really liked it, so that's what I did for my own content. Now beyond courses, resource libraries are extremely popular in membership sites. Think templates, swipe files, checklists, done for you assets that members can use right away. The beauty of a resource library is that it provides immediate value. Another powerful type of content for a membership would be exclusive tutorials or deep dives. These are perfect for addressing specific questions or challenges that your audience faces. Now, unlike the structured progression of a course, these can be standalone pieces that members can access when they need them.
[00:09:43] They can be quick and focused and to the point. But maybe a little more advanced than what you'd share in your free content.
[00:09:49] Now let's not forget about the community focused content as well. I think that's a very important part about setting up a good membership. Even though Squarespace's native community features [00:10:00] are limited to blog posts, you can still foster engagement by creating content specifically designed to spark conversation, maybe monthly prompts or challenges, discussion topics that you post on a member blog.
[00:10:12] I found a mix of content types can really work well for keeping members engaged.
[00:10:17] And again, don't be afraid to link out to third party tools like Slack. If you want to keep the chats going, I found that to be a really effective way to communicate with my audience and give them a platform to talk to each other outside of the group meetings that we were having in the membership.
[00:10:31] The beauty of membership sites is that they can evolve over time based on what your members actually want and need. Pay attention to what content gets the most engagement, what questions keep coming up, and where your members seem to be struggling. That can really highlight content that you can elaborate on and really improve for your members.
[00:10:48] Before we move on to talking about other tools that can help enhance the community aspect of your membership, I want to mention something super important, because I think it's a very clever way to utilize Squarespace features inside [00:11:00] a member area.
[00:11:01] If you're sharing content with your community, and you really want to encourage engagement on an ongoing process, utilize a blog. A members only blog can have scheduled posts that go live at a specific time. Again, you can enable comments so people can talk to each other back and forth.
[00:11:17] It provides some great options for creating engagement. It might not look as beautiful as a standard page because we don't have fluid engine sections, but it does give you the ability to connect in real time with your audience and let them connect to each other. So again, I think a blog is a super underutilized feature that could be great for a member area.
[00:11:35] All right, so we talked about the structure of member areas and some content ideas to fill them with value. Now let's talk about how you create that sense of community that moves your membership from a content library into a thriving, engaged group of people who feel connected to you and each other. As I mentioned earlier, the built in features are kind of limited,
[00:11:56] so let's look a little bit further than Squarespace, starting with communication [00:12:00] tools. Email is your bread and butter for keeping in touch with your members.
[00:12:04] You can use Squarespace campaigns for this, but personally I use Flodesk. Flodesk had a lot more flexibility for me when it came to automations and to email design in general. That's at the time of recording this, Squarespace might have made changes to the campaigns feature, but as for right now, Flodesk is where I'm focused, but you do you.
[00:12:23] I'll include some links in the resource section about Flodesk and about Squarespace campaigns, so you can make the right choice for your own business. Regardless of what you're using, you've got to send a welcome sequence when someone joins. This first email should include practical information about how to access the membership, but also kind of set the tone for the community culture. I like to include a little personal note about what to expect, when they're going to hear from me, really set the tone for communication, and make sure they understand what they have access to now that they've signed up.
[00:12:55] After that, I recommend sending regular content updates. This is [00:13:00] something I was not great about in the beginning, and I think it's why my first few membership sites really flopped. Depending upon how often you add new content to your membership, you might want to send these updates monthly or even weekly.
[00:13:12] But these emails should highlight what's new And draw attention to existing resources that members might have missed. That part is key right there. Draw attention to existing resources that people might have missed. Often when someone signs up for a membership, they're so excited about one or two specific things, they might miss the coolest thing that you created.
[00:13:32] So don't be afraid to hop in their inbox and remind them about what already exists. It doesn't just have to be about new stuff. Now another key email touchpoint are check in emails. These usually go out at strategic intervals like 30 days after joining, then 90 days then 6 months. These are a chance to touch base with the members and remind them of the value they're getting but also ask for feedback.
[00:13:54] As much as I love email, I do think that you need to create a community platform to make [00:14:00] sure that people in your audience have a chance to connect with each other. That's what really makes it a membership and not just a content platform. Slack is one of my favorites for this purpose because it's familiar to a lot of people.
[00:14:11] Works well on both desktop and mobile and it also allows for public channels and private messaging which can be really great setting up a slack workplace for your membership can be pretty straightforward You can create different channels for different topics Host regular check ins or office hours.
[00:14:27] You've got a lot of features. Again, details in the show notes at insidethesquare.co/podcast but how do you connect Slack to your Squarespace member area? That is done through a basic link. What you're going to want to do is set up a link inside your member area navigation as well as different parts of your member area content where you encourage people to talk to each other in the community.
[00:14:49] link that directly to the slack channel. You can also invite members individually by email. A great option if you're planning on having a small number of members that could quickly get out of hand if you have [00:15:00] too many. And I do want to mention that even if you take that route, You should still link to your Slack community somewhere inside the member area content because people are going to want to find it and they're not going to want to dig in their inbox for it.
[00:15:12] I speak from experience there.
[00:15:14] Now all that to say, there's one thing I want to emphasize and that is that community doesn't build itself. Technology is just the container. You need to actively foster connections by showing up consistently. Starting conversations and recognizing member contributions create those opportunities for interaction.
[00:15:33] Consider hosting regular live events for your members, like Q& A sessions, or Even just casual let's work together kind of hangouts. The goal here is to just create touch points where members can interact in real time, both with you and with each other. We want to have that real connection side of a membership, otherwise it's just a collection of content.
[00:15:52] You can also think about creating buddy systems or small groups within your larger community. This works especially well if [00:16:00] your membership involves some kind of transformation or learning journey, because members can support each other throughout the process and troubleshoot their own issues. I think it's a really cool way to make sure that members support each other to make the most out of the program that you've created.
[00:16:14] People join memberships for the content, but they stay for the community. By thoughtfully integrating email communications and community interaction through different platforms like Slack, you can create this kind of holistic experience that keeps members engaged and connected for the long haul.
[00:16:30] Now, we've covered a lot in this episode, but I want to do a little recap for you before I give you some action steps, okay? So stick with me here. First, we talked about member areas in Squarespace, and how they're essentially a private folder
[00:16:42] that people have to log in to access the content. Inside that folder, you can have all kinds of content. Now the content ideas that we talked about are courses, resource areas, exclusive tutorials, community focused content, a mix of content types that belong in that member [00:17:00] area folder that again people have to log into to access.
[00:17:04] Inside Squarespace if you want to have any community interaction Where people contact each other and connect with each other, you can create a blog and allow people to comment on the blog, but that's about it for the interactivity feature. So when we talk about some tools that can enhance the community aspect of your membership, I want you to look into different platforms like Slack or Discord or even Circle for some member to member interaction.
[00:17:28] I'll include links to all of those inside the show notes. Oh, I also emphasized email communication. It's so important to email your members to make sure that they're aware of the content inside the community. Don't forget that sometimes they might not be aware of everything you've created right out of the gate.
[00:17:44] So don't be afraid to remind them of content that already exists. It doesn't just have to be an email about fresh new stuff all the time all right, my friend, time to move on to some action steps. What should you do next?
[00:17:54] Here are simple action steps that you can take to start building a thriving membership community through your [00:18:00] website right now. First, audit your existing content. Look at your blog posts, your videos, your social media content. Identify pieces repurposed for a membership. What's something that you just started to talk about that you would love to dive into for an in depth tutorial?
[00:18:17] That right there is valuable exclusive content. Second, I want you to set up a basic member area in Squarespace. Even if you're not ready to launch it yet, let's get started by creating the structure so you can really visualize how your membership will work and that might help you decide what other content you want to create.
[00:18:36] Inside Squarespace, click on the Content and Membership options on your main menu, and then click the Create drop down and select Member Site. Yes, you could click Course, Video, Blog, Sales Page, whatever you want, but the whole idea here is that we're making a member area folder that can include all types of content, so start with Member Site.
[00:18:57] So I want to strongly encourage you to [00:19:00] start with Member Site.
[00:19:01] The third step here is I want you to choose a community tool that you can integrate with your membership. I have used Slack in the past, you can also try Discord, there are a lot of different tools out there that you can use, but I do think that member engagement is a really important part of creating a thriving membership community, and while Squarespace does a lot of amazing things, they don't quite have that functionality built in at the time of recording this.
[00:19:24] Now remember, you don't need everything to be perfect before you launch, okay? Start simple, listen to your early members, and let this membership evolve based on what your community actually wants and needs. Building a membership site is about creating a space for your community, a space where people feel supported, where they feel inspired to take action, a place where they can connect with each other.
[00:19:46] With Squarespace as your foundation, and these additional tools in your toolkit, you have everything you need to build a thriving membership community. For a full list of the action steps I covered today, and all the resources that I talked about, [00:20:00] Be sure to check out the show notes for this episode at insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:20:05] This is episode 84, so that's insidethesquare.co/podcast/84
[00:20:11] Again, I'll have a checklist there for you, some inspirational ideas and links to the tools that I mentioned that can help you build a thriving membership community in your Squarespace website.
[00:20:20] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Think Inside the Square. I truly hope you enjoyed it. If you liked it, be sure to subscribe wherever you happen to be listening to this episode and share it with a friend. And most importantly, have fun with your website. Bye for now.
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