"Your website is one of the first impressions that someone will get of your business" - Stoney Degeyter
Calling all who are thinking of a membership - did you know you can easily create your membership site with a template?
Starting a membership is exciting! It’s a perfect way to deliver content (aka: knowledge) over time to help members achieve desired results, and make an impact in others lives. One of the things that most memberships require is a website, more specifically a membership site. And, when it comes down to designing/creating a membership site, well, let’s just say that tech challenges can quickly get in the way.
Good news - you can create your own membership site with a template!
Simply put, a membership site template is a pre-configured site ready to be customized and receive content, your content.
If you're looking for a great-looking site, with tons of flexibility, and easy to use - a GJ template is your answer.
Let’s look at two different approaches to designing a membership site -
1. starting from scratch
2. using a template
Option 1: designing a site from scratch
Although this is a route that most “coming-soon” membership owners often take, thinking that it is a more cost-effective way to create their membership site, it is an option that requires time, skills, and in the end - often leads to challenges and frustration.
Advantages
- Easy to get started
- Lots of design and functionality options available
- Can be built at your own pace
- Good if you already have great web design skills and knowledge
- Gives room for enhancement
Disadvantages
- Definitely takes a lot of time, during which no income can be generated
- Tech challenges can quickly become overwhelming - lots of people start and give up as they stumble their way through the building process and/or end up hiring a web developer to finish their membership site, incurring a huge budget loss
- Requires tech skills and lots of research to figure out what the best options are amongst all of the tools available to choose from
- It’s difficult to meet a hard deadline to open the membership for enrollment
- Could end up opening with a member experience that is way below what’s expected, hence compromising the reputation of the membership site and decreasing its retention rate
Option 2: designing a site with a template
This is an option that is still new within the membership community, however, it has proven to be very successful at creating fully-customized membership sites for the owners in records time. Think of a membership site template as an already-built, fully-configured membership site... all you have to do is customize it with your own branding and content. It’s taking the fast track to creating a membership site!
Advantages
- You can choose a template that is built with scalability in mind
- It is the most cost-effective way to build a membership site as you control the exact cost
- Gives 100% flexibility for custom design and branding - which offers continuity and reassurance for your customers while inviting them to join
- You control how your content is displayed allowing you to guide through a great user experience
- Better navigation and content display helps make it easy for members to consume your content while also increasing your retention rate
- Flexibility allows your membership site to grow and evolve with the needs and desires of your members, allowing you to deliver exactly what they want at the right time
- Payment integration, security features, and, in most instances, other popular integrations are already built-in and included
- It's easy to add content with different modalities - like video, audio, live streaming, written articles, drip content, downloads, etc.
- Full tech support while customizing the site is provided - eliminating the requirement for skills and removing the overwhelm
- Easy to meet a hard deadline to open the membership for enrollment - meaning: being able to generate revenue fast
Disadvantages
- Usually templates have to be purchased upfront
- In order to move forward with customizing your site, you need to have a vision or idea for your branding
With the uncertainty for in-person types of businesses, membership sites are becoming more and more popular, and now it has never been easier to launch one.
Even with great tech skills, the advantages of using a template are very attractive. They allow you to provide an amazing user experience all the while saving time and money!
Ready? Grab our checklist 
to help you get started.