EverWeb Membership Sites suits any website where people sign up with their own login and see pages others can't: a teacher's lesson library, a club's members' area, a coach's client pages or a magazine's back issues. Members can pay monthly, yearly or once, by card through Stripe, or join for free. Here are the kinds of sites customers build, and the levels you'd set up for each.
How the examples work
A membership level (sometimes called a package) is a type of membership, such as Students or Gold. Each level has a name, a price and a Payment Schedule: Free, One time, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly. On each members-only page, you tick the levels that may see it.
Levels marked Free need the Plus or Deluxe plan. The free Starter plan works when all your levels are paid. For plan prices, see Members-only pages, logins and paid subscriptions: EverWeb Membership Sites.
13 ideas
| Website | Who logs in | Levels you might set up | Behind the login |
|---|---|---|---|
| Music teacher's lesson library | Students, or their parents | Students: Monthly. Free Taster: Free | Practice recordings (Audio widget), technique videos, practice charts |
| Language tutor | Students, by level | Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced: all Monthly | Vocabulary pages, pronunciation audio, recorded lessons, homework sheets |
| Online course | People who buy the course | Course: One time | One page per lesson, with a video and a worksheet |
| School or PTA parents' area | Parents and staff | Parents: Free. Staff: Free | Newsletters, term dates, letters home. Staff-only pages for minutes and rotas |
| Sports club or association | Members who pay yearly dues | Adult: Yearly. Junior: Yearly. Committee: Free | Fixtures, training times, AGM papers, a members' contact list you keep up to date (there's no automatic directory) |
| Homeowners association (HOA) | Residents and the board | Resident: Yearly. Board: Free | Rules, budgets, minutes, forms. Board-only pages for drafts |
| Personal trainer | Online clients | Online Plan: Monthly. Personal Clients: Free, for people who pay you in person | Workout plans, exercise videos, nutrition guides |
| Yoga or dance studio | Class members and teachers | Class Pass: Monthly, with a 7-day trial. Teachers: Free | Timetable changes, recorded classes, routines to practise at home |
| Martial arts school | Students | One level per belt (White, Yellow, Green and so on), all Monthly at the same price | Each belt's syllabus and technique videos |
| Business coach | Clients | Coaching Client: Monthly, with a Setup Price for onboarding. Group Programme: One time | Workbooks, call recordings, templates |
| Newsletter or magazine | Subscribers | Monthly Subscriber: Monthly. Annual Subscriber: Yearly | The current issue and back issues |
| Photographer or artist | Supporters (patrons) | Supporter: Monthly. Patron: Yearly | Work in progress, behind-the-scenes posts, early looks at new work |
| Church small groups | Group members and leaders | Member: Free. Leaders: Free | Study notes, rotas, prayer lists, group dates |
Good to know for setups like these:
- Tick every level that may see a page. On a martial arts site, the White belt page could have every belt ticked, and the Black belt page only Black. On an HOA site, tick Board on the residents' pages too.
- Each member has one level at a time. When a student grades or a client changes plan, you change their level on the Members screen. Members can't change their own level or cancel by themselves, so add a request form with the Contact Form Advanced widget.
- You can add people yourself with Add New on the Members screen, or import a list from a CSV file. This suits committee members, staff and clients who pay you another way.
- Test a trial before you advertise it. Sign up as a test member to see what a new member sees.
Is Membership Sites right for you?
| You want to | Use |
|---|---|
| Keep a few pages private for a small group, with usernames and passwords you hand out, on EverWeb + Hosting | Simple Password. See Can I password protect my website? Simple Password and Membership Sites |
| Let each person sign up with their own login, pay monthly or yearly, or see different pages by level | Membership Sites |
| Sell a single file, such as an ebook or sheet music | Gumroad or E-Junkie. See Sell products or digital downloads on your EverWeb website: which option to use |
| Take a one-off fee for an event, a booking or a deposit | A payment widget or a contact form. See the same article |
Before you choose Membership Sites, check these:
- Hosting: EverWeb + Hosting, or another host with PHP (we recommend PHP 8.2 or later) and cURL. Your website must be published on the domain you enter in the Membership Sites setup.
- Payments go to your own Stripe account.
- Pages are protected, files aren't. Anyone who has the direct link to a PDF, MP3 or video file can open it, even if it's on a members-only page. For videos, use YouTube or Vimeo with their privacy settings.
- Everyone at a level sees the same pages. A private page for each person would need a level per person. For private client galleries, see Photographers: share private client galleries and let clients choose their favourite photos.
You can try a working example: Membership Sites demo.
Next steps
- Set up Membership Sites step by step: buy a plan, fill in Setup and connect Stripe
- Plan your membership levels: free, one-time, monthly or yearly, trials, setup fees and coupons
- Sell online lessons or a course with EverWeb Membership Sites
- Members' areas for schools, clubs and associations: parents, members, staff and yearly dues
- Coaches, personal trainers and fitness studios: paid client areas with Membership Sites
Related articles
- Members-only pages, logins and paid subscriptions: EverWeb Membership Sites
- Can I password protect my website? Simple Password and Membership Sites
- Sell products or digital downloads on your EverWeb website: which option to use
- Build a website for your club, church or nonprofit with EverWeb
- Build a website for your tutoring, coaching or classes with EverWeb