Helpful steps to get your member site started.

Use this list as you prepare to publish members-only content on your site. By following these steps, you ensure that visitors can successfully sign up and access your member sites.

Before you begin

• To sell pricing plans you need an active billing plan that includes digital products.
• If you haven't built your site yet, you may want to use one of our Digital product templates.
• Ensure you have SSL enabled and set to Secure on your domain. For help, visit Understand SSL certificates.
• For more in-depth explanations of what member sites are, and what they can add to your site, visit Member Sites.

Step 1 - Create gated content

To create member site and the gated content inside it:

1. Create a member site - In the Pages panel, create your member site and set up your pricing plan. If your site is on version 7.0, enable Member Sites first.
2. Build your gated content - Add pages to your member site in the Pages panel.
3. Make a member homepage - The first page in each member site automatically becomes the member homepage, or the landing page for that member site. You can change the member homepage at any time.
4. Customize your setup - Customize the Member Sites experience for your members, including adjusting the member navigation, membership checkout experience, customer email notifications, and paywalls. You can make changes to your member site settings at any time.

Step 2 - Finalize your member site setup

Before you can publish gated content on your site and accept members to your member site, you need to:

• Review your billing plan - If you haven’t signed up for a billing plan yet, visit Upgrading to paid service. The billing plan you choose determines the transaction fees we charge when you sell digital products and your site’s video storage limits.
• Connect to a payment processor - If your member site has a recurring subscription or fixed amount pricing plan, you need to connect your site to a payment processor.

Step 3 - Encourage visitors to sign up for memberships

When you're ready to give visitors access to your member site:

• Add digital product blocks - Add digital product blocks to your sign-up page or any content area on your public site. Visitors to your site will purchase memberships by clicking the sign-up link in these blocks, creating a customer account, and paying for membership (if applicable).
• Promote your member site - Create a sign-up page where visitors can review all your digital product options. This page type encourages sales and helps visitors discover your offerings.
• Manage members - Review and manage members in the Contacts panel.

Tip: Visit How members access their customer accounts for more information on how members purchase, create, and sign into their accounts.

More help

Visit our Member Sites guide, or use these resources to help you build out members-only content on your site:

• Get advice from the community in the Squarespace Forum.
• Hire a vetted Squarespace Expert to customize Member Sites for you.