Membership options

Site URL: https://www.masterclass.com/

Hello everybody, I'm trying to make my clients page like a masterclass page, where only paying costumers can access the video contents on-line, the idea is that the costumers can have a membership like status in side my clients page to be able to see the video lessons that will be online only for those who pay.

Please help, if anybody have an idea of how to make this.

Sorry for my english, not my native language

@Stereoknob Having a members area for a SquareSpace site has been something people have been asking for for a very long time. The unfortunate fact is that this isn't supported at all with SquareSpace. And they have no intention of trying to add it.

There is a way around this through plugins, like Memberspace, but I'd honestly say to look into a different platform if your trying to build a education platform.

Run through of most issues with Membership site on SquareSpace

If you're determined to stick with SquareSpace, here's a basic walk-through with Memberspace

I know with Wix you can add a membership log in, and create pages with access only for specific user groups. So I believe it could used for the purpose you're trying to achieve.

All the best,
Erin

 

I am in the same boat. I am looking into options to restrict pages to members. @Unlikely_IT Do you have any recommendations? Teachable doesn't seem to be the right solution, since it is pay once per class. 

A possible solution may be using Patreon for members content?

I have a client that I'm working on that will use CourseCraft, but these are individual courses people that can purchased that will be linked to from their site.

If this is something you are interested in within SquareSpace, definitely shoot them a note. While it may never happen, they seem to keep track of requested features.

@jmolliver Well not including hiring a team like Liana Tech to build it for you,d I think a great place to start is the WIX platform.

I've never built a system like this but, I have put together SNNHK's site which has a restricted area for members only (Built off of WIX). I believe you can create a basic platform with a member space that needs to be paid for very easily. Once paid (or under subscription payment) you can add the user to that member group and they'll have access to the teacher content.

I did a quick google search, and it seems very viable: 

A couple months ago Squarespace sent me info about a beta testing project for Membership sites but I never heard anything back after filling out all the info.

If SS could build membership management into Squarespace it'd be fantastic! Do message if something ends up happening. (first time I didn't get the join beta request) 

Just need member pages + add ability for different member types which can access content according to that member type 😍. 

But alas I must come back to reality

Im embarking on a new site build - the client does want to add a Members only secured area down the track. Just wondering whether to do the site in Wordpress or will Squarespace be able to accomodate

Any advice most welcome…?

@Stereoknob & @todd4, if you are still looking into this, you may want to check out the new Squarespace feature called Member Areas. Take a look at this guide here for more information, should you need it:

Getting started with Member Areas

Hope this helps!

For anyone coming to this topic after the fact. I'd like to suggest the best way forward is using Squarespace's new Members Area. It's a fully integrated solution built with SquareSpace, with some decent customizability.

Don't use Memberspace if you're building with Squarespace.

>>>Don't use Memberspace if you're building with Squarespace.

Why?

@Stereoknob @roattw

👋 Hi there, Ward from MemberSpace here. 

Please, checkout MemberSpace. We're a third-party tool that offers complementary services to fit more complex membership site needs, like yours! We offer a content dripping feature, unlimited secure video protection, unlimited # of plans, abandoned sign up recovery, analytics and more. Also, not to brag but our customer support is incredible! You can read some of our Trustpilot reviews here 🙂

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to help!

Hi @roattw,

The main issue is that MemberSpace secure pages, aren't really secure. And data from them can be easily accessed by non-logged in users.

Now I've had a chat with MemberSpace team couple years ago, as it was an interesting solution for the big problem that all SquareSpace site builders had when they wanted a members only section to their site. How do you create a way to build a community, and have a space they can log into to gain access to secure information. MemberSpace is a third party tool that works via a JavaScript plugin that could fulfils that need. But with one major draw back, the lack of security for the content pages that fall under the "member only access"

How MemberSpace works is via a piece of JavaScript that runs after the HTML DOM content is loaded for a site. That means that as the page loads, the MemberSpace JavaScript will run, load information from the MemberSpace service then cross check the users logged in status and the page they are currently accessing. If they don't have permission to access it, they're lead away to a designated page (set within MemberSpace tool). For a non-technical user it looks as though a page is secure the non-logged in visitor is quickly re-directed to an appropriate page, but in reality it's quite easy to get all the information off of these "secure pages" and not be redirected.

Have a look at this video below, I created a secure member page but a well timed clicking of the stop button, and I can access the page without being lead away. (Please excuse the basic nature of it, but I put it together in 1 take). Now what it shows is my sites member login with MemberSpace, then me going to a secure page without logging in. Then you can see me being re-directed back to the "Non-member" page that I set with in MemberSpace. Now I go to the secure page again and click the stop button at just the right moment, and boom--- the re-direct didn't load from the JavaScript in time so I don't get re-directed and I can access all the secure content. Even the Youtube video sample that was used loaded.

For all of the clients I've built site's with member login areas security has been critical. MemberSpace does not offer a secure way to lock member content pages, which in a proper case would require a user to be logged into an account with the right access rights before any content is served to the browser.

Though if secure files and content is what you need, then you actually have a bigger issue. As SquareSpace Members doesn't offer a way to secure files as well as Content pages. So if you were to have files on internal member pages and say one of those direct links is shared, then someone could access the file.

So usually, SquareSpace has been a stepping stone. Something cheap and easy to get the basics up, and proof of business working. Then from there they'll move on to a more substantial system, or developer to build out a custom site with member log in features - Like WordPress or a custom CMS developer team that I work at.

Any other questions just ask away, of anything I wrote was unclear, I'd be happy to clarify.

Hi there, @Unlikely_IT

We appreciate you taking the time to write this post and your knowledge of the product 🙂 I just wanted to clarify some things regarding how secure MemberSpace is.

Our standard page protection is considered 'light' security, as mentioned in our MemberSpace Security Helpdoc and throughout our backend, which is why we recommend everyone to use our page blackout and/or Content Links for their videos or any other type of content:

https://help.memberspace.com/article/70-is-memberspace-secure

Content Links are true server-side security and cannot be accessed without a proper member login. And even if the direct content link URL is shared, it can't be accessed, unlike Member Areas security.

Content Links would be especially useful to protect @Stereoknob content or anyone that wants to protect their videos, for that matter. You can learn more about the Content Links here:

https://help.memberspace.com/article/112-what-are-content-links

Besides being the most secure way to protect content (you can upload PDFs, videos, mp3s, documents, and even HTML), these also give you more analytics so you can see which members have viewed/downloaded any of your content - including the date, time, and location.

🙏 If you have any questions, please let me know. I'll be happy to answer any of the concerns you have about our security or anything else!

On 12/16/2020 at 4:34 AM, violettag said:

@Stereoknob & @todd4, if you are still looking into this, you may want to check out the new Squarespace feature called Member Areas. Take a look at this guide here for more information, should you need it:

Getting started with Member Areas

Hope this helps!

Unfortunately because anyone can sign up to the members are it is not secure. I tried to develop a members area for survivors of abuse but could not because anyone could join. So there is a lack of both security and safety and I think safety of potential users should be paramount.

Quote

Unfortunately because anyone can sign up to the members are it is not secure. I tried to develop a members area for survivors of abuse but could not because anyone could join. So there is a lack of both security and safety and I think safety of potential users should be paramount.

Being able to manage, approve, and deny members to a site it is definitely paramount to provide a safe and secure area.

I manage a NGO website for SEN (Special Education Needs) parents in asia and Privacy is paramount for that community, in culture here there is still a big Taboo against families with children who require special needs. 

I was able to built a private sign up & approval process on Wix. They have a solid member management system that doesn't require the need to have coders. So @jai.cheswick it's a solid platform to look at, that is affordable (we had budget restriction), if you're still looking for a way to setup a safe portal for survivors.

Good luck with your build, and feel free to reach out should you have questions.