Membership Websites: The Mothership of Online Member Engagement

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Your website is the mothership of online member engagement. This is where members go for information, event registration, and even annual dues renewals. But it takes more than just having a website to encourage member engagement. A little extra TLC is needed.

We have some tips to transform your organization’s website into a hub for online member engagement.

1. Content Best Practices for Your Website

• Keep it fresh • Consider public vs. private content • Make it personal

Keep it fresh

The primary goal for any membership website is to get members to the site and keep them

coming back for more.

This means offering fresh, up-to-date content that your members will find valuable like a

blog or image gallery.

Consider public vs. private content

That being said, don’t give away all of your

organization’s content up front. Balance it out

with a few members-only pieces.

Make it personal

Website personalization is a

great way to encourage online

member engagement.

With the help of an AMS, you can actually show

members different content based on

their member type or other information.

2. Designing Your Organization’s Website

•  Make your site responsive •  Offer a richer website experience

You know that old expression, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression?” Well, that couldn’t be more true of association web design.

Make your site responsive

Making your website responsive means it will look great on whatever device your members or prospects are viewing your website on.

According to ComScore.com, in 2015, the number of mobile users worldwide surpassed desktop users by

approximately 200 million people.

Offer a richer website experience

Add features like a blog, event calendar, search field and/or a Twitter feed. These are great ways to boost online member engagement.

Event  Calendar  

Twitter feed

3. Who’s Managing Your Website?

•  Web Developer •  Content Management System (CMS) •  Content Management System +

Association Management System (AMS)

Hire a web developer

The biggest advantage here is that the developer will handle everything for you. That being said, web

developers come at a cost and may not be able to make changes right away.

Utilize a CMS

A CMS allows you to create and edit pages on your own without having to know any HTML. The real benefit

here is that you don’t have to wait for a web developer to update your organization’s site.

Employ a CMS + AMS

This technique typically fosters the most engagement because it integrates your website and

membership database, allows your members to access everything via one portal, and makes overall

management infinitely easier.

4. Engaging with Social Communities

•  Messaging capabilities •  Online forums •  Event calendars

It’s important to note that social communities do not try to compete with

traditional social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, but rather they offer a members-only forum for discussions, pictures, and sharing.

Messaging capabilities

In the spirit of networking, social communities typically allow for one-on-one messaging between members.

This is crucial for engagement because the more people your members know, the more likely they are to stay in

your organization.

Online forums

Think of online forums as a members-only discussion page. Again, these allow for

members to easily communicate and share information with each other.

Event calendars

Event calendars are great for keeping members in the-know. The more awareness you

generate, the more engagement you’re

likely to drive.

And we have more from where that came from. To get the full membership website guide, click here.

WHOA! That was a lot! We know.