If you have knowledge that you want to share in an online course but don’t really know the best way to present this information to your students, then a content library on MemberSpace may be just what you need!
Content libraries are membership software that provides an amazing way for big or small business owners to share valuable information while making a profit by charging for this access.
In this article, we’ll take you through how to create a content library on MemberSpace. (Check out ‘What Is Memberspace?‘)
What Is A Content Library?
Content libraries are hosts for digital content such as guides you can download, images, templates, tutorials, videos, and worksheets.
But instead of having all of these resources on an individual landing page or a Google Drive folder, you can put them in a content library that lets you arrange them neatly by function and type.
Who Is A Content Library For?
If you’re knowledgeable on a certain topic and want to share that information with others, or you sell digital content on an e-commerce store, a members-only content library can be beneficial.
Although you might still want to provide your products in individual membership sales, a content library is still a great way to organize content for all your membership business members in one place.
Below, you’ll find a few examples of resources perfect for content libraries.
- Tutorials for arts and crafts.
- Workbooks for your own business growth.
- Checklists.
- Cheat sheets.
- Recipe ideas
- Workbooks for meal planning.
- Printable resources.
- Procreate palettes and brushes.
- Recordings of group coaching calls.
- Social media post templates.
- Stock images.
How Do You Create A Content Library?
You just need a website, a mechanism for processing membership payments, and, of course, content to set up a content library.
It’s also recommended to create a schedule so your existing members can expect new content to be released.
It’s important you can stick to this timeframe and deliver content when you’ve promised, and getting a support team to help can benefit you.
If you have a lot of content ready to go, you should consider putting a decent amount of it on your site when you launch before gradually releasing the rest over a few weeks or months while you create more.
Memberspace simplifies the process of selling memberships without tying you down to a certain website platform.
But to begin, your website needs to use a CMS that is compatible with Memberspace, you need to be enrolled in a Memberspace plan, and you need to be able to process payments.
Step 1: Create Pages For Your Content Library
First, you need to create web pages that will advertise and manage the content library and a landing page where people can sign up for membership.
Then, create a ‘secret’ page that is only accessible to new members when they log in or sign up. You can decide to list all the items in your content library, or you can categorize content into linked categories for easy members’ access.
Listing all of your content on a single page is an easy starting point when you have a pretty small content library.
As your content grows, putting content into categories can make it simpler for members to move around the site and find what they need and share through member messages.
All linked category pages will then show a list of all relevant content. For example, you can have a category for your lessons, one for downloadable content, and one for recordings.
You can hide the secret pages beneath the public landing page in your site’s navigation to create a subdirectory.
Step 2: Protect Your Site Using Memberspace
Now that you have your content library web pages up and running, you can now protect them using Memberspace.
First, log into Memberspace and select ‘Member Pages’ at the top, and then click the pink ‘Protect Member Pages’ button.
Return to your new website pages and find the URL that is on your public membership signup page.
Then copy and paste the whole URL, even the https:// part, remembering to put a closing slash and asterisk at the end.
Choose when you want your members to access the content and click ‘save.’
Memberspace will update your URL automatically to just include the very end – between (and including) the slashes.
So now when Memberspace sees /contentlibrary/ in the middle of any URL on your membership site, it will protect that content automatically while making the top-most landing page free for anyone to view.
Step 3: Set Up A Content Library Membership Plan
Now it’s time to create a new membership plan and improve membership functionality. First, head to the top of your Memberspace dashboard and click ‘Member Plans’.
Then, click the ‘Create Member Plans’ and choose a plan from the drop-down menu. Content libraries normally provide access for a monthly fee.
Name your plan and select a price and billing schedule. Under ‘Which Member Page(s) Can Be Accessed?’ click the box next to the URL we added in the previous step.
Return to your content library website and select the URL for your secret page that members will only see when signing up or logging in. Copy and paste that URL, including the https://.
Keep the ‘Enable Plan’ and ‘Make Plan Public’ toggled on. To save the plan, click the ‘create this plan’ button. Lastly, click the ‘Get signup link’ button next to the name of your new plan.
So visitors can sign up for the plan, add the signup link to your public content library landing page. (See also ‘How To Cancel A MemberSpace Plan?’)
Step 4: Add Extra Protection With Content Links
As you add new content to your library, you can directly upload it to your CMS or use Memberspace’s Content Links feature for extra protection.
Just like you protected whole pages in the second stop, Memberspace gives you an extra layer of security to your video links and files.
Although you don’t need to do this, it’s a great way to ensure your content is just accessible to paying members only.
Content links also let you set certain dates for access, which makes it an amazing way to gradually release content over time.
To use Content Links, click ‘Member Pages’ at the top of your dashboard, and then click the ‘Manage Content Links’ button.
Now, drag and drop any image or PDF files into the middle of the screen.
If there are videos in your content library, just click the ‘Add Videos’ button and copy and paste a link to your video content from either Vimeo, Wistia, or YouTube.
Once you’ve finished uploading, you’ll be able to view a list of all your protected content by clicking on ‘edit access’ next to the file name.
On the following screen, indicate if the content should be available for viewing now or in the future, decide how the content should load, and which member plans can have access to it.
To save, click ‘Update Now.’ Repeat this process for all new content, and when you’re finished just click ‘Done Uploading.’
You will see a list of all the active content links, just click ‘copy’ to select a protected URL.
Now you can put this URL on the web pages in your content library.
Final Thoughts
And that’s how to create a content library on Memberspace in just a few clicks!
Memberspace is a third-party tool that is a great way to create exclusive content so you can ensure only paying members of your online courses’ member directory get access to your knowledge!
