Professional bodies
Standards, guidance notes and CPD listings that only members should reach.
Association & Member Website
A public face for the industry, and a private one for the members.
Your association's website has two jobs that pull in opposite directions: convince the outside world you matter, and give paid-up members something they cannot get anywhere else. One site, two audiences, one login between them.
News and
announcements
announcements
Members-only
area
area
Member
directory
directory
CMS the office
can run
can run
Members onlyResources behind the login
Circular publishedLive without calling the agency
Directory listingUpdated by the member
The problem
The website is a brochure. The members are on WhatsApp
Most association sites were built once and left. The real activity moved to group chats and email attachments, which works until somebody needs to find last year's circular.
- Nothing has been updated since the last committee, because updating means emailing an agency.
- Circulars and guidance go out by WhatsApp, so anything older than a month is effectively lost.
- There is no reason for a member to log in, so nobody does, and the login quietly dies.
- The member directory is a PDF, out of date the week it was produced.
- Prospective members see a site that suggests the association is inactive, which is rarely true.
Built for member bodies
Organisations whose website has to serve two audiences
If part of what a member pays for is access — to guidance, to a directory, to other members — then the website is not marketing. It is part of the membership benefit.
Chambers of commerce
A public voice for the sector plus a member directory that generates introductions.
Industry councils
Certification rules, interpretations and technical Q&A that members rely on.
Societies & clubs
Notices, AGM papers and event listings that must reach the roll and nobody else.
Alumni bodies
Chapter news and reunions, where the directory is most of the reason to join.
Non-profits & foundations
Public reporting and transparency alongside a private area for trustees.
This page is about the website. If what you actually need is the machinery behind it — applications, renewals, subscription payments and the member roll — that is our membership management portal. Most associations end up wanting both, and they are usually built as one system with two faces.
If your association has fewer than a hundred members and no members-only content, a well-maintained ordinary website will serve you better than anything with a login on it.
Public face to private benefit
How the two halves of the site work together
Six steps. The point of the sequence is that the public site does the recruiting and the member area does the retaining.
Find
A visitor arrives from search or an event, and sees an association that is clearly active.
Read
Public news, positions and event listings show what the body actually does.
Join
The membership application sits on the site rather than as a form to download and post.
Sign in
One login opens the members-only area, using the same account as the membership system.
Use it
Resources, circulars, the directory and discussion — the things worth the subscription.
Renew
Access follows membership status, so a lapsed member loses the benefit automatically.
That last step is what makes the members-only area worth having. If access does not actually stop when a subscription lapses, the login is decoration, and members work that out quickly.
Core modules
Main modules and functions
Most associations start with the public site, news and the members-only library. The directory and discussion follow once members are logging in regularly.
Public site & news
About, office bearers, position statements, announcements and press coverage.
Events calendar
Public listings with member pricing, linked to registration where you run ticketed events.
Members-only area
Content visible only to signed-in members, with rules by category or grade of membership.
Resource library
Circulars, guidance notes, standards and AGM papers, searchable and properly archived.
Member directory
Searchable by name, category, state or specialism, with each member controlling their own entry.
Discussion & Q&A
Questions answered by the secretariat and kept, so the same one is not asked twice a year.
Content management
A CMS the secretariat genuinely uses, because anything harder means the site stops being updated.
Single sign-on
One account across the website and the membership system, so access follows subscription status.
Analytics
What members actually open, which tells the committee what the subscription is really buying.
From a live build
Screens from an association site we built
From the RSPO Interpretation Forum, a knowledge platform for members and certification bodies of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, where guidance is published publicly and the working detail sits behind a member login.
Implementation
Typical implementation
Six stages. The one that decides whether the site stays current is the last — if the secretariat cannot publish without help, nothing will be published.
Scoping workshop
With the secretariat and one committee member. We settle what is public, what is members-only, and who decides.
Output: sitemap and access rulesContent audit
Every circular, guidance note and page on the old site, sorted into keep, rewrite and retire. This is where most of your effort goes, not ours.
Output: content inventory with ownersDesign & sign-off
Design for two audiences at once — an outsider judging whether you matter, and a member looking for a document.
Output: signed-off design, build scheduleBuild in stages
Public site and CMS first, so the secretariat can start loading content while the members-only area is still being built.
Output: test site, updated fortnightlyContent loading & UAT
Real content in, redirects mapped from the old URLs, and access tested as a member, a lapsed member and a stranger.
Output: redirect map, signed UATLaunch & training
Go live, then training for whoever publishes, and a written guide for the next person in that chair.
Output: live site, CMS guide, support window
Timeline
About three months, if the content is ready
The build is predictable. What moves the date is how quickly the association can decide what its own content should say, and that usually needs a committee.
Month 1Month 2Month 3Month 4
Scoping workshop
Content audit & writing
Design & sign-off
Public site & CMS
Members-only area
Content loading & UAT
Launch & training
Look at the second bar. Content is the longest task on the chart and the one the association owns. Associations that appoint a single person to decide wording — rather than circulating drafts to a committee — launch a month earlier than those that do not.
Client feedback
From a member network we've worked with
UNO has been professional, efficient, and understanding throughout the whole process of our project. They are quick to reply and thorough which was very helpful to us as we are not well-versed with tech. The journey has been pleasant and we are grateful for their service.