A community plays an integral role in helping you grow your membership site. It’s a place for members to interact with each other and share thoughts and opinions. As a membership site owner, you can start a community website with WordPress to give members a platform where they can communicate with one another.
The good news is that most membership plugins come with some sort of built-in community features. Plus, there are plenty of online community plugins that can help you get the job done.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the benefits of starting a community website. We’ll also explain how to start a community website with WordPress.
What is a community website and why should you start one?
A community website is basically a membership site that has certain community elements such as a forum, social networking features, or a discussion board. Users can register for the community website to gain access to these resources as well as exclusive members-only content.
Some community websites charge a fee for access to these resources while others are free. Some even have multiple membership tiers in place for different levels of access. Regardless of how they’re structured, community websites are great for all sorts of businesses.
One of the main reasons people join membership sites is for the community element. They’re perfect for businesses that rely on members interacting with each other in some capacity. A community site becomes an integral asset for group work and discussion. Users have an easier time communicating with instructors and members about related topics in an organized and professional way.
Building a community website with WordPress
While WordPress is a feature-rich CMS, it doesn’t offer community features out of the box. However, it’s incredibly easy to create a full-fledged community site in WordPress using plugins. You can set up essential features like user profiles, dashboards, private messaging, group chats, community forums, discussion boards, social networking capabilities, and much more.
Depending on your budget, you can go with a free membership plugin or a paid plugin to set up your community website. In addition to this, there are plenty of specialized plugins in the WordPress plugin directory that let you add specific features to your website.
- Membership or learning management system (LMS) plugin. Membership plugins have community features such as a registration system, user profiles, group chats, question-answer boards, and private messaging. LifterLMS and LearnDash are membership plugins for WordPress sites.
- Community plugin. A community plugin for WordPress (like bbPress or BuddyPress) comes with social networking features out of the box. These include user accounts, user profiles, friendships, notifications, activity streams, and private messaging features.
- Forum plugin. A forum plugin lets you create forums for your community site. It can take the shape of a discussion board, message board, question-answer platform, or knowledge base.
Depending on the type of community website you’re creating, you can use any combination of these plugins to deliver an enhanced user experience to members.
For example, if you also plan on teaching through your community website, you can use a membership plugin or LMS plugin to create online courses and lectures. And if you just want to build a community around a forum, you can simply use a forum plugin with your WordPress site.
Benefits of starting a community website
Before we jump into the tutorial, let’s take a step back and explore the benefits of starting a community website.
#1: Enable user interaction
A community website makes it easy for members to get in touch with each other, and with you. Most community websites have some sort of private messaging features as well as a community forum and discussion board that members can use to ask questions on related topics.
Members can also follow forum topics to see what questions other members have asked and the responses they received.
#2: Highly engaging
Community websites are inspired by social media platforms. This makes them inviting and highly engaging to prospective members. Members see community websites as a place where they can interact with like-minded individuals on certain topics, learn from the experiences of others, and share useful resources.
#3: Share resources
Setting up a platform that members can use to share resources (such as guides, forms, and downloadables) can help you deliver more value to registered members. With a community website, you can let members make contributions that other members can benefit from.
How to start a community website with WordPress
Although WordPress doesn’t come with community elements out of the box, you can start a community website in a few simple steps. Here’s what you need to do:
Step #1: Install a membership plugin
The first thing you need to do is choose a membership plugin for your WordPress community site. Most membership plugins come with some sort of community features out of the box.
For example, if your community website centers around online courses, you might consider going for LifterLMS. LifterLMS comes with a student dashboard, discussion areas, social learning, private coaching, and text messaging features. In addition to this, it also lets you set up private group discussions and a members-only forum for learners.
Similarly, LearnDash creates a profile dashboard for users and integrates seamlessly with BuddyPress. This allows you to activity streams and private messaging features to your community site. In addition to this, you can also integrate with a LearnDash add-on like Private Messaging for LearnDash to implement 1-1 private messaging and group chat.
Check out the 15 Best WordPress Membership Plugins (Compared) roundup for more information.
Step #2: Create membership plans
Now that you have a membership plugin selected for your community site, the next step is to create membership plans. By creating multiple membership plans, you can give users different registration options. For example, you can create a free plan, a paid plan, and a VIP plan. Each membership plan can have different access levels.
- Free plan –- access to the community forums and discussion boards
- Paid plan – access to the community forums, discussion boards, group chat, and exclusive content
- VIP plan – access to the community forums, discussion boards, group chat, exclusive content, and private messaging
Give your membership plans suitable titles, set prices, one-time fees, and billing frequency, and configure other settings.
Step #3: Create a registration and login page
The next step is to create the registration and login page for your community website. The registration page lets users subscribe to a membership plan. For this, you’ll need to create a registration form that asks for details like the user’s name, email address, password, the membership plan they want to subscribe to, and payment details.
Optionally, you can let users create an account using their Google account or social media accounts if the membership plugin you’re using allows for it. This makes it easy for users to register quickly.
You also want to make sure users have an easy time finding the registration and login pages. To do this, you can simply add the registration page and login page to your community site’s navigation menu.
Step #4: Set member access levels
If you choose to create multiple membership plans, you’ll also need to set member access levels. This means restricting access to certain features. Following our example from above, if you want to grant users who opt for the Free plan access to the community forum and discussion boards only then you would need to restrict access to the exclusive content.
The membership plugin you choose for your community site should have intuitive content restriction features that you can use to set member access levels. Most membership plugins let you choose which pages you’d like to show to which user roles.
Step #5: Set up a community forum
A community forum is essential for most community sites. It gives members a platform to share ideas, interact with other members, ask questions, share news, and much more. The membership plugin you choose to go with will most likely have some sort of community forum feature available, either natively or as an integration.
You can always use the free BuddyPress plugin to add a community forum to your WordPress site. It lets you create user profiles, activity streams, user groups, messaging, friendships, notifications, and much more.
The best part is that BuddyPress integrates seamlessly with most membership plugins in the market. It’s the easiest way to set up a community forum on your WordPress site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a WordPress community website?
A: A WordPress community website is a website that brings together people with a common interest or goal to share information, ideas, and connect online. It can be a forum website, a social networking website, a community blog, or any online platform that allows users to create and share user-generated content.
Q: How do I build a community using WordPress?
A: To build a community using WordPress, you’ll need to use a combination of WordPress plugins and themes. You can start by using a social networking plugin like BuddyPress, which enables you to create a social community site with user profiles, groups, activity streams, and more. You can also add a forum plugin to create a discussion and Q&A forum on your site. Choose a theme that fits your community’s purpose and design your site to encourage user engagement.
Q: What are the most popular WordPress plugins for building an online community?
A: Some of the most popular WordPress plugins for building an online community include BuddyPress, bbPress, Ultimate Member, WP Symposium, and Simple:Press. These plugins offer a range of features, from social networking tools to discussion forums, to user profiles, event calendars, and more.
Q: Can I create my own social network using WordPress?
A: Yes, you can create your own social network using WordPress and BuddyPress. BuddyPress is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to create a social networking site with user profiles, groups, messaging, activity streams, and more. With BuddyPress, you can create a social network for your niche community or interest group without writing any code.
Q: How do I add a forum to my WordPress website?
A: Adding a forum to your WordPress website is easy with a forum plugin like bbPress or Simple:Press. You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard, set up forum categories and topics, and customize the forum design to match your site’s appearance.
Q: What WordPress theme should I use for my community website?
A: The WordPress theme you choose for your community website should reflect the style and purpose of your community. You can use any WordPress theme and customize it to fit your community’s design needs. Alternatively, you can use a theme designed specifically for community sites such as BuddyBoss, Astra, or BuddyX.
Q: How can I turn my WordPress site into a social network?
A: You can turn your WordPress site into a social network by installing a social networking plugin like BuddyPress. BuddyPress enables you to add social networking features to your site, such as user profiles, activity streams, groups, messaging, and more. You can also add a forum plugin like bbPress to create a Q&A forum for your community.
Q: What types of community sites can I create using WordPress?
A: WordPress is a versatile platform that allows you to create a variety of community sites, including social networking sites, forums, online marketplaces, educational platforms, support communities, and more. The type of community site you create depends on your niche and community goals.
Q: How do I create a social community on my WordPress website?
A: To create a social community on your WordPress website, you can use a social networking plugin like BuddyPress. BuddyPress enables you to add social networking features to your site, such as user profiles, groups, messaging, activity streams, and more. You can also customize the design of your community to match your site’s look and feel.
Q: How can I create my own forum using WordPress?
A: You can create your own forum using WordPress by installing a forum plugin like bbPress or Simple:Press. These plugins allow you to create a discussion forum on your site where users can ask and answer questions, share information, and connect with others. You can customize the look and feel of your forum to match your site’s design.
Conclusion
Building and growing an online community takes work. It’s important that the plugins and tools you use to start a community website with WordPress are scalable and easy to use for both you and your members.
We explained why you should start a community website and covered the benefits. We also showed you how to start a community website with WordPress and highlighted some essential tools to help you get started. Hopefully, you’re in a good position now to take the next steps.
Do you have any questions on how to start a community website with WordPress? Let us know in the comments section below.
