Starting a Blog-Based Community: What You Need to Know

Creating a Blog-Based Community is your secret weapon for blog growth and monetization, but most bloggers fail to take advantage of it.

Blog-based communities are online communities centered around your blog and the niche that you’re creating content around.

These communities can greatly benefit from growth in engagement, converting readers into loyal followers, and, of course, enabling you to earn more money with your blog and community.

In this guide, I’ll show you everything you need to know about starting a blog-based community today.

What is a Blog-Based Community?

A blog-based community is more than just an online community.

Blog-based communities are online communities that enable your target audience to join, engage, and learn from you and other members, focusing on the niche of your blog’s content.

The characteristics of a blog-based community are engagement growth, loyalty conversion, and revenue-earning potential.

There are many great examples of such online communities on the internet, including:

• Food Blogger Pro – A community of food bloggers helping each other be better food bloggers.
• Backpacking Light Community – A forum for ultralight backpackers.
• Medium Partner Program – A community where Medium writers publish and connect with one another.
• Copyblogger Academy – A community where copywriters and bloggers learn and discuss all things copywriting.

The primary difference between blog-based and standalone communities is that blog-based ones are often a product or component of an already established blog, whereas standalone communities are their own main products.

Benefits of Starting a Blog-Based Community

There are numerous benefits to starting your own blog-based community.

Strong reader engagement is one benefit. Many blog comment sections these days are a ghost town, but an online community can change that by completely encouraging discussion and engagement.

A community will grow your brand loyalty. Members of communities connect and network with one another, forming relationships that are almost familial. They’ll go from reader to loyal follower because they get that exclusive access to you and others with whom they develop relationships.

A community is created by you and other members, meaning you don’t have to do all of the work. User-generated content will be the primary source of engagement in your community.

A blog-based community makes for a perfect product for generating revenue, as many bloggers charge members to be part of the community.

Things to Consider Before You Start

It’s essential to consider several key factors before launching a blog-based community.

You’ll need to first identify your target audience and their needs. You’ll want to build and center your community around your target audience and their most pressing questions, needs, challenges, and pain points.

You’ll also want to take time to research and choose the best platform based on your target audience’s needs and likes. Maybe they prefer forums, Discord servers, full membership sites, or even just a private group on Facebook.

You’ll also need to ask yourself these three important questions: How much time are you willing to spend creating new content? How much time are you willing to spend engaging with community members? How much time will you dedicate to moderation?

Finally, learn about any technical skills you might need to understand before you use the platform of your choice for your blog-based community. Some platforms are harder to use than others. It’s essential to try different ones if possible, so you understand how they work before making a choice.

Choosing the Right Platform for Your Community

There are many types of platforms you can use to create your blog-based community.

You can keep the community on your blog by using a plugin. BuddyPress is a good way to create a private social network for your blog. You can install bbPress to create a forum on your blog if you prefer that approach. There are also numerous membership plugins to choose from.

You could also use a hosted platform like Circle or Mighty Networks. You simply pay a monthly fee, and they handle all the hosting and technical server maintenance. These platforms have features such as discussions, courses, webinars, and more.

You can also use a platform like Facebook Groups to create a private group. Please note that Facebook is a rented space, and you may lose your group with no way to recover it at some point.

It’s best to try demos or test communities that you don’t have to pay for in order to see which one best suits your community’s needs and what features you desire to have access to.

Steps to Start a Blog-Based Community

Starting a blog-based community doesn’t have to be rocket science. In fact, here are 6 simple steps to get started today if you want to:

1. Set community goals – Before you start a community, set the goals of what you want your members to get out of the community and what you want to get out of the community. This will ensure that you take steps to help members achieve the goals you want them to achieve, and that you also achieve the goals you want to achieve.
2. Pick platform – Decide on what type of community platform you plan to use. Will it be a WordPress addon? A hosted solution like Circle or Mighty Networks? Or something like a social group or discussion forum? Choose it based on your needs and those of your audience.
3. Create community guidelines – Create some simple to follow but clear guidelines that all members will be expected to follow at all times. Guidelines will help you ensure your community doesn’t fall into chaos and toxicity. Ensure that you enforce your guidelines and that every member follows them.
4. Seed community with content – Put some really good, engaging content on your community to help get conversations started. Ask niche-related questions, be provocative, and address the pain points of your audience to capture their attention and engage them with the content. Try to post at least one really interesting topic each day.
5. Promote your community – Promote your online community everywhere you promote your blog. Promote it on your blog, email list, and social media, and consider buying ads for it on Google or social media platforms. Spread the word that you’ve created a community and you’re looking for members.
6. Engage and moderate consistently – Make sure you consistently log in to your community to engage with members, reply to everyone, and moderate the community to ensure the peace and happiness of all members. If you slack off, so will your membership. It’s essential to be consistent in these key characteristics of running a successful blog-based community.

That’s it. These 6 simple steps are all you need to get your community started today. It’s now up to you whether or not to start with step one.

How to Keep Members Active and Engaged

To create a successful blog-based community, it’s essential to focus on keeping members active and engaged as much as possible.

To achieve this, ensure that the new topics you post include questions that encourage community members to reply and answer them. Make sure they’re good questions that are worth answering.

You can also host events such as webinars, challenges, and even contests and giveaways. This will help challenge or inform your members and provide them with more value for being part of your community.

Try to offer exclusive content and resources on your community that members won’t find anywhere else, such as on your mailing list, blog, or social media pages.

Gamify your community by awarding members who are active and engage often with other members. You could offer a point system or even give digital badges to members when they reach certain achievements.

Monetizing Your Blog-Based Community

As I mentioned earlier, blog-based communities provide ideal opportunities for generating additional revenue and profit.

You can use the community as a whole as your product. Many bloggers are doing it this way. You simply charge for membership or create a premium tier within an existing community that is already free to join.

You can also use your community to sell products and services directly to your audience. You don’t have to worry about social media or Google algorithms getting in the way since your community will offer a direct line between you and your audience.

You can also utilize affiliate and referral promotions within your community. You could sell ad space and even offer sponsorships to related companies and businesses.

You could offer premium workshops, webinars, and courses to your community members. Just make sure these offer exclusive and valuable content and information worth paying for.

There are numerous ways to utilize a blog-based community to generate revenue online.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

There are a few common mistakes made in terms of blog-based communities that you should try to avoid at all costs.

Don’t start a community without a clear purpose in mind. Don’t just assume it will work. You need to have an audience in mind, goals, and a purpose for launching an online community.

You never want to launch an online community without some basic content. An empty community appears to be an empty community to those looking in. It doesn’t look new. It looks abandoned.

If you fail to engage and moderate your community on a regular basis, your entire community will likely fail in the process. It requires your time and energy to be successful. If you can’t give that up – a blog-based community really isn’t for you unless you can hire a community manager to do it for you.

Don’t just go with any community platform. Know what your audience desires and ensure you understand how to utilize it before making a choice. Choosing the wrong platform can result in wasting a lot of time and commitment, which may ultimately burn you out.

Final Thoughts About Blog-Based Communities

To recap, make sure you create a clear vision for your blog-based community. Ensure you choose the right platform. And understand that it will require you to be consistent about engaging and moderating.

I encourage you to start small and grow over time. Don’t rush into things, hoping for a big win. Communities take time to build up.

If you’ve found this guide to be helpful, please consider supporting me by buying me a coffee.

I also recommend you join my free online community, all about running your own online community and blog. You can also subscribe to my free newsletter for more blogging tips.

About the Author

Shawn Gossman has created content, blogged, ran online communities, and shared a passion for digital marketing for over twenty years. Shawn believes the best way to help content creators, businesses, brands, and marketers is to give away more than you sell. The same advice is recommended for the readers who follow this blog. Shawn also offers various services for extra help in content creation and blogging.