You might have tried various themes and plugins to attract traffic to your WordPress website. Isn’t it? The solution to your problem is the WordPress community plugin.
Building an engaging website with a supportive community can significantly enhance your online presence and propel your business forward, even though it requires considerable time and effort. A strong community surrounding your website expands your reach and generates significant value for your business.
Using a WordPress community plugin on your website can significantly boost social engagement and foster a strong community around your business. You don’t have to start a community from scratch. Add a community plugin to your website, and you’re good to go!
Let’s dive into what an online community is and how you can leverage it to its fullest potential.
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What Is An Online Community?
An online community is a bunch of people chatting about a particular topic on the internet, like social media or other online platforms. There are already so many digital spaces like social media, forums, chat, email, etc, where people can interact and communicate with each other. So, in case- you want to create a community around your website, you need to make it engaging and useful for your audiences.
Having a community site that provides knowledge to audiences would be a great way to catch the attention of your website visitors. For example, if you have an eCommerce WordPress website, you can use the online community to spread education about your different products and services.
The most popular formats of community that you would find on WordPress websites are:-
- WordPress Forums
- Membership or Paid Subscribers
- Social Network (Niche Based)
- Email Subscribers
Based on what type of community you want to create, you can opt for the right WordPress community plugin accordingly. Now the question arises- why use WordPress to create a community site?
Why Use WordPress To Build An Online Community?
If you are looking to build a website with an online community, choosing WordPress is one of the best options you have. Since it provides you with so many options and features that allow you to design your community website even when you don’t have hardcore coding knowledge.
Moreover, you can opt for the best WordPress community plugin for your website to create an engaging online community. Starting WordPress as a foundation for your website, you can use community plugins to:-
- Create a way for new members to sign up, log in, and create a profile on your website.
- Build a platform where your audience can interact, engage, and share their views.
- Provide a secure platform where members can connect and message each other privately.
While these features are not available in WordPress, using the best community plugin for WordPress, you can access them all to create a fine social community platform on your website.
However, if you are not well versed in WordPress development, you can also depend on professionals and hire WordPress developer services such as Passion8Press to build an engaging community for your website.
Here are the 10 best WordPress community plugins you must know:-
ProfileGrid
ProfileGrid is a free WordPress plugin for building a vibrant online community right on your website. With it, you can easily craft user profiles and set up membership areas. Plus, it offers a messaging feature, enabling seamless interaction among your site visitors. If you’re keen on fostering a space where users can form their groups, the ProfileGrid WordPress community plugin is your go-to solution.
MemberPress
MemberPress stands as a robust WordPress community plugin tool, boasting an innate capability to establish forum communities on your website. Moreover, it seamlessly syncs with other WordPress community extensions like BBpress, amplifying community engagement. Additionally, it facilitates the implementation of premium charges for VIP community privileges.
Key attributes include a user-friendly membership setup guide, content scheduling, affiliate program integration, member-exclusive content restrictions, built-in analytics, and course creation features.
By integrating with Divi, it streamlines the process of restricting Divi elements through the MemberPress tab in the Visual Builder, enhancing the experience for Divi users.
BBPress
BBPress emerges as one of the best WordPress plugins for community building, enabling effortless forum creation on your website. It seamlessly integrates with other plugins, enriching themes to elevate user experiences.
Features include the ability to establish forums across multiple sites, customizable forum templates, and built-in spam protection via Akismet. It prioritizes speed and lightness, aligning with WordPress standards, while offering compatibility with various free third-party plugins for extended functionality. Users can subscribe to topics and specific forums for notifications.
Whether public or private, forums can be flexibly placed anywhere on your site. Ideal for beginners, bbPress facilitates unlimited forum and topic creation, simplifying the backend management of replies.
BuddyPress
BuddyPress is a dynamic WordPress plugin designed to transform your website into a vibrant online community hub. It empowers users to create social networking platforms with ease, fostering interaction and engagement among community members.
Here are the key features of BuddyPress:
- User Profiles: Customizable profiles allow members to showcase interests.
- Activity Streams: Members stay updated on community interactions.
- Groups: Users join or create groups based on shared interests.
- Private Messaging: Seamless communication between members.
- Notifications: Members receive alerts for community activities, fostering engagement.
However, you must know that some of the WordPress themes are not compatible with BuddyPress. You should only be using the WP themes that are compatible with BuddyPress, otherwise you won’t be able to use this WordPress community plugin.
Youzify
Youzify is one of the most used WordPress plugins for community building, facilitating the seamless creation of social networking platforms on your website. It offers extensive customization options and integrates smoothly with other plugins to enhance the overall user experience.
While you must know that Youzify is not a standalone WordPress community plugin. It is based on the BuddyPress plugin that we have mentioned earlier. Based on BuddyPress features, it further enhances user experience making it more engaging for audiences.
Key features include customizable profile layouts, activity feeds, private messaging, and notification systems. Youzify prioritizes performance and adheres to WordPress standards while offering compatibility with various third-party plugins to extend functionality.
Users can connect, interact, and collaborate within communities, fostering engagement and connections. Whether for public or private networks, this WordPress community plugin empowers users to create vibrant social spaces tailored to their needs, making it an ideal choice for community-focused websites.
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wpForo
wpForo is also a forum plugin tailored for creating and managing online forums with ease. It offers a comprehensive set of features to facilitate engaging discussions and community interactions.
With wpForo, users can establish multiple forums and sub-forums, each with customizable layouts and styling options. The plugin provides intuitive moderation tools, allowing forum administrators to manage topics, replies, and user permissions effortlessly.
It has responsive designs that are compatible with mobile devices as well. You can use this WordPress community plugin to try different forum layouts and styles with extended functionality with its paid services.
Profile Builder
This plugin streamlines the customization of front-end login widgets, enabling seamless user access. With Profile Builder, you gain the flexibility to assign user roles and capabilities, optimizing member interactions.
Its key features include-
- Member Directories
- User listing pages
- Custom login option
- Easy navigation
Enjoy the convenience of custom logins across your site and the ability to create multiple registration and profile edit forms. And dive into advanced user role editing capabilities for refined control over user permissions.
PeepSO
PeepSo stands out as a free WordPress community plugin, offering an array of features to construct a social network within your website. With its user-friendly interface, PeepSo empowers users with tools like messaging and live chat for seamless communication.
It facilitates media uploads with videos and photos, fostering rich content sharing. Custom widgets enhance community engagement, while compatibility with numerous WordPress themes ensures flexibility in customization.
Notably, PeepSo supports links from various members, including YouTube, broadening content accessibility. Its lightweight design ensures compatibility with diverse WordPress themes, enabling users to tailor their websites effortlessly.
BuddyBoss
BuddyBoss, a WordPress-powered community platform, combines a theme, plugin, and optional mobile app for seamless community building. Featuring custom member profiles, social groups, and private messaging akin to Facebook- it ensures interactive engagement.
Users can enjoy responsive design across platforms, facilitating smooth interaction. Advanced features include content subscriptions for revenue generation, LearnDash LMS integration for online courses, and gamification elements like rankings and rewards.
As a BuddyPress fork, it’s compatible with numerous extensions, ensuring versatility. With BuddyBoss, launch a fully functional community site effortlessly and empower users with an enriched online experience.
While utilizing plugins simplifies the creation of WordPress community websites, technical hurdles may still arise. In such instances, seeking professional WordPress development services becomes essential. Passion8Press stands out as a dependable choice for managing all development needs.
Their expertise ensures seamless website operation while customization options enhance website functionality. Trusting in professional services guarantees smoother operations and allows focus on community engagement rather than technical troubleshooting. With Passion8Press, navigate through any technical challenges with confidence and build a thriving online community effortlessly.
Final Words
This roundup of the top 9 WordPress community plugins offers a varied array to suit changing online communication demands. As social interactions play a vital role in community development, these plugins provide advanced functionalities beyond the basics.
We hope that this compilation assists you in selecting the perfect community plugin to match your objectives, nurturing lively online communities where discussions flourish, and ideas are exchanged freely. The digital landscape of 2024 is poised for innovation, interaction, and community-centric engagement.
