In this presentation I talk through how to build a community using Wordpress. There are a few considerations to think about - freeium vs paid for model, content strategy, membership options and which plugins to use. 2 years ago we set up http://www.onlandscape.co.uk/ which is an online community / magazine for landscape photographers.

1. Create a Community Using
Wordpress
Email: charlotte@optimumexposure.co.uk
Web: www.optimumexposure.co.uk
Blog: www.charlottebritton.co.uk
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottebritton
Twitter: http://twitter.com/charlottebritto

2. What do you want to get out of
this session?

3. What will be covered?
• Social media & online communities
• Using Wordpress as a platform for building
online communities
42.6% of UK consumers buy something
• Setting up community &week
online at least once a building
• Example: On Landscape
• Questions

4. Future of Social Media

5. Online Communities – Why?
• It’s not blogging, tweeting or posting content on
Facebook for the sake of it
• Building an online community around your
brand / organisation is key
• It’s not about your business, it’s about your
customers
• It’s about engaging with your audience /
customers

6. What is AN Online Community?
Where a group of people with similar goals
or interests connect and exchange
information using web tools.
(source: Jeremiah Owyang)

7. Example Of Online Community

8. Paid for vs Freemium Models
• You need to create value in your content
• Can’t just be blog posts
• Niche content is vital
• Needs to be content users want to read, not
what you want to tell them
• Go for a more magazine style with specific
dates for releasing the next issue

9. Extension or Stand Alone
• Is the community an extension of an existing
business (e.g. ecommerce site growing fan
base via content)
Or
• Stand alone model (Brand Yorkshire or On
Landscape)

10. Paid for or Free?
• Need to have value in content for people to pay
for membership
• Need to have balance of free vs paid for content
to entice people in
• Membership – what will the market tolerate?
Monthly, 6 monthly or yearly
• Need to build business model around
community

11. Research Niche Market
• Start engaging in the existing forums / blogs to
understand the market
• Need someone with the knowledge to converse
/ respond
• Build up profile, so a trusted source in other
forums / blogs
• Understand competitors, complete SWOT
analysis & design content & functionality

12. Niche Content
• What content get comments on other forums /
blogs
• What style of writing works?
• Balance video, MP3 & written content
• Guest authors
• Crowdsource content

13. Subscriptions / Register
• Manage subscriptions & content
• Need to define membership levels
• Free content for SEO & to hook people in
• Free content is your sales pipeline
• Align this with payment (if you’re making it a
paid for model)

14. Subscriptions / Register

15. Plugins for Membership
• Have used Your Members initially
• Migrated over to S2 Members plugin
• Similar functionality but improved technical
support
• Use plugin that integrated with Buddypress
• Learnings: use best plugin, don’t just go for a
plugin that’s got good reviews & developed
locally

16. Search Engine Optimisation
• SEO is a key way to promote community to
target audience
• Ensure free articles are optimised for specific
related terms
• Design content that is around key phrases &
content that is around hot topics
• Yoast or Wordpress SEO is good plugin

17. Email Sign up
• Integrate with email subscription so can email
people when new issue is released
• Key way to drive comments / interactions
• Campaign monitor or Mail Chimp are good
platforms to use which have Wordpress
integration

18. Growing Community
• Blog with good interactions is a community in
the lowest sense
• Don’t launch forum or other functionality until
grown interactions
• Use Twitter, Facebook & other forums as source
of growing awareness.

19. Growing Community
• Free content is important way to engage & drive
visitors
• One article drove 4,000 visitors from US
photography forum

20. Growing Community
• BuddyPress plugin integrates with membership
plugins and enables additional functionality:
• Groups
• Extended profiles
• Private messaging
• Forums

21. Optimise Wordpress
• Need to ensure server can handle large
volumes of traffic
• Caching is important – especially when 1 article
can get many visitors
• Server – invest in the best you can afford

22. Skills for Online Community
• Wordpress Development & design skills
• Content writing – need someone with
knowledge of niche market & can write
• Moderation & community curation – need to be
able to weave & drive conversations
• Social media – know how to drive conversations
through Twitter & Facebook
• SEO – to optimise free content

23. OnLandscape – next steps

24. Rounding UP
• Think about if community is stand alone or
extension to existing business
• Niche good content is vital
• Issue release or continual flow of content
• Think about free vs premium & business model
• How grow visitors into community

25. Thanks for you time..
Any further questions?
Email: charlotte@optimumexposure.co.uk
Web: www.optimumexposure.co.uk
Blog: www.charlottebritton.co.uk
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottebritton
Twitter: http://twitter.com/charlottebritto