{"id":5313,"date":"2017-03-22T13:20:41","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T11:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=5313"},"modified":"2023-03-22T05:11:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T05:11:00","slug":"wordpress-community-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wordpress-community-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build a WordPress Community Website (With BuddyPress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

WordPress is a robust platform that can handle most types of websites out of the box, with a few notable exceptions. For example, you’ll need to do a little tinkering if you’re hoping to set up a website with social media capabilities\u00a0such as profiles and private groups. In the end, though, creating a WordPress community website is entirely doable.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Community sites can be a major asset, especially for private work or study groups. They enable users to stay in touch and remain aware of the latest developments in their areas of interest. Best of all, each user can choose how engaged they want to be with the community.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\n\n\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t \t
\n\t\t \t\tHow to build a #WordPress community #website with #BuddyPress \ud83d\udd0c<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
\n\t\t \tClick To Tweet \n\t\t \t\t<\/span>\n\t\t \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In this article, we’ll discuss how community websites work, why you’d want one, and how to set one up\u00a0using WordPress. Let’s jump right in!
\n

<\/div>\n

What community websites are (and why\u00a0you’d want one) \ud83e\udd1d<\/h2>\n

A community website is a platform primarily intended\u00a0to enable user interaction. It usually provides its members with customizable profile pages, a ‘friending’ feature, and activity streams where users can monitor what’s going on in the community. Many community sites also support their own forums, which enable users to interact with each other and ask questions.<\/p>\n

\"An

A community site enables users to communicate with one another \u2013 and with you.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

By default, WordPress doesn’t support any of those features, which is a shame because they can be highly engaging. Community websites make it so you don’t have to worry about creating content continuously, since users will entertain themselves by chatting with each other. Furthermore, these types of websites can be quite addictive since they’re modeled after social media.<\/p>\n

A community site is a great option if you need to set up a platform for\u00a0company employees or departments to communicate with each other.<\/strong> The same applies to study groups, and virtually any organization where in-group communication is critical.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for you, WordPress does<\/em> enable us to set up these kinds of websites fairly easily, even if the platform wasn’t built with that purpose in mind. Let’s find out how!
\n

<\/div>\n

How to build a WordPress community website (in 2 steps) \ud83c\udfd7\ufe0f<\/h2>\n

There are plenty of plugins that can help you put together a community website, but our vote has to go to BuddyPress. Not only is it one of the most popular WordPress plugins around, but it also has fantastic documentation and is easy to set up.<\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\"BuddyPress\"\t\t\tBuddyPress<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t

Author(s):\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBuddyPress<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Current Version:<\/span> 14.4.0<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Last Updated:<\/span> September 24, 2025<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Direct Download<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t82%Ratings<\/em>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t100,000+Installs<\/em>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWP 6.1+Requires<\/em>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n