How to build an online community that grows your solo business

It’s easy to understand why so many entrepreneurs and small business owners want to start an online community.

A community gives you space to go deep on a specific topic and build closer relationships with your followers. You can share your content without annoying algorithm changes or distracting ads, and if you set it up right, your community can bring more sales and growth to your online business long into the future.

At Podia, we’ve seen hundreds of people build brilliant businesses that are supported by their community, and here’s the secret sauce: successful online communities aren’t built in isolation.

They’re part of a system that’s interconnected with your customers, products, website, content, and everything else you do in your business.

In this article, you won’t just learn how to build an online community.

You’ll do one better and learn how to set up a community that backs your online business and systematically sends you subscribers, sales, customers, and whatever else your business needs.

We’ll cover:

• The most common pitfalls for people starting an online community (so you can avoid them)

• The different kinds of online communities

• How to set up an engaged online community step-by-step

• How to build a business off the back of your community

By the end of this article, you’ll be ready to make an online community that’s part of a bigger system for growing your business, connecting with customers, and earning more revenue long term.

Common challenges of starting an online community

You’re on board with starting your online community, and all-in-one platforms like Podia make it simple to get set up fast.

But no one talks about how much work it takes to keep your community going with lively discussions and engaging conversations, day in and day out.

And if your community isn’t contributing to your business in a meaningful way (aka, bringing in more sales, more subscribers, or both), all that work can make you feel trapped on a tedious content treadmill.

Spend hours coming up with something to post.

Hope your community members respond.

Feel disappointed when they don’t.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

The best way to get off that treadmill is to make your community serve your bigger goals as a business owner.

Maybe you need more eyes on your work (preferably away from unreliable social media platforms). Or maybe you want space to share advice so prospective customers start to know, like, and trust you.

Maybe your business simply needs another income stream or a way to accept donations from followers. Or maybe you want to add value to your products and increase your sales with upsells.

When your community is driving growth, sales, or new subscribers for your business, the work doesn’t feel so tedious — and can actually be fun! So let’s determine what type of community is right for your business, and then we’ll get it up and running.

The different types of online communities

There are a few different ways you can set up your online community so it supports your business and the rest of your work.

Free community: A free community is a tool for connecting with your audience and nurturing leads. You won’t charge for community access, but you can make money by promoting paid products to your free community members.

This is a good option if you want to build your audience and have space to talk to that audience away from social media. Even though it won’t be a direct source of income, your community can help your business by building relationships and situating you as an expert in your field.

Paid community: With a paid community, you charge for access to your space and can even offer different perks at different pricing tiers. This makes most sense if you share lots of high-value information in your community, and we typically see users running paid communities as monthly memberships, annual memberships, or cohorts.

A paid community is the right move if you want to add a direct income stream to your business and you don’t mind creating content consistently for your members. Paid communities usually have fewer active members than free communities but higher engagement since people pay money to be there.

Product or course community (as an add-on): If you sell courses, webinars, coaching, or other digital products, a community is a great way to let your students gather and discuss the material.

At Podia, we see people use course/product communities for office hours, FAQs, giving and receiving feedback, and live elements of their programs, like sharing a Zoom link for a group call. You can include your community with your product or offer it as an add-on or upsell.

Support community: Patreon made the “support community” model mainstream, but you don’t have to use their platform (and pay their high transaction fees) to let your fans support your work.

You can also use Podia to set up a supportive community where your members send recurring payments. You can choose to offer exclusive content, or you can simply let members make monthly and annual donations to keep the lights on.

A support community is best for content creators, YouTubers, and anyone who wants to give fans a way to support them. You can also use this model if you run a charitable business or non-profit-type program that relies on donors.

When you’ve chosen the model that matches your business goals, the next task is to set up a community where people actually want to spend time and build a low-maintenance system for getting new members and keeping them engaged.

How to build an engaged online community for your solo business

An engaged community starts with a plan. Here’s how to build an engaged online community by attracting the right people to join, setting up your community space (this part is easy with Podia!), soft launching your community to beta testers to get feedback, and creating consistent content.

Step 1: Attract the right group of people to your community

The most important part of your community is the people in it. Get specific about who your community is for and what kinds of people you want to serve.

If you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll get tons of random people without much in common. It’s hard to post content that will get engagement if some people want piano tips, others are interested in painting, and some only want to learn how to grow their Instagram accounts.

So instead of trying to attract everyone under the sun, stick to your niche. Artist Emily Mills, for example, has a free community for people who want to improve their sketchnoting skills.

While it might have been tempting to make a general art community to appeal to more people, Emily knew that sticking to her specific niche would mean that all members had shared interests.

If you’re not sure what topic your community should focus on, ask your existing audience. You can post on social media, send a quick survey to your email list, or reach out to previous customers and ask questions like:

• What topics are you most interested in discussing or learning about in an online community?

• What challenges or problems related to [your business niche] do you wish you had more support with?

• If you could join a community focused on one thing, what would it be?

• Would you prefer a free community, a paid membership, or a mix of both (free with premium perks)?

• What would make an online community a must-join for you?

With that in mind, you’re ready to set up your community. And it’s easier than you think!

Step 2: Use Podia to build a community space where your members actually want to hang out

With your topic in mind, it’s time to set up your own community. To keep things simple for you and your audience, your best bet is to create your online community in the same place as the rest of your business.

With Podia, your community is automatically connected to your website, blog posts, landing pages, courses, products, sales pages, email marketing, and everything else so you don’t have to juggle a bunch of different tools. Community is also included on all plans, so you don’t have to pay extra for a third-party online community platform.

Start your 30-day free trial today to start building.

No matter which platform you use, all communities typically have a few key elements:

• Topics or channels: Topics or channels are spaces within your community where people can post about specific topics. This keeps your community organized so members can find what they’re looking for. For instance, in the Podia Community, we have separate areas for announcements, introductions, Podia questions, and educational resources. Here’s how to set up your topics in Podia.

• A “Start here” post for new members: Create a basic onboarding post for new members so that people know their way around your space. You can add FAQs, explain how users can adjust their notification settings, and encourage newcomers to check out the different topics/channels you offer. It’s also a good idea to link to your community guidelines. Speaking of community guidelines…

• Set ground rules for the community members: Think of your community guidelines as a list of rules to keep the community safe and fun for everyone. Pin this post somewhere easy to see so everyone knows what’s expected. It’s also a good idea to let people know what actions will lead to removal from the community to help with community management long term.

Next, you need to set up a landing page or sales page so new community members can find you and sign up. On this page, people can see who the community is for and what they can expect. Let them know what they’re signing up for and why they’ll love it!

For instance, Oliver Mann from Unleash Your Ink has a community about discovering your true voice through writing and journaling. On his sales page, he gives a detailed description of the community as well as a breakdown of what’s included in the membership.

He also lists two pricing options, monthly and annual. This makes it easy for visitors to pick a plan and sign up in just a few clicks. For Oliver, Podia’s simplicity means he can get more done in less time. He says, “Being able to implement pages, products, and community at speed has been a massive bonus for me.”

Step 3: “Soft launch” for beta users

Now you’ve got your basic community framework and a sales page to attract new members, but you don’t want to throw open the doors to everyone just yet.

Ever been the first to arrive at a party where you don’t know anyone else? Eeek, kinda awkward.

New members might feel that way too if they join your community but nothing’s happening when they get inside.

Instead, start with a handful of beta users. Reach out to your existing subscribers and followers to invite them to join your community as founding members. You can test out different topics and types of posts to see what resonates with people.

For free communities, simply asking people to help make your community better can be enough to get them excited to join. For paid communities, you can offer a discount to your founding members in exchange for their input.

Ryan O’Connell from How to ADU uses a special discount for starting members. The community’s price will go up in the future, but early members can lock in the lower rate in exchange for providing feedback to make the program even better.

When you have your beta users, spend a few weeks sharing content and see how they react. Then ask for feedback and adjust as needed, using questions like:

• What was your favorite/least favorite post in the community?

• What types of discussions have you found the most useful?

• How often do you check the community?

• What would make you more excited to participate?

• What should I do differently to make the community and user experience better?

Think of this as a way to test out your community before opening to the broader public. You’ll also get some great starter content in your community so new members will have plenty of posts to read right when they join.

Step 4: Launch your community and build a system to find new members

After getting your founding members situated, adjusting based on feedback, and seeding your community with content and discussions that your new members can enjoy, it’s time to open your community to all.

Let your people know that your community is open for business by:

• Adding a community sign-up call-to-action to your website

• Writing blog posts about your community

• Sending out emails to tell your list about your community

• Sharing a link to your community sales page anywhere your audience currently is (Social media, LinkedIn, YouTube)

• Asking beta members for testimonials and reviews

• Adding your community to your welcome email sequence so new subscribers know how to join

If you have a paid community, you can also let your members become affiliates. As an affiliate, they can promote your community to their friends and audience. If someone signs up through their unique link, they get a commission. Podia has affiliate features built in so you can set this up in just a few clicks.

You can see how to set up an affiliate program step by step in this guide.

And don’t stick to just one of these ideas. The more the better!

Community founder and entrepreneur Lindsay Della Villa found that a mixed marketing strategy made it easier to reach more people.

She says, “I got my first 100 members by emailing people that were already on my email list mostly. But I also have a link to my community on the first page of my website, and a link to it in my Linktree which is in my social media profiles. I think I have about 650 people in my community now.”

Simply put, there’s no such thing as too much awareness.

Emily Connors from the Creative Bodega grew a community that makes over $15k per month, and she says, “I think it all comes back to that know-like-trust factor. Show up consistently. Show your face. Give more than you ask. Overdeliver. Becoming the go-to expert in their eyes is CRUCIAL!”

Step 5: Stay consistent with your programming to grow community engagement, and adjust when needed

Now that you’re off to the races, consistency is key. For most communities, you’ll need a consistent schedule of new material to keep people coming back. (The exception is if you have a support community where new material isn’t expected.)

Start by creating a plan for what content you’ll share and how often you’ll share it. Jen and Brittany from The Marketing Club, for instance, have weekly accountability sessions, a monthly content planning party, and a quarterly digital marketing boot camp. This keeps people interested and incentivizes new sign-ups with periodic activities and events.

(Podia makes this easy because you can schedule your community posts in advance. If you want to add new content every Monday and Thursday, for example, you can plan out what you want to say in one go and schedule it for several weeks into the future.)

Next, make sure to respond to new posts and questions quickly. Your knowledge and insights are one of the best ways to add value to your community, so make sure you’re present.

Finally, remember that your community is a group with lots of moving parts so it’s okay to change course if needed. Lindsay Della Villa says, “Try setting your community up differently until you find something that works for you. It took me four tries of setting up the community over the years to find a way to make it fit into my business.”

So don’t be afraid to ask for feedback and make adjustments as you go.

How to build a business off the back of your community

Your community can be a huge piece of what makes your business work — and it doesn’t even have to be a main moneymaker.

It can be a source of income, but it can also be a way to meet people and build trust before they buy your products, an add-on that makes your products more valuable, or simply a way to connect with people who are interested in the same topics as you.

The key is setting up a system where the parts of your business are connected and supporting each other, pushing you toward your goals.

Let’s take a look at how to do this with each of the types of communities we discussed earlier.

Free Community

You can use your free community to give your business more visibility and provide value to people who might buy other products from you.

In this setup, you’ll give away lots of content for free and then promote your other products and services to members later, either within the community or in your email marketing.

You can even give away special discount codes for community members who purchase your other products. That’s how Lindsay Della Villa knows her community brings in money indirectly.

“My community is free, so I don’t make money from just people signing up for it. But I post coupons for my products in the community that people use. These coupons are for my community only, so only a limited number of people… So I guess you can say I make money from the community but it’s in an indirect way,” she explains.

A free community can also help you grow your email list. You can use the community as a lead magnet and send messages to people who are members to let them know about other programs you offer.

But even more importantly, your free community gives you visibility with your target audience and makes it easy to provide value for them.

Business mentor and brand strategist Kayla Countryman wishes that she knew how important visibility and brand awareness were when building an online business when she was first starting.

“In the first six months of your business, it’s easy to get caught up in how much money everyone around you is making and how quickly you can make your next sale,” she says.

“However, warming up your audience, building connections, and growing a community will lead to more sustainable, long-term sales, and this step is often skipped. As a marketing mentor, this is something I work with my clients on daily: finding the balance between awareness marketing (which encourages community growth and visibility) and conversion marketing (which prioritizes sales). The most successful businesses utilize both.”

Paid community

With a paid community, you treat your community as a premium product. It’s part of your paid product lineup and often includes exclusive access to information, training, videos, and discussions.

Commonly, Podia users offer monthly and annual payment options for recurring revenue. You can also run mastermind groups or cohort programs with time limits so customers can access the community for three months, six months, etc.

Web developer Mike Oliver offers a paid community as his main product. Inside the community, other developers and designers can get advice and exclusive tutorials on how to improve their websites. They can also ask questions and get technical feedback from other professionals.

Photographer Felicia Reed also has a paid membership community as a primary product. This membership includes one year in the community as well as access to several courses and templates.

You can weave your paid community into other parts of your business by including it in your email welcome sequence, upselling it with other products, giving people a discount when they bundle, and letting affiliates sell it for you.

Product community

In this system, your other paid products (like courses, coaching, downloads, etc.) are your bread and butter, but your community adds value and allows you to charge a higher price.

You can provide customer support, offer office hours, send out brand updates, get course feedback, and let students have a space to discuss the material amongst themselves.

Bex Irvine, for example, includes an exclusive community with her signature course, Beauty Empire Blueprint. While the bulk of the learning material takes place in the course, the community is a chance for beauty professionals to meet one another, share tips, and find a sense of belonging.

Combining paid products with community also allows you to give customers more variations of your offers. For instance, you can let people buy a course with or without the extra community support. You can also let people buy access to the community after they’ve joined your course or product for a chance to make more money post-sale.

Support community

For this business model, you let your biggest fans send you money so that you have the time and resources to share content they love. You don’t have to stress about appeasing algorithms or taking money from sponsors you might not align with, and they can feel good about helping their favorite creator (that’s you!).

Mention your support community in your social content, podcasts, videos, and anywhere else you produce valuable free material.

While you don’t have to include any exclusive community content if you don’t want to, you can encourage more sign-ups with incentives and special bonuses like an exclusive blog post, video, podcast each month, merch discounts, and voting on upcoming topics.

For instance, the Whole Food Plant Based cooking show has a support community for its YouTube channel. Members get access to PDF cookbooks and fun behind-the-scenes bonuses like getting to vote on their ebook cover design.

As a bonus, anyone who joins your support community also gets automatically added to your email list, so you have a way to stay in touch.

How will your community build your business?

When you connect your online community with the rest of your business, it becomes more than a space to post and comment. You can use it to build relationships, bring in cash, support your other offers, or accept donations from your biggest fans.

Like anything in an online business, communities take work to maintain. But it’s worth it if your efforts are part of a system that grows your customers and sales today and long into the future.

With Podia, your website, online courses, email marketing, customers, sales, and brand community are all connected. Running everything in one place keeps things simple, so start your 30-day free trial today.

We can’t wait to see how your business grows.