Creating a compelling community website, whether for an online community, support group, non-profit, or SaaS tool, is pivotal in forging connections and driving brand conversions.
Learning from successful community website examples can guide your own design journey.
At Cyphon Digital, leveraging our two-decade experience in web design and marketing, we’ve curated 12 inspirational examples. These models highlight best practices for a robust community website, fueling your community engagement, revenue, and growth.
Continue reading to understand the key elements of an exceptional community website, examine top-notch examples, and let them inspire your website creation.
Quick Guide
- What Makes a Good Community Website?
Outstanding Community Website Examples - Applying These Principles to Your Own Community Website
What Makes a Good Community Website?
To ensure the best community website design, these are some things to consider that can help promote a positive experience and growth for your business.
User-Friendly Interface
As with any website, it’s critical to have an interface that’s easy to navigate and offers a positive experience. With a community website, this also means making it easy to communicate with other members of the online community.
Additionally, make sure that your website is mobile-friendly so members and prospective members can access using their mobile devices.
Active Participation and Engagement
A prosperous community requires active participation, and your web design can encourage this type of engagement.
Some amazing community websites use personalized templates or user-generated content to boost active participation, while others require a certain level of engagement for members.
Whatever your plan is, simple navigation, clear CTAs, and concise messaging can increase participation.
Effective Moderation
A community website without effective moderation can quickly get off the rails.
Community moderators can help you stay on track and continue toward your goals whether you want to accelerate community growth, encourage more paid subscriptions and donations, or improve the user experience.
Useful Content
Valuable content is an important part of creating a prosperous community. Use content to attract new users by demonstrating your credibility, expertise, and community benefits.
You can also highlight user-generated content, guides to community participation, case studies, sponsored discussions, informative videos, or other forms of free and paid-for content to grow and strengthen your community.
Accessibility and Inclusivity
Excluding potential members from your online community website is the last thing you want to do. Make sure you use best practices for accessibility, like text-to-speech features, contrasting colors, large headers, and visual and audio content.
Additionally, a community manager can help you ensure a positive and inclusive membership for everyone.
Security and Privacy
A secure and private community will make members feel more comfortable, which not only helps attract new members but also encourages existing groups to participate.
You can install an SSL, update your site regularly, and encourage strong passwords and captchas for every member. Make sure you offer the ability to accept or refuse cookies as well.
Outstanding Community Website Examples
These are some of the best community website examples on the web in 2023, so read on to see what makes them so outstanding and use them to inspire your own efforts.
1. SMART Recovery
Image source: https://www.smartrecovery.org/
SMART Recovery is an online community for people struggling with addiction. Their website is fantastic at demonstrating its value, helping visitors find where they need to go, and building a community website that is safe and secure.
They have features to find online and in-person meetings, connect with other members, buy programs, and utilize free resources like videos, tools, podcasts, and more.
What makes it outstanding:
- Inclusive sections for different populations, including LGBTQ+, veterans, young adults, and family members of people who’re struggling with addiction.
- An outstanding balance of free and paid-for content that all offers tons of value to members. There are how-to videos, podcasts, handbooks, a YouTube channel, blog articles, and even a toolbox that includes all sorts of free resources.
2. Tumblr
Image source: https://www.tumblr.com/
Tumblr is a free social networking site and an outstanding example of how you can power a community website with user-generated content.
It’s easy to use, displays the newest content on the homepage, and allows users to publish text and multimedia content to connect and collaborate with other users.
What makes it outstanding:
- Easy navigation that starts with instant access to user-generated content on the homepage, a search feature, and a clear and concise navigation menu. You can also change the format from a single column to a grid to see more content.
- Tumblr is mobile-friendly with an easy-to-use interface with custom website color palettes, responsive buttons, and easy navigation.
3. Wennect
Image source: https://www.wennect.com/
Wennect is a community of Polish developers that connects workers with hiring companies. Their website is cool with lots of engaging features that also demonstrate how the platform works.
They use bullets, animations, and clear step-by-step instructions to show their valuable features and encourage people to join.
What makes it outstanding:
- Free sign-up with token-based participation lets people join and experience the user-friendly interface and only pay for tokens when they want to utilize the service to connect with developers or companies.
- The homepage animations and engaging features as well as the clear copywriting, bullets, and images entice guests and encourage them to try out the online community.
4. LuvvNation
Image source: https://www.luvvnation.com/
This charming community connects women who want challenges, courses, and connections for empowerment.
The custom website messaging, color scheme, and clever use of GIFs speak directly to the target audience and evoke the vibe you can expect with joining.
What makes it outstanding:
- Clever copywriting speaks directly to the target audience and intermingles humor with inspiration, empowerment, and community.
- Using bullets and bold words gets the message across. It tells visitors exactly what they get with sign-up, including benefits like courage, discussions, cheat codes, challenges, courses, and downloadable “to help you level up professionally and personally.”
5. AARP
Image source: https://www.aarp.org/
AARP’s website offers tons of free articles, resources, and information that offer value to its target audience of retired people and older individuals.
They also offer an online community that encourages live discussions, comments, and even participation in games.
What makes it outstanding:
- Includes tons of free information that not only offers value and speaks to the target audience, but also is easy to find with a responsive search and navigation bar. They also offer a free app and community access.
- Clearly display pricing and all the benefits that you get with the paid membership like exclusive discounts, additional programs, magazine subscriptions, and much more.
6. I Had Cancer
Image source: https://www.ihadcancer.com/
This attractive website for cancer survivors uses an intimate color scheme and sympathetic messaging to speak to its target audience.
They provide success stories for motivation and inspiration as well as resources for every stage of the cancer journey from “Just Diagnosed,” to “In Treatment” and “Recurrence,” all the way to “Survivorship” and adapting to the new normal.
What makes it outstanding:
- Uses supportive success stories to inspire and help their community as well as a “Dear Cancer” area where you can address cancer in your way and respond to other community members who’ve written their own letter to cancer.
- The “Find Someone” feature allows you to connect with people struggling with similar cancers, issues, and experiences. This builds engagement and cultivates a more intimate and supportive community.
7. Rising Tide Capital
Image source: https://risingtidecapital.org/
Rising Tide Capital is a non-profit community that provides resources for entrepreneurs in certain communities nationwide.
Partner organizations work with their curriculum to create support hubs that establish networks for meetups, support ambitious entrepreneurs, and purposeful collaboration.
What makes it outstanding:
- Use of numbers, stats, social proof, and case studies to demonstrate value to potential members or donors.
- Comprehensive calendar that shows all the upcoming sessions, online meetups, and in-person events. Plus, you can easily click on the events to get tickets, request information, or contact the specific community moderator.
8. Daily Strength
Image source: https://www.dailystrength.org/
This community offers various groups for various health questions, concerns, and ailments. With hundreds of thousands of members who can create their groups, this growing community offers comprehensive health support.
The bare-bones site focuses solely on cultivating a community, not offering flashy images, animations, videos, or other distractions.
What makes it outstanding:
- A clear pop-up cookie and privacy permission greets every new visitor, therefore making them feel secure on a health-related website where they might be sharing HIPAA-protected info. They also have a great FAQs section, Captcha requirements, and secure login to ensure members are comfortable.
- Fast, free, and easy sign-up provides complete access to all features, including the ability to join groups, create groups, and discuss health issues with other community members.
9. Superlist
Image source: https://www.superlist.com/
Superlist is a SaaS task management platform currently in beta that simplifies to-do lists, planning, and tasks for your communities, including work teams, families, sports teams, and other groups.
Their website is fantastic, with a header, background color, and interface examples for different applications that change in the hero section as you move the mouse pointer across.
What makes it outstanding:
- Interactive images that show exactly how the platform works and visually display different applications. You can do something similar with your community website by showing the easy-to-use interface in action, demonstrating different ways to use the community, and visually displaying benefits and features.
- Superlist’s use of color not only highlights certain benefits, but it makes what would normally be a simple, possibly boring, website into something unique and attractive that helps develop their brand and creates a memorable experience.
10. Anibar Festival
Image source: https://anibar.org/
Unlike most community website examples, Anibar uses its website primarily for an annual community gathering and animation festival.
Their website is attractive with tons of color and just enough white space to promote a pleasant experience. Plus, they use tons of interactive features like a calendar, slideshow, and more.
What makes it outstanding:
- They use a language toggle so that visitors can change between three different languages. This boosts accessibility to unite animators from around the world. You can do something similar, especially if you anticipate community members who speak different languages.
- About page that clearly and effectively explains the vision for their community with easy-to-read typography that contrasts with the background.
11. Women in Soccer
Image source: https://womeninsoccer.org/how-it-works/
This unique website is designed to unite women soccer players, coaches, and enthusiasts. They announce both online and in-person events including watch parties, workshops, panel discussions, mentorships, and much more.
The website is full of emphasis animations, social media posts, interactive features, and clear copywriting that evokes a welcoming tone.
What makes it outstanding:
- They offer different community levels to create an active group of people with different responsibilities for effective moderation, community engagement, and organization.
- Clear CTA to “Join Our Squad” as well as similar call-to-actions spread evenly throughout the homepage and other pages.
12. Mumsnet
Image source: https://www.mumsnet.com/
This community is a place where moms can share advice, ask questions, browse articles, join discussions, and feel supported as a parent.
The website is a great example of how a simple web design can fuel an active community of around 8 million unique visitors per month by focusing primarily on the discussions, members, and community itself.
What makes it outstanding:
- Visitors can easily find exactly what they are looking for using the navigation bar, search engine, trending discussions, and browsing topics.
- They also have a smartphone app for mobile-friendly access. This not only encourages more activity but also allows community members to get quick advice on the go.
Applying These Principles to Your Own Community Website
If you plan to create your community website, consider incorporating these proven strategies to increase membership, engagement, and revenue:
Value-Add Content – Draw inspiration from SMART Recovery’s strategy. Offer free, valuable content to boost activity and memberships. Supplement this with exclusive, paid events or content to generate revenue, ensuring the premium content justifies the cost.
Freemium Approach & Advertising – Follow Mumsnet’s lead with free-to-access communities that are monetized via advertising. An active community can yield significant ad revenue. Exploring affiliate content or a blend of ads and subscriptions might also be effective.
Organic Growth – Use SEO-rich content to attract new members organically. Consider paid search advertising to drive traffic directly to your site.
Best E-commerce Practices – Ensure your website is responsive, organized, and purposeful, akin to AARP’s community site. User-friendly navigation and an effective search engine enhance the user experience.
Clear Messaging & Social Proof – Adopt LuvvNation’s style of clear, concise messaging with bullets and headers that highlight the benefits of your community. Including social proof, like Rising Tide Capital, can enhance credibility and trust.
These strategies can help you create a community website that encourages sign-ups, engagement, and content purchases, ultimately driving business revenue.
Conclusion
Creating a great community that also drives revenue for your brand requires you to attract new members, encourage engagement, and create value for all the members who join. By using these website examples, you can cultivate a fast-growing, welcoming, and profitable community in no time.
Community Website Examples FAQs
What is a community website?
A community website is simply a website for a specific brand, group, cause, or network. They offer the ability to connect with like-minded people, share ideas, network, and collaborate.
What are the different types of community websites?
There are many different types of community websites including social media communities and networking groups. SaaS platforms that unite specific teams are also considered community websites.
Additionally, there are community websites for events, learning, forums, fan clubs, support, non-profits, and many more. Finally, community websites can promote an online or in-person community.
How to start building a community website?
You can build your own community website using tools like Wix or WordPress. This allows you to use a template and change messaging, images, backgrounds, and more without having a deep understanding of coding.
However, it can still be difficult to add all the features you might want to create a user-friendly and valuable community.
If you need help creating an attractive, responsive, and persuasive community-based website, Cyphon Digital offers development, design, and marketing expertise.
Schedule a complimentary consultation to tell us about your business, plans, and goals today!
