In January 2009, I launched the MasonWorld Internet Marketing Forum. It was not meant to compete with the big players like the Warrior Forum or DigitalPoint. I just wanted a place where my readers and customers could hang out, ask questions, and get support without anyone being condescending about it.
That forum is long gone, but the impulse behind it was exactly right. Every online business benefits from having a community where your audience can interact with you and with each other.
Why Community Matters
When I started that forum, I had two specific goals. First, I needed a better way to handle product support. Email support was eating my time and was not great for customers either, because the same questions kept getting asked and answered in private threads that helped nobody else. A forum meant that answers were public and searchable.
Second, I wanted to create a space where people could ask beginner questions about internet marketing without getting ridiculed. The big forums of that era could be brutal to newcomers, and I had seen plenty of good people give up because someone decided to mock their first question.
Both of those reasons are just as valid in 2026. If anything, they are more important now because audiences have higher expectations for access and interaction with the people they follow.
How Community Building Has Changed
In 2009, a phpBB or vBulletin forum was the obvious choice. In 2026, you have far better options. Discord servers, Circle communities, Facebook Groups, Slack workspaces, Skool, and membership platforms like Mighty Networks all offer different flavors of community depending on your audience and business model.
The platform matters less than the culture you create. The two principles I set for my original forum still apply to any community you build today. Provide genuine value through accessible support and knowledge sharing. Do not tolerate people being jerks to each other, especially to beginners.
Practical Steps to Get Started
If you are thinking about building a community around your online business, start small. You do not need thousands of members to create something valuable. Pick one platform your audience already uses. Set clear guidelines about behavior and expectations. Show up consistently to answer questions and start conversations. Let members help each other, because peer-to-peer support is often more powerful than anything you can provide yourself.
The biggest mistake I see is treating community as a marketing channel rather than a genuine place for connection. If your community exists only to funnel people into sales, your members will figure that out quickly and leave.
The Bottom Line
Building a community around your business is one of the highest-leverage activities you can invest in. It reduces support burden, increases customer loyalty, generates content ideas, and creates the kind of trust that turns casual readers into long-term customers. Start with clear values, pick a platform, and commit to showing up.
