Ask David! Question:
“I don’t know how to code, but I want to create a website like Reddit. How can I do that without hiring someone?”
You can create a website like Reddit with UltimateWB without knowing how to code. You can use the built-in apps for member accounts, profiles, user-generated content, messaging, rewards, and other functionality, then customize the website to fit your particular community.
What do you need for a Reddit-style website?
A Reddit-style community website can include many different features. With UltimateWB, you can combine different built-in apps instead of having to program each feature yourself.
UltimateWB includes lots of built-in features to choose from, and they’re all customizable.
For example:
- Members App — Sign-up, login, member profiles, inbox, sent box, private messaging, and other member functionality.
- Scrapbooks App — User-generated posts and content.
- Rewards App — Create a points or credits system to reward members for participating on your website.
- Forums — Add traditional discussion forums if you want your community to have forum-style discussions in addition to user-created posts.
- File Uploads App — Allow users to upload files when that functionality is needed.
- Forms & Surveys Builder — Create customized forms, surveys, polls, and other types of user input.
- CMS and Navigation — Organize your website, categories, and content however you want.
All of these are built-in UltimateWB features and apps, so you can combine the functionality you need without relying on third-party add-ons.
Add a points or rewards system
You can create your own points, credits, or rewards system for your community. For example, you could give members points for participating on your website and allow those points to be used for rewards or other purposes.
See Create & Customize A Points/Credits Rewards System For Your Website for more information about creating and customizing a points or credits rewards system with UltimateWB.
Customize your website instead of copying Reddit
A website like Reddit doesn’t have to look like Reddit.
You can create your own categories, navigation, branding, colors, layout, terminology, and rules. You can build a community around a particular hobby, profession, interest, organization, geographic area, or any other subject.
You don’t need to know coding to customize your website. You can tweak the way something works or looks directly through your UltimateWB website admin panel.
If you do know coding, you can also add your own custom HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL when you want functionality beyond the built-in apps.
This lets you start with the functionality you need and customize or expand the website as your community develops.
Why create your own community instead of relying on Reddit?
Reddit can be a useful place to build an audience, but creating your own community website gives you more control over how your community works.
Reddit has also made changes over the years that have affected developers, moderators, and third-party apps. For more information about some of the issues and changes surrounding Reddit, see What Happened to Reddit? API Changes, Shadowbans, Bots, and Community Decline.
When you build your own community website, you control the platform. You can decide which features to provide, how your content is organized, how members interact, and how your website is customized.
You can create a community with the features you like about Reddit while building your own website, rather than having your community depend entirely on another platform.
What if I want a mobile app too?
You can build the website first and add a mobile app later. If you’re deciding whether to build the website or mobile app first for a Reddit-style community, see:
That article goes into more detail about the website-versus-mobile-app question.
So you built your community website. How do you get people to join?
Building the website is only the first step. You also need to get your first members and give people a reason to participate.
New online communities often face a chicken-and-egg problem: people are more likely to join when there are already active members and content, but you need members to create that activity in the first place.
See How to Get Your New Online Community Started: The Chicken-and-Egg Problem for ideas on getting a new online community started.
Related articles
For more information about creating an online community, see:
Which is the best platform to build an online community on?
What is the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to build a customizable Quora-like website?
How to make your website more interactive, a.k.a. interesting!
Get UltimateWB and start building your own Reddit-like website.
Learn more about UltimateWB! We also offer web design packages if you would like your website designed and built for you.
Got a techy/website question? Whether it’s about UltimateWB or another website builder, web hosting, or other aspects of websites, just send in your question in the “Ask David!” form. We will email you when the answer is posted on the UltimateWB “Ask David!” section.