A new member joins. They land in your welcome space, press play on your welcome video, and like what they see. Then they scroll.
Under the video is a pinned post, a few old announcements, a replay link, a question someone asked months ago, and a rules document. All of it went there with good intentions. None of it tells them what to do first.
So they do nothing. That quiet first week is usually why new members leave your community without ever saying so.
A start here space fixes this, and it’s one of the first things I look at when a founder tells me onboarding feels off. By the end of this you’ll know what goes in one, what to move out, and how to turn it into a path a new member can actually follow.
What Should a Start Here Space Include?
A start here space needs a short welcome video, a clear list of first actions in order, a plain explanation of each space, and a next step button that moves members forward.
That’s the whole job. Not everything a member might ever need. Just enough to get them from “I joined” to “I know where I’m going.”
The version I build usually has five parts:
- A welcome video from the founder, warm and short
- A quick rundown of how to get started and what to do next
- The top actions every new member should complete, laid out step by step
- The community’s commitment to its members, with each space linked and explained
- A next step button that sends them on to the following space
Anything that isn’t one of those belongs somewhere else. Usually in an FAQ space, which I’ll get to.
Why Does a Great Welcome Video Still Leave New Members Lost?
A video shows how the community feels, not what to do next. When it sits on top of a pile of pinned posts and leftover links, members get the warmth and none of the direction.
When I first met Amy Robinson, the founder of Radiant Healing Together, her community had grown fast, in all the good ways. She was also a bit frazzled, because quick growth has a side effect most founders will recognize: the onboarding pieces get shoved under the rug while you keep up with everything else.
Her welcome and orientation space was a post view space with a pinned post and a welcome video at the top. The video was genuinely great. Amy is warm and welcoming, and it ticked every box.
The problem was underneath it. Orientation content and help content were living in the same place, and it had turned into a hodgepodge. Cluttered enough that a new member had to work out for themselves which parts mattered.
This is the most common thing I see in a welcome space. Not bad content. Too much good content in one spot, with no order to it.
So we took the welcome and orientation space apart and rebuilt it as two spaces: a start here space, and an FAQ and help space.
How Do You Rebuild a Start Here Space?
Separate orientation from help, make the space look like your brand, keep the welcome video, lay out first actions as a grid in order, and link every step to the next one.
Make it look like your community
A start here space is a member’s first real impression of the inside. If it looks thrown together, the whole community feels thrown together.
What that looks like:
- Create cover graphics that match the rest of your brand
- Build them as templates so you can make new ones without starting over
- Carry the same look through every space the start here space links to
The templates are the part people skip. They’re also what keeps the space looking right six months from now, when you’re adding something in a hurry.
Keep the welcome video, and refresh it
Amy’s original video worked, so we kept the idea and she recorded a new one to sit inside the new design.
What that looks like:
- Record it after the rest of the space is planned, so it matches what members see
- Keep it warm and personal, because that’s the job text can’t do
- Put it at the top, then let the page handle the directions
Turn first actions into a nine grid
This is the piece I think matters most. Members need to know how to reach the information they need, and in what order.
For Amy, we pulled together the top nine things a new member needs to complete and laid them out as a nine grid, step by step, so members get the most out of their profile and their first weeks.
What that looks like:
- List every action you wish new members took, then cut to the ones that matter
- Put them in the order they should happen
- Add a short step-by-step tutorial inside any item that needs explaining
Nine worked for this community. The number matters less than the order. A new member should never have to guess which one comes first.
Explain every space, and link it
Under the grid sits the community’s commitment to its members, with every space hyperlinked and a line on what to expect inside it.
Then a next step button links straight over to the following space. Members aren’t hunting through the sidebar. They click, and they’re where they need to be.
If you’re still deciding which spaces a new member should even be able to see, sort out your Circle space access settings first, then build the links.
Why Does a Start Here Space Need a Separate FAQ Space?
The questions members ask later aren’t the ones they need answered on day one. A dedicated FAQ and help space keeps the start here space short and gives recurring questions a permanent home.
Once members get rolling, other things come up. How do I do this. Where do I find that. In Amy’s old setup, those answers were mixed in with orientation, which made both harder to use.
The new FAQ and help space carries the same branding, then lists the top questions members ask. Each answer has hyperlinked text and examples showing exactly how to complete the task.
We didn’t guess at the questions. We pulled them from what members in the community were actually asking.
Two reasons this space earns its place:
- It keeps evolving. New questions come up, you add them. The space grows with the community instead of going stale.
- It cuts admin. The more thoughtful you are when you build it, the less moderation and admin work the community needs, because members find the answer before they ask.
If you’ve answered the same question three times in a month, it belongs in the FAQ.
Try This Prompt
If your welcome space has become a pile, this helps you sort it before you rebuild anything.
“I run a [type of community] for [who]. Here’s everything currently in my welcome or orientation space: [list every post, video, link, and document]. Here are my other spaces and what each one is for: [list them]. Sort my current content into three groups: what belongs in a start here space for a member’s first week, what belongs in an FAQ and help space, and what can be removed. Then suggest the first actions a new member should complete, in order, as a numbered list with one line on why each one matters.”
You still decide what stays. It just gets everything onto one page so you can see it.
Onboarding Is Where Loyalty Starts
Onboarding a new member is the most important step in building loyalty. It’s the stretch where they decide whether joining was a good call.
A start here space is how you answer that without being there in person. It covers the inside of the community. Pair it with an onboarding email series so members hear from you outside the app too, and the two carry each other.
None of this needs to be elaborate. It needs to be in order.
Your new members don’t need everything on day one. They need to know where to go next.
Watch the Video
New videos go up every Thursday on Your Community Strategist.
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More Like This
Listen: How to Build a Community Onboarding Process That Sticks. The full system around the start here space, from first email to first post.
Listen: Turning Lurkers Into Leaders: Unleash The Hidden Potential. What to do once onboarding gets someone in the door but not yet talking.
Watch: Circle Space Access Explained: Open vs. Private vs. Secret. Set who can see each space before you link to it from your start here space.
Watch: Circle Spaces 101. Pick the right space type for your start here and FAQ spaces before you build them.
Keep Going
coCreator Society is where community builders and membership founders work through this together, with the templates, the walkthroughs, and people who are one step ahead of you. Join coCreator Society
If you would rather not do this part alone, Rachel and the team build, migrate, and run communities for founders who need it done properly the first time. Talk to the team
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