Can I build a great community based site built on WordPress?

Gozang,

Yes. I completely understand that you don't want to build a social networking site.
Sure. You can use WordPress to build the community site that you want.
You need to focus on two main development areas:

Form -- You can find a nearly ideal WordPress theme (free or paid) and modify it to achieve the most suitable look and feel for your target audience; and

Function -- You can use, set up and modify certain WP plugins (free or paid, and there are lots of them) to achieve the most suitable functions for what you want your target audience to do in your community site.

But point is:

• You won't know the most suitable form and functionality that you must integrate into your community site without knowing the relevant habitual preferences of your target audience when it comes to doing the things that you want them to do in your site ...

So if you want viewers to post questions / discussions and participate in meaningful dialogues with others regarding certain topics, then the corresponding section of your website should be able to allow them to do this with as little pain as possible; and

This should also be the case when it comes to the section of your site where you want them to view, react, share and comment on content posts (or publish their own posts) ...

Now you can achieve that by hiring a designer with experience in modifying the visual look and feel of an existing WordPress theme.
You can then hire a developer with expertise in setting up the right WordPress plugins and in modifying PHP code to achieve the functionality that you want for your community site.

I for one would hire two people instead of finding one with skill sets that match those very different areas.
That's because it's pretty hard to find one person with significant expertise in both areas (form and function).

But you need to guide them regarding form and functionality.
And you also need to manage them as they work together.

So what can guide you to guide them is your ideal audience profile.
Do you have one? No? Build one. Yes? Update it.
This involves niche market research, data analytics and competitor analyses.

Then I stand by my suggestion that you use wordpress for a blog and MyBB for a forum.



Also, please realize that no matter what kind of format you choose (forum, social site, etc, etc, etc,) you will find the hardest part is getting people to participate on your site when it's new. When they come to your site and see no threads and conversations they will just leave.


Save your $5K budget for paying people to post on your forum. I know it sounds black hat, but there is no other way to make your site look like it's getting popular. You have to show promise if real people are to start posting to your site. It's just the way it is. It would be the same if, say, you put up a dating site. You have to make a bunch of fake profiles to make it look like people are actually using the site.



On your blog, I would turn off commenting. Instead, at the end of every article, put a link to the forum thread where you announce your new blog article. People can talk about/comment on the article on the forum.