Over the years, a lot of clients that I have had the pleasure of working with have had online courses and membership sites that they use to teach, provide value, and help their customers. The biggest issues that they faced time and time again is the best way for them to interact with their audience and allow their audience to interact with each other – a community!

I used to love and refer clients to Kajabi (you can read why I don't anymore here). And for all of the amazing things that the Kajabi can do, to me, its biggest limitation and points of frustration for me and for clients is their Community product. While it works and functions, it is just never quite what my clients envision for a community and engagement. It definitely falls short. 

Thankfully, enter Circle - a new community platform took off over the that goes above and beyond to deliver a community experience. And to make it even better, Circle.so now has the ability to build your online courses right inside the platform - making it one of the best platforms out there! 

And if you know me, that’s a big reason to join an affiliate program. I want to make sure it is super useful and will help the people I recommend it to. But that’s not the only big reason to join! 

I'll dive in with my full review and analysis of Circle’s affiliate program, why I'm excited about it, and why it's worth checking out their 14 day free trial!

At The Home Business Challenge, I believe in being a practitioner, not just a theorist. That’s why I disclose that I am an affiliate for several tools mentioned in my guides. When you use my links, you’re helping support my work in finding the best "Survival" strategies for home businesses. I’m an Amazon Associate and an affiliate for brands I trust. I’ll always give you my honest take, regardless of the commission, because your trust is my most valuable asset.

What Is the Circle.so Community & Courses Platform?

Circle was created to be a community platform designed for creators who want to gather their community members around their content, engage them in discussions and direct messaging, and turn them into paying members.

With Circle, creators have a chance to build different types of online communities. These include membership, course, product, and coaching communities.

Additionally, Circle.so now has improved the platform so that users can deliver there online courses directly from the Circle platform. This means that there is no longer a need to have a separate platform for your community and where you host your online courses. You can do it all from one place and give your users a great, interactive and engaging experience. 

However, it should be said that Circle still might not yet be for everyone. There is still a lot to consider if you have an email marketing platform, a content marketing site, etc. So choosing the best platforms to run your business and save money at the same time still may take some thought. But if you need help or have any questions, take the quiz or shoot me a message! I’m always happy to help.

Features of Circle.so

Circle's key features include:

• Go live right inside the platform
• Online courses
• Custom domain
• Private spaces (similar to Slack channels)
• Bulk import/export
• Zapier Integration
• Embed Widgets
• In-app notifications
• Member profiles and directory
• Basic moderation
• Direct messaging 
• Weekly digest email
• iOS app

Circle.so Affiliate Program Details

The details of the Circle Affiliate program are pretty simple - earn $120 for each person you refer.

It's a large payout, but slightly disappointing that they no longer give monthly recurring commissions. Those are my favorite. But the big payout per referral is still nice.

Top 3 Reasons To Join the Circle Affiliate Program

There are lots of reasons to join the Circle Affiliate program, but I’ll highlight my three favorite reasons:

1. Recurring commissions:

Oh psych... they got rid of that. :/

Yeah, I know people don't say psych any more. But can we bring that back?

2. Quality platform/company

Circle is a relatively new company, but it’s been growing at a very fast rate with support from members like Brendon Burchard, Mel Robbins, Jay Shetty, Tim Ferris, and Pat Flynn. 

It really stands alone in the world of community platforms that are available out there - not only because of its unique design and functionality, but because of how conveniently it can integrate into other websites and platforms.

And now that Circle has introduced Online Courses to its tool belt, it has now become a huge competitor to all online course platforms like Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, etc. 

3. I love cookies

Circle does have a generous cookie window of 90 days. This simply means that if someone clicks your link but doesn't sign up, they'll be considered your referral for 90 days. If they sign up later within that window, you'll still get the $120 commission.

Top 3 Reasons To Use Circle.so For Your Online Community

There are three top reasons to consider Circle for your membership community and why your referrals will as well.

1. Seamless integration with your existing tech stack

If you already have a website or online courses, and if you're already using multiple tech platforms, Circle integrates very nicely with your existing tech stack. 

2. It's very customizable, so you can build your community space from the ground up

When you create spaces, you can customize who has access to each of those, change whether they're displayed in post, list, or card view, control whether members can create new topics, change the way the topics are ordered, and pin topics to the top or sidebar. 

You can also have a blend of a free community on Circle that has private spaces that someone would need to pay to have access to, or a completely free platform on Circle. Every part of the platform is modular so that you can do with it whatever you want.

Circle also lets you choose your colors, add your logo, and use your own custom subdomain so that the experience on the platform feels native to your brand and your products.

3. It's intuitive, and combines the best of platforms like Slack and Facebook

Circle feels a bit like Slack with “spaces” you can customize similar to Slack Channels. As an admin, you can choose who is in what space, and it's easy to make spaces public or private. 

It's not just one long newsfeed, so conversations are easier to join and respond to, without having to be on the platform constantly or having to click through several layers to find the conversation.

Circle has a clean, simple interface that will be very familiar for people who have been a part of a Facebook or Slack group.

Are there any cons to using Circle.so?

The only real downside to Circle.so is the fact that it's a separate platform than what you're already using. I like to always take a minimalistic approach for myself and clients. Limiting the number of products, software, platforms, plugins, etc., that are used always makes for an easier and less complicated business stack for me and our clients. It also saves a lot of money on monthly expenses that I'm sure you know add up quickly!

So while Circle does a great job of integrating with your existing website and course or membership site platform, it's still another platform to have to integrate. 

However, now that Circle has online courses built right in, it might replace your platform for online course delivery! 

But at the end of the day, the pros certainly outweigh this one con if you need a true community platform for your community.

Conclusion

I hope this has been a helpful review of the Circle’s affiliate program. 

Let me know... should Circle make it on my list of best affiliate programs!? 🙂

I am definitely excited about the platform and future potential. The Circle.so team and community also seem really great at moving the company forward, adding new features, and providing great customer support.

Let me know if you have any questions about whether Circle is right for you! I’d love to help. And it's certainly worth checking out their 14-day free trial!