Social Network or Blog? Which is best to start for business purposes?
-
I am a Realtor and was wondering which is better to start for Lead generation? A social network for local professionals or a blog?
-
I actually have a website with a blog. Currently I'm on page 1 for my main keywords. I was thinking of another way to generate new leads. So the Social network was an idea for another project.
What do you think? Is it worth it or dead end?
-
I work with several realtors/builders and I would say to build a website with a blog on it (for content and SEO value) then use a lead gen from that. Build an email list, there is no better way for realtors to connect with potential clients, whether you are trying to get other realtors to show your listings or get buyers to list with you.
Network with other realtors on networks like Active Rain and LinkedIn, use some sort of IDX solution on your site so potential clients can search for properties, and bait them in to sign up for your email list.
The money is in the list!
-
Joel,
Ryan is spot on. I've worked with many Realtors over the years, and I've also seen many others who think a templated social network service is a great way to get lead gen going. The problem is many-fold.
For all the "template" based systems that claim to be "easy" to set up, they're not. Unless you want a highly unprofessional looking site from your target market's perspective.
Even if the visual aesthetics are pleasing, social network solutions outside Facebook are rarely, if ever, going to be found by your target market easily. They're isolated from the world, and you need to build up inbound links and off-site signals to get them ranked with more effort than you would imagine, because they're disjointed and lack clean topical focus the way a site and its blog would be.
So unless you're going to spend the time / invest the effort to first build & design a very high quality a templated social network, and then can easily and for relatively little cost then promote it through traditional or gorilla marketing to drive enough traffic that eventually enough of those people actually want to participate, there's no viable reason I've ever found for me to be willing to recommend them as an intelligent, sound business decision.
If you had a company with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people in the organization and you wanted to create a platform for internal dialogue, I'd say it's a consideration. That's the only other circumstance I can advocate for them.
-
Technically its a lot more involved than a blog, probably requiring more bandwidth and processing power if it becomes successful. And it requires more technical know-how to get it set up properly. Then the challenges of building and maintaining an online community are significantly greater than just publishing a blog and attracting a readership.
But again, if you can pull it off you'll have a fantastic resource and a great way to market your brand.
-
I was thinking about using one of the Social Network Templates out there like Social Engine. Have you heard of them?
What hurdles do you think I would face?
-
Do you mean start your own social network? The challenges and technical hurdles to doing so are much higher, but the potential rewards are also much greater.
I would say start a blog, get a post or two a week on it, and publish those to your social media accounts (especially linkedin, twitter, fb).
Once you've got that down, if you still have the resources to create a social network then go for it! You can use existing services like Ning or Drupal Connect to speed up the process.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should I submit the same blog post on Linkedin as an article with permalink?
Hello All, I just want to know that is it the right way in SEO to submit the same blog post as an article on Linkedin or other social sites or article sites.
Branding | | DenorL0 -
B2B Social Media
Hi, Wondered if anyone has any useful articles or tips for social media for a B2B generalist ecommerce site. We have started thinking about LinkedIn, but I know we need a lot more work & potentially to look at other channels/building a brand/personality online. I've read a few articles, about finding the unboring angle of your business - I'm just wondering how we can achieve this if we have thousands of products & potential customers - it's hard to know where to start & to get the buy in 🙂 It's something I want to push, so any tips would be great 🙂
Branding | | BeckyKey0 -
Best practices to rank a new website that does not produce much content.
Hi What would be the best practice for ranking a new site .. lets say a business site that does not have a blog to produce regular content in it. Building backlinks are not just the options when these days people are all focused in content marketing. And specially, when you are competing against big competitors. Big competitors are of course getting their contents published on bigger sites since they are already established. No one will talk about you when you are new in the market. And you still need to bring up your site to people and SEO is the only option for that. What would you suggest ? Thanks
Branding | | MindlessWizard0 -
Two Domains, which one should be used on Social Media platforms?
I have a client who changed from a Branded Domain (301 redirected this domain) to a Partial Match Domain, using the city in the domain for rich keyword. I take care of their Social Media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc.). These social networks used the Branded Domain (with the company name in the domain) for years, now the new web designer is asking that we change Username and Domain to the new Partial Match Domain, which is very "generic" not mentioning the company name. I am reluctant to change for branding mention purposes. Does anyone have any advice?
Branding | | Artistic0 -
Re-code website and start from scratch?
Hi Community, one of my sites was affected by panda penguin and then EMD updates last year. All our google 1st page rankings were lost and we have spent the last few months trying to recover the situation. Changed content, meta tags, meta titles, disavowed links, changed navigation structure among other things. We are now at a point where we are thinking of scrapping the whole thing and re-coding the site. Before we make the decision I wanted to ask what the main risks and points are that we need to consider. Are there any useful guides to help us make an informed judgment? Also, if we were to re-do the site and also change the domain name what are the implications of this and what needs to be considered. I'd really appreciate some advice as this is a major step for us. Thanks
Branding | | BipSum0 -
What vanity Url should I use for Google+ business page?
I recently been given the option to choose between my brand and my most important keyword for my Google+ business page. the site is a touristic site for a popular location. The keyword is the name of that location. Which one is better for Seo purposes? Thanks.
Branding | | ceci27101 -
Googe+ personal profile & business page conundrum
I have asked this question before and am still seeking help. My apologies for being repetitive and hopefully not too pesky but I am sincere in my search for guidance. I am looking for advice on how to manage my personal G+ profile along with my business G+ page. My challenge is the coordination between the two and getting people to add our biz page to their Circles instead of to me personally through my personal profile. Google+ requires that we have personal profiles- especially for authorship, but it's my business that I want to represent and promote. I do have the Google+ badge on my website and blog posts. And I am duplicating my posts on both the personal and business pages. I have joined a couple of communities and know that i need to find more and engage in those. And also, another question this brings up: in terms of the social signal aspect for our company website/blog, does it matter where I am building my Circles?
Branding | | gfiedel0 -
Best Way To Distribute Infographics?
Hello, I am looking to get into the benefits of link-building through using info-graphics, and I wondered if anyone knew of a good info-graphic distribution service. I know there has surely got to be a service out there like Prnewswire or PrWeb, only “designed for info graphics” instead of press releases. However, as of yet I have not been able to find anything. I am aware that there are info graphic directories out there and forums like myblogguest that allow you to post info graphics, and of course pinterest type sites. However, I have not found a dedicated info graphic syndication service yet. Does anyone know of a good one? Or perhaps just have other good advice with their success of marketing info-graphics?
Branding | | MyNet0