Community sites/Virtual Sites/Lead Sites

[royemunson]

Hi all,

I have some questions and don't know where to start.

I have ideas for three types of sites.

One is a lead generation site. I assume that all I need for this basically is good marketing, two domains (one for consumers and one for the people needing the leads). Is this a basic database/info capture page??
Is there anything fance I need to know??

Also, I have an idea for a community site to fulfill a niche. What types of software/tools will I need for that??

Finally, anyone worked with virtual stuff - interaction type stuff??

Joe

[MJ DeMarco]

Hi all,

I have some questions and don't know where to start.

I have ideas for three types of sites.

One is a lead generation site. I assume that all I need for this basically is good marketing, two domains (one for consumers and one for the people needing the leads). Is this a basic database/info capture page??
Is there anything fance I need to know??

Also, I have an idea for a community site to fulfill a niche. What types of software/tools will I need for that??

Finally, anyone worked with virtual stuff - interaction type stuff??

Joe

Community sites are easy - buy a board license, a hosting platform and wholla, you've gotta board. Couple hundred dollars. The best boards out there are phpBB (FREE), vBulletin (this one) and IPB (Invision Power Board).

What type of lead-gen industry are you looking at? The field is very competitive vs 3 years ago.

[royemunson]

My first idea would be a community site/virtual site for kids.
Big market and parents will pay for safety which would be another concern.

The lead site would be for various professional sites. Being an accountant I have seen first hand that these professionals don't number one like to sell and number to know how to market.

The mortgage industry is tight, sales genie is a big market leader, but there are a number of niches out there in the professional world that would be more than happy to pay for good leads.

I have not fully researched this yet as I am trying to just get the flow together. Domains, platform, database, etc...

I'm trying to find a hole so I could sneak in and use my marketing skills
to overcome competitors. And like you said in your story, most companies are 9-5 when I would be 24/7.

Thanks for the feedback

Joe

[Nate]

I've always wondered about starting a lead-generating site. The types of leads that came to mind were:

• Injury law... yes, ambulance chasers. Seems like they would pay for leads
• Lasik eye surgery
• Home/mortgage or something along those lines
• Payday loans

And a few others.

Anybody know about this kind of stuff?

[AllOutOrNothing]

Leads are a tough market. I would building something on a smaller scale so you can leverage into something bigger over the long haul. As u build cashflow and a system that works you can expand into bigger markets with less risks.

[royemunson]

I am working out a strategy/plan that I think will work in the lead market. If it turns out to be a bust, it won't cost me a lot to do as it will be very niche focused, very targeted, and different from other lead generation companies I have seen. I've seen some doing it but for a higher cost.

Having worked in a professional service biz and with other small biz's there main weakness is the communication level of the B-I triangle. As is said in the emyth, they are great technicians, but lack skills in other areas, including sales, marketing, prospecting, networking, etc...

My plan is to roll this out 2008 - i am building a site about stained glass for my step dad, which to my surprise is getting a ton of great feedback and we're not even close to fully finished.

Joe

[M-M]

This gave me an idea for a lead generation myself. So far it looks like it hasn't been done yet; now I need to check what kind of interest there is within the industry (I know some people on the inside).
Questions: Can anyone here recommend software they have used successfully? How do I go about pricing the service?

[MJ DeMarco]

This gave me an idea for a lead generation myself. So far it looks like it hasn't been done yet; now I need to check what kind of interest there is within the industry (I know some people on the inside).
Questions: Can anyone here recommend software they have used successfully? How do I go about pricing the service?

Assuming you want to be at the top of the chain, lead gen software, as far as I know, needs to be custom programmed as each industry is different.

[M-M]

Assuming you want to be at the top of the chain, lead gen software, as far as I know, needs to be custom programmed as each industry is different.

Did a lot of figuring out these past 2 days and it won't be a straight-up lead generation in the traditional sense. I know what I want, now I need to find out if it needs to be custom made or if it can be pieced together.

[MJ DeMarco]

The Lead-Gen space is changing and the type of change will depend on your industry. I can tell you this though -- the good and the bad -- the good is this: In its short history, lead-gen is very lucrative and profitable - the bad is: Its getting harder to get people to give up their information and complete forms. The internet evolution, the move to Web 2.0 and instant gratification is changing consumer expectations on a monthly basis and lead-gen is an endangered species in some industry segments.

[michael515]

Regarding lead gen sites, I have a lead gen site for health insurance leads that I developed. I modeled prospectzone.com and built a 10 page platform using open-source PHP to gather the health info. This is very complicated on the scale of forms and still I didn't find it too difficult just much trial and error to perfect. Forms are actually very easy to build. Use open source and just build off of a pre-built script.

I decided to let that idea go. The biggest reason was HIPAA which would have required me to have a very secure back-end database to protect people's health info. Lot's of initial cash to setup and maintain. I also brought nothing better to the market. I don't see low price as a large enough competitive advantage. Also, most lead buyers are extremely fickle too...

Community to fill a niche - do you have a revenue stream that you may attach to the business? I could be wrong, but I find that very few communities actually make money.

I say roll with your stained glass business if you're getting good feedback.

[Luke12321]

I am interested in building a lead generation site. Where can I go to find out more information on the industry? Very general but any forums I could go to? I tried to google some information out but had no luck.