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Community sites/Virtual Sites/Lead Sites

royemunson

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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
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Jul 23, 2007
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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

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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

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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?
 
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AllOutOrNothing

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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

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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

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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?
 
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MJ DeMarco

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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

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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

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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.
 
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michael515

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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

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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.
 

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Dean
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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.

Has your view of Lead Generation being an endangered species changed since this post in 2007, or does it remain the same?

In TMF which was published after this, lead generation is still regarded as being very fastlane (if done correctly, especially in a defragmented industry).

Currently starting work on a lead gen idea, so I'm just curious...o_O
 
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