Social Networking Article: You don’t need a website any more!
No more websites
With this blog post, I would imagine there will be some pretty upset web developers out there. GOOD! For the last 9 years I have sold websites to small business owners. Not just any website, but Smart And Sticky Websites.
For the last year, I have been advising my clients to avoid spending money on a useless “smart and sticky” website and build a wordpress blog. Why would I say this? Here are just a few of the reasons:
- With a WordPress Blog (assuming you self host which is recommended), anything you post is already search engine friendly. By adding some extra sites to PING, you can get your blog publicized pretty fast. In laymen terms, you can get more people to see your blog very quickly.
- Once it is setup, you can update it yourself very easily. There is no reason you need to be dependent on your web developer.
- Hosting is only $4.95 a month to self host your blog. I recommend Host Gator as their customer service is amazing and they specialize in Word Press. For the $4.95 a month, you get email and can actually host other sites.
- A wordpress blog is built in PHP – which is a common language used to build websites. This means you can do anything you want with a wordpress blog (you might need a developer but it is minimal compared to what it would cost to build your website)
- After you build your website, you still need traffic…..how are you going to do that? With wordpress, you can drive a tremendous amount of traffic in a short amount of time. It means search engines can easily find your information and rank you higher.
- By adding just one post a week to your blog, the search engines will love your fresh content and constantly come back to rank your site.
- If you are doing any type of Social Networking (twitter, linkedin, facebook, plaxo, etc.) you can have your blog posts automatically tied to your Social Networking sites. This gives you even more exposure.
- “Sticky” refers to being able to get people to leave their name and email in exchange for something valuable. You can easily do this with a WordPress Blog by using a form from iContact, Constant Contact, Sales Force, OneShoppingCart or any other email management system. You can also use Feedburner to capture emails.
- “Smart” refers to being able to automate a part of the business. Typically when you grab those emails you need an autoresponder system to automatically convert those leads into paying clients. At the very minimum you will want to keep your name in front of these prospects with valuable tips and information. Your email management system or Feedburner can do this as well.
- Any time you refer someone to your blog, it feels you are giving them a resource and value. When you refer someone to a website, it feels like you are trying to sell them. Become the resource and earn their trust….they will naturally buy something if there is a fit.
- You can easily add audio and video to your blog without any 3rd party software. For audio, you can record audio using Sound Forge Audacity (a free program). For video, take the video with your digital camera and upload it to YouTube.com. You then add the embed code (conveniently given to you on YouTube.com) and VIOLA! You have full multimedia capabilities. In fact, you can use other people’s videos in your blog for quick and easy content.
- Building a website can be a time consuming process. I was able to get this blog up and going within a few hours and I have no experience programming sites. In fact, I taught my 6.5 year old daughter how to create her own blog…that is how easy it is.
My whole philosophy this year is to simplify. Having a blog that I can update and manage myself has become a total blessing. I only wished that I knew about WordPress Blogs 9 years ago. I would have recommended everyone to leverage their website investment by learning Social Networking to help drive traffic to their blog instead of having a “Smart And Sticky” website where they still need marketing.
What do you choose? Blog or Website? What makes you choose that?
You are invited to an online class for FREE (a $97 value) on how to build Strategies so you can leverage Social Networking to grow your business.
www.FreeSocialNetworkingTraining.com
How did you like this Social Networking Article? Please leave us a comment. BONUS! Would you like to learn more about how to grow your business using a Social Networking system?Get your free Social Networking video training by going to: www.FreeSocialNetworkingTraining.com
Tags: blogs, sabrina gibson, Smart and Sticky Websites, Social Networking, Social Networking Articles, Word Press
September 30th, 2009 at 5:28 am
Great advice as always Sabrina! Thank you for giving so much and sharing your gifts
September 30th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Analysts have noted that for many younger Internet users, social networking sites are the most important aspect of online life. Blog Hosts
October 1st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Thanks Cathy. I am so glad we are connected and learning together.
October 1st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
There definitely seems to be a shift with younger generations. I feel the next set of classes will be about how to write hand written thank you notes and how to create solid relationships offline.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Hi Sabrina!
Couldn’t agree more – cool stuff!
Will keep following your blog now
/Malin
October 21st, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Wow, nice post. Bookmarking now
October 24th, 2009 at 4:52 am
I normally don’t comment very much but I have to say that I love your blog. Always good stuff.
October 28th, 2009 at 3:06 am
Thanks Malin. I appreciate your feedback. Look forward to hearing how I can share something to benefit you.
December 4th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Hello, just thought you’d be interested to know that I have added your site to my Google bookmarks because of your beautiful blog layout (LOL). With that said, seriously, I believe your site has one of the cleanest theme I’ve seen yet. It honestly makes your blog post easier to read.
December 4th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I was wondering what is up with that weird gravatar??? What Can I change Here To Make It Better I know 5am is early and I’m not looking my best at that hour, but I hope I don’t look like this!
January 6th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Thanks Sabrina – you’ve already taught me so much, and now you’re the gift that just keeps giving!
January 20th, 2010 at 4:03 am
Thanks Stephen. I am glad we are connected. Please let me know if there is something specific I can write about for you.
February 17th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Interesting post, just want to add a few things.
First, Google owns Blogger not WordPress. And the difference between these two platforms is you can self host WordPress (or not), whereas Blogger is hosted on Google’s servers. Google does index WordPress blogs and all other blogs as a matter of course, and as far as I can tell, makes no preference for one platform over another.
It is possible to easily build a dynamic website which changeable content. I’ve found two wonderful site building tools on the Mac, Sandvox (very easy to use) and Rapidweaver (bigger learning curve, but amazing what you can do with it.) I have a scrolling newsbox on my website which I update whenever I have news. And I have the ability to capture email addresses there too.
When I send someone to my website, it’s to introduce them to my entire online world or give them access to resources. When I send them to my blog, it’s because I want to give them a way to interact with me that’s less time consuming than phone calls or to take their learning further. For example, I invite my students to post their questions about my speeches and education programs on my blog.
And when I make contact with someone through a social network (and setting up a page or account on a social network is even easier than setting up a blog or website), it’s because I want an ongoing personal interaction with them.
I think websites will continue to have a place in the future, as will blogs and social networks. It’s about using the right tool for the right purpose. Your headline is certainly catchy, but I don’t think it’s necessarily so.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
[...] This post - http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=177 [...]
March 4th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Hey Dr K,
Is there anything you can’t do yourself? SMILE Seriously you are truly amazing. Thanks for this incredible insight and application.
March 4th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Thanks so much for the mention and for the added insight on getting rid of your website.
March 14th, 2010 at 11:08 am
You wouldnt believe how long ive been googling for something like this. Went through 6 pages of Yahoo results and couldnt find anything. Quick search on bing. There was this…. Really gotta start using that more often
March 15th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Thanks for the tips but i would like to add one or two points. Nowadays, you dont even need a blog as i fel that social media sites gives better mileage for our business campaign . The concept is go where the peoples are .. you dont need ask them to leave their favorite and comfortable site and visit your blog. That will hassle to them .
March 17th, 2010 at 2:50 am
One of my favorite customer service quotes is “If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will.” -UNKNOWN
March 17th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Thanks for your comments. I do believe Social Networks can do some of the initial work however to really build trust and rapport someone needs to be able to understand on a deeper level how you might help them. A blog allows you to showcase your expertise while generating results with Search Engines. Social Networks is just one tiny piece of a much bigger strategy and picture.
March 17th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Glad you found value in this. Let me know what additional information you would find valuable. I have been known to write a blog for a specific question.
March 17th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by sabrinagibson: Learn why you don’t need a website any more. http://ping.fm/5Jmj9…
April 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Loved your blog. Do you do guest blogging ? If so would love to have you write a few blog posts on one of my sites. Let me know if interested .
April 7th, 2010 at 3:39 am
I have been thinking of doing this for my real estate website and have even found some themes that are made for real estate. My concern is migrating the 60+ pages on my site — that have about 1,500 back links pointing to them — without dropping off the face of the web completely.
Would I need to do 60+ “301 permanent redirects” or something of that nature? My current host assigns some pretty funky page extension names to their templates and it could be a challenge. Thoughts?
April 7th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Hi Ron,
What about leaving the website and then doing new blog posts that talk about what is in your existing website. You can provide links in your blog posts back to your website. If you have hosting that is on a separate hosting company and then point back to your existing website, you will create more exposure. In addition, as you create a post in your new blog, you can then send a message out to your social networks letting them know about the blog post. This will create goodwill as you are sharing resources. It will drive traffic to your blog and if they are interested they will go to your website. The other option would be to create a call to action (such as a free webinar) where you can convert people who are coming to your blog.
The biggest question is this….great you have all these back links and pages….but are they creating any list or new clients? Connect, Convert and Collaborate is the method I follow when it comes to online marketing and web presences.
Let me know if you have any additional questions. I am excited to hear what you do. By the way, if this might make a difference for you….you can sign up for a 30 minute consultation with me where we go a little deeper than what I did in this post. You can pick your time by going to http://www.Tungle.me/SabrinaGibson My schedule books out about 2-3 weeks.
April 21st, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Sabrina, you make some pretty good points in promoting WordPress. However, most free WordPress templates may not fit a client’s desired business branding. So, even if a client opts to do WordPress, for customization a designer/developer may still be needed. So don’t worry designers, there is still plenty of work for you!
May 1st, 2010 at 11:17 am
Hey! Just wanted to leave a comment. I honestly was impressed by your post. Keep up the great work.
May 15th, 2010 at 8:31 am
Can we make these backlinks?
May 22nd, 2010 at 3:42 am
Hello,this is Deshawn Westcoat,just found your Blog on google and i must say this blog is great.may I share some of the writing found in your site to my local mates?i am not sure and what you think?in any case,Thank you!
May 28th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
You can share my writing as long as you credit me with where you found it. Thanks. Is there something in particular that you really like?
May 28th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Sure. What did you have in mind?
December 15th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Hi Sabrina, thanks for all your tips, WordPress is great, I also tried Getsimple for a blog (no Mysql database needed) but it is not very customizable. Best wishes to you.
December 24th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
[...] No More Website’s post – http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=177 [...]
December 29th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
With all the plugins and the things you can do with WordPress….I can’t imagine using anything else. WordPress is the Gold Standard when it comes to blogging.