Software - Care and Value

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Care and Value

Tags : monetizing a social media site, monetizing a social networking site, making money for an online community, software needed for a social media site

You are here because of the Social Networking Buzz.

But did you know many companies are struggling to create successful online communities?

There are many online communities taking a dive compared to a few winners. What are they doing wrong? A short answer is, they are missing their purpose.

The long answer is...

Show me the money

If your goal is to make a boat load of money - think again. When you go to a site, you'll be able to discern the intent quickly. An online community site is no different - people can see if your purpose only to sell. A community will not form around the purpose of your pocket-book. It forms around value; value for the members.

Value is king

We know content is king, but the value of content is just as important. The content must add to the visitor's or member's experience. Relevancy and originality to the visitor rules here.

Ask yourself, why would a visitor join your community; why would they stay? Are they going to stay and register on your site because you have cleverly created search engine friendly key words in your content? Or because they are inspired about how the content speaks to their concern?

Kevin Costner was Wrong

If you build it, they will come - NOT. You add value, have a purpose, or provide an engaging experience, THEN you still need to tell people your site exists. Promoting your site is not rocket science, but it does require two things: patience and perseverance.

One - complete all the basic SEO (go to the "google webmaster" and read).
Two - continually add content on a weekly basis.
Three - tell people - if you blog, tell them about the site and ask their opinion.

Continually work on one, two, and three and over a period of weeks, you will start to see traffic. Over a period of months, you will know if you are providing value.

Networking

You don't need multi-level-marketing, but you need to make sure your community site provides a very easy way to promote itself. Make sure there is a button to "invite a friend."

People not Impressions

There are real people visiting your site, they are not just page viewers, or unique visitors looking at ad impressions. They are your sister, your brother, your neighbor. You must appreciate their click to your site. Thank them.

Your visitors and members have concerns just like you. While they are looking at your online community, their dog needs to go out and Sammy just stubbed his toe and he's crying. They are worried about their job (or looking for one). If you treat them like a forumla element to money, they will see that intent.

We have all read about the human mind's ability to discern patterns - it is an amazing gift we have locked in our skull. If your site is a forumla, people will know. What also can discerned is care, concern and empathy.

In Summary

Build your online community for a purpose other than self. Build it around something of value, perspective and truth. From the millions of people out there, it is a fair bet some have your same viewpoint. With fresh valuable content, basic internet marketing, and care about your audience, your social networking site will grow.