Once launched, how much might a niche social networking site earn from advertisers? The purpose of this post is to give those developing financial forecasts and business plans for niche social networks some basis for projecting revenues.

Since it takes lots of eyeballs to sell ads for flat fees, the prevalent advertising model for new social networking sites (aka “publishers”) is CPM, or cost-per-thousand impressions (page views.)

In essence, the formula is click-through rate times the cost per click per 1000 impressions. (If you’d like a detailed explanation and example of CPM calculations, see Wikipedia’s definitions.)

The graph above is the PubMatic AdPrice Index, which I reference for the big picture. Although too small to read, the data suggest that for small websites generally, the average CPM price was $1.18 in March 2008 and $1.29 in April. This is “based on anonymous data from over 3,000 publishers who work with PubMatic for ad network.” “Small websites” are defined as those with less than a million page views a month. This also includes all types of sites, not just social networking sites.

In this post, I round up comments from experts on typical CPM ad revenues for social networking sites in early 2008. My format is to display headings that are blog post titles, then quotes giving dollars and cents CPM numbers, and finally the blog name with date of quote. Follow the heading links for details.

The Future of Social Networks

“Industry insiders at the conference [ReMIX Silicon Valley, April 2008] said they see CPM rates of between 10 cents and 50 cents per thousand for social networks, but it can go much higher ($2.00 to $5.00) for highly targeted demographics.

“Is Web 2.0 financially viable? A small moderately successful software company can generate $12M in annual revenues by focusing on a narrow niche market. What would it take for an advertising based Web 2.0 company to generate the same revenues? Lets assume a $2.50 CPM rate. To generate $1M in monthly ad revenue you would need 400,000,000 monthly page views. Hmmm…how many web sites or services generate that kind of traffic?”

Don Dodge on the Next Big Thing. April, 2008

LinkedIn’s CPM rates lower than reported $75, but still impressive

“Seems comments made by Kevin Eyres, managing director of European operations for LinkedIn, were optimistic in pegging ad rates at a $75 CPM. To a degree. A customer who’s bought advertising on LinkedIn wrote in to let us know that last fall they negotiated a campaign to run ads against the social network’s “premium content” for a $12 CPM, $3 less than the listed $15 rate. The company is now charging $45 for that same inventory, they report. A quick look at the rate card shows that the $45 price point is for vertical banner ads targetted to IT and small business professionals. Custom targeting goes as high as $76.50 per thousand impressions. Good thing to know that you can bargain down those rates 20 percent. And it’s still an order of magnitude more than any other social network has been able to charge.”

Jackson West, Valleywag blog, Silicon Valley’s Tech Gossip Rag April 30, 2008

5 factors that determine your advertising CPM rates

Andrew Chen gives this rough rule of thumb:

” * Social sites (forums/chat/etc) without direct ad sales teams: <$0.25 CPM

* Largely international sites: <$0.50 CPM

* Medium-sized sites that use banner ad networks: <$1 CPM

* Reference sites in a specific category: >$5 CPM or sometimes much higher, depending on category - we ran into home improvement reference sites that did $20 CPMs

“Because we were mostly dealing with so-called “remnant” advertising, these numbers are likely to be at the bottom of the range for these sites. That is, social networks might quote a CPM of $20 CPM, but what they really mean is that 1% of their inventory is sold at that, and the rest of the 99% is sold at <$0.25 prices.”

Futuristic Play by Andrew Chen: Thoughts on viral marketing, user experience, game design, and online advertising

5 things that make your social network monetize like crap

Andrew Chen makes the point that ad inventory isn’t homogeneous, it’s a pyramid:

“Sometimes you might hear the CPMs for one of these social networks is X dollars. And that’s true, it’s exactly the price that SOME people are paying for the inventory. But in general, that’s not how publishers end up managing their inventory. Instead, if you take the impressions for a user across their session, you’ll instead get something like this:

* The first US impression in a session has the most value ($10)

* Then impressions 2-5 have some level of brand value or high CTR value ($3-5)

* Then after that, you’re hitting ad networks selling on category ($1)

* Then eventually, you hit remnant ad networks ($0.50)

* Finally, you hit pure CPA remnant networks ($0.10)”

Futuristic Play by Andrew Chen: Thoughts on viral marketing, user experience, game design, and online advertising

To those who really know what they are doing in online advertising and those checking what I’ve said about their blog posts, it should be obvious that I’m at the bottom of the learning curve in this area. But I’m gathering and posting information for entrepreneurs who are just stepping on the curve. Are there better indexes? Where can a niche website owner go to develop better estimates, maybe by topic area? Please add something to enlighten us all with a post.

Other articles in my beginner series “How to Start A Social Networking Website” are:

Part 1: Background, Manuals, and Lists

Part 2: Business Models and Revenue Streams

Part 3: Networking Software and Developer Contracts

Part 4: The Value Proposition (for my trial site)

And more coming. You are invited to check back or subscribe. Or post a related question and maybe I’ll research it for a post. I’m here on behalf of all those building and growing niche social networking sites.

I whip up a social network for my own SCORE Chicago community using Ning, to practice what I am preaching. Now I find myself trying to sharply define and communicate its value to potential users and my organization.

The purposes of the SCORE Chicago Community site, which has not yet been approved by SCORE Chicago, are threefold:

1. To give counseling clients who have had 2 or more counseling sessions a place to showcase their businesses to other small business owners, and to the public. Links here should also help their own website rankings in internet search.
2. To motivate potential clients to ask for business counseling so they can become a part of the community.
3. To encourage a community to hatch around shared interests of Chicago entrepreneurs and small business owners.

No revenue objectives, but I suppose Adsense might support any bandwidth charges.

It becomes clear to me as I demo the site to my associates that in order to interest people in joining, potential users need to understand the basics. And of course they need to believe that it will be worth their time and effort to create a page and visit.

With those objectives in mind, I create a post to explain its benefits on my LearnedAtSCORE blog:

Check out this Community for SCORE Chicago Clients

I’m soliciting feedback on this explanation of the site and its benefits from selected clients and counselors. And from you. If I get encouragement and approval from above, I’ll start a campaign to notify appropriate clients in our database.

Meanwhile, what do you think? Will small business owners want to put up pages to describe their businesses to a broad market? Will features like Groups allow them enough visibility in target markets? (Ning FAQs say that keyword tags are coming, but not available yet) Will people ask for business counseling to become a part of this community? Do entrepreneurs and small business owners feel a need to network?

Your thoughts? Please post.

P.S. Ning means “peace” in Chinese, according to Ning’s site. Not the ethos you expect to find where passionate people gather to discuss and debate.

You can work with a developer to build a social network from scratch, or you can have a developer modify existing platforms, or you can start a simple network all by yourself.

Too often we SCORE Counselors see clients who are locked into inappropriate agreements with inexperienced developers. Clients were promised an inexpensive site, based on poorly specified requirements. And the inexperienced developers seem unaware of existing platforms that they might select and customize.

This post offers very introductory links to existing software platforms and a couple links and suggestions for working with developers. Again, I’m no expert. I’m just rounding up the pros and other commentators on this topic.

Software Platforms

Nine Ways to Build Your Own Social Network Excellent survey from the reputable blog TechCrunch. Chart covers the software Ning, KickApps, CrowdVine, GoingOn, CollectiveX, Me.com, PeopleAggregator, Haystack, and ONEsite Basic versions of all these are free, and you pay to upgrade capabilities. Source: TechCrunch, July 2007

Comparison of Social Networking Software A tabular comparison on Wikipedia. Software covered: PeopleAggregator, Elgg, Mugshot, Drupal, Community Server, Joomula, PhpiZabi, ODS.

Open Source Platforms for a Social Networking Website One user starts with requirements and tests these applications: Joomla, Elgg, WordPress MU, Drupal, Spoon Graphics blog, September 2007.

Build Your Own Social Network 27 links to other sites, including the popular Ning. Just links, no comments, on Social Networking Watch.

RailsSpace: Building a Social Networking Website with Ruby on Rail A chapter by chapter description of a book on the Railspace platform.

A Firm That Builds Niche Networks

I found one firm that specializes in building communities for you. No doubt there are many others.

Affinity Labs “builds online communities to improve the lives, careers and education of our members. In January 2008, Affinity Labs was acquired by Monster Worldwide.” The site shows the home pages of communities for nurses, police, educators, firemen, artists, government, IT professionals, Indians in US, and women.

A Checklist to Review Your Developer Contract

Information required in a web development agreement: Checklist 18 elements to cover in a developer agreement. Source: Out-Law. com, IT and e-commerce legal help.

A Book on Working with Developers

I asked Chris Keslin, Senior Architect with KTSC.com and bdmsinc.com, for advice on working with a developer. He recommended Rapid Development by Steve McConnell. Chris Microsoft Press, $35.

On Amazon, the publisher says: “Designed to be read either as a reference or cover-to-cover, the book describes more than two dozen best practices including evolutionary prototyping, evolutionary delivery, designing for change, Joint Application Development (JAD), outsourcing, timebox development, signing up, and voluntary overtime.

“General topics include rapid-development strategy, core issues in rapid development, classic mistakes, risk management, estimation, scheduling, motivation, teamwork, customer-oriented development, productivity tools, and project recovery. The book’s explanations are enhanced by the inclusion of 27 case studies, life-like descriptions of how the theory and practice of rapid development play out in real-world projects.”

A Couple Articles on Using Software Platforms and Vendors

Customers Should Avoid Community Software Vendor Lockin: Own Your Data Sample insight by this well-respected expert: “I’m hearing that most vendors have a clause that says that the client owns the data, but when you look deeper there may be vague descriptions or time limitations -which could really muck things up if a client wants to pull out.” Source: Web Strategy by Jeremiah, March 2008.

Picking a Community Partner. Ten questions to ask a potential partner. Source: Beagle Research Group, February 2008.

Choosing a Developer: One Software Architect’s Recommendations

Keslin advises: “Assuming you don’t have the technical skills to judge their capabilities, look at insurance and references:

1) Insurance - “Validate the level of liability and E&O insurance the company holds. While it doesn’t directly speak to an individual or firm’s quality of work, it speaks to the scope and scale of the projects they have taken on.”

2) References - “Phone numbers and verifiable work experience going back at least three years is a good start if you do not have the technical capacity to determine an individual’s qualifications. Examples of work and white papers are nice, but talking to people that have worked with the company is far more revealing in my opinion. Delivering successfully is dependent on the ability of the vender to understand what the business owner is asking for, which unfortunately rarely has to do with technical skills.”

Keslin also reminds those with existing businesses to think about compatibility issues.

“Businesses should take into consideration their existing IT infrastructure when evaluating new technologies. While there are many existing tools to create a social network, the majority cost of any IT project is consultants and or employees time. Matching the tool with the business’s existing infrastructure and available skill sets will provide the greatest cost savings. Maintaining multiple desperate technologies can become prohibitively expensive, especially for small businesses.”

How Tough Is It To Set Up A Simple Social Network?

My answer is — very easy. I set up a beta version of a community for SCORE Chicago clients in a couple of hours using the Ning platform. Here’s my beta site: http://www.scorechicago.ning.com.

This is free as long as I can stand those Adsense ads. It’s $19.95 a month to get rid of them and run my own. Another $7.95 a month to remove Ning promo links. And free assuming I don’t need more band width.

I conclude that the real work in social networking is the time and dollars it takes to build the community. And, if you’re in it for the money, figuring out the best methods to “monetize” it.

Have something to add to the discussion? Please leave a post to share your insights or links with us all.

(Pics are “street art” in Santa Barbara that evoke networks to me.)

What are possible business models for social networking websites? How does the entrepreneur create revenue streams, or monetize the community? I’m no expert, but I’ve rounded up links to alternatives from pros and others. I’ve briefly listed the main revenue sources or summarized content of the links.

As a SCORE volunteer counselor, I look at the business plans of those starting or struggling to grow social networking websites. My impression is that there are many potential but few proven and profitable revenue streams.

Why do I think that many entrepreneurs create these sites in hot niches not necessarily to make them profitable but to sell them to a big player with deep pockets who can pour in marketing dollars and hold out for a long-term payoff?

What’s the big picture? Wikipedia on Business Models for Social Networks

“Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be because social networking is a relatively new service, and the value of using them has not been firmly established in customers’ minds. Companies such as MySpace and Facebook sell online advertising on their site. Hence, they are seeking large memberships, and charging for membership would be counter productive. Some believe that the deeper information that the sites have on each user will allow much better targeted advertising than any other site can currently provide.] Sites are also seeking other ways to make money, such as by creating an online marketplace (Facebook’s Marketplace) or by selling professional information and social connections to businesses: such as LinkedIn.

“Social networks operate under an autonomous business model, in which a social network’s members serve dual roles as both the suppliers and the consumers of content. This is in contrast to a traditional business model, where the suppliers and consumers are distinct agents. Revenue is typically gained in the autonomous business model via advertisements, but subscription-based revenue is possible when membership and content levels are sufficiently high.”

What are alternative business models?

Startup Metrics 101: Product and Marketing Workshop (sideshow presentation) Interesting slideshow on this blog, which discusses the basics: get users, get usage, drive revenues. Offers details on user acquisition, activation, retention, referral, revenue. “Revenue tips: Don’t rely on Adsense, Start free and go premium, Subscriptions and recurring transactions, Qualify the customer, Sell something physical or virtual.” Source: Master of 500 Hats, A blog about Geeks, Entrepreneurs, & Startups in Silicon Valley, by Dave McClure.

Business Models for Social Networks: Monetizing Social Capital, The Long Tail of Cool, & The Friends List. . “We need to do more work on social network monetization and business models.” Includes slideshow on “Business Models on Facebook” slideshow. His recommendations: 1. Integrate Apps, Pages, & Advertising , 2. Offer Targeted Social Search & Commerce Features, 3. Monetize The Long Tail of Cool, 4. Accelerate Off-Platform Transactional Behavior. Source: Master of 500 Hats, A blog about Geeks, Entrepreneurs, & Startups in Silicon Valley, by Dave McClure.

Facebook’s real problem isn’t Privacy, it’s Monetization. 3 possible solutions… His solutions (his new terms): feedsense, feedsearch, fanpage applications. Source: Master of 500 Hats, A blog about Geeks, Entrepreneurs, & Startups in Silicon Valley, by Dave McClure. The Internet Revolution, Act II.

VC confab: Please, no more social networks At this March 2008 event, VCs doubt that social networks have a viable business model. Source:CNET News post.

Social Networks Tempt Investors -IPOs and Wall Street opinions. Source: Georg Szalai and Paul Bond in Adweek, August 2007

Monetizing the Social Network Methods are: advertising, transaction fees, affiliate marketing, corporate sponsorship, memberships. Source: Imedia Connection, Connecting the Marketing Community March 2005

5 Ways to Monetize A Social Network Those five are advertising, subscription, data mining, sponsorship, affiliate marketing. Source:Take a Peek: Sports Business, Social Networking and More April 2008

A Guide to Monetizing Social Networks and MMPGOs Problems are that either monetization isn’t planned into the application, or that it’s pure monetization. Need a valuable user experience and permission-based marketing. Source: WhoIsAndrewWee.com: Blogging, Affiliate Marketing, Social Traffic Generation

Selling Social Networks Discusses traditional choices of ads, product affiliation groups, partnerships, micropayments, user payments. Adds alternative markets, brokering trust and negotiation of community. Source: Unit Structure: Thoughts about Information, Social Networks, Identity and Technology. October 2006

Social Networking Services in the U.S. - Popular, Yes, But How to Monetize Them? (IDC #208115 “describes the opportunities and challenges social networks present to companies that do business in the digital marketplace. An overview of the current state of U.S. social networking services is provided …Additionally, the business models social networks support and the money they can bring to these businesses is outlined.” Source: IDC, August 2007. Consulting report, 21 pages, $3,500.

Social Media’s Future Looks Bright, Apply Sunscreen “Promising companies are new advertising networks, e-commerce applications, payment systems, and infrastructure providers for social networks, according to executives here at the Dealmaker Forum 2008.” Social commerce, the intersection of online socializing and shopping, is the future? Foresees the same business models as earlier. But with social networks, advertisers know more about consumers, so better targeted. Early social ad companies are Lookery and Social Media Networks. Source: CNET News, May 1, 2008

What about a pure membership model?

How to Create and Run a Profitable Membership Site Part 1 “… there are still relatively few membership websites. This makes it the perfect time to start your own member-only site, since there is still little competition. The most critical process in membership sites is choosing a specific topic that will encourage people to pay money for information on it.” Source: “I supply info” on Article Café.

Part 2 Link Three types: 1) profitable Adsense keywords, 2.0 contents or article packages, and 3) ready- to-make-money packages. “The more members you are catering to, the lower the membership fee should be. Adjusting the price to these factors is a key in finalizing the key dividend and profitability of your membership site.”S ource: “I supply info” on Article Café.

Part 3 Link Target the right market, make it unique and different, find good people, generate quality traffic. Source: “I supply info” on Article Café.

How do I get a critical mass of users?

Critical mass in a user community. Brief post that advises: Get celebrity people and internet aficionados. Source: Complexity and Social Networks Blogs. February 2007

5 Keys to Social Networking Success Start with friends, enable narcissism and vanity, enable voyeurism, enable user judgment, enable expansion. Source: Information Week, Andrew Conry-Murray. August 2007

What did I miss? Why not send me a good link or make a suggestion in a comment?

See also How to Start a Social Networking Website Part 1 - Background, Manuals and Lists

(Pics are from a recent trip to Lotusland in Santa Barbara. Vegetarian networks, I think.)

I’ve only been blogging for nine months. Nevertheless, I find myself giving a crash course in small biz blogging to peers. This is a summary with links for those who missed it, and for anyone else who might be interested. Even if you aren’t thinking of starting a blog, you can learn below how to work with bloggers to promote your business.

Blogging Basics

A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website with special features. Chief among them are:

1. Entries (posts) are frequently updated.
2. Blogs are interactive, so readers can comment.
3. The Index is fluid, using categories or tags.
4. Posts are in reverse chronological order.
5. Links to other blogs and websites abound.
   
6. Many offer an option to subscribe in email or a “feed reader,” which aggregates and lists posts from various blogs.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Benefits:

• Drives traffic to your website, and a link may raise its ranking in search
• Builds brand awareness and raises your company profile
• Shows customers how you or your business model are different
• Enables sharing news with friends and influencers in the industry
• Positions you as source for publications looking for commentary
• May earn ad revenues if you run ads

Disadvantages

The Case Against Blogging (written for the real estate industry, but its points are widely applicable, and funny.)

And one caution: Any entry you might dash off and post after a glass of wine on Friday night will be there for your unborn children and their children to read. Electronic tracks are well-neigh impossible to erase.

What Small Biz Should Blog?

I recommend regular email marketing — building and working your prospect and client database — as a primary effort. I’d only blog if you are well along in that area because it is much more scattershot. I also think those with national or web-based businesses benefit more than local businesses.

Here are the types of businesses might benefit from a blog:

• Consultants, for example a national training consultant
• Those in industries with a steep learning curve — a wine merchant or condo attorney
• Firms with certain products or services, especially those related to a lifestyle that you can blog about. For example, someone with camping products can blog about outdoor adventures.
• Technology companies, for example a provider of online corporate games
• NOT recommended for the majority of small businesses

What Does It Take?

• Blogs are easy to set up. It will take longer to determine your login and URL than to start blogging.
• BUT they are work to maintain. You need dedicated time each week. Word on the street is that you should post 2-3 times a week, but at minimum once.
• You need basic writing skills
• To attract and sustain an audience, you have to produce meaty posts with provocative or informative content.

Examples of Small Biz Blogging Successes

Blog It and They May Come

Blogging’s a Low-Cost, High Return MarketingTool

Blog-a-Thon: Your Company’s Blog Should Be One of Your Strongest Marketing Tools, so Get Talking

Where to Set up a Blog

www.blogger.com (A Google site, and it’s free for now.)

www.wordpress.com (Free for now)

www.typepad.com (14 day trial. $4.95 per month)

How to Get Traffic on Your Website from Bloggers

Even if you don’t blog, you should identify key bloggers in your industry, start reading them, and consider posting comments to increase the visibility of your business. Here’s how.

How to Get Traffic and Links from Popular Blogs

Meet the Press: How to get Good PR for Yourself in the Blogosphere

Where to Find Blogs of Interest

Just put your favorite keywords into the search box at either site below and start surfing around. Also be sure to check out the links (sometimes called a blogroll) on the sites you find. If you follow this serendipitous route, you’ll find your hot spots.

http://www.technorati.com

http://blogsearch.google.com

How to Read A Blog

Understanding and Reading a Blog (for Newcomers)

Top Blogs About Small Business

See a recent post on this site.

Sample Client and Counselor Blogs

We’re new at this too, remember.

Jeff Lipincott http://jlippin.blogspot.com and http://lippin.wordpress.co

Ken Larson http://smalltofeds.blogspot.com

Peg Corwin Small Biz Web 2.0 Weblog http://scorechicago.wordpress.com and http://LearnedAtSCORE.wordpress.com.

Sample SCORE Client blog:

http://www.chicagocondosonline.blogspot.com/ This is an excellent blog about condos in Chicago, written by an entrepreneur who has created “the Ultimate Condo Database.” The author is also a Columbia Journalism School grad and former editor of Readers Digest, so the headlines are snappy and the writing is clean and colorful.

“Blogs in Plain English” Video

What did I miss? Help me out, here, and leave comment.

(My too-quick little mouse accidentally deleted an earlier version of this post.)

So you want to start a social networking website for your niche? You need more than an online form — you want to build a brand and revenue stream you can sell. You’ve done an informal survey of your friends and they can’t wait to join.

It sounds so simple, but what’s involved? How do you fund it? What software do you use? How do you get the website designed and launched? What do you do about content? How do you build your brand? What’s the best way to expand your membership? When are advertisers interested, and how much will they pay? And where’s the exit?

My fellow SCORE counselors and I often advise entrepreneurs with a burning desire to launch networking sites in their niches. So I went surfing on behalf of these entrepreneurs, past and future.

This is Part 1 in a series of posts on the background of social networking communities, how-to manuals, and lists of these communities. The idea here is to provide links and references with some annotation, to help entrepreneurs explore the issues.

Later posts will cover business models and financing; networking software design and vendors; and blogs and advertising.

Background

The Wikopedia has excellent summary articles on these related topics:

Social Network

Online or Virtual Communities

Social Networking Service-Website

Manuals

Why not use the experience and advice of others as you plan your website? Here are online publications and books on what’s involved.

The Online Community Cookbook Rich Gordon of the Medill School, Northwestern University and of the Media Management Center, Available to download, chapter by chapter.

“The Cookbook provides a structured approach to understanding online communities and a step-by-step guide to building and sustaining them successfully in local markets.”

Owyang, Jeremiah. “Online Community Best Practices.” Forrester Research, 2008 February 13. $379 Slideshow Link

“An online community is an interactive group of people joined together by a common interest. It’s also one of the most powerful tools a marketer can deploy for customer retention, word of mouth, and customer insight. To host a successful community, think of it as you would product development: Start by focusing on objectives, chart a road map, assemble the right team, and plan to be flexible. Then build your success by launching the community with the backing of your most enthusiastic customers and staying engaged as the community grows. Above all, remember that control is in the hands of the members, so put their needs first, build trust, and become an active part of the community.”

Online Community Toolkit Full Circle Associates: Connections for a Changing World, Online and Offline. (A consulting firm.)

“Thinking about building or hosting an online community? Looking for specific tips, tools and ideas? Start here. The following is a collection of articles that may help inform your work. They are all covered by our Creative Commons license which makes the material available with limited restrictions.”

Smart Start-Ups: How Entrepreneurs and Corporations Can Profit by Starting Online Communities (Hardcover) by David Silver

From the inside flap: “Using case studies of companies you might not have heard of yet-but will-Silver explains business plans and models for start-up online communities, showing how to produce value for members, attract more paying customers, and make it all work at a profit. You’ll learn what’s happening in social networking, who the major players are, and what makes them successful. Plus, you’ll have all the tools you need to research, facilitate ideas, and develop a business model for your own profitable and unique social networking start-up. Plus, launching an online or mobile community is relatively inexpensive-as little as $300,000!”

And a couple brief blog posts.

10 Rules for Designing Social Networks Connie Benson: My Conversations (ACD Systems Community Manager)

Things to Think About Before You Start Your Online Community Ezine article by Jon Hecky

List of Social Networking Websites

I found a number of lists (check date of last update) where you can look for competitors in your space. Joining, examining and participating in other sites can give you ideas about both features and problems.

USA Social Networking Rankings Social Networking Watch Blog: Social Networking News and Commentary

Popular Social Networks Social Networking Watch Blog: Social Networking News and Commentary

Home of the Social Networking Services Metalist Social Software Weblog: It’s all About Who You Know

Wikipedia list

Niche sites Buz Networker

More nche stes Buz Networker

10 Niche Social Networks for Your Consideration I-Lighter: Collect Organize and Share the Web

SN Site Guide Directory SN Guide Website (student project, but in depth analysis of nine sites)

Check back here for future posts on business models and financing of social networking websites; networking software design and vendors; and blogs and advertising.

Did I miss a great reference above? Please let me know by posting a suggestion.

This morning I decide to try Technorati. Sure, I’ve known it is there, and it sends traffic to my blogs. But I hadn’t explored it.

Technorati tracks blogs. Lots of blogs. In fact, “112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.” In the website’s own words:

“Technorati is the recognized authority on what’s happening on the World Live Web, right now. We search, surface, and organize blogs and the other forms of independent, user-generated content (photos, videos, voting, etc.) increasingly referred to as ‘citizen media.’”

Members supposedly have the ability to increase their blog’s visibility in the blogosphere. Non bloggers who join can use it to search and monitor blogs, too.

So I decide to tip toe into Technorati. I type www.technorati.com into my browser and click “join.”

Step 1. Claim Your Blogs

I enter my blog URL into a box and select an identification method. My blog is on WordPress so I select Open Identification method, “one time only”, and abracadabra, my blog is found.

Now I’m asked to enter a description for my blog. I go back to my blog and copy the focus language (making a mental note to improve this text later.) I paste it into the description field.

Tags are next. What tags, or subject keywords, do I want to assign to my blog? I enter in the usual suspects…small business, score, business networking websites, blogging, web 2.0.

Last, “Favorite It” buttons. I am offered code snippets to paste into my blog to allow people to select me as one of their Technorati favorites. OK, I pick my button format, copy the code and paste it into a widget text box on my blog’s sidebar. I view my blog and (surprise) the “Favorite It” button is there.

Following these steps, a fellow blogger with a Blogspot blog stubbed his toe on Open ID. Try Quick ID with Blogspot and then click Edit next to your login name on the title bar to proceed as above.

Step 2. Add Your Profile.

The profile section (accessible by clicking Edit next to your login name) includes Settings (the above info), Bio, Photo, Blogs and Extras.

In the bio section, I identify myself as a volunteer with SCORE, “Counselors to America’s Small Business,” in the Chicago region.

I fail miserably in the photo area. (See graphic to the left.) Tried to use a SCORE logo, but the system wants a square image and these rectangular banners do not work. Could not delete what I uploaded. Will have to fix this later.

“Extras” is actually a Watch List. You enter keyword subject terms and immediately blog posts on those topics are listed. I enter “business networking websites” and suddenly see more blog links than I care to process at the moment. I also enter a specific blog URL and add that blog to my Watch List. There’s a link to click for each Watch List item, and presumably every time I come back, I see up-to-the-moment blog posts on that topic.

Step Three: View Your Authority SCORE and Blog Reactions

As I link my own blog and see others come up on my Watch List, I notice scores for Authority and Blog Reactions. What are those, I wonder?

Authority is the number of blogs that linked to the blog/media in question in the last six months. This blog, Small Biz 2.0 Weblog, has an authority score of 5, and my second blog, Learned At SCORE, 11.

Now when I click on my blog link in Technoriti, I see the first several lines of three recent posts and 6 Blog Reactions. The latter are the number of blog posts that have linked to me– “essentially the link count for your blog.”

Fans. To the left of my blog listing is a Fans count. Sad to say, I find I have no fans in Technorati. If you are a member, why not click that cute little Technorati button on the lower right on this site and make this blog a Favorite? I’m not happy being a wallflower.

Step Four: Link to Your Buddies with Blog Favorites

New on the block, now I want to hook up with my blogging buddies. I click the Favorites icon to the right of my login name. I find a box on the left where I can put in URLs and add subject tags to the blogs of others.

I add a couple. I find that bloggers who have joined Technorati come up with Authority scores and recent posts. When I add non-member blogs, I get a link, but also an apology that that blog is not in their index. Will forward this post when it is done to launch these guys into the blogosphere.

Step Five: Try a Search

The search box in the upper right allows me to put in any search term and see not only blog posts but also blogs, videos, and photos using those terms. I find videos of my blogging buddy Jeff Lippincott. To narrow and target the results, use quotes around multiple terms: “Jeff Lippincott”, not Jeff Lippincott, which gives me results with Jeff’s and Lippincott’s in the same post, but not together in one person.

You can also use Technorati’s tag feature to improve your results. If you type

tag: Chicago small business

you will see blog posts that their writers have tagged with those subject headings. The “tag: xx” search omits posts that merely include those words in the text.

Blogosphere

It’s been a long, hard morning in cyberspace. Two cups of coffee later, I still can’t figure out how to put in a good picture, so the blurred one is staying for today. But hey, I’m hitched to the blogosphere now.

What’s your Technorati experience? Leave me a comment. Not a member yet? Please join up and add this blog to your Technorati favorites. I’m standing against the wall, waiting to dance….

Alltop.com has great links to small business blogs and publications. The site continually updates the five most recent stories and posts for all of these links. Think of it as Google News for small business.

Alltop claims their objective is to help you “explore your passions by collecting stories from ‘all the top’ sites on the web.” But it does not provide the scope or focus of these sources. You can’t print out the list. The order is “a complex algorithm, ” meaning no logical order.

To make these small business links more useable to myself, and perhaps to others, I’ve separated the blogs and sorted by large topic - Finance, Retail, Sales, Technology, Women, and General, the last being a big group. The publication news feeds are at the end.

I can’t help organizing it — I’m an ex-librarian. And some of us old timers still need printouts occasionally.

FINANCE

Wise Words: Lessons on Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital
http://www.seanwise.com/

The Profit Repairman: “The Profit Repairman’s” ® Lifelong Mission: Increasing the Success Rate of Small and Mid-Sized Businesses to Correct This On-Going Crisis Facing America and the World: “For the future safety of your Money, Career and Business, every single person must discover the results that “My Little Black Book to Success”, “Stop Biting Your Nails and Start Sharpening Your Claws” and “The Profit Repairman” can deliver to them”
http://theprofitrepairman.blogspot.com/

RETAIL

Mine Your Own Business: A Weblog for Independent Retailers
http://tacony.typepad.com/blog/

SALES, MARKETING AND BRANDING

Andy Sernovitz’s Damn, I Wish I Had Thought of That: Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers
http://www.damniwish.com/

B2B Lead Generation Blog: Brian Carroll’s Blog focused on B2B lead generation, sales leads, and marketing for the complex sale.
http://blog.startwithalead.com/weblog/

Big Identity Guru: Branding Blog By Brand Identity Guru Life Experiences and Opinions From Branding Guru Scott White
http://www.brandidentityguru.com/wordpress

BIG Marketing for Small Business
http://bigmarketing.wordpress.com/

Branding Strategy Insider: The Branding Blog
http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/

Bringing Brands to Life: Harnessing the Power of Remarkable Corporate Video Stories to Ignite Conversations and Spark Action
http://www.directortom.com/director-tom/

Change This, by Noah Weiss
There’s an inverse relationship between the options–the number of media outlets and sources of information–and the validity–how rational, fact based, and constructive–of those options. More now than ever, America is faced with an unprecedented number of options and an unprecedented lack of media validity and integrity. I believe that this relationship can be broken.
http://blog.changethis.com/changethis_newsletter/

Conversation Marketing: Common Sense Internet Strategies
http://www.conversationmarketing.com/

Copyblogger: Copywriting Tips for Online Marketing Success
http://www.copyblogger.com/

Duck Tape Marketing: Simple, Effective and Affordable Small Business Marketing
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog

Entrepreneurial Salesman Blog: Colin Wilson’s Strategies and Tools For Successful Selling, Making Your Number and Increasing Commission
http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog

Local Na8ion: Where You Are Is Where It’s
LOCAL Na8ion is a free resource for any business that needs to connect with local buyers for next-to-nothing using revolutionary online tools and methods.
http://www.localna8ion.com/category/blog/

Marketing Practice: World’s Largest Online Resource On Indian Brands.
http://marketingpractice.blogspot.com/

Selling to Big Companies: Jill Konrath
http://sellingtobigcompanies.blogs.com/selling/

Shoestring Branding: Branding for Independent People
http://www.shoestringbranding.com/

The Sales Coach, The Sales Blog “Join us as we develop the concepts and strategies of the new sales community.”
http://salesblog.karlgoldfield.com/

The Selling Sherpa: Showing You How to Reach the Peak Of Your Earnings Potential
http://sellingsherpa.typepad.com/the_selling_sherpas_blog/

Seth Godin’s Blog
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/

TECHNOLOGY

Billda.com: Ramblings on Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Web Design
http://www.billda.com/

Good Morning Silicon Valley (San Jose Mercury News)
http://svextra.com/blogs/gmsv

On Startups: A Community for Entrepreneurs. This site is for software entrepreneurs.
http://onstartups.com/

Signal vs Noise: a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more.
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts

Small Biz Technology: Tech Insights and News for Small Business
http://smallbiztechnology.com/

WOMEN

I Know A Mom: Celebrating Mom’s With Big Ideas
http://www.iknowamomblog.com/

Lipsticking: Marketing to Women Online
http://www.lipsticking.com/

Mogulette-in-the-making: Uncovering the latest tricks and tools to help small businesses thrive. “What would you try if you could not fail?”
http://mogulette.blogspot.com/

GENERAL

Ask Lacerte: My Thoughts, Your Business
http://www.asklacerte.com/blog/

Biz Informer: Where We Are Never Without An Opinion
http://www.bizinformer.com/

BizBox: Blogs and Buzz about Small Biz (Slade)
http://bizbox.slate.com/blog/

BizSugar: A social news site for small businesses and mid-sized companies. Business owners, managers and entrepreneurs can now discover, share and vote for the best business tips, trends, news and strategies on the Web. If you find a business story, tip or video that you like, give ‘em a little sugar!
http://www.bizsugar.com/

Business Forward: Looks at the companies, leaders and issues, driving business success in today’s economy
http://businessfwd.com/

Dane Carlson’s Business Opportunities Weblog
http://www.business-opportunities.biz/

Entrepreneur Daily
http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/index.html

Escape from Cubicle Nation: How to Go from Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, by Pamela Slim.
Escape from Cubicle Nation

ExecutiveHacks.com: Tools and Tips for Entering the Boardroom
http://executivehacks.com/

HomeBiz Resources: Bukiki, Making Money Online
http://www.homebiz.bukiki.com/

How to Change the World: A Practical Guide for Impractical People http://blog.guykawasaki.com/

Iinnovate (many interviews and index of interview topics)
http://iinnovate.blogspot.com/

Inc.Com — 14 Blogs and 31 Resource Center Blogs
http://www.inc.com/blogs/

Just Tell Me How To Manage: If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes
http://www.justtellmehowtomanage.com/

Make Money with EZ Wealth Solution: Recommended Home Business Opportunity
http://howimakemoneyfromhome.blogspot.com/

Microsoft Startup Zone: Blogs
http://microsoftstartupzone.com/blogs/default.aspx

Mind of a Hustler: The Road to Success Starts in the Streets
http://mindofahustler.com/

My Venture Pad: The Online Community for Business Owners and Managers
http://myventurepad.com/MVP/

Planning Startup Stories: Tim Berry on Business Planning, Starting and Growing Your Business, and Having a Life in the Meanwhile
http://blog.timberry.com/

Solutions are Power: A business is a lot to handle, so we’re here to help by providing solutions for everything from driving traffic to your Web site to local networking and advice from your peers, supplying you with tools that will empower you to take your business to the next level, and beyond.
http://solutionsarepower.com/

Small Biz Survival: By and for small business people in rural areas and small towns.
http://www.smallbizsurvival.com/

Small Business Essentials: News, Tips and Advice from the NHG Network
http://www.smallbusinessessentials.info/

Small Business Labs: Tracking and Forecasting the Future of Small Business
http://genylabs.typepad.com/small_biz_labs/

Small Business Trends
http://www.smallbiztrends.com/

Springwise.com: Your Daily Fix of Entrepreneurial Ideas
http://www.springwise.com/

Startup Nation Blog: For Entrepreneurs, by Entrepreneurs
http://www.startupnation.com/blog/index.asp

Superinnovator:
http://superinnovator.blogspot.com/

Tecoris: Illuminating The Path To Success For Small Business
http://www.tecoris.com/

The art of business: a forum celebrating creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship
http://chrissoderquist.blogspot.com/

The Employee Factor: Where Employees Drive the Experience
http://employeefactor.com/

The Entrepreneurial Mind: Center for Entrepreneurship, Belmont University
http://forum.belmont.edu/cornwall/

Up and Running: Starting Your Business with Growth In Mind
http://upandrunning.entrepreneur.com/

Venture Hacks: Advice and introductions for entrepreneurs.
http://venturehacks.com/

Young Entrepreneur Blog
http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog

NEWS FEEDS FROM SITES THAT ARE NOT BLOGS

All Business
http://feeds.allbusiness.com/rss/2471213?format=xml

About.com
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/

BNET.com
http://www.bnet.com/

Business Week
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz//index.html

CNN Money
http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/magazines/fsb/?section=magazines_fsb

FastCompany.com: Where Ideas and People Meet
http://www.fastcompany.com/

Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/?feed=rss_entrepreneurs

New York Times: Small Business
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/smallbusiness/index.html?partner=rssnyt

Hacker News
http://news.ycombinator.com/

Kauffman Research Portal
http://www.kauffman.org/research

US. News
http://www.usnews.com/rss/usnews.rss

WSJ.com
http://feeds.feedburner.com/wsj/xml/rss/4_1037?format=xml

Work.Com: How-To Guides for Your Business
http://www.work.com/

ZDNET: 73 Resources for Entrepreneurship
http://updates.zdnet.com/tags/Entrepreneurship.html?t=0

Have a site you like that smallbusiness.Alltop.com missed? Add a post.

Just discovered and joined the Small Business Online Community, underwritten by the Bank of America. This is social networking for small biz. Among the many communities I have looked at, this may be THE ONE where owners can really share and learn.

Here’s the goal of the site: “The Small Business Online Community allows small business to exchange ideas and information, and benefit from the experience of others. It’s easy to connect with other members - try starting or joining a conversation in the forums or posting your thoughts in a review. Many users also learn valuable insights and tips from our articles and the success stories of other members.”

As I set up my profile (SCORECitylady), I learned I could mention and describe my business, add a link to my business and even a tag line. (Hint: don’t sign up in FireFox, ’cause it doen’t take your entries.) Adding your website URL can help your site ranking, so be sure to do that.

There’s a Contributions section to your profile that lets you add forum posts, reviews of articles (from “industry experts”), business stories, and comments. You can customize email alerts for news from the community.

Members in the member directory are rated Mogel, Authority, Professional, and Startup, presumably depending on how others rate your contributions. 552 from Chicago, I find.

The Forum tab has three areas: Business Opportunities, Money Matters (site is funded by B of A, after all) , and (of most interest) Running Your Business. Here’s the link to Sales and Marketing, to give you a taste.

It’s got everything: Articles (”Fire Yourself,” “Fix Tax Mistakes…”, Polls on the lower right of the home page (What Activity Do You Spend Most Time On At Tax Time?”), and Stories (”Stop Looking for A Quick Fix For Your Business” “How Yahoo Store Changed Our Business.”)

Of course there’s a site search. Looking for SCORE, I found 27 mentions. Looking for blogging, I found 12 profiles with that word and 95 posts, articles and stories.

Why not swing by to search on your industry and latest business challenge? Advice and support may only be a click away.

Everybody talks about Facebook’s sales and marketing potential, but how do people use it to promote their small businesses? To find out, I posted a query on LinkedIn. My overall impression is: more selling through networking and widgets like IPromote, less selling through its Social Ads and classified listings.

Excluding people who responded about big company usage and Facebook marketing strategies, here are the results:

NETWORKING PROMOTION

Biana Babinsky (Online business consultant)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Biana-Babinsky/21490042776?ref=s
http://www.linkedin.com/in/biana

“I have received leads and clients as a result of my networking… I run groups and networking events for people I meet on social networking sites, I keep in touch and network, I write and optimize my blog, etc.”

Kevin Boyer (Director PR and marketing, marketing agency)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=837677590&hiq=all%2Cterrain
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinboyer

“We use the sites to reach influencers - people in nightlife and hospitality, people with a LOT of connections and “friends” - on behalf of food and beverage, nightlife, sports and music clients.

“We identify the people that we think are a match for us or our client and then contact them directly. Part of what we offer to our clients is the ability to reach “influencers.” We use the sites to identify more of those people and add them to our network. We then work to engage them in our product by inviting them to a special event, sending them a sample product, or encouraging them to post information about our client to their own blogs or to their friends.”

Cheryl Smithem (Owner, strategic marketing and PR firm)

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/6/563/704

“When I was working this fall on a campaign for townhomes in a small southern town, I did create a Facebook page for the company and posted photo albums of the townhomes There was little to no traffic to them–even though I had lots of people who were my friends. I think that for cool products, things that are in demand, for smaller items than houses, it might work better.”

AD PROMOTION

Sean Comeaux (Business development director)
(No public LinkedIn profile)

Sean reports “moderate success” with ads. “It was a customizable food product and I ran a valentines campaign for 12 days. I wasn’t able to “laser target” my segment, due to the lack of usable keywords, but was still able to come out with some tangible results.”

Kevin Boyer (see links above)

“All Terrain, and some of our clients, regularly use Facebook and Myspace. One client regularly advertises on Facebook because their demographic is 18 to 25 year olds.”

Scott Thomas (business development manager, marketing and technology company)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/smthomas

“I have used advertising space on Facebook over the last two years, and found it to be successful in creating a buzz, and getting exposure. I worked as recruiter for my fraternity, in starting new chapters on universities across the US. Granted, I “sold” fraternity to college men as “product” and I know that is a pretty random application, but it worked.”

Neal Evan Caminsky (President and founder, website and graphic design firm)

Red Dream Studios http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5804372281
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nealcaminsky

“Yes, we are [using it to promote] at Red Dream Studios, and have garnered success in doing so, connecting to clients who we wouldn’t have normally been successful at approaching outright using traditional means.

“Using Facebook, my own personal profile contains images and links to various elements of my business, and have over 70 people signed up to my company’s dedicated Group, in which we post updated materials, designs, videos, etc, to advertise what we are up to.

“This group was created to update our friends and clients of the going’s on at our company. This is also an open forum to discuss all things design and marketing-related or to receive general advice on entrepreneuring.”

LaShonda Matlock (Entertainment news reporter, blogger and publisher)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/lashonda

“I find that using Myspace and Facebook are great tools to market specific services such as nightlife and music related events. “

Jomar Reyes (business development director, digital media magazine)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jomar
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19200109680

“I ran a Facebook campaign for a new Music Forum that I have launched online. I got nearly 10,000 views and paid $70 And for 200 click throughs, and a couple of members sign up. It was an enlightening exercise, good value for money, and something I’ll do again with a larger campaign.”

Eric C. Wallace (Assistant manager of R&D at media firm, artist manager)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/ericwallace
http://colum.facebook.com/profile.php?id=48603237&hiq=eric%2Cwallace

“I use facebook to market, artists, comedians, models, etc…. I also make money off of building facebook pages and working on them. Learned about Ipromote application for restaurants and bands, where you post event info and flyers directly to your profile. I have never run Social or classified ads.”

Have a story to share about how you use Facebook to market your small business? Why not share your experience and post a comment.