Studies show that web page  views have been dropping precipitously as folks park themselves on the social web. There have even been a flurry of blog posts from Jason Falls, Jay Baer and Debbie Weil debating whether your blog is now the true “hub” of your marketing communication effort.

But honestly, it seems strange to me that these superb bloggers are even wasting space with this debate. Your good old website (Ahhhh … remember that?) is still your hub.  Here’s why.

What are you really trying to do?

Step away from your Tweetdeck, take a deep breath, and think about what behavior you are trying to drive with your communication effort. In most cases it is making some type of connection, right? Let’s just be honest and put the purist stuff aside. Ultimately you want your readers to take an ACTION like register for something, make a call, or buy something from you.

Is that going to happen on your blog?

Probably not, unless you are doing out-right selling there and that’s (usually) a no-no.  The actual “connection event” is going to happen on your website. So all roads should lead to your homepage, right?  Wouldn’t that make it the very epicenter of your marketing universe?

Even though websites seem to be out of fashion, they still play a critical role in actually driving behaviors. A website should explain what you do, why you’re special, and what a reader should do next.  This is where you sell. And that’s a big deal.

Creating the spokes

You need to use the social web to support this effort by creating an “information eco-system” to lead prospective stakeholders back to the Mother Ship and eventually DO SOMETHING. You can think of these outposts on Twitter, your blog, Facebook, YouTube or wherever as spokes or outposts leading your visitors home.  Likewise, your website should also be leading people back to the outposts, if that is where they need to be to get the information they need.

Whether you work for a non-profit, a university, or a business, you’re in this to drive some type of behavior. That behavior is consummated on the website (usually a contact page) and all social properties should point to your site and your opportunity. Your website still matters … a lot!

What am I missing here?

{grow} community update: Dave Fleet posted an article which serves as a nice reference if you’re interested in reading more on this topic.

27 Comments

• 

  By Marc Winitz, March 4, 2010 @ 12:23 am

  So what bothers you about selling from your blog Mark? I am just asking and curious, not being judgmental.
• 

  By Gregory Stringer, March 4, 2010 @ 1:09 am

  Mark, you are missing nothing. I might reply to Mr. Wintz that blogs usually aren’t set up to handle CGI scripts, which allow for shopping carts, aren’t appropriate for listing products, and do little to explain about your firm, it’s mission, handle customer interactivity, etc. Mark points out that your blog should be a part of your Website, which is vital, but as he says, your Website itself is the hub of your online campaign. Selling on blogs is a good way to turn down potential prospects, as they are there to see what you have to say, not to what you are selling. The selling comes from the Web page.
• 

  By Mark, March 4, 2010 @ 7:57 am

  @Marc — Great question. Usually blogs are used to inform, connect, build community and establish reputation. Those missions are tainted by out-right selling. For example, if all i did on my blog was tell you how great I was and how important it is for you to hire me, I would lose every reader, including my wife. : )

  In the blog I said “usually,” because obviously people do sell from blogs in the form of sponsored posts (articles people are paid to write), banner advertising, or out-right selling of services.

  I chose to not go that way and wrote a post about this philosophy:

  http://businessesgrow.com/2009/12/02/a-non-commercial-view-of-a-social-media-community/

  It all gets back to your goals. Certainly you want to drive some behavior through a blog. For me, it is building a vibrant and connected community and establishing a voice of authority in the online marketing space.

  Thanks for the great question!
• 

  By Mark, March 4, 2010 @ 7:59 am

  @Gregory — Thanks for adding your points to the mix today!
• 

  By patmcgraw, March 4, 2010 @ 9:25 am

  I believe that social media is all about offering the other person the greatest experience, most value possible – and since I have the ability to add features/benefits to my blog/website, I consider that to be my hub.

  Twitter, for me, is a place to reach out and engage with some people – but the blog/website is there to support my belief that I might know what I am talking/tweeting about. ;)
• 

  By Jon Buscall, March 4, 2010 @ 9:30 am

  @Mark, What’s your take on those of us that have blogs as our website?

  For example, as a consultant I’ve built my business around my blog, using it as the front page of my website, with the services and about pages wrapped around it.

  Your front page is a straight landing page with links to key resources and the call-to-action of “Get a quote”.

  Are you saying a blog should be an integral part of an overall integrated online presence or do you think they can work alone to build business?

  I’ve thought about launching a company website as my “virtual agency” seems to be materializing around me, but I’m still umming and ahhhhing about this.
• 

  By Natasha Gabriel, March 4, 2010 @ 9:49 am

  I think you hit the nail on the head Mark. Your website is an absolute must and please make sure it’s updated! Everything else should just be breadcrumbs leading to the “trap” – trap sounds harsh huh. What I think we can do is beef up our websites even more with tools that can tell where they came from, what they have been searching, and tell exactly who is on the site and their contact info – I dare say stalking. OK, I am never going on another website again!
• 

  By Marc Winitz, March 4, 2010 @ 10:22 am

  Mark and Gregory – So that you both understand I asked the question in a limited way to get your true thinking (Mark) without trying to “jade” your answer.

  I was reading Chris Brogan’s blog (assuming you will both know him, Mark I know you do because I have seen your comments and Gregory not so sure based on your comment to me above) over the last 2-3 days. Chris apparently is now one of the primary “spiritual leaders of of SM and has wildly popular blog where he dispenses advice very much as Mark does. He recently posted an offer for a service call “Third Tribes” which he is involved in. You can read it at http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-offer-on-third-tribe/

  This generated hundreds of comments so he put up a second posting in response about pricing and value, oulining how he makes $22K per speaking engagement, but that his offer for Third Tribe is $47 a month. You can read that at: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/price-points/

  As a side note he promotes the Thesis Wordpress theme as an affiliate. This guy wrote the national bestseller “Trust Agents”. His community is huge, his brand is bigger and he has loads of money. He says in his comments on the top post:

  “I appreciate the feedback, John. It’s most definitely a pitch. : ) For every 10 or 12 posts I do that are hopefully useful to you and your aspirations, I make a pitch for something I’m doing that might be of further use to a subset of people who come here. It’s like buying a magazine with only 2 ads in the whole thing.”

  @Mark – This Chris is writing the book on this space. Based on this, do you still stand by your comment? I read your other link and liked it. But I am curious. This gentleman is at the top of his game and he seems to be OK with selling right from his blog. By the way, I have never spent a second looking at the rest of his site. I go for the advice, views and community.

  @Gregory – Brogan’s blog is his website. Aside from the fact that you absolutely can integrate a shopping cart into something like Wordpress, I think you need to re-think your statement:

  “Selling on blogs is a good way to turn down potential prospects, as they are there to see what you have to say, not to what you are selling. The selling comes from the Web page.”

  I don’t think this statement is correct at all.
• 

  By Jay Baer, March 4, 2010 @ 11:21 am

  Nice post, and I’m glad to see others chiming in on this. To be accurate, myself, Jason Falls and Debbie Weil have advocated that your blog should be the hub of your social media efforts, not necessarily your overall marketing communications program. Big difference. In my post (and in my Webinar today about the same thing), I advocate for a blog as being a more appropriate social media clubhouse than your corporate Web site, Twitter, or Facebook (or Linkedin for that matter).
• 

  By Mark, March 4, 2010 @ 2:56 pm

  @ Pat — Absolutely!

  @Jon. Great question. The answer, like so many things in marketing is “it depends!” My personal website is not necessarily ideal but it is what it is due to a bunch of reasons i won’t get into here. Still, it’s serviceable. Some clinets get directed to the landing page, some clients get directed elsewhere like the blog.

  I love your website and think it fits your business model well, especially since you focus on blogging and corporate communications. I think it is definitely preferable in fact I think it is essential to have your blog as part of your website for many good reasons, not the least of which is SEO.

  @Natasha — Boy that is the Holy Grail of Internet marketing. if you can do all that, you will be a wonderful case study. Let me know how your work progresses!
• 

  By Mark, March 4, 2010 @ 3:06 pm

  @Jay — I don’t see that it is a big difference, but it could just be semantics and I certainly give you the benefit of the doubt. In my view, I don’t see why you would have a stand-alone social media initiative, or a stand-alone marcomm effort or a standalone anything with different “hubs.”

  My point is that it should ALL be integrated and it should ALL be pointing back toward driving behavior.

  I don’t know what a social media clubhouse would entail (keep envisioning Pee Wee Herman for some reason) but at the end of the day, you still want the people in the clubhouse to do SOMETHING.

  Another point that would make for interesting discussion — My bent is toward blogging too, but I have also seen and experienced some tremendous Facebook success stories (I hope to feature one here soon — increased sales 40%!) and have really come around myself as the possibility of using this as a community-building tool — even more effective than blogging in some cases. Again … it depends.

  Thanks so very much for the clarification and your views, Jay!
• 

  By Jay Baer, March 4, 2010 @ 3:20 pm

  I see it (for now) working best like this for most companies:

  Outposts>Blog>Web site

  The blog is the bridge between interest and action. Expecting a Web site conversion immediately when people come from a social outpost is often unlikely. Too abrupt. Not human enough.
• 

  By Mark, March 4, 2010 @ 3:29 pm

  @Marc — Sorry for delay in response. Your comment got caught up in the filter because it had two links.

  Chris Brogan. Big topic.

  I think you made a key point — he’s at the top of his game. He can actively monetize his audience without losing his audience. There are not many who can do that. Maybe only him.

  I don’t agree with what Chris is doing and have told him so. It has nothing to do with him making money. More power to him. He’s worked like a dog and deserves every bit of his success. My gripe is with HOW he is doing it. For years he preached consistently, loudly and vehemently NOT to sell and at the first opportunity he had to turn around and monetize his audience, he flipped his message. He has not presented a consistent “brand” and that has pissed a lot of people off and he has lost a lot of credibility and undoubtedly followers, IMO.

  If he’s making $22,000 per appearance why does he have to be a pitching to his audience like a used car salesman?

  Again, I totally respect what he’s accomplished but feel he has committed the ultimate brand faux pas by being inconsistent with his essential brand promise.

  P.S. Marc — you are totally rocking this blog with your good questions!
• 

  By Mark, March 4, 2010 @ 3:30 pm

  @Jay. (part 2) Totally agree. Well put.
• 

  By Edin Shaba, March 4, 2010 @ 5:41 pm

  Mark, you are not missing anything.
  The argument against the website is mostly based on ‘be where your customers are’ mantra.Social Media as a the ‘ultimate hub’ hysteria aiding and abetting this mentality.

  So it goes with the idea of building a community and a following to interact with and create ACTION there.And frankly it sounds pretty good in theory, as most build a following through their blog and keep in ‘conversation mode’ through Twitter or their Facebook page.

  However as you pointed it out, your goal is to sell and ‘Sales’ is a process.So we switched from classic off-line Sales process to online Sales process.Having a ‘nice brochure’ (blog, Facebook page) with a good mailing list and phone numbers (RSS,Twitter),is important (you called it ‘information eco-system’…i like it) but it does NOT qualify the lead, nurture and convert it,or at least not by it self.

  Social Media and Blogs (education articles) are in the ‘Status Quo’ in terms of lead qualification.Whereas Webinars and White papers participants and readers are in a ‘Priority’ phase.We can now further nurture with How-to or best practice approach to addressing the issue.We can finally give ‘Options’ through Evidence and case Studies.

  To conclude,although important to attract prospects and build a community,blogs and social media alone cannot efficiently sell.Lead qualification, nurturing and conversion need landing pages, forms and analytics that only a website can give you.
• 

  By Mark, March 4, 2010 @ 6:18 pm

  @Edin This is an amazing comment. Far better than my original post. Seriously! Thank you!
• 

  By Jayme Soulati, March 4, 2010 @ 9:14 pm

  Here’s an honest-to-goodness example happening yesterday, today and tomorrow about why a Web site is critical (BTW, what’s the appropriate nomenclature for that word/words?).

  I’ve been tweeting about my quest to blog. This week have lamented my midnight hours trying to upload Wordpress, watching tutorials, etc.

  Here comes, finally, a knight in shining armor — a Web host tweep with the right price, bill of goods and NO Web site! Hit the link nothing uploaded. He claims he’s working on the site; I said I’m not buying until I see a Web site!

  He asked me why! I was shocked and had to tell him credibility, a phone number (not in his email signature), client testimonials, biz tenure, design look, content feel and message, among other basic foundational items.

  So, I don’t care if you have a blog or not; I want to see a Web site — that’s instant credibility, or not.
• 

  By Marc Winitz, March 4, 2010 @ 9:35 pm

  So that is useful feedback Mark, several things I did not (his history and your communication with him). This exchange provides real value. You are a black belt Mark :)
• 

  By Rebel Brown, March 4, 2010 @ 10:04 pm

  If I may – we’re all so focusd on social media and consulting and services. Lets talk about products.

  Lets think about a big businesses that sell product instead of social media information – like brogan and all the other A listers. These customers need a site where customers can see their stuff, get information and ask questions. I doubt that’s a blog – and if it is – well, than that’s not really a blog anymore, its a selling website. At least IMHO it is. Once you startactively selling a product on a blog – you lose objectivity, and more likely your audience.

  AA list blogger are, well, bloggers. What A-list blogger would think they need a website? Probably as many as product companies think they need a blog:):)
  Different audiences want different information. If I’m coming to a site to buy a product – I don’t want to read a blog about the state of the market. If Im coming to Mark’s blog to read his brilliant opinions – the last thing I want is to have him sell me some product.

  Right on with your comments Mark – and yes, I’m still revamping my WEBSITE. Blog will be there too – but so much more!

  Different audiences want and need different content ad wish to take different actions. We need to provide an integrated site where everyone can find everything they want and need.

  Wow – aren’t we back to marketing 101 again:)

  reb
• 

  By Mark, March 4, 2010 @ 10:42 pm

  @Jayme — Very powerful point!

  @Marc – Thanks!

  @Rebel — The mysterious Miss R returns to {grow}! Hoo-hah! Yup, we have come full circle. Why do people forget the fundamentals some times? Appreciate you!
• 

  By Jon Buscall, March 5, 2010 @ 3:17 am

  @Mark @everyone!
  This was such a great post with some great comments from the Grow community! This is what I love about blogs.

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