Blogging and Lead Generation - 2 Websites or 1?

Question

In late November, I created a website and the main purpose of that site was to find leads. Through some pressure by my lovely girlfriend, I started blogging in order to establish some authority in my farm area. A lot of my posts are catered to beginning investors with lots of how-to guides and examinations of a fledgling real estate investing company. So on my same main website I have a overview of my farm area, a buyer's page, a sell your home form and my blog. Eventually, once I complete a project, I'll have a section showing all the work I've completed.

So, my question is: should I separate the blogging/market overview from my lead generation activities. I've debated the pros and cons of each too many times in my head and would love the advice of someone who has been at this a lot longer than five months. For me the pros & cons of having it all on one-page are:

Pros:
- Easier to maintain and manage
- Cheaper
- Establish authority quickly
- Unified front/messaging
- Some people may like to see that I'm an actual, real human being

Cons:
- Seeing the nitty-gritty details may turn off some sellers
- May be slightly confusing to navigate if all you want is a "squeeze page"

Like I said, I'd love some feedback on those who both blog and have a significant online lead acquisition strategy. Thanks! And no, this wasn't a clever way just to drive some traffic to my site :)

Account Closed · Answer

Keep them separate, blog on both. The target audience is very different between the two sites. Do you really want motivated sellers reading how you've wholesaled properties just like theirs to another investor for a $10,000 markup? That will kill a lot of deals. I do SEO and web work as well so I know the value of having a single larger site vs two smaller sites in the eyes of Google. In this case, however, you should keep them separate.

Sean Brennan · Answer

Yeah, I agree with Brandon Turner... a blog about your process would be of interest to other investors but I don't think sellers want/need to hear about all the behind the scenes stuff.... its like when you go to a restaurant, do you want to see 20 people sweating and going nuts getting food ready, nah you just want a nice experience and a good atmosphere. lol. I am a newb but that is my opinion on it :)

Brandon Turner · Answer

I think I'd actually take the other approach, and keep em separate. But I don't think it matters too much if you are legit on both accounts. I just know if I were a motivated seller - I probably wouldn't wanna read something about the seller sending out 2000 direct mail notices. It might turn me off? I dunno. Joshua Dorkin does spend a ton of time here! Between BP and his Hannah Montana Fan Club, it leaves little time for fun!

Joshua Dorkin · Answer

Brandon Foken - I do have a personal site where I blog about things of interest to me outside BP, but unfortunately, I just don't have a ton of time to do it. Ask Brandon Turner . . . I'm pretty much focused on this site 24-7-365.

Seth Williams · Answer

Sharon Vornholt - I hired someone on Elance.com and paid $150/mo for 4 months of SEO work ($600 total). All in all, it was basically the cost of a mail campaign - but with somewhat-permanent results. As a result of a high rank in Google, I've literally gotten hundreds and hundreds of lead submissions from all over the country over the past 12 months (enough to keep a one-man shop very busy). Keep in mind, the results didn't come immediately. It took until approximately month 4 (and even later than that) for the leads to start pouring in at a steady rate. The only real downside is - the leads are from all over the country (in markets I don't necessarily know very well). This makes it problematic to really understand property values before I send offers to people... but at the same time, it opens up a world of opportunity I didn't have access to before.

Seth Williams · Answer

I agree with Brandon Turner, Sean Brennan and Jason Nickel. Personally - I've got both (blog and a lead generation site) and I keep them completely separate. My lead generation website doesn't have any blog connected with it, but I did go so far as to pay for some SEO about a year ago and it was BY FAR the best thing I ever did for it. I went from almost no ranking on Google, to consistently ranking #1 or #2 for my targeted key words. As a result, I consistently get more leads than I can handle (I can't even respond to all of them - which is an awesome problem to have). As Sharon Vornholt said, if you do decide to blog on your lead generation website, just keep it focused on the seller's side (blog about things like, "Why sell your property for cheap?", "The benefits of cashing out now.", "The fastest ways to eliminate the burden of property ownership", etc.).

Sharon Vornholt · Answer

Brandon Foken - Branden your buyer site for your leads should be one site and your blog where you teach others about your experience and how to invest in real estate should be separate. You potential sellers will be completely turned off knowing you offer 70% .... etc. On your motivated seller site you can put some articles like "50 things you need to do to list your house quickly". These articles should be factual, but they should also be there for the purpose of making people say, "heck - I don't want to do all of that work and spend money making all those repairs" if you get the idea. Those articles should actually make people want to take your offer; "I will buy your house as is for cash and close quickly". Your blog should be for other investors and should be there for the purpose of buiding your authority and expert status in your niche. You have two different goals here, and you will be shooting yourself in the foot if you try to combine them. Sharon

Brandon Foken · Answer

I'm not sure I follow the question, Bill. I'm not advertising FOR others; I'm advertising TO them. I want to buy their house, not list it, sell it, etc. I'm not sure how that would skirt any RE laws. I may be misreading the question, so please clarify if need be. I spent some hours today creating my new blogging site and separating my blogging activities from my lead generation activities. Thanks again to everyone who contributed their opinion - this is why I spend way too much time on this site!

Bill Gulley · Answer

Brandon mentioned "selling" I think for others is they way I took it, so I have a question. Missouri real estate laws pretty much govern any form of solicitations to rent, buy, sell for others. If you have a Homes Magazine for FSBOs for example, just a lising magazine where buyers contact the seller directly, the publisher must have a brokers license, so the question is, how can you advertise, even on the internet, for others without a license? Next, hopefully blogs are done with good info. Many that I have seen, perhaps they were news stories too, weren't totally correct or omitted important info. Getting these researcher types to do an article might be a good thing for generating interest, but ought to be watched carefully as it's a reflection on you. So, what time is spent checking them out, the due diligence, or is it really at a more basic KISS method level? We had/have a local TV station web site that has "experts" answer questions, much of it is legal and RE or consumer matters. I have made a few comments there but see it really pumped by Realtors. While most are halfazz answers, to those who know the local area, these newbie Realtors are really doing more harm I'd think and the "pros" see it as well. Point is, seems you can also draw attention that might not be good for you....competing types use your info as not what to do. Just saying, for example, talking about doing Lease/Options gets you nailed locally as some scammer if it's not usual and customary methods, you may give too much info out. I have not blogged really, I do battle in the forums, LOL, blogging would keep you out of confrontation from competing opinions, it's the way I'd go if I were doing business... :)

Seth Williams · Answer

Brandon Foken, I have not segmented my SEO to draw from a specific area - and while I wouldn't necessarily say this is a "problem" for me, I can see how many investors would prefer to narrow this down. Most of the properties I buy are vacant land, which means it's easy to buy & sell from a distance (without ever seeing the property in person). For example, it's no problem for me to buy a property in Georgia or Texas without needing to travel there. I'm sure you could find ways to make this happen with conventional SFR houses as well (in fact, I know people who do it), but it would add a challenge to the mix when it comes to inspections and such. I imagine you could narrow your results more effectively just by adding the name of your state, county or city to your key word optimization. This will probably reduce your number of leads, but the leads will be more "quality" (in terms of coming from the right places), which certainly counts for something. Good SEO can go a LONG way and can be extremely valuable. Having the #1 or #2 spot on Google literally has a monetary value to it, so while it does cost time & money to get there, the cost can be well worth it.