Sean Pecor turned me on to this site where people ask for insights about a community. In the recent few days we have received a lot of interest from our Roanoke Connect site through City-Data.

This is a resource we need to spend more time on and we need the help of the online community in visiting the site – http://www.city-data.com/forum/roanoke-area/ and participating in the conversation.

You would be amazed at the number of comments and page views each entry has. These people are the hottest target of our community in getting them to relocate to our area.

It further supports a recent book we read called Economic Development Marketing by a company called ZoomProspector.com whose survey findings say site selectors will not contact and ED official until it gets down to the final few sites cause they have done all of their research online at various websites.

Government officials can respond to sites like City-Data, but it is also important for people like Sean Pecor, Jeremy Hart, and you to also contribute.

Help us recruit individuals to the RNR. Get on City-Data.