Archive for May, 2010
Outsourcing Project Setup
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Having made the decision to set up an internet marketing outsourcing project it’s time to plan what steps I need to take in order to make that happen. I’m feeling quite nervous about this as I’ve never taken on a full-time worker before and I have hundreds of questions and concerns going round in my mind. However, applying the dictum of ”Fail in the Field and Not in Your Head” I’m just going to get on with it and take it one step at a time.
1. The first step is to answer the question:
“What work could someone do for me today that would allow me to generate income fastest?”
In my case, the answer is:
- article marketing – consisting of writing, spinning and submitting to article directories
- creating backlinks – by commenting in forums and blogs.
Since my site is new, I am still trying to build up traffic to 100 uniques a day. The above is the web marketing strategy I’m currently using and this is where I’m spending the bulk of my time. They are tasks that are easily outsourced.
Depending where you are in your online business some other answers might be:
- building a website
- creating a product
- video production
- customer service
- accounting etc. etc.
2. Next I need to look at how long it would take them to do those tasks to determine whether or not I have enough work for a full-time worker or whether, perhaps, I could share their time with another internet marketer. If you have an established business you may have more work than can be carried out in a month, in which case you will need to prioritise what will make the most difference to your bottom line, and either get those tasks outsourced first or consider hiring more than one worker.
My task break down looks like this:
| Task | Hrs |
| Write article/edit PLR article | 1 |
| Submit to Ezine Arts | 1/4 |
| Social Bookmark | 1/4 |
| Spin and submit to MAS | 3/4 |
| Spin and submit to AMA | 3/4 |
| Spin and submit to FTS | 3/4 |
| Add to Art Dash and Base | 1/2 |
| Total Time Per Article | 4 1/4 |
| . | . |
| Hand Commenting | 1 |
| Directory Submissions | 1/2 |
| . | . |
The directory submissions are low down on my list of priorities and could be if and when all other tasks are completed. So, as a starting point, if I do one article marketing cycle a week plus hand commenting, I’m going to need a minimum of 7 websites to keep someone busy full-time or 3 to 4 if I do 2 articles per week. I have this, although article marketing wouldn’t necessarily be the best strategy for all of them but at least this gives me a place to start and allows me to get on with the business of finding someone to oursource to and training them to do this first task.
3. I need to decide where I am going to look for a worker.
4. I need to decide what system I will use to manage the work.
5. I need to decide what system I will use to manage communication between myself and a worker.
Since there are a number of possibilities I want to look into, and I’m trying not to go into overwhelm, I’ll cover these points in future posts.
Internet Marketing Outsourcing Tips
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re considering outsourcing for your business or wondering how you’re ever going to get everything done (think Life in the Grind) then there’s a launch that will be of interest to you. As is often the case these days, there’s a lot of gold to be found in the pre-launch. What I heard last week, has already galvanized me into getting over my resistance and giving outsourcing a try again. But this time, based on the expertise provided by John Reese, I will be doing it differently.
Word of warning though. There’s some great information in the first video, with hopefully more to follow, but you’ll need to put up with the usual sun glasses, shiny car, ocean back-drop etc. – barf, barf. Don’t let that put you off though, if you’re serious about learning to outsource.
John Reece’s prelaunch series is here:
http://www.outsourceforce.com/2-dollar-per-hour-power-formula-sp
And there’s more useful information in an interview of him by Ed Dale where Ed pre-empts some of what is to follow later in the series:
http://www.eddale.co/general/the-dirtiest-of-internet-marketing-secrets-revealed-in-this-video
The main shift in my thinking about outsourcing, as a result of listening to the interview, is to think of hiring someone for a number of hours, rather than on a per project basis. And, according to Reese this can be done for $300 per month, full-time.
My experience of outsourcing has, in the past, been on a project by project basis. A couple of drawbacks with this is that I had to keep training new people when they changed their mind about wanting to work part-time, or they got a “real” job or someone made them a better offer. A good thing about having someone work full-time (and exclusively for you, as recommended by John Reese) is that you can build a long-term relationship with them and reward them for their innovation and loyalty.
Other points that were useful included:
- the more detailed the specification you can give, the better and faster you will get the work done.
- don’t give any one person access to all the parts of your business or to critical financials such as Paypal.
- ask for regular reports (e.g. every 2 days), create milestones and hold them accountable to them.
- look for someone with multiple skills such as designing and content writing
- require them to sign a contract to work exclusively for you
There’s much more good stuff in the interview but these were the most important points for me. I’m looking forward to the next video. But before that . . .
. . . here’s a tip of my own:
If you don’t have a good system in place for the work you’re doing, don’t even think about outsourcing. Instead of having one disorganised and unfocussed person you’ll just end up with two AND be paying for the privilege. A lesson I learnt the hard way.
But, if you’ve read my past posts such as “how to manage boring and repetitive tasks” you’ll know I’ve been practising keeping on keeping on, even when I’ve been bored with what I’ve been doing. And the result of that is that I’ve pretty much set up a system for spinning and publishing articles that maximises my time and the results achieved. So I feel that this is something I could now outsource (along with some of the more straight forward link building).
I notice that I’m not bounding into the sunset, thrilled to be able to do this though. Because I know that getting everything running smoothly and managing a new relationship will be another steep learning curve. However, I recognise that if I want to develop a real business, rather than one I’m just playing around with, I won’t be able to do everything myself. And, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to. So, I’m putting my fear behind me and rising to the challenge.
