Guest Post by Nicole Munoz

Sales are down, investors are bailing, and companies are laying people off left and right because they can no longer afford to staff full time workers. It’s been a heartbreaking process for millions of people across the country who awaken to the reality that they no longer have a job to go. But let’s take a positive look at how this can be good for everyone; businesses and the unemployed alike. Many experienced professionals with new-found time on their hands are turning to outsourcing their skills to make some extra money while they search for full-time work. There are benefits for the hiring companies as well. This blog will look at the top 5 reasons why outsourcing is a great idea.

For many of us, cutting down our expenses has become a routine part of life. Companies are no different. Once a full time staff member has been let go, there is an empty space in the function of the organization that still needs to be filled by someone. Other employees may be asked to take on the additional role, and for expense’s sake, it’s a good idea to utilize them until sales increase. However, an even better idea is to outsource! With this form of employment, a company can save on the expense of having a desk, PC, office supplies, etc. set aside for that person. Outsourced workers usually work from home and are available by phone, email, or fax which means that they are instantly accessible.

Another great reason to outsource your work is that there is a large pool of potentials ready to be interviewed at any time you need. With companies like elance and oDesk, they have freelance workers ready to start immediately. They can bid on the projects and job openings that companies post. Many times, the freelancers get paid by the project to complete projects, but they can certainly be hired on a permanent basis. Each person receives feedback after they complete a job or project, so new clients can see that they have a good reputation. Another type of outsourcing, as with StartRankingNow, employs a set of people who are always on stand by to take projects immediately when clients knock at their door. Each person is contracted out to perform certain jobs based on their skill sets.

Third on the list of reasons is convenience. It is extremely fitting, especially in this economy, to hire someone “by the project” if you aren’t prepared to hire someone full time. If you needed marketing brochures or web content, for example, you could hire an expert to get the project done right away. After everything is completed, you can get back to running your business. Expertise is another great reason to outsource your work. With a flooded job market, there are tons of specially-skilled professionals ready for the opportunity to get hired out for your projects. This economy has given companies an even better choice of qualified individuals to hire for any task they need completed!

Finally, outsourcing is a great method for hiring because project tracking is already done for you online. Due dates for rough drafts, revisions, and final drafts are all laid out by the client and adjusted as necessary. Project management is easier and faster than ever with these helpful online tools! So, don’t spend another moment worrying about how your site is ranking; find an SEO Expert to outsource!

–

Nicole Munoz is the owner of Start Ranking Now. She is an SEO Outsourcing, Link Building, and Social Media Expert. She also conducts SEO training in San Diego to other entrepreneurs and Internet marketing professionals.

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

As the first course of the conference yesterday, I’m sure there was a lot of pressure for this hour and fifteen minutes to really set the tone for the three days of Commission Junction University.  Titled “Affiliate Marketing 101: Back to the Basics”, I attended hoping to maybe pick up some things I didn’t actually know considering I taught a lot of the basics to myself a couple years back.  The speaker was:

• Jeremy Palmer, President, QuitYourDayJob.com

I converse with & follow him on twitter and I’ve heard great things about his last projects The Black Ink Projects and Black Ink 2, although haven’t had a chance to check it out myself.  I won’t know until Thursday if this session really did set the appropriate tone for the conference or not, but it was definitely worth my attendance!

Bullet Point Review!

• Choose Your Niche
  • The niche you choose should be your passion – it’s the easiest foundation to build upon.
  • Know a lot about your niche to be successful.
• Develop a Business Plan
  • Put together a SWOT analysis for you AND your closest competitors – their weaknesses can be your opportunities.
  • Just make it a simple spreadsheet.
  • Have a unique selling proposition.  It’s not enough to just copy someone else, you have to see what they’re doing and how you can do it better.
  • Learn about the customer persona.
  • Inventory your own skills objectively – what can you do yourself and what would you be best served by outsourcing?
• Write Value Added Content
  • Start writing content before you design your site.
  • Content is the key to the site.
  • Have 10-15 pages of content before you launch to improve Quality Score.
• Design Your Site
  • You must have professional tools to create a professional site.
  • Be objective about your experience and consider outsourcing.
  • TOOL: 99Designs for design contests – you only pay for the winner, and you pay much less.
• Develop Your Site
  • Outsourcing programming can be done on Elance or oDesk quite effectively.
  • Be sure to write extremely detailed specifications on what you want the site to do and how it should be done when using outsourced talent.
  • With these services you can escrow your payment so that no money is released until certain milestones are done – and done to your satisfaction.
• Test the Waters with PPC
  • Google hates “rich pages” (also referred to as “thin landing pages”) where the only intent is a conversion.
  • Google recently updated their algorithms and human QC when assigning Quality Scores, so be sure to read up.
  • Essentially Google wants you to develop your own content: they want independent reviews, content not found directly on the merchant’s website, and the comparison of several merchants.
  • Many affiliates have had good success with video reviews because they resonate more with consumers.
  • Remember that Google isn’t the only game in town – test on Yahoo & MSN to discover what works in terms of keywords and ad copy.
• Test & Optimize
  • Look at conversions using keywords.
  • TOOLS: Tracking 202 (free), Prosper 202 (free), Optimize My Site (paid), Google Website Optimizer (free).
  • Pay equal attention to conversion rate and click through rate.
  • Don’t use vague or hype laden copy – it won’t convert well.
  • Split test your landing pages.
• Build a Sustainable Business.
  • Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
  • You want to thrive without Google just in case.
  • Facebook Ads are growing with better ROI.
  • Remember the viral marketing element (what can you do that people will pass on?)
  • You want to be who people will think of when they think of your niche.
  • Create a brand for yourself.
• Random Tips
  • Some books to check out: Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin & Malcolm Gladwell and The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, & David Weinberger.
  • When doing product comparisons, try throwing in a weaker competitor to enhance the value of the better products.
  • DO NOT use the standard Wordpress template when adding a blog to your site – make sure it looks like the rest of your site.
  • Comparison pages only need to be very simple tables.

Points brought up during the Q&A

• Mobile has great opportunities for merchants and advertisers, but it’s hard for affiliates.  People are not (yet) likely to use mobile devices to make purchases.
• Outsourcing content?  Elance is ok but Jeremy expressed some displeasure with what he’s got from that site.  An audience member suggested PR Newswire and searching for keywords to find experts.
  • My own suggestion is to try going to LinkedIn & looking for experts to approach for writing.
• Go where the good designers and writers hang out to find them – when you go to freelancing sites you’re getting the people who might be hard up for work and not that great of results.
• In regards to CJ, pay a lot of attention to the Network Earnings bar.
• Once your site’s Quality Score tanks, you’re done.  You have to start over with a new site because there’s no way to get that back.

Jeremy did an excellent job mixing up the experience level of the information he put forth, knowing instinctively that most people attending wouldn’t quite be at the 101 education level in regards to affiliate marketing.

 Powered by Max Banner Ads