any advice or views on how an ordinary business such as selling buttons, would lure many followers, and tell them interesting stuff to retain them? I get that seo gurus and celebrities would have fans, just dont get how twitter works for the average site trying to sell a product – especially if the service or products are relatively stagnant – ie no hourly specials etc

Its probably been a while and the rules of twitter have probably changed. I am just getting my head around automating tools to save hours of manual labour, things like RSS and article spinners. On the twitter front though, I sitll havent seen anywhere that people suggest what you actually say, regularly, to keep people following you, when really all you want to do is sell a product on a website. I get how you can do it if you are a seo guru, dropping gold nuggets behind you, but for the mere mortal it sounds either exploitive, too hard, or at least very hard to understand what you might say, if for instance you want to sell something on a button site? there can be only so many advances and sales on this to keep people interested? Anyway, any comments are really really welcome … as I see the twitter boat sailing off into the distance.

I know what you mean when you say 2009 is about coming back to our senses and numbering the social sites we frequent. RSS is a much better way to go about mass communication with the mass headache.

Where is the best place to run your RSS feed from to all the social sites ?
my wordpress blog , facebook , twitter, what do you recommend??

Thanks for all you do and share !!

John Gregory

<abbr></abbr><abbr>John Gregorys last blog post..Video Titles = Google Rankings. Internet Video Marketing Tips</abbr>

You bring some well deserved light to bear on the needs and desires of the “newbie” internet marketer – the learning curve, and the money curve.

But there are a few pieces of information that would serve everyone well to know about – not the least of which is that the process I outlined would serve for either throw away AdSense type sites or for membership / authority sites that gain revenue from ongoing services.

First – the cost of outsourcing. This does NOT have to be high, nor burdensome. In fact, in can be downright cheap, if you’re prepared.
_______________________
And, as a side note – to determine whether outsourcing is “for you” or not, use this formula.

How much you make in a year on your sites = A
Weeks in a year = B (or 52)
Hours spent per week marketing = C (common practice is 40)

A / B = $$$ per week

$$$ per week / C = Your VALUE per hour

Ian, if we take the low end of your suggested earnings, or $200,000 per year, then…

$200,000 / 52 = $3,846.16 earned per week

$3846.16 / 40 = $96.16 earned per hour

So now, Ian, you’re worth at least $96 per hour. Would it be worth it to hire someone for, say (at the VERY high end) $20 per hour so that you could duplicate your efforts somewhere else? As in, creating another $200,000 business per year?

If it were your high end earnings statement, those figures would DOUBLE.

And honestly, I think the highest wage I’ve paid to ANY outsource agent was $16 per hour.

If I can more than quadruple my income by hiring someone else, I think I’m going to.
_______________________

The outline I gave earlier of my “marketing flow” is not particularly detailed, because I only wanted to get across that the plan is not “mysterious”, and it IS something that every marketer should be putting together.

When I outsource a project, I create a mind map of how I envision the site to move forward in development. I’ll actually create three maps, labeled Phase 1, 2, and 3, each with a detailed Step one, Step 2 Step 3 type checklist that usually remains the same for any project I start. This, obviously, changes as I learn how to market better, or come across new information. The mind maps are sent to my project manager, who parcels out the mind maps one phase at a time until completion.

I would advise all internet marketers, new and experienced, to adopt for themselves a process checklist, one they can physically see and respond to, so that they can use it as a metric in how progressed they are in their marketing effort. I can say from experience that, until I started this, I was literally re-inventing myself every time I thought about a new site. I lost, literally, thousands of dollars ( my son was kind enough to do the math for me).

In fact, Jack actually helped to create my process list, thru my reading of the materials in his SPL and ABB products, and thru the content served up here, Content Desk, and other spots. If there are “newbies” that aren’t sure about how to start, check out Jacks’ BlogSuccess – it might open your eyes to some new possibilities.

Now that the shameless plug to get in Jack’s good graces is done…

My first experience outsourcing was to my son – at 11 years old, he probably knows more about the internet right now than I do, and that’s scary. It was a cheap, easy way to see how bad a teacher I really am, and an incentive for me to start this mind mapping stuff.

Get software called “FreeMind” from SourceForge – it’s free, but still has some good tools. try it out. You’ll make mistakes, but that’s how we learn to be better. There are other free or trial software packages that you can Google, if you desire.

Then open up your copy of Authority Black Book – it’s a very good beginning for anyone looking to start their own process tree, but there are other resources you should check out, too, when you’re ready to advance yourself.

Jeff Johnson’s Underground Training Lab is an excellent source of information and free training, and you can get on his email list to see most of the process he teaches his private coaching classes.

http://www.undergroundtraininglab.com

There are two more great teachers that I’ve “stolen” knowledge from – and although I paid for most of the content I got from them, just getting on their email lists and seeing some of the free videos and training materials is more than enough to add to or refine your process tree.

John Reese at Income.com has launched their blog, and it gives out some amazing nuggets of information. And his Traffic Secrets courses are the foundation for a lot of peoples business practices.

Then there’s Howie Schwartz – he’s just plain wicked, in terms of his “Domination” products, and is an avid enthusiast of literally entering markets from day one with the thought of owning the first page of SERPS. Do a Google search to find any of his products online, then sign up for his email list, because he regularly lets loose gold – from getting Google to TELL you what they want in their engine, to how to do massive traffic for free, to again getting Google to tell you what people are searching for right now, next week, next month…

So now you have a lot of research to do, to get going with your process tree.
– Get mind mapping software
– Get a copy of the Authority Black Book
– Visit Jeff Johnson’s Underground Training Lab and see how he
markets his sites, get on his list for more training
– Visit Howie Schwartz’s sites, get on his list for training on traffic
and niche research
– Check out Blog Success for some very targeted blog training
– Check out the Income.com blog, and get on John Reese’s mailing
list
– Check out Mike Filsaime’s FREE Outsourcing Secrets site for
more outsourcing info at http://www.outsourcesecrets.com
– Check out Jeff Mills Outsourcing Secrets Revealed site for more
info on outsourcing at http://www.outsourcesecretsrevealed.com
– And most important, start your own process tree !

Don’t worry if you have to change it, frequently, especially in the beginning. You’re SUPPOSED to. Being new isn’t bad – it just means you have less to un-learn – and you may learn some really neat Jedi Mind Tricks in the process !!

Success!!

Darrell

I am a newbie and I can see Jack talks relate to my need.
Thanks Ian for it pointing out.

It’s good to see both side of the equation.

Today I am newbie (getting the ground work done) and I do this way, may be tomorrow with more experience and new ideas I may do it differently.

Rebecca Chengs last blog post..Enemies, Soldiers, People But Who Are You?

AND you are it would seem, from the way you talk targeting niches that lend themselves to the ‘lets outsource it all’ approach. Some niches just do not lend themselves to that.

It would be also interesting to know what your bottom line profit is and how quickly you go into profit with such a high outsourcing expenditure

But I think that your post misses the original point that Jack made and the further point I endeavored to make. Most of the people that jack talks to are either newbies or people who are just starting to make a credible living online.

Initially, they actually need to do the ground work themselves before they start outsourcing, just for the learning curve. And most never will outsource either because they love what they do.

Building 2, 3 and 4 high value, content rich authority sites, with a large and loyal fan base can and does have the potential to generate $200/300 and $400k per year income.

To me thats far better than the mass approach, and creates far more value for the visitor and the Internet as a whole. But, like everything, it s horses for courses Darrell

Cheers, Ian Orford Editor -ThinkPadToday.com

Perhaps the point of my post was not so much to disagree with Jack as to force a conversation about practices and forward movement, and in that respect, Thank You for that post!

BUT….

I want people to think, truely think about what it is that formulates the majority of their “profit” time. By this I mean – “What activities have to be done on a daily basis to make my venture profitable?”

If you ask yourself this question, and then map it out, I think you’ll find some startling truths. For example, on an average site, I will do something similar to the following:

Decide on a product / service / affiliate offer that I want to promote

Do my keyword research, eliminate duplicates and irelevant

Research articles, videos, pod casts, forums, membership sites, user groups, specialized social media sites, webinars, affiliate programs, e-books, coaching programs, physical and digital products, related products / services, newsletters, subscriptions, blogs, and domain names

Create 100 articles for use in my marketing, each on different keyword terms, with relevant LSI terms sprinkled in

Create 5 to 10 niche related videos, also convert the audios to a podcast

If the offer is for an affiliate product then I will create a “Value Added Proposition” that makes the offer virtually free, or better than free if possible (usually by creating a video tutorial, pdf report, and a “Best Practices” guide)

Create a follow-up email series, usually one per week for 52 weeks, with the articles and some additional tips built in on using the product / service to get more out of it. I’ll also add in additional product or services that fit with a review of it, and possible uses in association with the original widget

Create the money site (usually a WP blog) with a link to the USP page

Setup Google Analytics or other tracking scripts as necessary, along with testing, tracking, and revision scripts to increase conversion rates

Setup email addresses on the money site, membership section, forum, and interactive features with the content promised

Setup follow on content for the next 52 weeks to be drip fed into the membership section

Setup social BM accounts according to the SPL / ABB . Conversation Domination formulas

Setup Social networking / content sites with the articles written, interlinking one way and three way linking to the money site, auto posting of additional content as available, RSS feeds from other related sites, videos (Note that I have, at current count, just over 3000 social sites that I know of)

Submit branded videos to the video sites

Submit branded pod casts

Submit RSS feeds / ping blog sites

On social accounts and in forums, build authority by posting quality information, with sig links to social sites or money site. This also leads to additional content at membership site in addition to the content all ready being drip fed, with the possibility of another product or report that could be sold based on this info

Bookmark ALL of the previous content on a continuing basis, rotating accounts, never more than 2 or 3 per day with one account

Repeat, ad infinitum

Ok, so where in doing all that do I have time to focus on only one thing, unless I have outsourced most of it? In fact almost all of it can be outsourced – except the initial niche and keyword research.

As for using “my own voice” on the social networking sites, think about that. If I just do that for 1% of the social sites I know about – that’s 30 sites – you’re still talking about spending FULL time on just one money making proposition.

Obviously, you have more time than I do

For myself, I find that outsourcing these things to my agents actually makes my life a lot easier. I can focus on my next project, working on the tasks that DIRECTLY make me money.

This is NOT to say, however that I don’t take part in my social sites conversations – I do. A lot. And not just because I have to build my personal authority, but because it’s a good source of ongoing research about what consumers are questioning or searching for in my niches.

But do I spend 8 or 10 hours a day doing that? No. I don’t have time for that.

I have more money to make.

Success!

Darrell

It really is a matter of sticking with whats starts to work. the challenge is fighting through the clutter to get to the good stuff. We have a daily discipline that we follow based on your 60 day plan, but we only post to about 5 sites. We also derive great targeted traffic from facebook, something that even John Reese doesn’t seem to be able to master.

We joined a highly targeted niche Group relevant to our brand, started to contribute, became an ‘authority’ in the group, became an admin, the group now grows like crazy and they are all brand fanatics, and guess where the outgoing links links go? To our ‘brand’ fan blog. they love it! Posts are RSS fed into the group.

We are also experimenting right now with twitter, and that is starting to show some results, although its been a ‘distraction’ and a ‘learning curve’ but were now getting through the dross.

I think the crux is Jack that if we were selling ‘free online games’ or ‘headache cures’, or ’scrapbooking ebooks’ or god forbid, IM Stuff, then we would be going wide with a shotgun approach.

But were not, we develop sites that sell high end Technology products and we have had to work hard to ’socializes’ the process in addition to the traditional stuff like content creation, link building etc.

So on a final note I would vehemently disagree with Darrell. Outsourcing is great, for somethings. But content creation on social networking has to be in your own voice, otherwise it doesn’t work.

We have used some of the most expensive and well regarded content writers in the US, and quite frankly, the end result fails miserably because the voice is wrong.

I write most of the content for 3 sites myself, and I know that I have to use outside writers very soon otherwise we will not continue to grow, but if sitting researching and writing content on my favorite subjects will earn me close to $150k + and rising this year, then I am a very happy bunny.

Ian Orford Editor -ThinkPadToday.com

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