Undoubtedly some of you feel the technical requirements just make it too hard for you to make use of online marketing. I have no doubt after reading this article you will at least have a better understanding of how the web can work for your business if you can get all the technical things set up, including a website, a blog, autoresponders and pay per click advertising campaigns.
You Have Options
To put it simply there are two ways you can approach technical barriers -
1. Knuckle down and learn how to do it yourself.
Teach yourself everything as you go, build your website, publish your blog, set-up your autoresponders, write all your content, manage your advertising campaigns - everything. If you already use computers and the Internet, trust them, love them and respect them, then I have no doubt this option is the best way to go for you. Somehow I expect if you are reading this course this probably isn’t the case.
2. Pay others to do it for you.
There are hundreds of people very willing to take your money in exchange for helping you with your online marketing. The trick of course is finding good people and clearly communicating your needs and objectives.
Balance - Know Your Strengths
I recommend a combination of both option 1 and 2. Do as much as you can efficiently and effectively yourself and hire help to do the rest. Study and learn how to use software, maintain websites and how the web works but every time you face something that requires skills that you will never be great at or don’t have time to learn, outsource.
Running a business is about leveraging your strengths at all times and it’s smarter to pay someone else to do something you are not good at. Then you can devote your time to the activities that you are good at and produce income for you.
Personally web design is not my strong point so I hire people to design websites for me. I’m also not good at programming so I hire people to develop software for me on the rare occasion I need something. The basics I can do all myself so on a day-to-day basis I have no problems steering the ship.
The real secret in my case is how I leverage my strongest skills to maximum effect. Writing and teaching are my passions and that is how I make my income. I deliberately devote my time to those two tasks. Whenever something comes up that I can’t efficiently do myself or quickly learn I have no hesitation to hire someone to do it for me. I’m not afraid to pay thousands of dollars for good work either, I’ve learnt too many hard lessons trying to “get a bargain” and I know quality is worth the price.
Outsourcing
Finding talented people is not easy and often when you do find the best they are not cheap. When you find the holy grail - affordable talent - nurture that relationship, it will be a powerful asset for your business.
Never go for the cheapest because in the web industry the old adage “You get what you pay for” holds true. Better to pay a little more to get good results rather than throw money away because you try and cut corners. I once wasted $500 on one of the first programming jobs I outsourced because I hired two very inexperienced students who were not capable of producing what I required.
Checklist For Selecting Contractors And Freelancers
When it comes time to hire talent go through the following checklist -
1. Ask your friends and contacts if they have a reliable person with the skills you are after. You can’t always be 100% certain a personal referral will lead to the right person but it’s by far the most reliable way to find talented and honest people.
2. If that doesn’t work check with contacts that work in a similar industry to you. In my case I have met a lot of other bloggers so I often go to them for referrals. Most people that do online marketing will have hired a programmer or designer at some point and you can draw from their experiences by emailing them for a referral recommendation when you need some work done.
3. If you know no one online the blogosphere is a fantastic place to recruit talent. For example if I’m looking for a blog design I surf around blogs and find a design I like and ask the owner who created it. Just look around and send a few emails, you will get results quickly because there are always people looking for work in IT.
4. Try online forums and communities where web designers hang out. Good examples include Webhostingtalk, Sitepoint and DigitalPoint. Many professional IT people frequent these forums so usually all it takes is a post that you have a contract job available to get a list of applicants. Always ask for credentials and examples of past work before agreeing to a contract.
The most common error in outsourcing projects is poor communication so be certain to very carefully explain your needs and then double check with your contractor to make sure they know what you want. Use an official contract if it’s a big project, but don’t waste time with contracts if your job is under $5000. If it is a big project, break it down into milestones so you aren’t committed to spending all the money at once.
5. The web is full of opportunities to “try before you buy” so try out all the free courses, ebooks and articles given away as samples before deciding to buy.
Let’s say you want to hire someone to handle your Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign on Google AdWords - if you do a search for “AdWords Course” or similar you should locate plenty of people offering free advice. You may find after educating yourself you can now do the work yourself, if not, ask the author of the course/book/website if they are willing to handle your campaign or know a good person for the job. This way you can experience the quality before paying for the skills.
6. As a last resort you can try freelance sites like RentACoder.com, Elance.com or do a search for a freelancer in Google. It’s not hard to find people but gauging how good they are is difficult. Elance provides a feedback reputation meter that allows you to review testimonials from other people that have hired the freelancer.
One word of warning with outsourcing from freelance websites - beware the lure of bargain prices from cheap overseas labor from places like India, Pakistan, Russia and other eastern European locations. While you certainly can find great talent from these areas at a fraction of the costs of local talent, it can be difficult to communicate your needs due to language barriers and time differences. If you have a complex requirement, or you prefer to work face-to-face look for suppliers near you.
7. You can ask me. I know quite a few talented people that do work for me that I would be happy to recommend to you. They aren’t necessarily the cheapest in the business but they are reliable and produce good output, by far the most important qualities. Feel free to contact me.
How To Build A Website
So you have decided to build a website and start marketing online, congratulations! Here are your best alternatives to get started if you aren’t already technically proficient yourself.
1. Go through the steps above and find someone talented to do it for you. As I mentioned above I’m happy to provide assistance if you are stuck.
2. Use SiteBuildIt. You may not have heard of SiteBuildIt. It’s the brainchild of Ken Evoy and the most widely used website hosting and building tool available to the average, non-technical webmaster. SiteBuildIt is a “do it yourself” website kit that doesn’t require any coding or technical knowledge. If you can browse the web and email then you can use SiteBuildIt.
The best thing about the SiteBuildIt system compared to other standard website hosting packages is that it’s designed for building traffic. Ken has a principle he calls the
C T P M (Content -> Traffic -> Presell -> Monetize) system that is the fundamental key to online marketing.
SiteBuildIt provides everything you need to host and create your website provided you are prepared to create content. If you don’t have content then you don’t have an online marketing strategy.
The only discouraging issue about SiteBuildIt is the price. Remember how I said you get what you pay for? This is a prime example. You pay for quality, resources, tool and advice with SiteBuildIt, but it’s definitely more expensive than just buying space to host a website. In exchange for your cash you get a system that “holds your hand” as you create and popularize your website.
To find out more about SiteBuildIt visit - http://www.sitebuildit.com
3. Start a Blog. More on this below.
Blog Software
Blogging services are abundant and targeted at different levels of user. Here are my top picks to consider -
Blogger.com - http://www.blogger.com/
If you are technically deficient then a blog on a free host such as blogger.com is a good start, but only a start. I would use this as a test to see if you can produce content. It’s free and will teach you the blogging basics, but it really is a beginner tool more for fan-blogs and hobby sites. If you run a small business I wouldn’t recommend it.
Typepad.com - http://www.typepad.com/
Typepad is a more professional blogging tool that keeps things very easy to use. You have to pay for Typepad with the prices between $5 USD and $15 USD a month. This includes hosting so that’s all you will need to pay. There are quite a few good templates and shortcuts within the Typepad system making it a popular choice as a one-stop-solution to host a business blog.
WordPress.org - http://wordpress.org/
WordPress is my favourite blogging software. It’s a robust tool, completely free (you need to host and install it yourself though) and there are hundreds of templates and plugins available for free that increase the functionality of your blog. I recommend you aim to be on WordPress eventually, even though the technical barriers may stop you initially. If you are serious about blogging get someone to install WordPress for you and then learn how to use it, you won’t regret it.
Website Hosting And Domain Names
Website hosting involves a few different elements, including selecting a domain name (URL) and determining how much space and bandwidth (traffic) you will consume. These are reasonably technical issues that people can often become confused and frustrated with.
If you are planning a small business website with text and images nearly all hosting packages will provide more than you need and offer room to grow. Hosting should cost you between $10 and $100 per month, anything more than that and you are definitely being overcharged. Try not to pay less than $10 a month either - you get what you pay for remember!
Domains names should cost between $8 and $50 for a year depending on what type of domain you select. Try and get a .com domain, but chances are you won’t find anything suitable because most .com domains are taken.
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