Datasets:

sjonas50
/

test

Tags:

License:

Dataset card Viewer Files Files and versions Community

Dataset Viewer

Auto-converted to Parquet

View in Dataset Viewer

Viewer

Split (1)

train · 1.2k rows

text stringlengths 0 20.4k

I decided that it would be helpful if I wrote some stuff about outsourcing. It's a question I get asked often enough so I've decided to write a series about it. First things first: I'm not an expert on outsourcing. I have done quite a bit of it, and I'm learning more, but I'm not the "expert" in this field. Almost all outsourcing talk you hear about is for big companies who hire 300 people in India. That info pertains (and is helpful) to about .0001% of the workforce. Worthless to people like me (or you who are reading my blog). If you're looking to outsource 300 employees, go talk to an expert. Second: I will write about online business. I hope that what I write here will be helpful to all the people who work for themselves, running small businesses, online. After all, that's what I do. I run businesses online. In writing about this, I'm going to cover what I know about automation hiring workers overseas (how, when, why, what for) hiring people for one-off projects outsourcing programming outsourcing graphics work outsourcing SEO outsourcing content generation outsourcing your email outsourcing support outsourcing to a partner Automation 1. If you haven't read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307353133?ie=UTF8&tag=jonasblog07-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307353133">The 4-Hour Workweek</a> you really need to read it. It explains the reason why I automate stuff. I don't do it just so I can get more done (that's part of the reason). I do it so I can spend more time with my family. You need to figure out why you're outsourcing/automating stuff or else you'll always just fill in the time you save with other stuff, and you'll never feel like you got anywhere. 2. Sometimes things are better automated by a human than by a computer. Not all automation has to be done by a computer. Computers aren't very good yet at understanding language and creating content. They're also not very good at joining the right affiliate programs, or at managing an adwords account. Things that can't be automated well by a computer should be automated by a human. And, as Ferris says, there's a whole anxious, educated, well mannered workforce overseas willing to do what people in the USA aren't willing to do....and they're good at it. The goal of automation is to free you up to do what is most important. Note that I didn't say that you should be doing what you're best at. I'm best at programming but I rarely do it anymore. Marketing is much more important and I'm reasonably good at it. So, I automate/outsource programming and I work on marketing. If you haven't yet started automating, you should start by making a list of things you do that could possibly be automated either by software or by a human. Things like checking on your adwords account, doing research, buying flowers for your wife, wading through email, creating web content, blogging, programming, suport, reporting, etc. Make a list of things. You'll be surprised at how long the list gets if you force yourself to think about what you do. After you've made the list, you're ready to start doing things to automate/outsource your work. Until you've made that list, it's hard to justify the expense of hiring someone else and sometimes it's hard to see where exactly you need help. My point with this was just for you to realize that automation can be done by a human, and needs to be done for you to live life, not for you to work harder elsewhere (at least...that's what I believe). Next time I'll talk about hiring people overseas...because that's really what you want me to talk about. outsourcing, automation, web outsourcing
Everyone talks about oursourcing overseas. Here's my take on what, when, why, where, and how to do it (for a small business): What: Oursource your programming, your SEO, your Adwords, your repetitive tasks, your email, link building for your site, article writing, content creation, script writing (small automation), graphics, shopping, domain renewals, research, gift buying, ... Basically, anything that you do that someone else could do, outsource it. When: My experience has been that outsourcing (overseas) is good in 2 circumstances: When you know nothing about the thing you're outsourcing When you're really good at the thing you're outsourcing When you know nothing about what you're outsourcing, then the results won't be disappointing to you because you couldn't have done it better yourself. Or, you couldn't have done it at all yourself so it doesn't matter how well or poorly it gets done, at least it got done. A couple of examples of this for me are graphic design and content creation. I have zero graphics skills. I couldn't design something and make it look good if my life depended on it. I know nothing about it except to say "I like it" or "I think it's terrible." In this case, I outsource it every time. Another example is content creation (like articles, copy, reviews). I hate doing it. I'm terrible at writing anything. I don't care how the writing gets done, as long as it gets done because if it's up to me to do it, it simply won't get done. Both of these are important pieces of my business that I outsource. I know nothing about them. I suggest you outsource whatever you can that you're already really good at. For me, this entails link building, adwords, market research, programming, ... I like to outsource these things because I know I can give proper instructions for them and I know it's going to get done correctly because I can verify it afterwards. I know I can write a spec for a programming project and it will get done how I want it because I understand programming (if you don't understand programming, you're going to go through a much more painful process of developing software than I go through). I know I can outsource link building for my websites because I already understand the methods and concepts and I can accurately describe them to someone else. I can outsource Adwords to someone because after they're done setting things up and letting it run for a bit, I know I can go and look at the work and find problems and have them fix them. I can also teach how to do it correctly. My point isn't to tell you what I'm good at. It's to demonstrate that you should and can outsource what you're good at. My point is also that you should NOT outsource stuff that you're mediocre at. If you know a little about adwords, and you outsource it to someone who knows less than you, you can't very well fix their mistakes or improve upon what they did. The end result is that it gets done more poorly than if you did it yourself. It ends up hurting you and costing you a bunch of money. If you just know a little about link building, and you hire someone else to do it, and they know less than you, they probably don't understand that if you build links too quickly it will likely hurt you in the search engines. Then they go out and do a bunch of link spamming and all of a sudden your site is doing worse than it was before because neither you nor the person you hired knew what they were doing. So, my suggestion for when to outsource is either when you know nothing or when you're an expert. If you're not good at what you're outsourcing, get good at it (or at least read a good ebook about it). That way you'll have some guidelines from someone who is an expert instead of just turning it over to someone who knows nothing. Why: Outsource because it lets you do something else. Because outsourcing frees your brain to think about other things (just like the <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/08/gtd-best-implementation-online.html">GTD philosophy</a> says). Because it free up your time and brain power to work on/think about the things that will make you the most amount of money. If you know nothing about whatever it is you're outsourcing, letting someone else do it at least gets it done. For me, there are certain things that I know I should do, but that I hate. Those things never get done. If I outsource it, it gets done. If I didn't outsource it, my business stops. If I have something on my todo list that has been there for a long time, I know it's something I don't want to do. If I send it overseas, it gets done quickly. The other reason (besides "it gets done") is so that you can get good at something else while you're not doing what you would have otherwise been doing. The more you get good at, the more you can outsource. The more you outsource, the more time you have. The more time you have, the more things you can get good at and more things you can outsource. Then you get to spend time with your family. We all Most people don't have enough time in a day to do all the things they know they should be doing. They spend their time bogged down on things that are somewhat important, but that they feel "have" to get done. Things that will make them very little money. If you outsource those things that "have" to get done, you'll find out that all of a sudden there's enough time in every day to get the things done you want to get done. All of a sudden you have time to try out all the cool tools you've heard about. You have time to implement new strategies. You have the ability to execute on a new business that you couldn't have done before, because you were too busy answering support email or setting up adwords campaigns or writing articles. You have the ability to delegate new tasks that you don't want to do (or hate doing, or aren't good at doing) and they still get done. Outsource work so that you can concentrate on the things that make you money. Where: There are only 2 options that I'm going to talk about: Philippines India I'm not even going to talk about India because I don't know anything about it except that <a href="http://www.backcountrycorp.com/corporate/section/0/aboutus_team.html">John Bresee</a> once told me that "When someone in India says Yes. to something you said, it means Yes, I heard you say something. not Yes, I understood what you said." I also know that a friend of mine pays between $15-$30/hour for his programmers in India. If you're paying that much, why not just hire someone here in the US? I outsource basically everything to the Philippines. Why? They speak good english. They're smart. They're good workers. They're good at following instructions. They're good programmers. They're polite (they call me "sir", which was a little weird at first...but I got used to it) They're cheaper than in India. I hire my people through <a href="http://www.agentsofvalue.com">Agents Of Value</a>. Danny (the owner) is a good guy who is willing to work with his customers. He's done a good job of recruiting and maintaining employees. Through them you can hire programmers, webmasters, writers, personal assistants, ... Basically anyone you could hire here, you can hire there. They're almost all college graduates. Depending on your needs, my suggestion is that you hire a webmaster (Remember, I'm writing this to small online business owners). There are a few reasons for this: Most people who ask me for help with this want someone technical. (hence the recommendation for a webmaster) Once you have a webmaster you can have them do other things for you like write content, create websites, buy/maintain your domains, monitor your email, build links, ... If you don't hire a webmaster (someone with some technical knowledge) you're going to want them to do stuff they have no clue how to do and then you are stuck. If you do any sort of software development, I would also highly suggest hiring programmers through them. They're good at recruiting experienced programmers. If you think about the cost of getting a program developed here vs overseas, you're looking at basically a 5x cost increase. I have a friend here who just paid $5000 for some software development. It took them 10 months to do the work, but that's only because 9 out of those 10 they weren't doing anything. If he would have taken my advice to hire someone in the Philippines, he could have paid $5000 for 8 months of development work and could have launched his product 4 months ago, and been way ahead on development. I've learned that once a piece of software is started, if you EVER sell it, it will ALWAYS need to be developed. If it doesn't get developed, it dies. If you pay people here to develop it, you're going to pay them $75-$100 per hour to continuously develop it (compared to $5-15 per hour overseas). I have another friend who just got 2 quotes for developing his website: Firm based in the US: $10,000 Firm base in the Philippines: $500 If the firm in the Philippines does it wrong, who cares. Pay them to do it again. If the firm in the US does it wrong, you're in bad shape. My initial hesitation to hiring a programmer was that I wouldn't have enough work to keep a programmer busy full time. I found out after hiring someone that it was pretty easy to keep them busy more than full time. What I didn't realize would happen in hiring someone else to do programming for me was that it freed my mind from the binds of programming. Programming is consuming. It's difficult. If you're a programmer, and you understand some marketing, letting someone else do the programming for you and you concentrating on the marketing will do wonders for your business. How: Start small. Hire someone and have them start doing something for you that you don't like to do. Even if you don't use all their time, it's still worth it to just get started and to have the experience of turning something over to someone else. I have 2 friends who are sharing a webmaster. They share the costs and share the time. It's a good way to start if you don't want to make a full commitment with a webmaster/programmer. For teaching and training, you can give them the ebooks you've bought and have them read them. You can create a video of what you do to accomplish the task using camtasia studio or <a href="http://www.jingproject.com/">jing</a>, an alternative to camtasia. It's pretty easy to record a video with instructions and give it to someone and say "do this." If you have more detailed instructions, spend an hour and record yourself talking about whatever it is you want done. <a href="http://www.thebasementventures.com">Basement Ventures</a> has a free conference calling system that will let you record the call. If you need to record instructions, call in to your conference call line by yourself and record yourself talking for an hour and send your employee the mp3. Easy instructions. Teaching someone to do what you do initially seems like a daunting task. However, if the person is overseas and costing you $4/hour, you can let them figure stuff out on their own. Then the next time you won't have to teach them as much. After you get comfortable with them doing things for you, give them more to do. At some point you'll need a way to keep track of what they do for you (agents of value is really good at having them send you a daily report of what they worked on that day). I suggest using <a href="http://www.basecamphq.com">Basecamp</a> or <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com">RememberTheMilk</a>, an online task management system. RTM allows you to create recurring tasks so you can have them do stuff at certain intervals. Using Google Spreadsheets is a great way to share information back and forth (like for market research, or for analyzing web stats). At this point I've done a brain dump of what I've done to oursource overseas. I'm sure I've left a bunch of stuff out and not answered a bunch of questions you have. Feel free to ask me (either comment or email me). Next time I'll cover other ways to outsource things (elance, mechanical turk, sitepoint contests) like graphics, small tasks, and article writing.
Obviously I'm in favor of outsourcing a lot of things to people who work exclusively for you. I outsource SEO, Writing, Article submitting, programming, small random tasks, manual tasks, web maintenance, reporting, adwords, ... But, there are a lot of things that don't require a full time person. They require someone else to do it for you every once in a while. Here's how I outsource some of these things: Graphics: I get graphics done a few different ways. One, I have a designer who does contract work. He's reasonably priced (most designers aren't) and is pretty good. I don't mention who he is because then he'll get too busy to work for me anymore. Recently I've also been using the "Contests" feature at sitepoint.com. There you can let other people compete for your work where you say I'm willing to pay $XXX for "Such and Such" to be done and then you get a bunch (or a few) people doing different designs for you and you get to pick the best one. Similar to the logo concept developed at <a href="http://www.logoworks.com">logoworks</a>, but here 1) you get to name your own price, 2) you get as many people as you want submitting designs, and 3) you can have any sort of graphics done. Basically, you can have multiple people compete for your job ahead of time without having to pay anything up front. If you're not happy with any of them, you don't pay anything. If you like multiple ones, select more than one as the winner. Simple, effective, outsourced. Copywriting: I hate writing copy. I hate everything about it. Sales copy is worse because it matters. If I have to write sales copy for a business, that business stops and doesn't get done. So, I always find someone else to do the copywriting. I've used quite a few different services, none of which I'm happy with, so I'm going to tell you what they are and then ask for your feedback. I've done copywriting projects on elance. The problem with this is that you never know how good of copy you're going to get. If it's sales copy, you might get something good, you might get pure garbage. You can read someone's feedback, but it doesn't always mean it's going to work out. I've used <a href="http://www.copywriting-club.com">Copywriting Club</a> once before. It sounds like a great solution to this problem, but the one time I used it, I bought the silver package, then was told that I was getting "platinum" level copy because one of the owners wrote it for me, and then I sent over 1000 clicks to the sales page and it never converted a single time. This was in a market I had researched and tested and the copy totally sucked. I should probably test it again, but the one time I used it I wasn't very happy. I've used a few individual contractor copywriters also. The problem with this is it's expensive. You can pay $45,000 for a single sales page. Yes, you're likely to make that back, but that's a lot of money for sales copy. There are quite a few people out there who will do this for between $4000 and $10,000. Ask around to people you know. You don't necessarily need the best copywriter (depending on your business). If you can test and tweak and manipulate the copy then you can outsource it to "someone" and just get it done. My brain is kind of fried right now so that's all I can think of. As I come up with more things I outsource outside of full time employees I'll post them. Feel free to comment with any suggestions.
After my last post about <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2007/10/turning-your-smartphone-into-a-1000000year-tool.html">my online gtd system</a> and my first post about <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2006/08/gtd-best-implementation-online.html">how to best implement GTD online</a>, I've had quite a few questions about how I do GTD online. Since I first started looking for a way to organize myself online and <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2005/10/moving-the-desktop-to-the-web.html">move all my stuff online</a> a lot has changed. When I first started looking for an online GTD implementation, all there was was <a href="http://www.basecamphq.com">basecamp</a>, <a href="http://www.backpackit.com">backpackit</a>, and <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com">RTM</a>, and a few other small task list sites. Nothing was designed around the GTD framework. Nothing even let you implement the GTD framework correctly by fudging categories or tags or anything. Since then, <a href="http://www.rousette.org.uk/projects/">tracks</a> was built and released as an open source system built solely around GTD, and a few other systems have come out that make implementing the Getting Things Done philosophy online really simple. I'm writing this in hopes that it will 1. make it easier for people to figure out how to implement the GTD philosophy online 2. influence developers of online GTD implementations to make their systems more robust. Right now there isn't a perfect system. A few come close, and I think will be right there really soon. So, here are a few things to consider: GTD is an entire philosophy. The correct implementation is going to be different for everyone. I can't tell you which will be best for you, I can only tell you what's best for me (...I guess then, it MUST also be best for you :) ) and what features you might/should want and why. Because GTD is a philosophy, any system you use should be large. Not large as in bloated, but it should be able to do all things you do now, or might want to do in the future. It's very common for people to want to implement something like this and when they're starting they just want the basics, and they can't see a time when they would want more. Trust me, if you really get into implementing GTD, you'll want more. So, by a large system, I mean an full personal information management system online. I want to be able to manage more than tasks and calendar, I want to be able to manage ideas, goals, affirmations, notes, websites, plans, projects, ... <a href="http://www.backpackit.com">Backpack it</a> does a good job of letting you create notes, todo's and pages, but the todo's aren't organized correctly for GTD. What I really like about backpackit that other softwares are missing is the ability to create pages of content and notes that are just stand alone notes, not a todo with a note attached to it. You can easily keep your online reference material inside backpackit and keep it organized. With other systems I've used you have to fudge the system to do this. Being able to keep all your online reference material in a system like this would be a big deal (being able to keep stuff like websites you use infrequently, logins and passwords, windows OS tips and tricks you might read about, anything you might put on a post-it note that can get thrown away). If you don't want this stuff now, you will at some point (unless you already have a good system for this). It should work with all technology, even if it's not technology you use right now. If you really get into using your online GTD system, you will want to always make sure you can get stuff out of your head and written down no matter where you are. If you don't send text messages now, you will some day, to write down ideas you have as you're driving. The ability to send these to your todo list is a big deal. It's also a big deal that the system you use have the ability to contextualize these as you send them. As far as I know, all of <a href="http://tracks.tra.in">tracks</a>, <a href="http://www.vitalist">vitalist</a>, <a href="http://www.toodledo.com">toodledo</a>, and <a href="http://www.backpackit.com">backpackit</a> allow you to email todo's/notes to your todo lists. Tracks is the only one I know of that will allow you to contextualize the todo's as you send them. For me this is a big deal because I send between 2-20 todo's to myself every day via email. If I send 15 notes, or goals, or affirmations, and they all show up in my "inbox", I'm not very happy that I now have to go and re-categorize them. This is the reason I'm sticking with Tracks for right now. <a href="http://www.vitalist">Vitalist</a> and <a href="http://www.toodledo.com">Toodledo</a> look like they're more full featured than tracks, but they're lacking key features that make the system really, really usable. The reason I'm writing this is because Vitalist and Toodledo have some features that Tracks doesn't have that I want and think would be helpful in keeping me organized. They both have the ability to sort your todo's, and to prioritize them (or star them...like in gmail). Tracks doesn't have this. They both have import functions too, which is really nice because I'm free to switch between the two. Tracks doesn't have this. It's important that the system you use is fast and easy to add tasks to. If it doesn't use AJAX (where the page does stuff without having to reload the whole page) don't even bother. It's also important that the system has a way to <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2007/10/turning-your-smartphone-into-a-1000000year-tool.html">get your tasks/lists out of the system, and in front of you on a regular basis.</a> Free. Free-ness is important. Sure, I'll pay for things, I don't mind that. But when I have to pay $10/month just to get the minimal amount of use out of something, it bugs me and I'm really hesitant to make a long term commitment (toodledo). For $10/month you can get a really, really good hosting account online. This is the reason google is sooo successful. They provide the best apps online, and they provide them for free. People click their ads. My point with this was to explore some of the options that are available with online GTD systems right now. The big 3 that I see are <a href="http://tracks.tra.in">tracks.tra.in</a>, <a href="http://www.vitalist">Vitalist,</a> and <a href="http://www.toodledo.com">Toodledo</a>. All 3 of them are really close to doing everything I've said, but none is quite there. As you make a decision for which one to use (if you're not using the GTD philosophy somewhere, you're missing out on a lot of time and money and brainpower for yourself) look at what you currently want for features, and then look at these 3 softwares and their potential for future use. GTD, Getting Things Done, GTD online
About 5 months ago Keith Baxter gave me an audio course that he and Peter S. had done about how to use blogs to sell things. I was totally blown away. It wasn't that it was totally new information. It was how they had put together a bunch of different concepts and used them in such a way that it took advantage of all the things we know about blogging and cut out all of the un-useful things about blogging...when it comes to selling products. They took a blog and turned it into an exceptionally effective ecommerce site. Then they repeated it. I get asked all the time "how can I easily build a website about X". My response: WORDPRESS! The thing that really hit me hard was that you can (and very often should) use wordpress to build almost any type of site you want (ecommerce, single sales page, information, cms, affiliate site, review site, squeeze page). It's all set up for you and with the info they give in this course you know exactly how to configure it for best results...for selling! There's such a huge difference between being able to sell things online, and being "cool" or "read" or "just in it for fun" or "I just do it for networking". This is where a lot of people I know get caught going in the wrong direction with their blogs. They want to make money from it, but they're treating it like a social event. They don't ever get into what actually makes people buy things online. It's also where I see marketers go wrong in how they're trying to integrate web 2.0 into their plans. They go about spamming instead of just using the tools given them to their advantage where it will stick around for the long term. Using wordpress in conjunction with the system BTS outlines integrates the best of both worlds (the blog/web 2.0 world and the internet marketing world). So, after I listened to the course I immediately went out and started a blog based on the principles they talk about. Then, over the next month or so, I really, really ramped it up (this is why I call it "Blogging To Sell On Steroids"). I took all the marketing tactics I could remember and wrote them down in an organized todo list. Then I went and started asking other people who I know knew a lot of stuff, about marketing tactics they use, and I added their lists to my list. What I came up with in the end were 13 todo lists that start before the beginning of the BTS course and take you way past the end of the BTS course, on the path of setting up a super successful blog that actually sells stuff and makes you money. I call the system: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/bloggingtosell">Blogging To Sell On Steroids</a> and you can get my todo lists for yourself by following that link. I'm giving the system away for free (Keith let me give away their course...Thanks Keith!) It's not for everyone. It's just for people looking to make money online who already have some knowledge about blogs and marketing. blogging to sell, wordpress, blog, marketing
Isn't it funny that we do these things we call "New Years Resolutions" where we swear to ourselves that we're going to do something. Yet...the whole point of these things is that we're going to put off doing them until the new year comes. And, since you don't start something on a Tuesday, this year we're going to put off starting our new habits until Monday, January 7. So, a month ago, you decided to procrastinate losing weight because there was something special about January 1 (well, now January 7 because that's a monday). And 2 weeks ago you decided that January 1 was a magical day when you would work on making money outside of your current job, or you would be more patient with your kids, or you would be a better person. January 1 doesn't have any magic. That's why new years resolutions almost always fail. Procrastination is bad. And generally that's what a resolution is. It's something we've procrastinated, and something we knew we were going to procrastinate until the new year. What happens if you need to lose weight in July? You're going to get fatter until January 1? That really stinks. I don't do new years resolutions because when I realize I need to change something in my life, I make a big effort to change it today. If I need to lose weight (which has happened a few times), I stop drinking chocolate shakes at 9:30 at night today. If I need to stop spending so much time on email, I close my email browser today. Of course, I always write these things down in my <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2007/10/turning-your-smartphone-into-a-1000000year-tool.html">todo list and email them to myself</a>. Make your new years resolution for 2008 to not need to have any 2009 new years resolutions. Resolve to change your life "today", every day this year. You'll have a much more productive year if you do.
I'm writing this blog as a warning to everyone using Google Adwords. The people who "run" adwords are Nazis with no feeling for human beings. If you make a mistake, there is no warning system and no appeals process. 3 weeks ago I set up a campaign promoting a page on my blog in Adwords. When I wrote the ad it got flagged for a trademark violation (which is super common in Adwords) so I "requested an exception". The next day my account didn't have any impressions in it. I contacted google to see what was wrong with my account. 6 days later I heard back from them saying that my account was suspended. Here's the email I got back: Hello John, Thank you for your patience. I've consulted your account with our specialist team and it has come to our attention that your Google AdWords account does not comply with our terms of service and advertising policies. You have repeatedly submitted ads that violated our copyright policies in a related account. As a result, your account has been suspended and your ads will no longer run on Google. As noted in our Terms and Conditions, Google reserves the right to terminate advertisements for any reason. To view our Terms and Conditions, please visit https://adwords.google.com/select/tsandcsfinder. We appreciate your cooperation. Sincerely, Michael C. The Google AdWords Team Needless to say I was shocked. At first I thought this must be a temporary suspension, I hadn't done anything wrong. I mean...I hadn't done anything to hurt Google. I hadn't done anything that I knew of that violated any of their rules. I used their own process to "request" an exception. I didn't demand anything. I didn't do anything malicious. My account was in good standing. In my mind, this must just be temporary...after all, I had been spending over $20,000/month on Adwords (which, obviously isn't a lot of money to Google, but 2 days prior I had gotten an email saying "since you're one of our top advertisers, we're now offering you phone support."). I was wrong. I contacted them through both live chat and phone (Google phone number: 1-866-2google) and was assured that the suspension wasn't temporary and wasn't an accident. It was permanent. I was also told that the "specialist" team had made the decision and they assured me there was nothing they could do about it, and that there was nobody else I could talk to. Apparently Google has some magical "specialist" team that doesn't have to answer to customers, and acts as an excuse for the people who do answer to customers so they can just say "I'm sorry, I know this must be frustrating, but I can assure you there's nothing anyone can do. The specialist team made this decision and their decisions are final....no, there's no way you can speak to them....no, there's no way you can contact them or make any explanations to them....no, there's no way to appeal their decision, their decisions are final." So then of course I started flipping out. This is how I make a living, and I was just told that because I made a simple, honest mistake, I'm not allowed to ever show any ads on google again ever for any reason...forever...permanently. A simple mistake for which I received no warning, and there is no way to appeal the process. Murderers don't get that kind of treatment. Rapists don't get treated like that. (yes, yes, I understand that google is a business and they can do anything they want...blah, blah, blah. Whatever happened to "Don't be evil"? I'll tell you, It went out the door on <a href="http://www.google-ipo.com">August 19, 2004</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/technology/24valley.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">just</a> <a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/windows/blog/2005/08/is_google_evil.html">like</a> <a href="http://www.crn.com/it-channel/18842519">wall</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/10/flirting_with_v.html">street</a> <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/17928/Google--Dont-Be-Evil">said</a> <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/search-giant-may-outgrow-its-fans/2005/08/25/1124562975596.html3001.asp">it </a> <a href="http://www.geeknewscentral.com/archives/007047.html">would</a>.) So, I started trying to contact someone. Surely there must be a way to contact the specialist team and explain to them that this was an honest mistake. I wrote a very nice email explaining my situation and sent it to a few email addresses inside google that I thought might get some attention (one of them, btw, is matt@google.com. You might want to try it too...although it didn't get me anywhere). The email I got back was: Hello John, Thank you for your email. I understand your concern regarding the suspension of your account. However, as mentioned in our previous email, your Google AdWords account has been suspended due to multiple Copyright disapprovals. We are unable to revoke your account suspension, and we will not accept advertisements from you in the future. Please note that our support team is unable to help you with this issue, and we ask that you do not contact them about this matter. If you need more information about our content policy guidelines, please visit https://adwords.google.com/select/contentpolicy.html. ... ... standard google email garbage ... ... We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available. Sincerely, Saman The Google AdWords Team I thought the "look forward to providing" part was funny. I then tried to contact 2 different people inside of google directly through linkedin, both of whom declined the invitation to be introduced (not surprised). At this point, I've given up on trying to get my account re-instated. They don't care that I'm a human who made a mistake. They're not going to repeal their decision (how could they possibly have been wrong in the first place...right?) I don't have an adwords account now. It has been a good 3 weeks of becoming more intimately accustomed to the way yahoo and msn do their ppc. They've made a LOT of improvements. In the end, this will probably end up being a blessing to me. It's an excuse to start everything from the beginning. New business. New address. New name. New credit card. New websites. New computer. New IP address. Again, I'm writing this as a warning!. Please don't rely solely on Google for your online advertising (fortunately I hadn't...and I had other streams of income). If you do, you might make a mistake someday and find that you've been slammed to the floor and kicked while you are down, like I was. Please feel free to blog about this and spread the word. More people need to know that they're not allowed to "request an exception".
I'm reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FWorld-Flat-History-Twenty-first-Century%2Fdp%2F0374292884&tag=jonasblog07-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">The World Is Flat</a> right now and had a flattening experience yesterday and thought I'd share it. In the book he lists 10 "flatteners" that have caused globalization over the past 10-15 years. They include web browsers (anyone can view content), work flow software (managing processes), uploading (people sharing info online), oursourcing, offshoring (moving your plant overseas), informing (search engines), and other things. One of the things that wasn't listed (because it wasn't nearly as big in 2005 as it is now) is the ease of putting video online. I'm not talking about youtube or google video (which are obviously huge marketplaces). I'm talking about the ability to communicate via video and how easy it is getting and how it's making globalization easier. For example, as many of my readers know I have quite a few people who work for me full time in the Philippines. One of the big reasons I have been so successful with it is because of the ability to record a video of a process I do online using screen capture software like Camtasia Studio. I'm busy. If I had to type out processes I use to give instructions to people overseas, I simply wouldn't do it and employees wouldn't have my processes. Work wouldn't get done. Because of video, I can easily record my process and upload it and they have immediate instructions, in my voice, personalized to them and their situation. For the past year or so I've been using <a href="http://www.jingproject.com">Jing</a> to create videos. The reason I use it instead of camtasia is because it makes it even easier to create and upload a video, reducing the overhead time of creating a video to virtually zero. The ability to give instructions so quickly and easily makes it that much easier to move anything and everything overseas. The flattening experience I had yesterday was when I got a Jing video from a customer of mine where she detailed feedback about using our website (how we could make it better, problems she's having). She took a jing video of her using our site and detailed the problems she sees and why they're problems. Feedback doesn't get any more clear than that. The flattening happens because now it's super easy for me to forward that feedback onto my developers and have them make the changes, and nothing gets lost in the translation. Feedback directly from the mouth and screen of a user going straight onto the screen of a developer overseas. As more and more people realize the power and ease of creating videos and putting them online, the knowledge worker here in the U.S. had better become more knowledgeable or they'll be replaced by people overseas (which obviously is already happening). For those of you with jobs working for a company, if you've read the 4-hour work week, my guess is you can see how to use this to help outsource yourself! When you and a few co-workers pitch in together to hire someone overseas, and you create videos to have them do your work for you, so you can go play golf, and you do it without your boss knowing, let me know. I love this stuff.
Literally.

<a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/media/2008/03/google_url_changes_28_Mar_2008.mp3">Here's a podcast of this blog post</a> Or you can listen to it here: [audio mp3="/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/google_url_changes_28_Mar_2008.mp3"][/audio] (The audio is different than what I wrote below) If you're using Google Adwords, you've probably already seen or heard about the change that's coming on April 1, 2008: I've had a few people ask me about how to deal with this so here are a few thoughts: 1. For People Doing Direct Linking I have 3 solutions for how to deal with this for people who are direct linking to affiliate programs. First, get better at adwords than your competitors and out rank them. By out rank them, I mean write a better ad that gets a better CTR and hence a higher ranking ad in google's results. If you do this, you can use the merchants display url with your affiliate link and your ad will be shown above all other affiliates. If the merchant is advertising for themselves on your keyword...I don't really have a solution for you. Very often if you outrank the merchant they'll get really mad at you for being better than they are at selling their product and they'll kick you out of their affiliate program. However, if you're just competing with other affiliates, writing a better ad will usually do the trick to get your ad shown. One thing you need to realize in this is that while google doesn't dislike affiliate marketing, it doesn't help their core business. Affiliates usually fill an inefficiency in a marketplace. Google doesn't like inefficiencies and if they can take care of them without having an affiliate in the mix, they'll be more than happy to do so. As a direct linking affiliate, you're fighting an uphill battle. Not that it can't be fought, but over the years google has shown a consistent pattern of making it more and more difficult to do direct linking as an affiliate. Knowing this, you can either make the choice to continue doing it, fighting the uphill battle, or you can chose to evolve and do something that google isn't fighting against. At this point, it's like the days when adsense died. Google had made it clear that they didn't like sites that were made for adsense (MFA sites). At one point they made a change where it became very difficult to continue with the page generator/adsense business model. Smart people changed their model. Others continued doing it because it was the easiest path, and today they're really struggling (at least...I don't know anyone who is still succeeding with that model. If you do, I want to know them). Second, set up your own domain. You have a few options in doing this. You can set up a simple iframe landing page where your domain just has a page with an iframe on it. The src= part of the iframe is your affiliate link. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't know how google is going to deal with it with their new rules. But, doing this, you can have your display URL be the same as the actual page where the person ends up (because they're on your website). Another option for your own landing page is to try and add value to the transaction you're trying to create. As an affiliate, you're trying to get person A (buyer) to buy product B. If all you're doing is providing a link to product B, you're not adding very much value to that transaction. However, if you can give person A a reason to buy product B (You give this reason on your website), now you're adding value to the transaction and now you're starting to build a business for yourself. In doing this, you leave the realm of people google is fighting against and join the side of people google likes...information providers. Google knows that the first reason someone goes online is to find information. It's always super simple to find someone who will sell you something, google knows that. They also know that it's much more difficult to find someone who will give you good information without selling you something (or even someone who will give you good information before selling you something). They also know that the first 2 steps in the buying process (browers and then shoppers) are looking for information. If you can be a voice that someone trusts in those first 2 steps, they're very likely to trust you when they're ready to whip out their credit card. So how do you give a person a reason to buy? Here are a few ideas: Write reviews that tell the person which product is the best Solve a problem the person has and give them the solution if they buy through your affiliate link Give them a free something (report, mp3, video...) that partly solves their problem, and then tell them to buy product B to completely solve their problem Write about your personal experience with product B and how it solved your problem and how it will solve their problem too There are a ton of ways to add value to the transaction. I think most affiliates who are doing direct linking would be surprised to see their conversion rates go up after creating a good landing page. Third, try cloaking. You can set up a landing page that just has content on it that's related to your keywords so that google will give you a high quality score, and then cloak that page (either by a redirect or a straight cloak...there's software that will do this for you) to go to your affiliate link. This will allow you to pass that visitor on to the final landing page (not your own url) but will have google think that the person actually is landing on your url (so your destination URL is your domain, and google thinks the person is going to end up on your domain (so they're ok with it for their new rules), but the person actually ends up on the final landing page through your affiliate url). Just be warned. This can be tricky, it is considered black hat, Google doesn't like it, and it can get you in trouble. Lots of people do it. That's all I'm going to say about it. 2. For people using adwords for testing Brian Todd wrote a good piece on <a href="http://www.perrymarshall.com/adwords/domains.htm">how to split test url's using Adwords</a> even with google's new rules. Read it. 3. Go use Yahoo/MSN Obviously this isn't a way to deal with Google's new rules, but I think that most affiliate just blatantly ignore Yahoo/MSN ppc. Mistake. While there isn't as much traffic from either of those as there is from google, and both of their systems are more difficult to use, I consistently find that the traffic I get converts better. Less money spent + more conversions = higher ROI (Yes, I understand that it doesn't always mean higher profits). Conclusion As far as I can tell, what they've said is that this will effect "NEW" ads that are created after April 1. It shouldn't (not yet) affect things you've done in the past. But, if google is moving this direction, you better believe that at some point they'll make this rule retroactive. This is a good point for affiliate marketers using adwords to make a decision about what they're going to do in the future with their businesses. As far as I'm concerned, I think it's time to evolve. Let me know your thoughts.
Over the past few months I've started to realize one of the things that keeps people from succeeding online is that they feel like they have to do everything they ever hear of or they're a failure. "You have to have a list" "You have to do SEO" "You have to do Adwords like this!" "You have to be a great copywriter" "You have to have an info product and give it away and then sell something else and create a newsletter to create continuity and have an audio and ship them a cd and then offer them a big box package with the goal of offering them a seminar so that they can then buy personal coaching..." The number of things you can (and should) do goes on forever. Just not right now. Recently I've seen that one of the reasons people fail is because they're trying to do all of these things, and they're trying to do them all their selves, and they're doing a very poor job at every single one of them. I had someone ask me recently, "how do I build a list as an affiliate?" When I looked at what he was doing, he was running dozens of different affiliate campaigns that were making him money. Because he had heard "You have to have a list", "You have to build a list", "The money's in the list", he thought "I must need to build a list." The reality is, even if he had a list what was he going to do with it? There's no way he could service 10 lists right now. Having those 10 or 20 lists wasn't going to make him any more money than what he was currently doing. In fact, he would probably lose money on gathering those people's email addresses. You don't have to build a list. You don't have to have a squeeze page. You don't have to have an upsell. You don't have to do everything you hear of. There's so much info out there and it's always presented as "You have to do this or else you're doomed to failure." You're really not. Yes, I think you should have a list. Yes, I think you should do SEO. Yes, I think you should do lots with Adwords. Yes, yes, yes. But, not all at the same time. Everything has it's place and time. Lots of stuff <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2008/07/how-and-why-you-should-replace-yourself-with-someone-overseas.html">should be given to other people to do for you</a> (like blogging, myspace, twitter, articles, seo, adwords, finding affiliate programs, social networking, social bookmarking, ..., ...). Other than that, concentrate on your main business right now. Make it more profitable. Implement one thing you know of. Or, better yet, go back and do a great job of implementing the last thing you did a half-ass job of implementing. Get deeper into that niche that is making you a little money, instead of heading off into another niche where the grass looks greener. It's not. Just because you hear some "guru" say that you have to do something, doesn't mean he's right. It doesn't mean it applies to every single business out there. It doesn't mean you should jump and do it right now. Keep it simple. You don't need to do everything online. You just need to do one thing very well (gee...you've heard that before haven't you?). When you get great at that one thing, move on to the next thing.
I've had enough feedback from the "Utah IM Scene" that I think it would be appropriate to hold a small get together. So, October 10th I've rented out the <a href="http://www.mynoahs.com/roomdetails.php?useID=25">"Boardroom"</a> from <a href="http://www.mynoahs.com/">Noah's</a>in Pleasant Grove (<a href="http://www.mynoahs.com/locations.php">Here are driving directions.</a> It's just off exit 275.) for people to come and network and mastermind. I rented it from 3:00pm - 5:45pm on Friday, October 10th. I did it on Friday because I figured people could get off work a little early to come if they wanted to. No, this isn't a seminar. No, I'm not "speaking". Notice it's not an all day event. This is a get-together to see if we can help each other out. Yes, I'll answer questions. So, if you're in Utah County or Salt Lake County, come on down. It should be a good time.
You know how people have been creating these 45 minute marketing videos recently. No more! <a href="http://www.enounce.com/myspeed.php">speed up online video</a> Install, watch video, make it play faster. Who knows why people think a 30 minute video of just them talking is appropriate. You get 10 minutes...MAX...to hold someone's attention. UPDATE (11/14/2008): I'm totally addicted. I love that I can watch/listen to an online video in 2x speed. It cuts through all the crap so much faster.
If you know me at all, you know I'm all about implementation. I think it's a huge mistake to spend time learning things that pertain to your business but not implementing them. So, today I'm going to implement one of them for you. If you haven't seen what the guys at TrafficGeyser.com are doing, you need to check it out: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/go/tg10_10_4">http://www.siteproweb.com/lead/10-10-4</a> (I think that's <a href="http://www.helpmybusiness.com">Andrew Lock's</a> affiliate link...lol) There are 2 things to learn from this: the process they're teaching as it pertains to your business (using videos to get leads and convert them into buyers) the process they're using to get leads and turn them into buyers The process they're using is almost exactly the same as the one they're teaching. Notice how they're giving away great free content teaching you how to do something, and in the process they're teaching you how to use their product. Genius! So, being about implementation, here's what I did. I watched their video today: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/go/tg10_10_4">http://www.siteproweb.com/lead/10-10-4</a> I see how this can fit into my business. So, I sent this email (You should send this email too!) to 2 of my guys in the Philippines: Guys, I know I've been sending you a lot of stuff to do recently. I'd like an update on how they're going. Also, here's another thing I want you to work on. You guys can split this up however you want...my suggestion is that you both come up with some of the questions/video topics, you both write them and edit each others stuff, and get talk together about what the videos should be. 1. go here: http://trafficgeyser.com/blog/?p=40 2. watch the video and read the pdf (they're basically the same thing, but each explains a little differently). 3. come up with the 20 video topics he talks about. I want these to not only be topics, but I want the questions and the answers. I'll then film the videos with the scripts you send. 4. come up with the squeeze page video script. You can use the script I sent you before (I think I sent it to [name ommitted]...it's also available in the video training module on <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>). It's a really good script for prepping a customer to buy or opt-in and it's super easy to follow. <a href="http://www.quickvideolearning.com/training/pictures/product-promo-script.png">Here's another script you can use</a>. 5. come up with the thank you page video script. 6. come up with the "buy my stuff" video script. I realize that what I'm asking you guys to do is very different than what I've asked you to do in the past. I'm asking you to become salesmen. I want you to create a sales process. I have been doing this for years, so I'll likely have ideas for you along the way. When you guys give me stuff, I'll give you feedback. Let me know what you think. John A couple of notes: Obviously I've trained these guys. They have a very good working internet marketing knowledge (this is why I created <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a> in the first place...to help train other people's employees so they would be on the same level as mine are...mine are very smart!) These guys have a very good knowledge of the market we're going to be doing the videos in (they're the ones who build all the websites and write all the content for it). There are going to be a couple of iterations on the scripts where they send me the scripts, and I give them feedback...not a problem...I'm prepared for it. When we have the videos, I'll have them put them on a site and have them build the squeeze page and thank you page. I'll also have them use <a href="http://www.trafficgeyser.com">trafficgeyser</a> (I've already taught them how...it's module #5 in <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>) to submit the videos to all the video sites. Done. Implemented (or...at least...implementation started by someone else...not me!) It took me more time to write this blog post than it did to implement this sales process. Basically all I have to do now is hone the video scripts and then film the videos. The rest is done for me. If you're not doing this, WHY NOT?????? Seriously...let me know in the comments why not!
I've been doing article marketing for a long time. Here's what I always tell people: "Article marketing is the second most effective thing you can do to market your website. Google Adwords is #1". I use <a href="http://www1.whatscrapandwhatsnot.com/uaw">UniqueArticleWizard</a> to do all my article submissions. It's by far the best tool out there. However, up until now, it's been difficult and confusing how to get the resource boxes correct. That's why I made this <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/article-resource-box-creator">article resource box creator</a>. Use it (or have your employees use it) to get good, correct, useful resource boxes for your articles.
Just as an idea for those of you looking for ideas of what you can send to your guys in the Philippines. I just sent my guy Sony Vegas (video editing software) and said "learn this" and then asked him to take 2 video feeds, and an audio feed, and put it all together into one video where the 2 videos and the audio all sync up. He did it! (he's good!) Sure, it wasn't the best thing ever (it was his first shot at it). But it only took him 1 day (overnight for me) and it was done. I didn't have to go to elance, look at what other people are posting, post a project, write up the details, send them the videos, pay them, realize: wait a minute, this stinks...but I've already paid them and now they don't want to fix it... To find out how you can hire guys in the Philippines and change your life like I have, go to <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>.
I did <a href="http://www.marlonsanders.com/">Marlon Sanders</a> coaching call yesterday (he has an awesome coaching program) where I taught how to live the 4-hour workweek through outsourcing to the Philippines. He did a great write up about achieving your business goals here: <a href="http://www.marlonsnews.com/?p=182">http://www.marlonsnews.com/?p=182</a>
Do you keep a swipe file of sales copy and squeeze pages and interesting marketing tactics? If not, why not? Here's why you do it. When you want to create a sales/squeeze page for yourself, you can go back through all the pages you've bookmarked and just pull the pieces out of them that you like. When you're ready to test different elements of your pages, you can just go back through your swipe file and pull out the different elements that other people have to test. Here's a head start for you. <a href="http://delicious.com/hjuan99/swipe">http://delicious.com/hjuan99/swipe</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/hjuan99/squeeze">http://delicious.com/hjuan99/squeeze</a> There's some of my swipe files (easily worth $100 just having that). I keep my stuff on delicious.com because it's easy, it's online, and I never have to worry about losing it when my computer crashes. TIP When you're ready to do your next sales page, go through the swipe pages you have and record them with jing, and tell the person you're giving it to (hopefully <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com">your guy in the Philippines</a>) what you like about each page. Here's an example video I did (using Jing) of how I would create a page: <a href="http://www.hmjohn.com/video/jing/use-swipe-file-to-create-sales-page.mp4">How to create a sales page using a swipe file</a>
Social media is garbage...for most people, for most businesses! Most of it can't be outsourced...or can it??? Ok, so let me explain. For a long time we've been hearing "You've gotta be on Myspace", "You've got to be on Facebook", "You've got to be on Twitter", "You've got to get onto Digg", ... B.S. People say "This is where all the people are!". I don't care where all the people are! I care where all the buyers are! In your business, you should too! And the fact is, all the buyers are on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ebay! Even if they're on twitter, when they're looking to buy something, they're on Google and Ebay! Period! I use all the social media sites. Every one of them. But not for networking! <a href="http://www.socialmediamyth.com">Michelle Macphearson</a> just wrote an awesome free report called the <a href="http://www.socialmediamyth.com">Social Media Myth</a> that talks about all this stuff. In my opinion, this is the best thing that has ever been written for most small business owners when it comes to dealing with social media (it's not super entertaining, but it certainly covers what you need to know). In fact, she describes EXACTLY how I use all these sites. (SEO!) For most people, it's all just a huge waste of time (you're off goofing around when you should be focusing on making sales, you justify using twitter because people said "it's good for your business"), and you use it as a crutch/time waster to avoid <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2008/12/success-in-your-online-business-1-of-4.html">make sales</a> in your business). Now, I'm not saying there's not a place for <a href="http://twitter.com">twitter</a>, <a href="http://facebook.com">facebook</a>, <a href="http://myspace.com">myspace</a>, [insert your favorite time waster here]. There is. But if you're not using the right way for your business, you're just wasting your time. Here's <a href="http://www.socialmediamyth.com">Michelle's Social Media Myth report</a>. Please read this before wasting your time trying to "get thousands of leads out of twitter!". I know...now let the flames begin telling me how wrong I am. But before you do, please tell me how much MONEY you've made from social media sites (I don't want to hear about the job you got because of it, or how many lifelong friends you've made because of it, or how you have a great lead because of it, or about how many sales you'll make in the future from all the wasted time now, I want to hear about $$$). The other thing I love about what Michelle says is that it can easily, easily, easily be outsourced. Zero time spent by me! Living the Four Hour Workweek! ----- Update: today I noticed this on the <a href="http://www.omniture.com">homepage of Omniture</a>, the absolute best web analytics company:
I'm flying out in a few hours to Minneapolis to speak at <a href="http://www.shopgoldmills.com/cmd.php?Clk=2834858">Jeff Mills Outsourcing Seminar</a>.

You can join it live on Ustream for $12.95 (which I think is crazy)! Here's the link to get access to the ustream feed: <a href="http://www.shopgoldmills.com/cmd.php?Clk=2834859">Outsourcing Seminar on Ustream</a> I speak at 2:00pm Central time tomorrow, but the seminar goes for 2 days. Last time I did this it was a really, really good seminar. Near the end of it we spent about an hour going over what people should be doing in their businesses step-by-step-by-step. Everyone who was there (or on ustream) got so much out of it.
One of the most important things I see in starting an internet business is designing your business around your lifestyle. Maybe not around the lifestyle you currently have, but around the lifestyle you want to have. If you design your business around your lifestyle, it makes making decisions in your business much easier ("should I do this? Does it fit my lifestyle? No! Ok, decision made.") I did a 50 minute interview with Sterling and Jay from <a href="http://www.internet-based-business-mastery.com/">Internet Business Mastery</a> specifically about lifestyle design. They have the #1 podcast on iTunes for the keywords "Internet Business" and "Internet Marketing". If you ask me, that right there tells you that they know what they're doing. On the call they touched on: Getting a podcast to the top of iTunes Using your business as a vehicle for accomplishing your goals How to avoid creating a 2nd job for yourself Why MONEY can't be your ultimate goal Why <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com">outsourcing</a> has to be part of your business Why your job is wholesaling your time Turning your life's passion into a business Building rabid buyers who come back time and time again Creating Systems in your business so you don't have to work IN your business Listen to (or <a href="http://jonasblog.s3.amazonaws.com/lifestyle-design-sterling-and-jay.mp3">Download</a>) the call here: [audio mp3="/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lifestyle-design-sterling-and-jay.mp3"][/audio] <span style="font-size: xx-small;">To get started designing your lifestyle, get Jay and Sterlings <a href="http://www.freeaudiogift.com">3 Pillars Mini-Course FREE Audio</a>. Once you understand <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com">outsourcing redefined</a>, all of this becomes very, very possible.
Over the past few weeks I've had numerous people ask me: "You recommended 2 different programs for online business models. Which is better?" Here are the two (both have a video interview): <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2009/02/how-to-make-3-700-times-a-day.html">Make $3 700 times a day</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2009/01/an-automated-online-business-model.html">An Automated Online Business Model</a> Here is my answer: BOTH There were a few reasons why I posted (and recommended) both of those: Both business models work Both business models are EASILY outsourced (I'm currently implementing both of them through outsourcing) I personally know the owners of both. They're both super trustworthy. Both business models are easy to understand, and, if you implement them, it's hard to fail at them. So which is better for you? That depends on you and your skills and your goals. This is where and why I tell people "you need to understand your business." Here's a summary of both. You pick which one is better for YOU (I'm doing both). 1. An Automated Online Business Model <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2009/01/an-automated-online-business-model.html">NPC</a> You will build websites in niches with the goal of selling info products. It's more involved than The Mini-Site Formula. Each site will make you $300-$3000/month. You'll spend more time on each site. You'll create some of your own info products. You'll do seo, articles, videos, ... to market your site. This is less of an affiliate business, and more of a "you own the product" business. That's why I like it. It's permanent, but will take longer to see your first income. 2. Make $3 700 times a day <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2009/02/how-to-make-3-700-times-a-day.html">The Mini-Site Formula</a> You build websites in micro-niches with the goal of selling physical products as an affiliate. Each site has very little time commitment. Each site makes you $1-$5/day. You make money strictly as an affiliate (or with adsense). It's a very scientific process. No copy, emails, auto responders, sales pages, clickbank, upsells involved. You market it with video (that's what Joel does, I suggest video + articles). You'll see your first income quickly, but it might not be permanent. Now, it's your turn to use your brain and pick which one appeals to you more. Whatever you do, only 2 things matter: Are you implementing it (if you don't do this, nothing else matters) Are you <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">outsourcing</a> it (if you don't do this, it's only a matter of time until you stop doing #1)
Since most of the people who read my blog spend a good amount of their time in front of the computer, I thought I'd share some of the plugins I use to boost my productivity. This post is inspired because of my latest favorite: <a href="http://www.lastpass.com">LastPass</a>. I've always looked for a great solution to storing usernames/passwords but haven't found it. I've tried <a href="http://keepass.info/">keepass</a>, <a href="http://www.roboform.com/">roboform</a>, and the built-in firefox password manager, all with very little success (they didn't work to my liking). Now, with lastpass, it stores all the passwords from all of my computers (AND MY BLACKBERRY!!!!). It also tells me when it has user/pass info for me, something other systems didn't always do. Yes, it stores my passwords online, and yes, I'm probably giving up a bit of security with it (although, they don't seem to think so), but I'm fine with that from the peace of mind I get by knowing I'm always going to be able to get back into the site. Here are my other favorites: <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3780">Faviconize</a> - I keep lots of tabs open all the time. Now, those tabs are smaller. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2324">Session manager</a> - because I HATE when I accidentally lose the 15 tabs open in my browser. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3247">S3 Organizer</a> - because it makes it super easy to put stuff onto S3. I don't even have to open a new program! <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3615">Delicious</a> - because <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2009/02/my-swipe-file.html">keeping my bookmarks online and synced is priceless</a> <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2007">LivePageRank</a> - because I like to know what the PageRank is for sites, but I don't need an entire google toolbar to tell me. <a href="http://br.mozdev.org/multifox/">Multifox</a> - because I'm tired of having to log my wife out of my laptop because she likes to use whichever one is closer to her! I'd love to hear what plugins you love that make you more productive in your business.
Here's what I've done for the past 24 hours: Checked my email Talked with my partner Dan Wrote a blog post Wrote 2 emails to be sent to my mailing lists Used jing to make an explanation video Played golf Chatted with a few of my GUYS in the Philippines Ate dinner, played with my kids, practiced more golf in my backyard, ... Read a book (it was only 130 pages) Slept Ate, got ready, played with my kids, went to the <a href="http://www.lds.org/temples/">LDS temple</a> Had a meeting with someone who wanted help Played Golf And am now writing this blog post (it's 11:56am) Here's what actually got done in the past 24 hours: Email got filtered, checked, and responded to 2 domains got bought A squeeze page, sales page, and website got put up An autoresponder series got put into aweber, along with sales emails getting inserted into them The 90 minute call I did a few weeks ago with <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a> members got partially transcribed 2 blog posts got done on my affiliate sites A new test version of one of my sites got created...I haven't seen it yet, I just heard it's done My golf game improved One of my GUYS learned a ton about the inner workings of wordpress while creating a new theme for me All of these things were done by my GUYS in the Philippines. 100% without me (except for the golf and email). <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">Hiring GUYS in the Philippines</a> is the way to go if you work from home and actually want to be productive in your business. Hiring GUYS in the Philippines is NOT optional.
Yesterday I got a PDF document back from my GUYS: The Top 7 ROI Activities Your VA Can Do I asked them to write it. I'm going to add it as a bonus in ReplaceMyself.com. They would know the best ROI activities better than I would...they're the ones who do the work and who check it's effectiveness. Here's the real kicker. This is why I created <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a> in the first place. They sent me the 2nd draft. Along with it one of my GUYS said: Sir, I think we should add your affiliate links into the PDF for all the tools you're recommending they use. What do you think? [name] So, he's actually looking out for me and my business. He actually wants me to succeed and make money. The crazy thing is that after the first draft, I had thought "I should put affiliate links into this...but I don't want to go find them...so nevermind." HE DID IT FOR ME!!! Talk about replacing myself! After <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">Giving your GUYS my training</a>, this is what you should expect from your GUYS too. This is why <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">outsourcing to the Philippines</a> is soooo different than anywhere else in the world. DISCLAIMER: The GUY who said this to me has been with me for 3 years. That's why the title of this post has "(and time)" included in it. It takes both time and training for someone to understand your business as well as he understands mine.
I buy a lot of domains. Here are my guidelines for my GUYS when selecting a domain for a niche website. I have them do almost all of my research for me. I want a .com almost always. There will be times when a niche is too competitive to find a reasonable .com and in that case you can find a .org (first) or a .net (if the .org isn't available). I want the main keywords for that niche in the domain. If the niche is "pet insurance," I want the domain petinsurance.com. If that's not available, try "bestpetinsurance.com." If that's not available, try "petinsurancesecrets.com." If that's not available, try something else (maybe petinsuranceworld.com or petinsurancesite.com or something like that.) Or, try putting dashes (-) in between the keywords (like pet-insurance.com) I want the shortest domain with my keywords in it first, and then if that's not possible, add other keywords to it (best, secrets, world, ...). If you have to add 2 words to get a good domain, tray adding the dashes to the domain to get a short one. Use your brain on this to get the domain that makes the most sense for that niche. For example, BestDogObedienceTraining.com makes sense, but DogObedienceTrainingSecrets.com is better, and DogObedienceTrainingWorld.com isn't very good. Just try to think of what would be the best for getting someone who is looking for "pet insurance" to click and come to the site. What domain would they be most likely to believe willhave the answer for them. Ask me before buying any domain, but try to narrow it down to a single domain. I don't want to have to sift through multiple domains most of the time. If I don't like a domain, I'll let you know. More of my trainings like this are available as a member of <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>. This is the training I give to my Filipinos to make my life easier.
Following is an email I got from one of my GUYS detailing the promotion methods we use for different types of websites. You can use this for your GUYS. This is also very instructive for you in terms of what you should be doing for your websites. What my guys do is awesome. I added the parts in CAPITALS. Sites Handled by [NAME]: [THESE ARE SITES USING METHODS LIKE THE <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2009/02/how-to-make-3-700-times-a-day.html">MINI-SITE FORMULA</a> OR <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/pne">PNE</a> OR OTHER SIMILAR METHODS. THESE ARE NOT SITES WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON. THEY ARE OFTEN EXPERIMENTAL OR SMALL/AUTOMATED SITES. THESE SITES GET BUILT ONCE, PROMOTED ONCE, AND MAYBE UPDATED/PROMOTED EVERY 6 MONTHS AFTER THAT. I DON'T EXPECT ANY OF THESE SITES TO MAKE ME A LOT OF MONEY.] Method of promotion: Directory Submission Submission to ezinearticles Sites handles by [NAME]: [THESE ARE SITES THAT I EXPECT TO DO REASONABLY WELL ($500-$3000/MONTH). SOME OF THESE ARE USING THE <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/adamshort">NPC</a> METHOD. THEY ARE SITES WE SPEND MORE TIME ON, BUT THEY HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO THE HUGE STAGE YET (SOME OF THESE WILL MOVE UP TO THE LAST CATEGORY OF SITES). THESE SITES GET PROMOTED EVERY MONTH, MAYBE MORE OFTEN THAN THAT.] Method of promotion: site: www.xxxxxxxxxxx.com (this one is the best of this type of site that we have) Directory Submission Article Submission Bookmarking Yahoo Answers Mininet Blog Comment Forum other sites: Submission to Ezinearticles Little bit of Yahoo Answers and Forum posting Sites handle by [NAME]: [THESE ARE OUR BIG SITES. THEY ARE SITES THAT WE EXPECT TO CONTRIBUTE OVER $5K/MONTH TO THE BUSINESS. SOME OF THESE ARE USING THE <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/adamshort">NPC</a> METHOD. OTHERS ARE LARGE AFFILIATE SITES. THEY'RE STILL COMPLETELY AUTOMATED (from my point of view) BUT WE GIVE THEM MORE ATTENTION THAN ANY OF THE OTHERS. THESE GET PROMOTED AT LEAST WEEKLY.] Method of Promotion: Directory Submission (done) Article Submission Mininet Forum Bookmarking (occasionally) One-way link from blogs: Content spooling, 1waylinks, free traffic system A little bit of Blog comment and yahoo answers. Here are my thoughts. (THIS PART STILL WRITTEN BY MY GUY) For me, the best method in building backlinks are article marketing and blogs. Search engines love content. Articles and blogs are often updated and SE's love them. It also looks very natural in the eyes of the SE's. For direct traffic, yahoo answers and video marketing are the best strategy. Forum posting (with signature link) and blog comment can deliver both backlink and traffic as long as it is posted on relevant sites. But the problem is, there are only few forum sites related to the topics. And for blog comments, most of the blogs are moderated so woudl it take time for your comment to be posted. Most blogs now have nofollow attributes on comments and Google does not follow them anymore (as posted to their webmaster support website). But other search engines may handle this attribute differently. In the case of [NAME], as she handles so many websites, I think Free traffic System can really help her. I am still looking on how this system works. But I think this can make linkbuilding easy and effective. For me, directory submission is good if the website is new. But if it is already indexed by SE, it is not that important exept if the directory is an authority site such as Dmoz and Yahoo Dir. This is what I've been doing: New site: Directory Submission Bookmarking Yahoo answers Blog Comment If the site is indexed: Article Submission One-way links from blogs (this will help the website increase its ranking the natural way) If there is a sudden drop on the rankings or as the site gets more established: Forum Posting to dofollow forum sites One-way links from blogs. (this can give instant backlink to the site because it does not need approval and review) For maintenance: Combination of all these methods Video marketing for traffic Not bad as a website marketing plan that we came up with over time. Here are some of my thoughts for your benefit (I sent this to him): I want to use <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/3WayLinks">3waylinks.net</a> in addition to <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/1WayLinks">1waylinks.net</a> on all the sites. Both can be used just once on the experimental sites, but should be used regularly on our good sites. Both are very good. I haven't used the <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/FreeTrafficSystem">free traffic system</a>, so I don't know how effective it is. My GUY seems to think it's good so I told him to buy it. I think we should be doing video submissions for all sites. Experimental sites can have just 1 video submitted. Better sites should have it done regularly. I wouldn't worry too much about the nofollow attribute thing on blogs. I don't think google discounts it as much as they say they do. I think it's still valid to post comments on those sites. We use <a href="/go/uaw">Unique Article Wizard</a> for article marketing. We use <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/TrafficGeyser">Traffic Geyser</a> for video marketing If you (the reader) have other systems you use to promote your sites, please post in the comments. Training for YOUR GUYS for all the methods mentioned above are available as a member of <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>. The training is designed to teach YOUR GUYS how to do what MY GUYS are doing for me.
Notice: I will update this post if the status changes. Most of my readers know that <a href="http://www.bestjobs.ph">BestJobs.ph</a> is currently the best place to find Filipino employees (I say "currently" because that will soon change when we release our own site to recruit specifically online workers...coming very soon). About 3 months ago the owners of <a href="http://www.bestjobs.ph">BestJobs.ph</a> decided that they didn't want to allow people outside the Philippines to access BestJobs. Currently, you can browse through the resumes on the bestjobs.ph website (which in my opinion is the best way to find a Filipino employee) but you can't join to get their contact info. Worthless! We have tried to change the minds of the owners of BestJobs with very limited success. They don't want U.S. based companies posting jobs on their site. That's how they've chosen to run their business. Currently the only way to contact people in the Philippines after finding them on bestjobs.ph is through your membership at <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com">http://www.ReplaceMyself.com</a>. I can't give any more details, other than to say that as a member of ReplaceMyself.com, you can get contact info for anyone you find on BestJobs. This ability is included in your membership to <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>. If the status of BestJobs.ph changes, I'll post it here. When our own recruiting site is available, I'll also post it here. PS. If you do manage to get an account there (who knows how), DON'T post any job postings. Just trust me on this one. Only do resume searches to find people. If you post jobs, you'll lose your account.



I'm writing this blog post for 2 reasons: 1. A call for donations 2. Answering questions I've gotten -------------------------- 1. A call for donations -------------------------- I've never asked people to donate to anything before, but this disaster really hit home. One of the girls I employ in the Philippines lost her uncle. Someone else I know has a VA who lost a sister. People there don't have water, food, clothes, blankets, shelter. I hooked up with an organization who normally ships stuff to Africa but now is sending their normal stuff to the Philippines. If you can donate anything, please do: <a href="http://purecompassion.org/urgent-shipment-needed-in-phillippines-now/">http://purecompassion.org/urgent-shipment-needed-in-phillippines-now/</a> Whether you can donate $500 or $5, it's going to help. On that page, be sure to click the link right below the "Donate" button to read more. Please don't wait on this, people are suffering right now. I talked with the guys who run that website. They're not a huge organization, but they're very well organized and have a lot of experience with this. Also, Google has a page where you can find other places to help: <a href="http://www.google.com/landing/typhoon-ondoy.html">http://www.google.com/landing/typhoon-ondoy.html</a> -------------------------- 2. Answering questions -------------------------- I had quite a few people ask me the question today: "How does this affect your ability to outsource to the Philippines" I have 2 answers: 1. Short term: My people are not working for a few days 2. Long term: It doesn't! A similar typhoon came through the Philippines 2 years ago and some of my GUYS were very affected by it. They didn't have power for 4 days. They struggled for a while. I sent them money to rebuild their houses. Short term I lost a week of work from them. Not a big deal. Long term, it didn't affect anything. I still continue working with them. They still continue doing great work for me. Please consider donating some money if you can: <a href="http://purecompassion.org/urgent-shipment-needed-in-phillippines-now/">http://purecompassion.org/urgent-shipment-needed-in-phillippines-now/</a>
There are a lot of online tools I use in running my business. Tools which at one point I didn't know existed, and when I found out about them, I said "HOLY COW!!! THAT SAVES ME HOURS OF TIME AND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!!!" I attempted to create this list somewhat <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2008/09/tools-i-use-to-run-my-business.html">here</a>, but it was just too much content creation for me (I just don't like creating ongoing content...that's why I only blog once a month!). So, here's a big laundry list of tools I use to run my business, and just in general good internet websites to know about. This is a list that comes from my experience in doing online business, as well as the knowledge of my mastermind group. If you have great sites to add, please add them in the comments. Maybe I'll add them to my main list if I start using them. Testing/Tracking <a href="http://www.crazyegg.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crazyegg.com</a> - heatmap click tracking <a href="http://www.woopra.com/">Woopra</a> - website analytics <a href="http://www.statcounter.com/">Statcounter</a> - Not the most detailed analytics, but gives very important trend/keyword data easily. Great for affiliate websites. <a href="http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer">Google Website Optimizer</a> - free split testing and multi-variate testing <a href="http://www.clicktale.com/">ClickTale</a> - web analytics that takes a video of your users mouse/actions <a href="http://clickdensity.com/">ClickDensity.com</a> , similar to crazyegg.com... <a href="http://www.siteyogi.com/">Site Yogi</a> Free consolidated website statistics Video/Audio/Picture <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">Audacity</a> - free audio editing <a href="http://www.jingproject.com/">Jing</a> - free screen capture/sharing tool <a href="http://www.jeroenwijering.com/">JW Player</a> - best free flash player (the best flash player...period) <a href="http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html">Super</a> - free video conversion tool (the best free video converter - converts from anything to anything) <a href="http://www.erightsoft.info/GetFile.php?SUPERsetup.exe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Download</a> <a href="http://www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/">VSO Image Resizer</a> - right click to resize/save images to a different format <a href="http://www.onlinevideotoolkit.com/">OnlineVideoToolkit</a> - How to do video with a Flip camera <a href="http://www.livefaceonweb.com/">LiveFaceOnWeb.com</a> , Pay to have an actor create a video and "appear" on your site <a href="http://www.tubemogul.com/">TubeMogul.com</a> Free Video Distribution service (free alternative to traffic geyser) <a href="http://www.istockphoto.com/">iStockPhoto</a> free stock photos <a href="http://www.sxc.hu/">sxc.hu</a> free stock photos <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/s3/">Amazon S3</a> I use them for streaming video and for reliable image/file/video hosting. <a href="http://www.pixlr.com/">Pixlr Image Editing</a> - Free alternative to photoshop. Amazing online image editing...free. Outsourcing <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com/">ReplaceMyself.com</a> - How to outsource to the Philippines <a href="http://www.elance.com/">Elance</a> - freelancers galore <a href="http://www.onlinejobs.ph/">OnlineJobs.ph</a> - Where to find Filipinos to hire <a href="http://www.bestjobs.ph/">BestJobs.ph</a> - Where to find Filipinos to hire <a href="http://www.guru.com/">Guru</a>, <a href="http://www.getafreelancer.com/">GetAFreelancer</a>, <a href="http://www.odesk.com/">odesk</a>, <a href="http://www.rentacoder.com/">RentACoder</a>, <a href="http://www.scriptlance.com/">ScriptLance</a> - More freelance job sites Screen Sharing/Collaboration <a href="http://www.crossloop.com/">Crossloop.com</a> - screen sharing for tech support <a href="http://www.logmein.com/">Logmein.com</a> - free alternative to gotomypc.com <a href="http://www.acrobat.com/">Adobe Connect now</a> - free (for 3 people) screen/mic/webcam sharing Phone Calling/Recording <a href="http://www.freeconferencecall.com">FreeConferenceCall</a> - a whole suite of phone services - conference lines, voice boxes, broadcasts... <a href="http://www.pamela.biz/">Pamela</a> skype recording plugin <a href="http://www.phonetag.com/">PhoneTag.com</a> , intercepts voicemail, transcribes it, and texts the voicemail to you (voice recognition to text) <a href="http://voice.google.com/">Google Voice</a> , If you can get in... <a href="http://www.magicjack.com/site/index.html">MagicJack.com</a> - A usb device that gives you VOIP for dirt cheap. My partner, Dan, uses it exclusively at home. <a href="http://www.k7.net/">K7.net</a> Free incoming voicemail and fax service <a href="http://auctionaudio.net/">AuctionAudio.net</a> or <a href="http://audioacrobat.com/">AudioAcrobat.com</a> , 3 way in phone conversations to record Project Management <a href="http://docs.google.com/">Google Docs</a> - duh <a href="http://www.mindmeister.com/">Mindmeister.com</a> - free mind mapping tool <a href="http://www.rmilk.com/">RememberTheMilk.com</a> - free online todo list (the most full featured online todo list) <a href="http://activecollab.com/">ActiveCollab</a> - great project management software Graphic Design <a href="http://www.99designs.com/">99designs.com</a> - People will compete to create a logo/design for your website (cheap graphic design work)contest for cheap graphic/design work <a href="http://www.domydesignstuff.com/">DoMyDesignStuff.com</a> - Great graphic designer <a href="http://www.designgururyan.com/">DesignGuruRyan</a> - Another great graphic designer <a href="http://kuler.adobe.com/">Kuler.com</a> free Adobe recommended color pairings and design templates Content Creation <a href="http://www.screensteps.com/">Screen Steps</a> - tool for creating step by step instructions with screen capture <a href="http://mturk.com/">MTurk.com</a> - Get articles written for you for cheap. Also automate human processes. <a href="http://associatedcontent.com/">AssociatedContent.com</a> , get content here and then re-write it for articles <a href="http://www.expertvillage.com/">ExpertVillage.com</a> - collections of video that you can buy from people <a href="http://findarticles.com/">Findarticles.com</a> , searches offline articles , go buy them from people <a href="http://howstuffworks.com/">HowStuffWorks.com</a> , good source of content, like expertvillage <a href="http://ehow.com/">Ehow.com</a> , more content, like howstuffworks.com Online Survey Tracking/Creation <a href="http://www.zoomerang.com/">Zoomerang.com</a> Free Survey Tool <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/">Survey Monkey</a> Free Survey Tool Online File Storage/Backup <a href="http://www.getdropbox.com/">DropBox.com</a> Free file storage, sharing and remote backup from a folder on your desktop! <a href="http://www.mozy.com/">Mozy</a> - Simple online backup solution <a href="http://www.sugarsync.com/">SugarSync</a> - Online File syncing/storage <a href="http://www.backupify.com">Backupify</a> - backup your online life! Random Coolness <a href="http://www.evernote.com/">Evernote</a> - free note taking tool (puts notes on your desktop and online, indexes images/pdf to make them searchable) <a href="http://www.fatwallet.com/hot-deals/">Fatwallet.com</a> - get great deals on "stuff" <a href="http://www.gliffy.com/">Gliffy.com</a> - free flow chart design - alternative to MS Visio <a href="http://filezilla-project.org/">Filezilla</a> - best free ftp client <a href="https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_fees-rate-about-outside">"The" Paypal Button</a> - Andrew Lock says that if you're doing more than $3000/month in paypal, you can click this button and they'll charge you less transaction processing fees <a href="http://kayak.com/">Kayak.com</a> , travel prices aggregated <a href="http://web-appointments.com/">Web-Appointments.com</a> , let people schedule appointments with you when you allow them to <a href="http://doodle.ch/">Doodle.ch</a> , Group date picking ("when works for everyone?") <a href="http://www.handwrittenresults.com/">HandWrittenresults.com</a> Send hand written thank you letters to your list! <a href="http://www.ted.org/">Ted</a> - Inspirational video presentations from great minds! <a href="http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm">Windows Notepad Replacement</a> - A better program than what comes with standard windows. <a href="http://www.rescuetime.com">RescueTime</a> - Auto tracks and categorizes computer usage. Usable with employees. <a href="http://www.lastpass.com">LastPass Password Manager</a> - Keeps track of all login info across computers. I'll never (hopefully) be without this again. <a href="http://www.kunaki.com">Kunaki</a> - awesome CD/DVD creation/fulfillment service.
I recently had a great comment/question on my blog: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2008/07/how-and-why-you-should-replace-yourself-with-someone-overseas.html/comment-page-2#comment-62563">http://www.jonasblog.com/2008/07/how-and-why-you-should-replace-yourself-with-someone-overseas.html/comment-page-2#comment-62563</a> In a nutshell, David asks "how many sites do your GUYS maintain, and how much are the sties making in order for them to pay for themselves?" I thought the question and answer were informative enough to make a post out of it. Here's my response: David - this is a great observation. I'll tell you a little about my business so you can understand a bit about how I work. I don't know how many sites I currently have; maybe 50, maybe 100? How many have I built over the past years? ...hundreds maybe? Here's a quick breakdown of sites my team has 100% built for me: I have a site that makes me over $15,000/month that my team built. I have some sites that make between $1000-$5000/month that my team built. I have lots of sites that make between $100-$1000/month that my team built. I have even more sites that make me between $1-$100/month that my team built. Most of my sites that my team built don't make me anything! $0. Some of those $0 sites are new; at some point they'll make me money. Lots of them I've given up on because the model/market/niche/site failed. I lost money on those. For me, I just know that the more sites I build, the better chance I have of finding winners. I also know that some of them that I build are going to do really well. Every once in a while I'll get an awesome one. My team (of 3-5, depending on how you look at it) builds and maintains all these sites. Once a site is built and established, it requires less and less maintenance. The thing about all this is that I DIDN'T DO THE WORK! If it were up to me to do the work, none of these sites would have been built or marketed. Because other people are doing it, it got done, and I make money because of it. To me, that's the key to all this. For years I tried to do all the work myself. With that I think I had built 10 sites in a few years and only 1 of them was really successful. With other people doing the work I've built hundreds of sites and lots of them are successful. Frankly, I'm capable of doing better work than my GUYS do. However, I DON'T DO THE WORK even though I'm capable. I don't know...it's just some problem I have. If it's up to me to do the work, it's just not going to get done. For this reason I created my <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">outsourcing</a> system. So others can benefit from what I've done. John
When it comes to outsourcing your business (or yourself!) to the Philippines, there's definitely a learning curve. Here are 7 ways you can guarantee failure for yourself : (Hint: Don't do these things!) 1. Try To Hire Someone To Do Everything Here's an actual email I got this week <img src="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/jing/super-human-filipino.png" border="1" /> So wait...you want a programmer, graphic designer, webmaster, who is fluent in english and likes to write, who can write sales copy, autoresponders, forum posts, ebooks, and reports. Oh yeah, sure, let me help you find that person! Oh wait, that person doesn't exist. Hire someone to do a specific task! Then train them to be able to do everything. 2. Hire A Project Manager Filipinos don't know how to run your business for you. Don't try to hire a project manager first along with 6 others, and expect that "project manager" to manage those other 6 and get things done. They don't know how. YES! They're very capable of being project managers, but very rarely will you find someone who has been involved in enough internet business that you can just turn a project over to them and have them manage other people for you. Eventually...yes! After you've trained them and they've seen how the business is supposed to work. 3. Hire Someone And Ignore Them You have to train the person you hire. They don't know how to run your super-niche internet marketing business. Don't expect to hire someone and just let them go do everything themselves. Expect to spend some time working with them. 4. Ask Someone To Do Work Before You Offer Them A Job This is my favorite. I get an email that says Can you please tell me why I can't successfully hire someone, they all keep disappearing. Here's the email I send them: I want you to start by doing a trial task. Write 20 articles, submit them to article directories, do a bunch of directory submissions for me, build me a website and write all the content for it. Then, I'll evaluate your work and see if it's going to work out. hahahahaha. Yeah right! They're not going to do work until AFTER they know they have a full-time job working for you. Don't give them a test task. Give them a job. Tell them the first month is a probationary period. 5. Expect Immediate Results This is a long-term proposal here. I've been doing it for 4 years. You're not going to see the same results in 4 days. Don't expect it. 6. Search and Search and Search For The Right Person, Then Email Them Hey John, I searched for 3 days and I found the perfect candidate. They can do everything you said wasn't possible back up in #1 on this blog post. Why won't they respond to me? Why? Because they already have a job and they're loyal to their current employer. Instead of trying to find the perfect person up front, try contacting 20 potential fits, see who responds, then sort through them. 7. Set The Wrong Expectations When you hire them, don't tell them you expect them to be totally self-directed and to work without supervision and to be able to figure everything out on their own. If you do, you'll never hear from them again. Try telling them I expect you to try to figure things out, but I understand that I'm going to give you tasks that you won't know how to do, and sometimes there won't be any way to figure it out. In these cases, please know that I'm here to answer your questions. I'm here to help you. Please don't hesitate to ask me when you get stuck. Otherwise, when they don't know how to do something they get embarrassed and will never talk to you again. If you set the right expectation with them about asking for help, they'll ask, you'll help, and all will be happy and good. These aren't hard things to avoid...you just have to know about them to avoid them. There's more good stuff like this as a member of <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>.
I haven't been this excited about a product coming out in a long time. This is a special interview I did with Peter, the creator of a product to be released tomorrow. What Peter is teaching is EXACTLY what I do on my websites in terms of the layout and design. It's exactly what I have my GUYS do for me to make me money each month. Where it's different is in his promotion strategy, which is BETTER than what I've been doing. Just listen to this: [audio mp3="/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/peter-spaepen-for-blog.mp3"][/audio] <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2008/12/success-in-your-online-business-1-of-4.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">My post about making sales</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/go/nanobloggers" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Get NanoBloggers Here</a> (when you do, notice the sales process...it's part of nanoblogging) (here's <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/my-guarantee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my guarantee</a>) After buying, <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/nanobloggers-bonus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen to the bonus audio</a> (it's friggin' amazing!)
First of all, there's a LOT of misinformation about the <a href="http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm">new FTC guidelines</a> about bloggers, affiliates, and testimonials. I'm going to outline the main points (from the link above) and give a couple example disclaimers. 1. Clearly Disclose Typical Results From the FTC page: <div style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 5px; margin: 5px;">Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. Notice that you CAN use testimonials with results that aren't typical. If you do, you just have to also disclose somewhere what the average user might expect. 2. Disclose Affiliate Relationships From the FTC page: <div style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 5px; margin: 5px;">The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that "material connections" (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers , connections that consumers would not expect , must be disclosed. If you get paid or get free "stuff" from advertisers, disclose it. 3. Don't Lie From the FTC page: <div style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 5px; margin: 5px;">the revised Guides reflect Commission case law and clearly state that both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement , or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers Don't make false statements (fake testimonials, fake checks, fake results, ...), don't lie, and disclose your affiliate relationships. Example Here are a couple example disclaimers. Another great way to find your own disclaimers is to look at blogs or websites that are of the same nature as yours, and look at their disclaimer. I would put this in the footer of every page on your site. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I suggest you consult your own attorney. :-) Simple: <div style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 5px; margin: 5px;">Disclaimer: I may receive compensation from other websites I mention on my blog. You should probably assume I do. Sometimes (often) products I promote I receive for free. Blog Disclaimer: <div style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 5px; margin: 5px;">Disclosure: You should assume that the owner of this website is an affiliate for providers of goods and services mentioned on this website. The owner may be compensated when you purchase after clicking on a link. The owner may also have received the product for free. Perform due diligence before purchasing from this or any other website. Money Making Disclaimer: <div style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 5px; margin: 5px;">Income examples are representative of some of the most successful participants in the program. Some individuals purchasing the program may make little or NO MONEY AT ALL. These claims are not a guarantee of your income, nor are they typical of average participants. Individual results will vary greatly and in accordance to your input, determination, hard work, and ability to follow directions. Results will vary by person. Marketing Story Disclaimer: <div style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 5px; margin: 5px;">Please also recognize that the story and comments depicted on this site and the person depicted in the story are not real. Rather, the story is based on what some people have achieved with these and other similar products. If you have more insight on this, please post in the comments. If you have more disclaimer info, please post it also. If this was helpful please Digg it -->

The following is an email that John Barker (the original "Mr X.") sent out last week.I thought it was so full of good info and advice that I asked him if I could publish it. In the email he gives you an example of a profitable affiliate site he has! I'm reading the new edition of the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris and I want to share a few thoughts with you. First, is the new edition worth buying if you already own the first? If you're a big fan, sure. Why not. I'd have to compare the books side by side - and I haven't read the complete second edition so it's hard to say exactly what the new info adds. Instead it's a reminder of principles that have influenced my work. If you want to believe 4 hours per week isn't enough to make six-figures or more, go ahead. I could tell you otherwise but you probably wouldn't believe me otherwise. Here are some quick notes you might find useful. DEAL - Define, Eliminate, Automate and Liberate. That's the outline of the book. Define - what do you want? Almost cliche we've heard it so much but when you take the perspective that you work as much as you do because you've been too lazy to come with enough reasons to NOT want to spend most of your time working . . . well that's a paradigm changer for me. I could probably work 1/4 the hours I do and my income wouldn't change (it might even grow). AND I could have a really kick-ass life, all made possible by my Internet marketing lifestyle. Eliminate - what if the goal is to reduce and simplify your life instead of acquiring more information, more responsibilities, more crap? People usually look at me like I'm crazy when I tell that that after the initial shock of losing everything in a house fire passed, I felt the weight of the world off my shoulders. Plus, the really cool thing is that instead of living with a couch Tara hated - but I was attached to because I paid a ridiculous amount of money for it 15 years ago - we got to go buy a new one we both liked. Man, life is so much easier than we make it when we're just willing to let go and eliminate the things which hold us back. "The stuff you own ends up owning you." - Fight Club Automate - The end goal of your online business should be to automate it. Need an example? Go see http://abundancecourse.net It's simple. Find quality product with affiliate program.Setup up site with 6 pages. Page one is squeeze page, page 2-6 are information that leads into a sales pitch (recognize the similarity with how Nanoblogger was sold?)Create autoresponder follow-up series that highlights points from your 5-lessons.To capitalize on competition, it's great if the affiliate program is 2-tiered (this means even if you decided to try to copy and swipe my campaign you can assume all the cost of running ads and I'll still make a 10% commission for your efforts - thanks man!)Setup Adwords campaign and drive traffic. This particular site was created FIVE YEARS AGO. Except for moving the site from a static HTML site to Wordpress 2 years ago for Google Slap reasons, I have virtually not touched this system otherwise. December check = $2400 from one affiliate program. Oh, and then there's the list. :-) Sure, I've left out plenty of key details here but this isn't rocket science. Plus I have ZERO customer support and all that other good stuff that comes with being an affiliate. Finally, Liberate - This is all about creating the conditions in your life that mean you're not tied down. The crazy thing is discipline means freedom. You must have systems and you must have standard operating procedures so you can hire someone else to do it all for you. I'm getting better and better at this. Final Thoughts - The place to start here is defining the life you want. Me? This year I want to get into better shape than I've been in since I was 20. I don't want to sit on my ass all-day anymore. I also want to have the freedom to spend more time at home with my family. I want to be a part of educating my kids and enjoying them fully while their still little. And I want them to have adventures they're going to remember for the rest of their life. Next - Evaluate what makes you money NOW. Not dreaming, hoping, etc, but what do you KNOW works? That should be your focus - do more of that and waste none of your time doing stuff you hope might work for you. If you're trying to free yourself from a J-O-B then you may need to find someone who has a system you can put some faith in. (I know someone who has one ;-) Thing is, if you're going to put your faith into that system then put ALL of your faith into that system and work it until you succeed with it. Don't give up when it comes to work. Don't give up when something high gloss grabs your attention. DECIDE to make it work. Cut yourself off from any other possibility other than making it work. NOW - Don't just close this message and move on. You deserve to have what you want as much as any other human on this planet. Take 5 or 10 minutes and think about it. Define what you want and evaluate what you know to work. There is no magic pill to swallow here - doesn't exist. All the best to you - X PS - Thanks to all those who wrote to congratulate on Noel Patrick's birth. I just haven't had time to write everyone back yet. The little man is doing great and I'm happy to have this time with my family. When our first was born I had a J-O-B and was called back to work when she was 3 days old. That SUCKED. I'm grateful to be free of that. If you're not already on John's mailing list, go here right now and subscribe:<a href="http://blackbooksblog.com">http://blackbooksblog.com</a>He'll mail you like once a month (IF that much), and when he does, it's pure gold!
On March 19, 20, 21, in <a href="http://images.google.com/images?q=boracay&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi">Boracay Philippines</a> I'm putting on an outsourcing retreat seminar. This seminar is NOT FOR FILIPINOS! It's for Americans, Australians, Brits, Canadians...Basically, for people who want to understand why the outsourcing they're doing to the Philippines is working SOOO darn well. And...if you're not currently doing it, you can come and find out exactly why it will work so well for you. At the event I'm going to teach some stuff about how I do outsourcing that I've never talked about before. Stuff that will literally double the productivity of your GUYS. There are a couple reasons I'm doing this: because when we did it in Costa Rica 2 years ago it was sooooo fun for everyone who was therebecause it gives me a chance to meet other people (you) who are succeeding in their businessesbecause it's a tax deductible vacationbecause I'm already going to be in the Philippines on vacation with my family for the whole month...because (this is a big one) it will give lots of people an excuse to come and meet their GUYS and make their outsourcing efforts WAY more effective. It's going to be 3 days of networking, learning, fun, and face-to-face question answering. We're also going to go on an excursion together which I will announce later. The hotel where we are doing it can accommodate 70 people for the event. I already have at least 6 of those spots taken (me, Dan, speakers). This will sell out.I'm finalizing all the plans for it right now, and will make it available next Tuesday.<a href="http://www.outsourceretreat.com"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Outsource Retreat is available here</a>
I had a great comment on my blog that will answer so many people's questions: <img src="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/jing/love-being-appreciated.png" alt="feeling-appreciated" width="510" border="1" /> A great way to show appreciation is to <a href="http://www.outsourceretreat.com">come meet your team</a>.
Since I'm here in the Philippines for a month (I've been outsourcing to people here for 4 years and this is just my 2nd time here...the first being 3 months ago!), I figured "what a great time to give some great tips on outsourcing yourself and your work to the Philippines. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esZvALwrQx4[/embed] All these tips plus many more are available inside <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>. Tips In This Series: Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
Today's tip is about getting started when hiring a Filipino. What are the things you say to them. What are your policies? How do you expect them to work. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgxG2UWFYTo[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
Tip #2 - Filipinos feel unworthy. It's really a big cultural problem that holds them back. They feel like they're not good enough. If you don't know this and know how to take care of it, you're in for a frustrating time. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNh2ltiW-78[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>

So often I see people say "I want to hire someone to do X, Y, Z, 1, 2, and 3. They have to have all those qualifications!" I think that's a mistake because the Philippines doesn't have a super developed workforce like in the US. In my opinion, you'll have a better experience if you hire someone to do 1 task for you. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l57TYFDUjUE[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
There are some unique cultural reasons why you'll get much better work from people if you hire them on a permanent, full-time basis. Hiring them part-time just isn't as effective as full-time will be. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43Y6pAo0cw[/embed] You can get the whole story about how to outsource to the Philippines at <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>. Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
It took me a couple of years to find BestJobs.ph, which for a long time was the best place to hire Filipinos for online work. Today, OnlineJobs.ph is the best place to hire Filipinos. You'll find AMAZING talent at both places. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE87kxWDSoM[/embed] You can find your talented Filipino employee here at <a href="http://www.onlinejobs.ph/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OnlineJobs.ph</a> and <a href="http://www.bestjobs.ph/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BestJobs.ph</a> Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
It's important that you don't try to hire someone to do everything at first. Hire them for their English skills, unless you're hiring a programmer, designer, or some specialty job like an accountant. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYONe38Exdg[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
This is something that people don't realize that they don't realize. Filipinos are human beings. They have families, needs, problems, wants, desires, ... just like you do. Treat them as humans (not as robots) and you'll have a much better experience. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anZL_MGNjzw[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
It's important that you know multiple ways of paying your people. Sometimes one will stop working. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiNynYO9Zcg[/embed] Ways to pay your people <a href="http://www.xoom.com/">xoom.com</a> <a href="http://www.emoneygram.com/">emoneygram.com</a> <a href="http://www.paypal.com/">paypal.com</a> <a href="http://www.remithome.com/">remithome.com</a> Update We recently switched to using <a href="http://www.payments.ph">Payments.ph</a> to pay people. It appears to be faster, cheaper and has higher conversion rates than other options. Xoom is no longer a good option as they are now disallowing commercial payments (payments intended for workers). Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
The educated, experienced workforce that exists in the US doesn't exist in the Philippines. Yes, you can find people who have experience in some things...but for the most part, you'll have to teach and train people. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_NwV-3XHNc[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>

The Philippines is VERY different than India. You don't need to micro-manage people. You don't need to look at every single thing they're doing. Let them do their work and don't worry about it. Get their work out of your head and concentrate on the things that are most important in your business. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoN-0vkJHsQ[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
There are some cultural differences that exist in the Philippines that don't exist together anywhere else in the world. This is one of the biggest reasons why outsourcing to the Philippines works so much better than anywhere else. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNfO5COyJGU&t=1s[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
This is one of my favorite videos I've ever made. It's tips for outsourcing...from the Filipino perspective. I asked my guys to give some tips for things they've found helpful, or things they wish I did better. These are the things they came up with. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUKTv9zQjds[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
You'll find lots of different ways to communicate with your team. Try different things and see what works for you. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=094qoQGsy8c[/embed] Messenger <a href="http://www.skype.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Skype</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/talk/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Google Talk</a> <a href="http://messenger.yahoo.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Yahoo Messenger</a> Project Manager <a href="http://basecamphq.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Basecamp</a> <a href="http://www.activecollab.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">ActiveCollab</a> Screenshots and Screen Recording <a href="http://www.jingproject.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Jing</a> <a href="http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Camtasia</a> Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
Filipinos can do anything. But, I've found they're better at some things than other things. Here are my thoughts on what to have them do for you. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTI-VioCg_Y&t=5s[/embed] Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-16-of-16-getting-the-most-out-of-your-filipino-va.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA</a>
This last tip was supposed to be a video just like the rest of them. 2 nights ago someone came into our apartment while we were sleeping and stole everything: 3 laptops 2 cameras my Kindle ipod Touch 750 GB hard drive (which had all our pictures on it from this trip) cell phone cash wireless router 4 SD cards wireless recording equipment my backpack (lots of personal stuff) They also stole my passport...but were nice enough to dump it in a plant right outside our apartment to give it back to me. We're ok. It was all just stuff. Maybe the guys who stole the stuff will find <a href="http://www.OnlineJobs.ph">OnlineJobs.ph</a> and get a job so they can stop stealing stuff. So, since I don't have a camera to record this tip, it's just text...not as fun. Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA The reason I started <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a> was to make outsourcing to the Philippines easier for people who are just getting started. Not only do I teach everything I know about it inside <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>, but it's also designed to take away the initial time investment curve most people will have when starting hiring. How? <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a> is designed to train your Filipino staff for you. As a member you'll get access to all my training that I've given to my GUYS on how to do the tasks they do to run my businesses. You'll get training that will allow you to hire someone, and make them productive for you from day 1. <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a> is not another "training"/"technique"/"coaching" program. It's not really even for YOU. It's really designed to make your life easier by training the GUYS you hire so that you don't have to spend the time creating that training. As a member of <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a> you'll also get FREE access to OnlineJobs.ph (which costs $50/month to join). My suggestions for getting started hire 1 person give them 1 specific task to do which will help your business (either give them article marketing, video marketing, building a mini-net, directory submissions, social bookmarking, or something else you know of which will help your business grow. All these trainings are available for you inside <a href="http://www.ReplaceMyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>) help them accomplish that 1 task add another task (give them training) and have them split time between the 2 tasks grow from here I've had fun doing these tips. I hope you've had fun watching them! Tips In This Series: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-1-of-16-daily-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #1: Daily Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-2-of-16-setting-expectations.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #2: Setting Expectations</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-3-of-16-initial-hiring-communication.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #3: Initial Hiring Communication</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-4-of-16-getting-someone-started.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #4: Getting Someone Started</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-5-of-16-hire-permanent-full-time-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #5: Hire Permanent, Full Time Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-6-of-16-where-to-hire-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #6: Where To Hire Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-7-of-16-skills-to-look-for-when-hiring-filipinos.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #7: Skills To Look For When Hiring Filipinos</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-8-of-16-filipinos-are-human.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #8: Filipinos are Human</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-9-of-16-how-to-pay-your-people.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #9: How To Pay Your People</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-10-of-16-teach-train-teach-train.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #10: Teach, Train, Teach, Train</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-11-of-16-this-isnt-india.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #11: This Isn't India</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-12-of-16-philippines-culture-for-outsourcing.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #12: Philippines Culture For Outsourcing</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-13-of-16-tips-from-my-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #13: Tips From My Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-14-of-16-how-to-communicate-with-your-filipino-team.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #14: How To Communicate With Your Filipino Team</a> <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/2010/03/philippines-outsourcing-tip-15-of-16-what-filipinos-are-really-good-at.html">Philippines Outsourcing Tip #15: What Filipinos Are Really Good At</a> Philippines Outsourcing Tip #16: Getting The Most Out Of Your Filipino VA
Most people when they start a website, they have no plan for it. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Here's MY website plan. It consists of 13 "ToDo" lists that I have my GUYS implement for me. Some of this stuff won't be relevant to your business, but my guess is that most of it is relevant. These lists were designed to be used to build and market an online business that I don't want to be involved in. This is supposed to get the site ranked well in SEO and bring traffic in from lots of different sources so that the site makes money. Also, this list has some things that are specific to building 'review' websites with WordPress. You might want to use some other plugins for WordPress than the ones I list here. Please think about it. Maybe some of the plugins listed here aren't relevant to you, or maybe they've gone out of date by the time you get this. Nothing on this list is CRITICAL. Nothing on this list will make or break the process. You DO NOT have to do everything I list here to be successful. These are just the things WE do. Also, there are probably some things on this list that we don't do anymore. Things change all the time. If something on this list doesn't work for you, SKIP IT AND MOVE ON! Most of the stuff on this plan was created with the idea of having <a href="http://www.Replacemyself.com">someone else do the work</a>. Lists 10, 11, and 13 aren't 'todo' lists. They're more for ideas of things you can/should do with your website. <div style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px; padding: 5px;">If you have things to add to this, please post it in the comments. Set up a Wikipedia page for your topic (or add a link to your site on an existing page). Make sure you put legitimate info or it will get taken down. Build an MSN Spaces blog. Answer a few questions on yahoo answers and link to your site/sales page. After answering a few, answer one more each day. Get an account and put your link on your profile page on these sites: flickr.com youtube.com facebook.com buddytobuddy.com twitter.com Make some posts in forums that link to your site. (add your link to your forum signature) Make some comments on blogs that link to your site (make sure they're legitimate comments) Use trackback spider to get links to your OTHER sites. Don't promote your main site with this (unless you know what you're doing) (WARNING: This is very black hat. It is spamming.) Add listings to Craigslist.com. Link to your sites. Make sure you don't look like you're blatantly posting ads, the craigslist community doesn't like it. This can bring you TONS of traffic. Add your site to stumbleupon.com Pay prweb.com to do press releases for you. Come up with something interesting about your site and pay them the full $200 to get them to do a good job with your press release. It's worth it. Give something away that links to your site (templates for your industry, site award, software, widget that does something cool) Testing Testing is critical to getting conversions correct. You should always be testing. use a multivariate testing program on your sales page (or your review page, or your squeeze page). Try and increase your conversions. Google Website Optimizer - Free SplitTestAccelerator.com - $900 KaizenTrack.com - $500 Test the headline and any other pieces of the page that are "important". If you do nothing else, test your headline. Enter wildly different variations of tests. Don't just test different variations on the same concept. Test using wp-cloaker (if you can find the plugin). It cloaks or redirects visitors that come to your site who have used certain search terms that you define. You can send those visitors to any page you want. Last I tried I couldn't get the plugin to work, but if you can, it's super powerful. <li id="9"> Adwords Campaign Obviously I can't give an entire adwords tutorial right here. There is a full Adwords tutorial inside <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com">www.ReplaceMyself.com</a>. These are just things I've written down to serve as a reminder to me (and you) to do certain things. (Education)Put benefits in your ads (put them on the first description line and test the CTR) (Education) There are 3 types of buyers: Browsers, Shoppers, and Buyers Cater to the Buyers. Use buying keywords like discount, buy now, purchase, get, sale, limited time. Browsers don't know what they want. Shoppers are looking to compare stuff. (These are notes I took from Mr. X) (Education)Keywords that don't convert, add them as negative keywords Set up <a href="http://www1.whatscrapandwhatsnot.com/winneralert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">winneralert</a> to test your ads. I bolded this because so few people actually do this, yet it's so important. Set up site specific targeting (the adwords180 concept). Once the campaign is profitable, duplicate the campaign in a new adwords account (Thanks Kirt Christensen). With a new adwords account you can show 2 of your own ads on every search page. Get more clicks. Get more sales. Set the campaign up in Yahoo Set the campaign up in MSN Set the campaign up in second tier search engines: Looksmart Findwhat Goclick.com 7search.com <li id="10"> Building Trust These pieces are more notes than things you have to do. They help you build trust with your users. Some of them might not be appropriate for your website. This is more as a set of reminders for me (or you) to add things to our site to help increase conversions. Add testimonials to your sales page Add live chat to your sales page You can use skype to do this http://www.skype.com/share/buttons/index.html You can use www.liveperson.com There are ton's of these (search google for "live chat" or "free live chat") Interrupt your users while they're on your site and chat with them about what they really want to find (liveperson.com will do this). This helps you get into the head of your customers. Doing this allows you to write a better sales letter. Put your contact info at the top of the page and make it obvious. Tell them to read the whole page and then contact you if they still have questions. Tell them the flaws/negatives in the product (this really makes you sound honest) Don't charge their card until their trial period is up (30 days, 14 days, ...). Just authorize the money, but don't charge the card. Use the plugin "What Would Seth Godin Do" for WordPress. It allows you to display something to the user after they've seen your site X times. Find out why they keep coming back. Set up a broadcast phone message to your customers. voiceshot.com xmvoice.com search google for "voice phone broadcast" Send a hand written letter to your customers. <a href="http://handwrittenresults.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://handwrittenresults.com/</a> <li id="11"> Sales Copy Notes/Ideas This is by no means a comprehensive list of things to do in your sales copy. It's just a list of ideas/notes from different copywriters. It is stuff you should try and refer back to in building your site. Some of it might not apply to you. Your headline is a Problem + a Solution. If you state people's problem, they know you understand them. If you give them a solution, they'll listen to you. Guarantee - Give double money back if they do something extra. Make an outlandish guarantee. Remove the risk with the guarantee. This builds trust. Add a drop first letter (where the first letter of your sales page is bigger than the rest) Make it time/quantity limited. Create scarcity. Offer a coupon to entice them to buy. Offer a free trial/sample and then automatically charge their card at the end of the trial. Scientific Advertising - Offer Service, don't ask for a sale. "Try this for a week, then do what you want" (meaning either return it or pay for it) Scientific Advertising - The longer the copy, the better the response rate. But only if you're telling people relevant information. You should test, test, test sales copy. Scientific Advertising - Copy other people's ads, ads that have been used over and over again. <li id="12"> Long Term SEO Things you can/should do long term to increase your natural search engine rankings. Use a service to turn your blog posts into speech. Add the mp3's to your rss feed. This makes them podcasts. Podcasts increase search engine rankings. Create a video and add it to your site. You can use <a href="http://www.animoto.com/" target="_blank"" rel="noopener">animoto</a> or <a href="http://www.eyejot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eyejot</a> or <a href="http://www.veodia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veodia</a> to easily create videos. Submit your video to video sites (youtube, google video, ... search google for video sites). Add your video to your rss feed. <li id="13"> Landing Page Notes These are notes for specific types of landing pages you're doing. This overlaps somewhat with the Sales Copy list. These are just notes/ideas that I've had or that I've taken from other people. They don't apply to all cases. Review Site - Ugly does it. If it's ugly, it's a little more trustworthy. Not too ugly. Review Site - Make one product the clear winner. Don't leave a doubt in the persons mind. Review Site - Test different products as the best product. Squeeze page - In addition to the name/email, have them give you something else (a checkbox, a choice from multiple check boxes, an open ended box, ...). It makes them feel a sense of commitment because they've already given more info. Squeeze page - There is software to help you make it: squeezepagemaker.com squeezepagegenerator.com Squeeze page - Test all the different elements of your squeeze page <a title="Click here to download" href="http://media.jonasblog.com/docs/files.zip">You can download the files here.</a>
You get an email that says: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/power-outage-email.png"><img src="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/power-outage-email.png" alt="philippines power outage email" title="philippines power outage" width="418" height="302" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1639"></a> Do you believe it? What do you do? 1. Do you believe it? YES! Power outages in the Philippines are a SERIOUS problem. In some areas they have them EVERY SINGLE DAY. Most areas aren't so bad, but one of my GUYS has a 5-hour power outage every day. Look at what <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=power+outage+philippines">google has to say about it</a>. It's VERY common. 2. What do you do about it? You'll find that most Filipinos will apologize for not being able to work and they'll make it up another time. If they don't, you need to figure out how to deal with it. You have 2 choices: Don't worry about it, let your brain focus on more important things like how to make more money. Worry about it and have it pull you down. Yes, I realize that's a simplification. The reality is, there's not much you can do about it. You could let the person go and find someone else. For me, that's not a reasonable solution. I train my people too well to let them go just because they're working less than I would like. For you, if this is a serious concern, try hiring people in Manila or Cebu. They tend to have less of a problem with it.
I get this story often enough that I thought it was worth a post. DON'T PRE-PAY FOR WORK IN THE PHILIPPINES. Clearly this isn't a 100% of the time rule, because there are times when it's appropriate. Just DON'T do it with a new employee. Don't buy them a laptop. Don't pay their internet bill. Don't pay for their sisters medical bills. Not with a new employee. Filipinos are shy enough as is. If they're not comfortable with you yet, and they're asking for money up front, for work they haven't done yet, there's something wrong. Here's a conversation a friend of mine had recently with a new employee: <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dont-prepay-for-work-in-the-philippines.png"><img src="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dont-prepay-for-work-in-the-philippines.png" alt="dont prepay for work in the philippines" title="dont-prepay-for-work-in-the-philippines" width="555" height="323" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1645"></a> It was the 2nd person he had hired who was asking for money up front. The first person disappeared. He learned his lesson for the second person.

Last night Typhoon Megi hit the northern end of Luzon island (Luzon island is the island Manila is on). In case you don't know, a Typhoon is essentially the same as a hurricane. This one was about equivalent to a category 5 hurricane. The Philippine government did a pretty good job preparing for this one, so few people died, but many people lost most of what they had. If you have GUYS in the Philippines, regardless of if they're on Luzon island or not, it's probably a good idea to ask them if them and their families are OK. It will go a long way with them. Also, if you do have GUYS in northern Luzon, expect MAJOR delays in productivity and communication.
In this interview I describe the number one problem people (including myself) experience when hiring Filipinos to work in their businesses. In 4 words: Embarrassment, unworthiness, fear, (not being good enough to qualify) <- that's one word :) [audio mp3="/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/number-1-philippines-problem.mp3"][/audio] To sum it up for you, here are 3 situations that occur frequently: You just hired a new person, gave them their first task, and they give you a reason why they have to resign. You've had someone working for you for a bit, they've done great work, then all of a sudden you don't hear from them for a week. You've had someone working for you for years and they stop responding to your emails and don't email you for a month. In over 90% of the cases I've seen, the cause of all of these is that the person is embarrassed that they don't know how to do whatever it is that you've asked them to do. They either don't know how to solve something, or they don't understand something, or they can't figure something out. The natural Filipino reaction to this is to shy away from it because they don't want to disappoint you. Unless you want to lose an employee (or lose months of productivity like I've done a couple of times), you need to email them and tell them you know they have a problem and that you'd like to know what the problem is so you can help them solve it. This will literally save you thousands of dollars and countless headaches. You can find more tips like this both in the free video and in the members area at <a href="http://www.replacemyself.com">ReplaceMyself.com</a>.
Command of the english language in the Philippines is amazing. They watch american movies and TV shows. They listen to american music and radio. They know english better than they think they know english. For example, I got an email from my good friend <a href="http://www.jetsetlife.tv/">Robert Murgatroyd</a> the other day. He forwarded an email that one of his Filipino employees had sent him. <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/filipino-command-of-english-slang.png"><img src="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/filipino-command-of-english-slang.png" alt="Filipino command of american english slang" title="filipino-command-of-english-slang" width="457" height="293" border="1"></a> Not everyone you find will have such amazing english like this, but there are plenty of Filipinos who have perfect english. You can find people to hire at <a href="http://www.onlinejobs.ph">OnlineJobs.ph</a>. Be sure to look at the advanced search to search for multiple skills at once.
Marketing to local businesses, and helping them do their internet marketing, is what I would do if I had to start everything over. It's easy. It's profitable. It's easy to understand from beginning to end. There's almost no risk. It's easy to get started. You don't have to be technical. You don't have to know everything when you get started. You just have to know more than the small business owner does about marketing on the internet. Simple. Yesterday I did an amazing interview with Jim Cockrum, owner of <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/offlinebiz">OfflineBiz.com</a>. Jim gave some amazing tips on how to be successful in doing online marketing work for offline businesses. It's 94 minutes long (it was so good that I didn't want to stop it at an hour). [audio mp3="/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/jim-cockrum-local-biz-mono.mp3"][/audio] <div align="center"><a href="http://media.jonasblog.com/jonasblog-audios/jim-cockrum-local-biz-mono.mp3">Download the MP3 recording</a> Just so you know, there isn't a sales pitch in this. Jim does own <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/offlinebiz">OfflineBiz.com</a> which has TONS of resources to help you succeed with this, but it's $50 to join. Very reasonable. Here are notes I took along with their timestamps for when Jim talked about these things: 12:00 - why this is a great market 12:43 - beginning of "How do you get a client" 13:14 - you need to talk to people 13:47 - no business card, no website, just being "a fellow business owner" 15:26 - 4 line letter - direct mail you can send to business owners The conversation between 15:26 and 18:00 is amazing 18:15 - build websites then auction them off for a monthly amount (typically $500 - $2000/month) 19:09 - another way to get clients is to knock doors of the businesses you use in your community 21:25 - how to find local business addresses from their websites 23:00 - "Turn Tuesday night into the busies night of the week" 24:50 - using TrafficGeyser to get results for your clients 26:15 - partner with web design companies to get clients 30:50 - Top services to sell to people (really just ideas for services to sell) mobile websites (this conversation is amazing) testimonials google maps social media services 35:14 - what kinds of businesses to target 38:30 - finding businesses based on where people are already advertising on PPC 40:22 - why you don't need a price sheet of services 41:40 - how to get on stage in front of an entire industry of small business owners 44:00 - Q&A 69:28 - how to collect money from clients 72:30 - <a href="http://www.offlinebiz.com/OfflineBizDotComClientQuestions.pdf">Questions to ask</a> local business owners 78:43 - What to outsource and what not to Here's my <a href="http://www.jonasblog.com/offlinebiz">affiliate link to join OfflineBiz.com</a> if you want to use it. Last night a few hours after the call I had this IM sent to me. <img src="http://www.quickvideolearning.com/testimonials/2010-12-02_1013.png" border="1" /> Here's an email I got with more feedback on the call: <img title="Comment on Jim Cockrum and John Jonas call" src="http://www.jonasblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ralf-friedman-jc-testimonial.png" alt="John Jonas and Jim Cockrum Local Business Marketing Testimonial" width="480" height="189" />

End of preview. Expand in Dataset Viewer.

README.md exists but content is empty. Use the Edit dataset card button to edit it.

Downloads last month: 0

Edit dataset card

Size of downloaded dataset files:

2.79 MB

Size of the auto-converted Parquet files:

1.56 MB

Number of rows:

1,196