For the last 18 months, I’ve gone absolutely crazy with outsourcing. I make a huge investment in outsourcing every single month. If you’re serious about your online business, you must do the same.

Let’s jump into my 12 outsourcing tips:

First, you need to first filter people based on quality. There are many people available at many price points but quality can be harder to find. So, seek out people with strong skills and then start filtering on price. You can always negotiate prices lower by putting people in competition with each other. And, you can drive prices down by letting them know that you expect a quantity discount. Buy in bulk.

Second, you need to use outsourcing to augment your strengths. Just because you are good at something, don’t think you’re absolutely on top of your game. It never hurts to get outside advice. A good example is this: Get someone else to do tedious research on a topic, then use that report to clarify your ideas and your thinking. This is pure magic.

Third, seek to eliminate or reduce redundant tasks. Have someone else handle the routine tasks, even if you like those tasks. A good example is posting blog entries. There’s no reason you need to be in the blog updating business. Sure, you might write the content, but have someone else find a good image, develop the tags, choose the title, select the category and so on. For a few bucks you can get some real talent to handle this routine task.

Fourth, you really need a good project tracking system or the management of your workers will become your new job. Do you really want to spend hours and hours being a manager? Do yourself a favor and find smart ways to handle outsourced work and outsourced workers. Have smart systems in place. Get daily updates and ask for exception reports. Make it simple. Make it clean. But, don’t think for a minute these folks will manage themselves. Find a way to stay on top… with minimal effort.

Fifth, you should seek to build longer term relationships with workers. The cost of training is very high, both in terms of money and time. Especially time! So, try to find quality workers right out of the gate. This will absolutely drive higher quality. Also, as time goes on, you’ll become a top customer. That means better pricing, faster response time and higher quality from the same workers.

Sixth, always seek out people who pay attention to the details. I learned this one the hard way. I thought I should get more people who balanced operations and strategy. However, I operate quite differently now. You need to find people who are great at operations and execution. You want people who are detail oriented or downright anal about their work. I’d rather have someone obsess over quality and deadlines than coming up with the next big idea or fancy pants strategy. I can do that well enough, thank you very much.

Seventh, you must manage the basics first: requirements, ownership, timeframe, expectations. Don’t try to manage entire systems and don’t try to manage a vision, at least not a first. Instead, stick to the essentials and getting the job done. Manage outputs and delivery. Manage deliverables first and then time. This will keep your project on track at a reasonable cost. The greater you can focus on the details for your workers when they start, the great your return on investment and profits. Trust me on this.

Eighth, be prepared to do more work in the short term. This is because you will want to invest in training. If you think you can simply hand over work without some hand holding, you will be frustrated. You might even fail. Either way, without an upfront investment in time and energy, you want maximize your outsourcing opportunities. If you do this right, you’ll be extremely happy in the long run. I’ve learned this the hard way… but now I’m happy as a clam!

Ninth, you should always provide concrete, actionable advice. Don’t be vague. Don’t expect other people to read your mind. This is especially true if you’re only using email to communicate with your outsourcing team. If they can’t see you and hear you, they simply will not understand the nuances and ultra small details that really matter to you. So, buckle down and get as specific as possible, unless you’re willing to iterate several times. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for rework. If you’re not at least 90% happy, then ask for more work to be done. Ask for higher quality. But, be sure to be concrete.

Tenth, don’t throw “it” over the wall and expect miracles. In terms of an operational mode, it is smart to plan for several iterations and cycles. Instead of giving one date for a final product, ask for 2-3 checkpoints or updates along the way. Do this even with small projects that just take a few days. Ask for daily updates. Important: Ask to literally see the work. Get screenshots, samples and other tangibles. This will drive your team to deliver on time but it also gives you peace of mind and more material to manage them. Do this to work with your team vs. trying to just manage their outputs.

Eleventh, develop systems and templates and examples. If you don’t have these materials, it’s time to get to work. You want to have tools and processes in place for others to use and exploit. Rather than trying to explain what you want done, set up a mini “factory” that allows your team to crank out high quality without a ton of thinking. You want to focus on work and execution, not puzzle solving and mind reading. Be smart about developing those systems and you’ll make a killing. This is golden advice.

Lastly, I strongly encourage you to ask your workers for advice on increasing efficiency. Since they are doing tasks over and over again, they will develop shortcuts. It’s human nature. Listen to your team and they will help you drive up profits. They will become more “invested” in you and your business. Plus, if they create a breakthrough, you can move them to a zone of higher profit. That is, for the same amount of effort, they can help you make more money!

Here’s a nice summary of my points above. This is your cheat sheet. It’s your checklist…

1. Go for quality first and price second. I’m talking about filtering people.
2. Seek to augment your strengths (e.g., research to feed your thinking)
3. Seek to get rid of your redundant tasks (e.g., posting content to your blog)
4. You need a good tracking system or management of workers is your new job
5. Seek to build longer term relationships; higher quality and preference
6. Always seek out people who pay attention to the details; operations vs. strategy
7. Manage the basics first: requirements, ownership, timeframe, expectations
8. Be prepared to do more work in the short term; invest in training
9. Always provide concrete, actionable advice; don’t be afraid to ask for rework
10. Don’t throw it over the wall; iterations and cycles; work with your team
11. If you don’t have systems and templates and examples, get to work
12. Always, always, always ask your workers for advice on increasing efficiency

IMPORTANT! If you want to apply these ideas with “razor sharp” precision, and you have a ton of private label rights (PLR) content on your hard drive… you need the PLR Bonecrusher.

Download the PLR Bonecrusher (free to Simple Cash Blog members!)

Or, you can grab a copy on the Warrior Forum right now. (The price keeps going up, up, up.)

And finally… I think you would agree that these are some of the best tips on outsourcing you’ve ever seen. I would really appreciate comments. But more importantly, please Twitter about this blog entry and post to your Facebook page. Or, link to this posting from your own blog. It would really mean a lot to me.

Take care!

~ John

I’d like to point you to 4 FREE Twitter resources before talking about 1 to 1 Twitter.

1. How to Use Twitter
2. 10 Simple Twitter Secrets
3. How to Search Twitter
4. The Fast and Simple Web 2.0 Traffic System

I know that the information above can keep you busy for hours. I encourage you to do research and learn all you can.

Then…

When you’re ready, come back for a serious discussion about building a substantially more profitable business using Twitter.

Inside 1 to 1 Twitter you will discover the following:

• How to build a responsive Twitter list
• How to find powerful affiliates using Twitter
• How to convert Twitter Followers into a powerful email list
• How to find JV partners on Twitter
• How to use Twitter to “steal” great ideas

But, that’s not all. There are also very simple, step-by-step directions on how to best use Twitter’s search engine. And, how to best use the “@username” functionality for smart and ethical marketing.

To learn more, read my Twitter story.

~ John

p.s. Do you want to sell 1 to 1 Twitter as an affiliate? Click that link!

– — –
Introduction to the Social Bookmarking Traffic Guide

Social bookmarking might seem dull and boring. It might seem like a fad or a craze that will die off. But, when done right, using social bookmarks can dramatically increase high quality web site traffic. If you’re serious about growing an online business, it needs to be a tool in your “traffic secrets” toolbox.

Here’s something to chew on…

If you don’t follow the advice in the Social Bookmarking Traffic Guide you are losing out on cheap and easy traffic. I know that’s a strong statement but by the time you get to the end of this guide, you’ll understand the full power of tagging and bookmarking.

– — –
Getting Started

I want to first make sure you clearly understand social bookmarking. In short, it’s a way for humans to keep track of stuff online. It usually means using “tags” and metadata (which is data about data).

Tags are really nothing more than words or phrases that you use to describe other words. For example, you might use “online marketing” as a tag for The Rhodes Brothers. Or, perhaps you might use something like “tagging” and “traffic” and “bookmarking” for the guide you’re reading right now.

There’s nothing magical about the tags you use. Feel free to use words and phrases that mean something to you. Or, if you’re trying to drive targeted traffic, use keywords that are meaningful in your niche. We’ll cover this in great detail later on; no worries.

Most social bookmarking systems allow you to show or hide bookmarks. So, you can use bookmarks for yourself only or you can expose them to the public.

If you keep bookmarks private they won’t have any impact on web site traffic, although they might be useful to you personally. If you make them public, however, you will enjoy free traffic. The world can find your bookmarks and find you by clicking on your links. I explain this in detail below.

So in large part social bookmarking is an activity where you are categorizing your web sites, domains, articles and blogs. You use social bookmarking to develop a way to stay organized online.

If you want free traffic from your social bookmarks you just expose them. For example, if you have a blog you can use Del.icio.us to bookmark blog entries. In turn, Google will find your bookmarks and your blog. And finally, people will find your bookmarks and your blog in the search results of Google. This is how organic traffic flows from your bookmarking.

Yes, it’s that simple.

At this point you have a basic understanding of social bookmarking. You could leave right now with confidence about how to get started. However, if you really want to know how to get traffic or if you want to avoid serious problems, keep reading.

I’ll also say this: There is a very specific model that I use to drive maximum web site traffic with web 2.0 bookmarks. I promise to reveal this model with you — there is no catch here. I will give you everything you need to succeed with your social bookmarking.

– — –
Social Bookmarking Issues

Social bookmarks are not perfect…

You cannot ONLY use social bookmarks to drive traffic nor can you expect to build a real online business by just using Stumble Upon, Del.icio.us, Reddit and Technorati. You need an entire marketing funnel in place — This is something I explain in detail later.

Before I go on, here’s my list of the top 10 social bookmarking sites. Keep in mind that these sites allow tagging and bookmarking but they aren’t necessarily dedicated to bookmarking. For example, Del.icio.us is very much focused on tagging and bookmarking — that’s its core job. However, Digg is really more of a news aggregation web site but you can tag and bookmark, and therefore drive a lot of traffic.

OK, let’s get back on track. Here’s my list of the top 10 social bookmarking sites:

• Digg
• Del.icio.us
• Stumble Upon
• Reddit
• Propeller
• Sphinn
• Furl.net
• Newsvine
• Technorati
• Slashdot

There’s nothing scientific here. These just happen to be the bookmarking sites that have worked well for me. I have certainly used other sites and other tools. Don’t read too much into this list; caveat emptor.

By the way, I’m guessing that you’re getting worried about something: WORK. In other words, I suspect you’re worried about all the time and effort you’ll need to apply to get killer results.

Don’t worry. I’ve got your back covered. I cover this below…

Another issue is that your site, blog or article often get pushed to the bottom of the stack, or off the page. This is especially true with the social media new sites like Digg and Propeller. Imagine that your new blog entry makes it to the front page of Digg. Although you’ll enjoy insane traffic for a little while, after just a couple of hours your blog entry will drop off the home page.

Some people are worried about this problem, but it’s a false problem. First, you’re getting a gush of traffic in a situation like this. Second, you’ll get residual traffic even after you drop to the next page. Third, other people will link to you as a result and you’ll get residual, off-Digg traffic. Fourth, you’ll get some very powerful backlinks and therefore Google will love you. You’ll be enjoying serious organic traffic.

Another potential problem of social bookmarking is that your tags (or keywords or keyphrases) are terrible. If your keywords are meaningless then no one will care what you have to say. No one will find you through Google.

But, again, this is a false problem. Sure, you can have issues with keywords but let’s face it — you probably know how to find great keywords and niches. I don’t have room to fully explain keyword selection, but it goes like this:

1. Go to Google Keywords and start searching
2. Find keywords that people are using a lot
3. Or, target keywords that make sense for your niche
4. Look on Google’s Traffic Estimator to figure out your competition
5. Choose keywords with plenty of searches and low competition

That’s a pretty bad explanation but you get the point. Use tags that are based on popular keywords that aren’t very well represented by competitors on Google.

Or, just pick really popular keywords. That can work for you as well because it takes less time and energy, but it takes longer to see robust results.

Let’s get back on track…

Another issue is that people don’t spell very well. Many tags are sloppy. They are dirty. There are misspellings all over the place.

Um, so what?

People are people. Using misspellings can actually offer you a competitive advantage. This little secret has made some people on eBay thousands and thousands of dollars. (Think about it; this can mean BIG money.)

Furthermore, you can use BOTH misspelled keywords and properly spelled keywords. You can tag like crazy — tag carpet bombing! Here’s a simple example to make this 100% clear:

• deductible
• deductuble
• deductable
• deductabel

No one can stop you from using all four of these words. Of course I don’t think you should do this all the time. However, if you are tagging and your gut says, “Hey, I’m not sure how to spell this!” — Others will have the same problem. Take advantage of it and enjoy the extra free traffic.

Let’s push forward…

I promised to talk about how to handle all the work associated with social bookmarks. Let’s look at that in the next section.

– — –
Two Secrets of Social Bookmarking

The are two simple ways to eliminate the pain associated with social bookmarking. As I’ve said, it can be labor intensive so you need to decide between these two options:

1. Burn hours and hours of time creating your own bookmarks
2. Use social bookmarking tools or hire (outsource) the work

Obviously you want to use tools or hire smart, affordable people to do work for you. Better still, you want to pick a great tool, master it, then train someone to do the work for you using the best tools available. That’s maximum leverage.

Right now, the best tool is probably Social Marker. It’s a semi-automatic social bookmarking tool. You sign up for access to each of the individual social bookmarking sites (e.g., Digg, Del.icio.us, Furl) then head over to Social Marker and sign up for that too. Then you use Social Marker to semi-automatically update those sites.

If you have issues with Social Marker, no worries. There will always be sites and tools out there for you to use. If you’re really desperate, head over to RentACoder or ScriptLance and have someone develop one for you.

So, I’ve revealed two of the big secrets of social bookmarking. First, you need to find tools that make sense. Second, you need to use outsourcing web sites to get the bookmarking done for you. Or, have tools built for you.

– — –
Revealed! More Secrets of Social Bookmarking

There are several really good reasons to use social bookmarks and tags. You can get very high volumes of traffic in very little time.

You might say, “But that traffic isn’t targeted, John.”

Fortunately, there is something I call Social Traffic Filtering which I’ll tell you about. In essence, the amount of traffic is vitally important as an input factor for your traffic funnel. All traffic funnels require traffic. There is no way around this. I’ll explain why this is so crucial in just a moment.

Although a lot of social media and bookmarking traffic will be useless, the fact remains that a lot of it is legitimate, targeted traffic. There are humans clicking and reading what you’ve written. So, if you’re providing valuable content then people will reward you with repeat visits and they’ll join your lists.

That is HUGE.

Let me say that again…

If you’re providing valuable content then people will reward you with repeat visits and they’ll join your lists. (Your list is the blood of your business.)

It’s your job to qualify these leads. You must be ready for this social traffic and filter these folks using great, high quality content. You need to give them high value; respect their time. Then, you need to filter them out with top notch squeeze pages. Offer them something wonderful and grab their email addresses. If they don’t stay and read, and if they don’t join your list, just move on. Let them go. They’ve been filtered out.

To frame this another way, you cannot expect to make a lot of money online just by getting a ton of social bookmarking traffic. That’s just plain silly. You must plan ahead with a Social Traffic Filtering marketing plan.

I explained the basics above and I’m sure you can see how this selection process can provide you with a good list — maybe not Rock Star great, but that’s fine. These people are solid prospects and as they opt into your email list, your business is growing and growing.

Oh, one more thing. Here’s a big Rhodes Brother’s tip: There’s another level of filtering. Here’s how that plays out…

Once you have folks on your list, your autoresponder series can push and pull them in many different ways. It’s up to you to use the autoresponder to qualify people. I strongly encourage you to provide value and pre-sell. If you start selling immediately, you’ll filter out just about everyone. That’s no good for you and it’s no good for them.

PROVIDE VALUE.

– — –
Traffic Leverage From Social Bookmarking

Here’s a very simple concept with profound implications.

What you need to do is combine several different social bookmarking tools together (i.e., assets and plumbing). If you stack these tools the right way, you will have over-the-top, compounding traffic.

I know this sounds vague. So, once again I’ll break it down using an example to make it crystal clear. Here’s just ONE example, step by step:

1. Post a fantastic blog entry on your niche blog
2. Digg the blog entry (or ask someone for a favor)
3. Go to Twitter and talk about it; gently ask for ReTweets
4. Privately direct message (DM) some trusted Followers; “Please Stumble”

I know this seems simple but let me tell you, this works great. I don’t do it too often because I don’t like to burn people out. It’s a special weapon.

But again –

This is just ONE way to use these various social bookmarking web sites and tools. This kind of activity gives you serious traffic leverage. It’s also another type of marketing funnel that you can tweak and tune over time.

One more thing –

By doing this kind of bookmarking and “backscratching” you can build a powerful affiliate network. It’s also a great way to find and develop JV partners. Remember, this is all very social. It’s about relationships…

Sidebar: Join the Rhodes Brothers Affiliate Program.

– — –
Traffic On Traffic On Traffic

Your web site is not yet flooded with traffic but you’re ahead of 99% of everyone else — You’re in the club.

At this point you must take action…

I strongly recommend that you sign up for Traffic Drill. Like this blog posting, it’s absolutely free.

We’ve put together more material for you about getting traffic to your web site. I give Traffic Drill my highest recommendation. So, if you’re serious about web site traffic read about Traffic Drill.

Cheers,

~ John

I created an 18 minute audio to help you get started today. I talk about how to get started, what to promote and how to get traffic. It’s the perfect overview and I highly recommend you listen to it.

What to know what I talk about? Here’s the simple formula…

You start by doing some niche research, looking at trends, following smart people or just taking a complete guess.

Next, you need to decide what you’re going to sell or promote. You can be an affiliate marketer, you can sell your own products or you can start your own membership. Almost anything will work.

And lastly, you need to drive traffic using pay per click (PPC), writing blog entries, and writing articles. There’s a lot more you can do as well.

This formula is so simple but … IT WORKS. Of course, there is more to learn. There is a “secret” in the audio I created. When you hear me say it — and clearly explain it — you’ll see why the process I’ve outlined above is so powerful.

I’m not trying to scare you but you will FAIL if you don’t take my advice. You can pick the perfect niche, create the perfect product to sell or promote, and drive tons of traffic — but still fail. It’s important you listen to the audio succeed: How to Start Making Money Online (FREE).

By the way, if you like that audio, then you will love this stuff…

• Traffic Drill
• The Free Business Model
• The Really Simple Method

And, if you’re looking for other fantastic (very popular) blog entries, read these…

• Generate Traffic With Articles
• Make Money Online
• How to Use Twitter

Cheers,

~ John

p.s. Please share this article with other people. Pass it along and link to it. And, if you have about 10 extra seconds, please Stumble or Digg or bookmark this blog entry.

p.p.s. Subscribe to Rhodes Brothers RSS feed.

I encourage you to start with this: 10 Simple Twitter Secrets. It’s a blog posting I wrote back in August 2007, well before all the “Twitter Gurus” started popping up. It’s a amusing to find these “secrets” in $27 reports.

Next, take a look a this blog posting: How to Search Twitter. If you think you know everything about finding people and good stuff on Twitter, you need to reconsider. There are many tools outside Twitter that give you incredible power. (Twitter search will become more powerful than Google?) There is incredible value inside Twitter that you can extract, if you know what you’re doing.

At this point you should have a solid foundation. You know the basics of Twitter and you know how to tap the hidden value through search. Now it’s time to look at how to use Twitter to drive traffic. Furthermore, I’ll explain how to boost the power of your social network using simple tactics and tools.

You need to take an inventory of your business assets. For example:

• Do you have a blog?
• Do you have any products for sale?
• Do you have an affiliate program?
• Do you have any special skills?

Once you’ve compiled the answers to these questions you have created a pile of business assets. This step is crucial. So, please pause a moment to reflect on those questions even if you don’t write down answers (highly recommended).

What you’re going to do now is search for people who talk about you, your blog, your products, and so on. Use Twitter search tools to find “links” with other people. If you’re not Following them, start now. Also, start to use the @username functionality to connect with these people. If you’re lucky, these people will start Following you. Once that happens, direct message (DM) them and start real conversations. Interact with these folks. They are the backbone of your Twitter social network. I can’t stress this enough: be sincere, honest and 100% legitimate. Avoid spam and automated tools. They’ll work against you.

Now that you have built a Twitter network, start finding ways to help these folks. For example, run a survey or poll. Be sure to @username and direct message them. Find out what they want and what they need. For example, you might DM me (http://twitter.com/webword) about a new usability quiz or online marketing survey you’re running. Interact!

This activity will give you business intelligence. You’ll also find that people will re-tweet your messages without asking. They will help you because you’re helping them. Because you care, they care. Before long, a small (but loyal) group of these Followers will become friends. They can also become affiliates and joint venture partners. Knowing what you have — business assets — and what they want will be critical. You’ll be using Twitter to build your business and conduct business. This activity will naturally drive traffic without any special magic.

The process I described above sounds so simple. It’s almost childish. It might feel too manual or it might seem like a brute force tactic. But the truth is that this is so legitimate and since, that it’s got more traffic power than a tidal wave. You will see a constant stream of traffic with an occasional flood when some of your Tweets go viral — trust me, this happens. The interactions with my trusted network suck people in. There is excitement and buzz; traffic MUST flow.

As I write this blog posting I have well over 2,000 loyal Followers. Make no mistake: This 2K+ group of Followers is 10x better than an ill-be-gotten or manufactured group of 20K Followers. My Followers are legitimate and they are powerful. We work together to drive traffic, share ideas and make great things happen for each other. That is the “secret” of Twitter.

I’m going to leave you with one final bit of advice on how to use Twitter. This is what many readers — probably you! — care about. You can dramatically increase traffic with Twitter just by asking for it. Here’s what I do:

• Post a tweet which includes a link
• At the end, I say “Please Stumble” or “Please Digg” or “Please RT” or “Please share”
• I direct message 3-4 people who care about the topic and ask for help

That’s it. Because my Twitter Followers actually care about what I write and have to say, they help me. Likewise, when they ask for Stumbles, Re-Tweets, Digg’s and so on, I help them. We don’t promote junk and they don’t promote junk. (When they do, I tell them bluntly and we move on.)

This is all possible because I’ve developed such a strong, loyal and LEGITIMATE (read: no trash!) group of Followers. We actually care about each other. As a result, we all benefit.

I’ll end by saying that using Twitter is a social exercise. It’s not about code. It’s not about using tools. It’s not about anything but … people. If you want to use Twitter for traffic you have to rethink how you interact and socialize with other people. Most of the lessons above are basic and eternal. It’s too bad that so many people forget that it comes down to humans talking to humans.

If you liked this blog posting, I’m glad! I’ve got plenty more to say: Follow Me on Twitter!

~ John

p.s. Show me some love please? Please Stumble, Digg, Tweet and share this blog posting if you want other people to know how to properly use Twitter. Thank you for your time and for helping.

“Unfortunately, if things stay as they are, this frenzy of content generation and attention is not likely to produce commensurate rewards for marketers or site publishers.”

There are other quotes that are similar. There’s this idea floating around that since big companies aren’t making a killing that it’s not possible to make money with user generated content. Part of this thinking is the result of this wrong thinking:

“The prevailing wisdom used to be that user-generated content would attract advertising volume commensurate with its audience.”

But this thinking is just plain wrong. Let’s poke at both issues: (1) Only big companies matter and (2) advertising is the only way to make money with UGC.

It’s kind of silly to think that UGC only concerns BigCo’s and monster companies. It’s like only they care about making money. Or only Fortune 500 companies have skin in the game. That’s complete hogwash. Small and medium sized companies utilize UGC all the time, and many know how to make money with it. I’ll explain this more below; stick with me.

It’s also naive to think that the smartest way to make money with UGC is via advertisements. This is like saying that the only way to make money with magazines is with full color advertisements. What about classified ads? What about subscriptions? What about inserts? There are always multiple channels of revenue to utilize.

So, now I’ll spill the beans. What’s one really smart way to make money with UGC? Well, I’ll first give you this secret tip: If you can get traffic to a web site, you can make money. It’s all about traffic. If an online marketer knows that a site is getting traffic, money can flow. This is almost an absolute truth when it comes to “hungry markets” and “hungry niches” but it’s also true even with niches that don’t seem to have much hunger.

Here’s what I’ve done on several sites where we have user generated content (e.g., blogs). I simply provide a visitor with an opportunity to watch a free video or download a free report, then I capture their email address. From there, the real magic happens. I learn what my subscribers want, find or build a product, then sell it to them.

Here’s something to drill into your mind: The profit margins on this activity are insane. You can make a killing online if you can get users to generate content for you, which in turn drives traffic, which in turn gives you the opportunity to capture emails, which in turn gives you a list, which in turn allows you to build a relationship, which in turn allows you to provide something of value in return for payment.

That is just one way that you make money with content supplied by other people. There are many other models. If you’re interested to learn more about this “way of thinking” I encourage you to take a look at the 10x Method. It’ll help you understand how to find more excellent business models liek the one I’ve just clearly laid out for you.

~ John S. Rhodes of “The Rhodes Brothers”

p.s. Like this stuff? Follow me on Twitter.

In this article, I’ll show you exactly how to make it easy to get people to help you. First, I’ll talk about setting up affiliate support web pages. Second, I’ll talk about getting traffic to your niche web site or blog. Third, I’ll explain the importance of back scratching and helping other people ahead of time.

One of the best ways to make money online and drive traffic is to enlist the help of affiliate marketers. Internet marketing affiliate programs can lead to incredible traffic if you offer 100% commissions on big ticket products and services, which is exactly what we do with the 10x Method affiliate program. What affiliate marketer doesn’t want to promote a $47 product with 100% commissions?

But wait, you’re only going to get affiliates to promote your service if you make it easy. So, you need to take the time to provide easy affiliate link building tools, instant marketing set up tools, targeted keyword lists, free promotional images, email message templates, and so on.

Here’s the Rhodes Brothers affiliate product link creation page. As you can see, we make it easy to create links but also quickly access the sales pages. This is the kind of at-a-glance reference affiliates want.

As another reference, you should look at the Traffic Drill reseller sign up page. On that page, we explain reselling, we explain the benefits of being a Traffic Drill reseller, we explain the set process using simple language, and most important we make it easy to make money as a reseller. We maintain everything from the sales page to the sign up page to the member maintenance. Literally, we give you the power to own a membership without any hassle.

Here’s another example. I like how Kevin Riley does affiliate marketing because he spends money on tools and processes that make my life easier. We don’t promote for many people, but Kevin makes it easy. For example, when he sends out emails to his affiliates he includes their specific affiliate URLs. I do a simple cut-n-paste and I’m done. There’s no effort and very little thinking, except for the marketing. I can focus and make money because it’s easy to work with Kevin.

Here’s a bit of business advice. If you’re serious about getting affiliates to help you, then spend the time and money to make it simple and make it easy for others to help you. The less “friction” you generate the better.

Bonus! If you’ve read this far I want to give you a gift. Please download Cracking The Code: Earn $20 Per Day With Free Blogs — Did you notice how easy I made that for you? It’s a simple click and you benefit without any more effort. The more you can do like that, the more loyalty and goodwill you’ll generate. This is the power of making life easy for others.

Let’s change gears now and talk about generating traffic to your niche web sites and blogs. What I’m going to cover is simple but effective. Don’t be fooled by how easy these things are to do.

If you look above, you will see that I talk about Kevin Riley for an entire paragraph (lucky guy). I’m doing that because now Kevin might link to me or help me. I would never demand traffic or links from Kevin, but I will ask very nicely. I’ll send him a note or I’ll send him a direct message on Twitter. (Hey, are you Following me on Twitter?) If I’m lucky, I’ll get some link love which translates to short and long term traffic.

Another thing you can do to easily drive traffic is build relationships with others via JVs and giveaways. Here’s an example. I did 90% of the work on the Simple Giveaway. I bought the domain, set up the page, and emailed everyone about everything. I coordinated the launch and I made it easy for my partners to do business with me. I was rewarded with tons of traffic and hundreds of sign ups to Free Business Model.

How else can you help others help you? Well, if you have a blog, do you have web 2.0 social bookmarking widgets installed? (Hint: I like Sociable.) At the bottom of this blog posting there are several buttons you can click to Digg, Stumble and otherwise bookmark this posting. (Please take action. Click-n-save!)

The last thing I’ll talk about is back scratching, both formal and informal. I’ll also talk about helping people ahead of time.

So, what’s formal back scratching? The idea is simple. You work within a membership or system with a group of other like-minded people. For example, maybe you work with the Rhodes Brothers via our coaching program. You can also find that kind of support inside Traffic Drill, which is dedicated to driving traffic to your web site. Plainly speaking, the idea is that you pay a small fee to help other people and have them help you. It’s simple but deadly effective.

Now, how about informal back scratching? The concept is straightforward. You would go out of your way to help other people via social web sites like Twitter. For example, just today I asked about 7-8 trusted Twitter colleagues to take a look at a new blog entry I wrote in a special niche. If they like the page and it’s valuable, they will likely Stumble or Digg that page. If it’s not good, they’ll give me feedback so I can improve it. Importantly, I make it easy to Stumble and Digg, but also provide me with feedback via Twitter. That’s key.

What works better, formal back scratching or informal back scratching? Honestly, they both work well. However, if you’re looking for guaranteed help or traffic, then services like Traffic Drill are your best bet.

What I want you to understand is that you will build up goodwill and karma over time if you know how to make it easy for other people to make money. Think about it. If someone is making it easy for you to make money, you’ll be loyal. You’ll drive traffic for them. You’ll praise them and help them. This karma and goodwill leads to joint ventures and revenue multipliers.

Do good unto others and it will return to you many times. It’s not only the “right thing” it’s the way of profits and a satisfying life.

There are many definitions for internet marketing. Normally I’d try to simplify things, like I would do for one of my friends or family members. But, I know you’re interested in internet marketing, and you want some details — that’s why you’re here.

So, I’ll start with a few simple ideas then I’ll build up. In many respects, internet marketing is simply another way of saying online marketing, online business, or work-at-home internet business. The core idea is that you’re using a computer and an internet connection to generate money.

Not Just Work from Home

You don’t have to work at home to be an internet marketer. Many IM’ers, as they are called, work for large organizations, marketing companies, and research firms. The central idea is that internet marketers do marketing online, usually in an effort to advertise, pull in buyers, and ultimately sell products and services.

So, here are the two key ideas summarized:

• Most of the work is done online via the web
• Most of the work is marketing and sales related

As a quick aside, internet marketing isn’t only about search engine optimization (SEO), Google Adwords, or any other particular technology. Yes, technology is always in the mix, but internet marketing is more about the tactics, strategies, and methods to do business online.

The bottom line is that you don’t want to be fooled into thinking that internet marketing is one single thing. It’s a complex clustering of tools and techniques. And, internet marketers pick and choose what works best for them. Some internet marketers use 1-2 tools whereas others use the full spectrum. There’s not one secret or special technique which works for all internet marketers.

But, there’s more…

It’s All About Making Money Online

The heart of internet marketing is the set of actions and activities that make money for businesses, online and offline. In other words, when internet marketers talk about internet marketing, they care about one thing: making money.

Now, this might seem obvious, but internet marketers are both extremely focused and easily distracted. They are constantly looking for the Holy Grail of online cash: very little work, very high profits, and freedom.

Internet marketers therefore employ a number of tools and techniques to make money online. To make everything clear, I’ll provide several examples for you.

7 Internet Marketing Examples

eBay — Many internet marketers have used eBay as their key platform to make money online. Not only can they make money via auctions they can also use eBay to drive traffic to their sites. It’s also possible to build a customer list with eBay.

Article Marketing — With article marketing the idea is to write articles to make money. The “trick” is that you have an author bio box or author resource box. In that author credit box, you include links to your sites (e.g., sales pages, sign up pages, and so on). You can get traffic directly from article directories or from blogs and sites when people syndicate your content.

Affiliate Marketing — The concept of affiliate marketing is that you sell products for other people but you get a commission. Internet marketers often get at least 50% of the profits, but some internet marketers offer 70% commission or more.

Pay Per Click (PPC) — This is a way of driving traffic to a site via advertising. In most cases you bid on “keywords” which are the words and phrases people use to find content on search engines. The mother of all PPC systems is Google Adwords. The amount you pay per keyword or key phrase can range from just $0.01 per click through $50 or more.

Memberships — This is a more advanced internet marketing technique. You can set up a membership or club on a topic and then charge customers a fee for access. Usually memberships operate on a monthly basis, i.e., customers pay for access month by month. Although this is typically seen an an advanced online marketing technique, there are ways to set up simple memberships. Autoresponder memberships are a great example of simple yet effective memberships.

Offline Marketing — Internet marketers often make a lot of money by selling their services to small, local businesses. They still use online tactics to drive traffic, encourage people to make a purchase. Internet marketers can work with businesses offline on a pay-per-lead basis, setting up web 2.0 and social media tools, and more.

Private Label Rights (PLR) — Private label rights are “whitelabel” products, which means that the buyer has near complete control over the product. For example, you can purchase PLR products, do a little re-writing, and call the product your own in many cases. PLR is often affordable and effective. (Highly Recommended: Simple PLR Club)

We Keep It Simple

There are many other tools and strategies that comprise internet marketing. Honestly, I’ve only touched on the surface. I’ve kept this relatively jargon free and I tried to stay away from concepts like keyword analysis, squeeze pages, conversion ratios, web metrics, and the like.

We encourage people to try many different things but then focus once you see any money flow. Highly Recommended: Watch the free 10x Method video.

If you like this blog entry keep in mind that The Rhodes Brothers make everything as simple as possible. Our core objective is to help you make money online through internet marketing.

We have several affordable memberships and products to help you succeed. Yes, you can do it like “they” starting today.

(Yes, I know that Summize was bought by Twitter. But, there are still many other ways to search Twitter and discover great stuff and new people to follow. You can learn all about trends and fads by using other tools. In short, this list of Twitter search tools is still important and relevant despite the Summize buyout.)

Quick plug: If you want to keep up with all the cool stuff that I blog about on Internet Marketing Made Simple then please subscribe to my RSS feed. Here it is: http://imsimple.com/feed

Oh, and be sure to Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/webword

Enough advertising!

How to Search Twitter

1. Summize Grade: A+

“Search Twitter conversations in realtime – discover what people are doing right now.”

One of my favorite Twitter tools. This is the TWitter search engine to beat. Special note: Twitter bought Summize and it’s now Twitter branded.

Note 1: Create Twitter Search Feeds in FeedDemon
Note 2: Twitter Search

2. Tweetscan A-

“Tweet Scan is a real-time search engine for Twitter. We index all public messages on Twitter so you can find the conversations, people, and tweets you want. You can search by keyword, author, and date with results available via email, RSS, and Twhirl.”

Includes wiki and a blog. Niiice.

3. Twitter Fan Wiki Grade: A

“We’ve set this up as a place to post cool ideas, uses and feature requests for Twitter.”

This is an outstanding way to find stuff on Twitter and about Twitter. I highly recommend this web site.

4. Twubble Grade: A-

“Twubble can help expand your Twitter bubble—it searches your friend graph and picks out people who you may like to follow.”

Automagic to use. Fun. Fast. Pretty good discovery tool if you’re just starting out. If you’ve been on Twitter for a while, it’s a little less powerful.

Note: Crazy Bob

5. Twitscoop Grade: B+

“Through an automated algorithm, twitscoop crawls hundreds of tweets every minute and extracts the words which are mentionned more often than usual.”

Pretty cool way to discover information via a unique tag cloud display. Great way to get a feel for Twitter buzz; somewhat addictive.

6. TwitBuzz Grade: B+

“Twitbuzz is a new content filtering service that tracks and follows the latest popular links, conversations and people on Twitter. Twitbuzz addresses the desperate need for management of twitters vastly expanding social frenzy and organizes information appropriately and effectively based on a proprietary scoring algorithm. Twitbuzz prides itself on having high information relevancy and is competitive with other services in the space.”

What I like about this is the “Top Buzzing Links” section. Create way to find popular links on Twitter. Bravo! But, nothing too special beyond the Buzzing links.

7. Twitag Grade: B+

“Twitag is a #tag finder for Twitter Our goal is to facilitate and organize the most recent content tagged by users.”

This is a unique Twitter search engine which I like. It’s useful for really digging into Twitter. Could be quite useful for advanced users. Gives value to folks who hash like crazy.

8. TwitDir Grade: B

“A Twitter directory”

I love the Top 100 items they carry: Top 100 Followed, Top 100 Updaters, Top 100 Favoriters, Top 100 Followers. Very cool and useful if you love lists.

9. Twitter Search (Google custom channel) Grade: B

“A search engine that scans Twitter”

This is a Google custom search meaning that it’s not the “official” Google search. Nevertheless, it works well, exploiting Google’s search technology and indexing.

10. Flaptor’s Twitter Search Grade: B-

Plain vanilla, somewhat slow Twitter search engine. Unique feature: You can install the search plugin in your browser.

11. Twellow Grade: B-

“Twellow.com is currently grabbing publicly available messages from the Twitter.com micro-blogging service. We then analyze and categorize each of the users responsible for those messages into the various categories found at Twellow.com. By adding these people to specific categories we help you narrow your searching into specific niches where you can find who you are looking for.”

Currently in “alpha” mode and unclear about long term viability.

12. TwitterTroll Grade: B-

“TwitterTroll.com is the coolest real-time Twitter search engine!”

I find interesting stuff when I search but not what I would call perfect matches. This is a nice place to visit from time to time to find goodies in the nooks and crannies.

Note: TwitterTroll Creator on Twitter

13. TwitterMap’s Twitter Search Grade: C+

One of the early Twitter search tools. Was great when it first launched but not as serious or as robust as newer Twitter search tools and web sites.

RELATED RESOURCES

* 10 Simple Twitter Secrets
* Fast and Simple Web 2.0 Traffic System

http://imsimple.com/feed/

If you’re trying to understand RSS, let me first say this. You do NOT need to understand RSS to use it and exploit it. We’ve put together a report called RSS Super Glue which explains this all very clearly.

Now, if you’re trying to first figure out RSS (i.e., Really Simple Syndication) just think about it as a publication and subscription technology. An an end user, you can subscribe to a feed very easily…

First, you right-click (or control-click, you’re a Mac user) on any orange RSS button or RSS link. You’ll see these RSS feeds all over the place. Here’s our feed again:

http://imsimple.com/feed/

Just right click on that link then select Copy Shortcut (Copy Link to Clipboard, Copy Link Location), then paste that link into your favorite RSS reader. You can download an RSS reader, or you can use My Yahoo or iGoogle. 

If you’d like to experiment, subscribe to the PLR Model RSS feed. This is what it looks like, if you’re curious:

http://plrmodel.com/blog/feed

The PLR Model blog talks about private label rights (PLR). If you’re an internet marketer and you’re trying to really take your game to the next level, you’ve got to learn more about PLR. (Hint: Check out the PLR Model video as well. You won’t be sorry.)

Let’s keep going…

If you feel pretty comfortable with my two internet marketing RSS feeds, I want to help you get to the next level. There’s a lot that you can do with an XML feed that you might not know about.

Here are some examples:

1. If you use Twitter, then you automatically have an RSS feed! Here’s how to find your Twitter RSS feed. If you use Squidoo, then you can simply add that RSS feed to your Squidoo lens. Presto! You now have a Squidoo lens that is being updated every time you update Twitter. (We explain more tactics like this in RSS Super Glue.)

Hint: Follow me on Twitter. Nearly 1,000 people follow me.

2. I created a video called the YouTube RSS Feed Secret. As I write this blog entry, that video has been viewed over 43K times. A lot of people have watched that short video and it gets excellent reviews. Basically, I show you how to get an RSS feed from YouTube. If you paid attention to my note about Squidoo above, your mind should be swimming with ideas.

Hint: You can set up your own YouTube RSS feed and pipe it over to a Squidoo lens. Pretty cool, eh?

3.  You can set up RSS Radars. To keep it simple, just think of all the different ways that you can generate and consume RSS feeds. You can pump one feed to another page, and then pump that RSS feed to another page. For example, you could pump both your Twitter RSS feed and your various YouTube RSS feeds into a Squidoo lens. That Squidoo lens also has an RSS feed, which you can pump to other pages. This is the entire idea behind RSS Super Glue. (I’m not trying to pump that report, I swear. It’s just that I specifically created that report to discuss how RSS can change your internet marketing and online business.)

4. I strongly believe that Google is using RSS to dominate search. Remember, search is based on content and indexing. If you follow my comments about RSS Radars above, you’ll see all the “holes” that exist. You’ll also see how much information can be pumped from one place to another. My point is that when you use really simple syndication, XML and RSS, Google rewards you. They index you very quickly. In short, use RSS and your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts will pay off more quickly. You’ll get organic traffic sooner than you might otherwise obtain.

Hint: You might enjoy Google and the Dark Internet if you like my “conspiracy theory” about Google using RSS to dominate search.

That about wraps it up for now…

I’ll close this blog entry with a short commercial message. If you enjoy this kind of marketing material, and if you’re hungry for more, then I think you’ll really want to think about joining the Simple Cash Blog. Not only do we make all that complex mumbo jumbo easier to understand, we also mentor and help our members. And, members help other members make money online. Our community of 500+ members is smart and motivated.

Hint: Read our story about the creation of the Simple Cash Blog.

All the best,  

~ John S. Rhodes

p.s. RSS absolutely drives traffic. I’ve talked about that in the past. Twitter Followers are a list. Email subscribers make up your list. RSS readers are a list. That’s something you should keep in mind. RSS enables you to feed people great information, that they want, when then want it. That drives serious relationship building.

I’ve promised people many times that I’ll keep offering up web traffic systems and techniques. What you see below is an extremely simple system that The Rhodes Brothers have used again and again to drive traffic and build our list.

First, like many other people, we create a squeeze page. That simply means that we offer up a high quality report to people in exchange for their name and email address. Basically, people opt in to your list to get a free goodie. This alone can drive web traffic!

Second, we post news about the free goodie on a news web site. Often this is simple. We just write about the freebie on one of our niche blogs. On our internet marketing sites, this is obviously very simple and readers “get it” immediately. But, it does work in any niche.

Let’s pause here a second.

Many people will tell you that the two actions above are list building. Well, that’s kind of true. But listen, that list is very weak. Freebie seekers are, um, freebie seekers. They want everything for free. A freebie list is a freeloader list, although there is still value.

Sponsor: Where Can You Find Marketing Tools Like These?

The Rhodes Brothers cannot let you down. There is more to this story. We’re going to explain the next step of the Web 2.0 Traffic System. Your freebie list is pure gold when it comes to Web 2.0 and I’m going to make it 100% clear in just a minute.

With me still?

Now, third (Step Three!), you’re going to leverage that “low quality” freebie list. What you’re going to do is simply ask them to visit a page and Stumble it. You’re going to ask them to post about it on Twitter. You’re going to ask them to bookmark it on Del.icio.us and related sites. You might even ask them to Digg that page.

What is this magical page? I’m glad you asked because this is very important.

This second page is another high value page that the freebie seekers will be happy to promote. Remember, the “promotion” they are doing is deadly simple. It’s easy to Stumble, Digg, and bookmark, don’t you agree?

This second page, which the freebie list is promoting is high value, but it also contains a central message and common theme. It’ll also include links (just a few!) to your sales page for a product that is related to your original freebie page and your second page that the freebie seekers are pumping for you.

Got it?

Let’s recap. I’ll keep it very simple…

1. Create high value product and simple page where freebie seekers opt in.

2. Build a freebie seeker list.

3. Create another great page (”Page 2″), with great information but also links to your product.

4. Hit up freebie seeker list, ask them to promote Page 2, which is a smart, witty info page.

Listen, people don’t mind helping you if you give them something free. They might not give you money, but they CAN drive traffic to your pages. They can pump traffic, link to you, talk about you, and much more.

I’m telling you that this method absolutely, completely works. We’ve driven a lot of free traffic this way through our freebie lists. That freebie traffic will translate in real dollars once the traffic starts to pick up. Plus, you’ll start showing up in Google more often too with those pages.

~ John

p.s. OK, OK. You need an example of a “freebie” site? Here’s one example. No more, got it?

Related stuff…

• How to Generate Web Site Traffic: The Meta List

Small favor….

• Please Stumble this posting!

So, what is Twitter?

Here’s some basic information:

• Official About Twitter Page
• Official Twitter Blog
• Twitter FAQ (including official answer to What is Twitter?)

In my own words, Twitter is a web site that allows you to quickly and easily tell the world what you are doing and what you think is interesting. It’s a simple tool for microblogging. You can make updates from the web or from your mobile device. Very simple stuff.

OK, if you’ve got a handle on Twitter, and you feel you know the answer to the basic question of ‘What is Twitter?” — It’s time to graduate. About a month ago I put together something very special, just for you!

10 Simple Twitter Secrets

You can’t go wrong with that article. It goes well beyond answering the “What is Twitter?” question and into tools and techniques for advanced Twitter use.

That’s all for now. I hope that you’ve learned something new. If you’d like to get started and need someone to follow, you know where you can find me:

http://twitter.com/webword

See you on Twitter!