Online Jobsites

The best place to get outsourcing professionals is the online jobsites. The following is a list of 10 of the best of these sites.

GetAFreelancer (http://www.getafreelancer.com/)

ScriptLance (http://www.scriptlance.com/)

EUFreelance (http://www.eufreelance.com/)

eLance (http://www.elance.com/)

Guru (http://www.guru.com/)

RentACoder (http://www.rentacoder.com/)

PeoplePerHour (http://www.peopleperhour.com/)

LimeExchange (http://www.limeexchange.com/)

oDesk (http://www.odesk.com/)

GetACoder (http://www.getacoder.com/)

You will find various categories here. These are job categories. When you have a particular work requirement, all you do is post your project in the relevant job category and people who are interested in accomplishing the task for you will make their bids on it. The concept is quite simple, and because only people who are genuinely looking for work can be found on these sites, you can be sure that you will get your work done.

Forums

There are several forums on the Internet where people put up their work requirements and other people take them up. There is a bidding game involved here as well, but it is not as rampant as on the freelance jobsites. Projects need to be posted as individual threads and interested people make their bids on them. You can also invite particular people to work on your project.

Digital Point Forums (http://forum.digitalpoint.com/) is the best forum where you can find people to handle your jobs for you.

Social Networking Websites

All social networking websites can be looked upon as a potential source to get professionals to handle various tasks. There are groups for freelance professionals on the popular sites. You could become a part of these groups and post your projects.

The following are 3 of the most popular social networking sites where you can find professionals to work for you:-

MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/)

Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/)

Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/)

The only problem with social networking sites is that it is not necessary that these people are looking for work because that is not the primary focus on these sites. Also, there are no systems in place to protect two individuals who work with each other, like you find escrow systems on freelance jobsites.

Marketing attraction. It sounds like flirting doesn’t it? And in a way, that’s exactly right.

You do want to flirt with your prospects, to allow them to get to know, like, and trust you. Since it takes upwards of 7 touches to make a sale today, you need to attract them to your product, service, or program in many different ways.

One critical element you must have in your basket of attraction tools today is a fully developed web presence.

People are most likely to google for you or your service or the benefit/solution they seek first. They are less likely to open the telephone book and flip through the yellow pages. The future of your marketing reach is the internet.

Even with the internet, you need an arsenal of marketing strategies to reach your prospects and attract them to your product and services. You can’t flirt with them, if they can’t find you.

Here are a few ideas which you can do quickly and on a budget. They are culled from the likes of Mitch Meyerson, Jay Conrad Levinson, Seth Godin, and Bea Fields.

On your website:

* Build a powerful direct response entity

* Make sure your headlines are engaging with a problem/solution approach

* Direct their eyes to the one thing you want them to do

On your email signature:

* Include your business contact information, of course

* Promote one thing – a new product, service, newsletter, article, free conference call.

This is your best and first opportunity to ask everyone to engage with you and your company

Develop relationships for referral business – complementary services serving the same market niche and get listed on their websites

Include client testimonials – use them in all your printed and online collateral materials.

The hottest new thing is audio and video testimonials you put up on your site.

Use audio and video conferencing from your PC for sales, presentations, meetings. They work effectively for a prospects, clients and vendors. It’s no longer novel. It’s cost effective, timely, direct, and can be very interactive.

Write articles and press releases about everything you do and get them published in print but more importantly across the web.

Yes, all of these are ideas you can do yourself, burning the midnight oil.

But what’s even better, is that these tools and systems can be delegated and automated – one more way for you to generate more profit in less time.

1. Google Analytics – This is one of the most popular traffic tracking solutions available. Google tracks just about everything you would need. You can find out how many people were on your site, where they came from and the keywords they used to find you in search. Unlike the other options I will discuss later you can also integrate your Google Adsense if you use it. The only downside is the stats are not real time and the dashboard can be a bit confusing.

2. StatCounter – StatCounter can tell you just about the same information as Google can. The type of information you can view is slightly less with StatCounter Free. To get to Google’s level of statistics you would have to pay. That said, the free version still tells you just about everything you need to know. As an added bonus you can also get real times traffic stats, so when someone hits your site you will know it.

3. Woopra – Woopra is the new face on the block. They do bring a couple unique twits to the table. First the downside, Woopra’s free option is only good for a certain number of page views, after which you must upgrade to get full stats. The free version will be good enough for most basic blogs though. The good side is Woopra includes a desktop client. This helps harness the power of your computer, as opposed to relying just on the internet. What that means is your flash menus and charts will load quicker and run more smoothly on the desktop client. Like StatCounter Woopra also keeps real time stats. One added function is that the desktop client will allow you to initiate a chat with your web visitors. I haven’t found a reason for using this yet but it is intriguing.

I am not making a case for any of the three above providers. I just want to let you know there are free options out there to track your traffic. You will be able to get great results with any of the above three, so what do you have to lose? Start tracking your traffic now.

This means that if you can tap into an email connection with potential and current customers and clients, you’ll be getting their attention in the most reliable way possible. Most people check their email every day, and even those who don’t spare a glance at it every week. That means there’s a high chance that those people will be looking at your email in their box, and even if they don’t read it, they’ll be reminded of the existence of your company and its products and services.

Best of all, email advertising is cheap. In fact, it can be free. Sound too good to be true?

The flip side of all this is what’s known as spam. Spam is unsolicited emails – that is, the digital equal to “junk mail.” People loathe spam with a passion, and virtually all email accounts these days come with “spam filters” where if you try to reach out to a potential client uninvited, your email gets diverted to a netherworld of Viagra offers that most people don’t even look at.

So how to get into the email boxes of your potential and current clients without falling prey to spam? Simple. Don’t send unsolicited emails.

Most companies who are looking to take advantage of email advertising do so by utilizing “opt in” email lists. This is done by the customer actively choosing to sign up for your mailing lists. Most wise companies who take advantage of this offer a customer the chance to sign up for their email lists after making a purchase. Some even advertise it on the front page of their website (or right next to the checkout counter if it’s a brick and mortar operation).

The trick to opt in email lists is to make it worth your customer’s while to be part of the list. Don’t send them ten emails a day. One a week is probably the maximum. When you do send out the emails, make sure that they have something relevant to say, and preferably at least one coupon. Rewarding your opt-in email subscribers is a great way for your business to be passed around by word of mouth. It’ll work even better if they’re extremely happy customers!

There are two ways to market your business with social networking blogs.

1. Join a general social network site that allows you to have a blog as part of your personal profile.

2. Join an actual blogging based social networking site. These websites are created specifically for people to blog and meet other people through their writing.

When you write on a blog it can be very personal and also offer some great information so this is a very effective way to promote your business on a social networking site. With social network blogs you are allowing people to get to know you on a more personal level which builds a good relationship with your potential customers.

There are so many different social networking blogs around the internet and more are being created all the time. Some of the popular blogging sites are WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Weebly, LiveJournal and Soulcast. Even larger social networking sites like MySpace have the option of blogging within your account, which allows you to use their website a big part of a business marketing plan. With these social websites you can reach out to existing and new customers within the networking community.

With social networking blogs you can create personal blogs or business blogs or a mixture of both. If you are creating a blog for your business it is recommended to have a personal approach so you can develop a connection with other members. When you regularly write on your blog you will find that other members will view your blog and your profile and get a good idea about who you are and what you bring to the community. Members will know what you are about, what your business is about and what you are trying to achieve and they can respond accordingly.

Social networking blogs allow you to reach out to new friends, business partners, customers or even to build personal relationships. If you are honest with your blog and open about what you do and what you have to offer then you will attract people that are interested in your business and your niche.

When you create a social networking blog you should fill in your details in your profile so that if anyone wants to get a good idea of who you are and the interests you like, they can do so by viewing your profile. Your profile doesn’t change at any time unless you update it so if you change any details be sure to update them in your profile.

To get the most out of social networking on the internet you really should have a social networking blog to promote your business.

Three words: Promotion, promotion, promotion. You need to promote your product or service and your website. Setting up your website was the easy part. Now you have to find ways to promote it. If you are like most people who are starting an online business you probably do not have much of a budget so to find your targeted online traffic you will have to be creative and do the right things to get ranked high on the search engines’ results pages.

This is very doable and will not cost you much at all, just a little of your time. The first thing you need to know about is keywords. They are called keywords for a reason. Keywords are the ‘key’ to getting that targeted traffic you need to your website. Keywords are the words or phrases people type into the search bar when they are looking for something online. If you have your website optimized with some of the keywords that people are using then you will rank the highest on the search engine results page and people will come to you for what they need.

Those keyword phrases? They are called long-tailed keywords and are like little gems if you can find one. They will get the most targeted traffic to your site. They are used by people who know exactly what it is they want and so they type in those exact words. If you get your hands on one of these long-tailed keywords and no one else is using it…just imagine the possibilities! Sales would go through the roof.

Other ways to get the targeted traffic you want is to write articles and submit them to article directories. Use the same keywords in your articles to connect back to your website. If you can’t write then hire someone who can. This is a very important step so do not just blow it off if you do not consider yourself a writer. If you do not have the budget to hire someone to write your articles then you will have to learn how to do it yourself.

It isn’t hard to write a 500 word article. I will tell you a little secret, if you look around at other articles out there you will be surprised and appalled at the lack of quality content of other article writers. You will soon be so confident in your writing ability that you will consider your articles much better than what is out there.

Make a video selling your product or service. Once again if you are camera shy, hire someone to be your representative in front of the camera. If you don’t know how to make a video then hire it out as well. Keep it professional and you will soon reap the benefits of increased targeted online traffic to your website and hopefully increased sales.

The themes we explore and the fun we have doing this exercise are so central to an authentic approach to small business marketing that I have decided to highlight them in this article.

First, let us stipulate that somewhere in the world there are prospective clients or customers who will fit you and your work “just right.”

(If this does not feel true for you yet, then you have work to do. Perhaps you need training, practice, or mentoring before you can attract “just right” customers. Or perhaps, like I did with my art business, you are trying to make an avocation into a vocation. For now, let us assume that you are in the right business with the right skills.)

Second, let us assume that “just right” clients are those who get great value from working with you just the way you are. These are clients who share enough of your standards and values that it is easy to develop mutual respect, appreciation, and benefit. With these two assumptions in mind, here are some unconventional yet highly productive questions to help focus the image, tone, and message that will attract clients who fit “just right.” Answer them quickly to tap into your creative subconscious. There will be plenty of time later for thinking about the answers and deciding when and how to use them in sharing your gifts with the world.

1. If your work were a color, what color would it be?

2. What shape would it be?

3. How big would it be?

4. What texture would it have?

5. If you pressed it with your finger, what would happen?

6. If your work were a popular song, what song would it be?

7. Who would be singing?

8. How loud?

9. If your work were an historic personage, who would it be?

10. If your work were going to a party, what would it wear?

11. If your work had a typical mood, what would it be?

12. If your work were a plant, what kind of plant would it be?

13. In what environment would it thrive?

14. If your work were an animal, would it be domestic or wild? How big?

15. If your work were a meal, what kind of meal would it be? (Fast food? Haute cuisine? Mac and cheese?)

What is the point of questions like these? Simply this: Answering them can reveal aspects of your personality that inform and augment the work you do. By surfacing these unique associations, you will be unearthing imagery and attitudes you can use to set the tone for your marketing so that it is easy for your “just right” clients to differentiate you from other people doing similar work.

Try this exercise – it could be the start of something beautiful.