How to hire a blog writer

October 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment

A blog Writer is one of the best things your business can do with a virtual assistant.

However, blog writing skills are as diverse as hiring someone that is in construction.

Do you need a handy man to repair your shed?  Or do you need a construction crew to build your garage?

Blog writing is just as diverse.  Before you start shopping for a virtual assistant Blog Writer, begin by understanding what your goals are.  Here are some possible goals for a business blog.

  1. Provide news and industry information - people come back frequently to the blog.
  2. Get great search engine traffic for your keywords and generate leads.
  3. Lock down additional slots in search engines to control your brand identity better.
  4. Create buzz and linking to the blog with great link bait articles.

All four of these are good goals, and they can all happen to some extent, but it is a lot of work to do these things well.  For example, if you want good keyword written blog posts, you need to do research, measure the results you get and maybe do minor rewrites over time to improve performance.

Writing good link bait articles could take days of research and writing.  You would not expect a cheap blog writer to be able to produce that kind of article.

What are your Blog Writing Goals?

To get the most out of hiring a virtual assistant that is a blog copywriter, you need to understand what the goals are and craft your interview questions accordingly.  Here are some sample questions.

  1. What tools have you use to do keyword research before writing a blog post?
  2. What is your strategy for writing headlines and explain why?
  3. Show some examples of link bait articles you have written.  (You can then measure the number of links to that page to see how successful it is)
  4. Send me a link to a post you wrote that had target keywords and tell me what those keywords are.
  5. How do you handle writers block?
  6. How do you work?  If I want 10 blog posts per month, how would you produce them?

These blog writer interview questions are going to eliminate 90% or more of the potential writer (unless they are trying to BS you) because most blog writers are not writing with a clear strategy and do not know how to do many of these things effectively.  They see blog writing as just writing a few paragraphs to keep the blog current.  That is fine if you are not expecting much out of the blog, but you can get better results with a blog writing strategy and serious writing with a trained professional.

Once you hire a good virtual assistant blog writer, be sure to pay them well and treat them very well.  While there are lots of virtual assistants available, getting one that is a good blog copywriter that can produce great results is very special.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzz with Blogs, Buzzoodle, Internet Marketing 

Internet Marketing Results

October 2, 2008 | 1 Comment

More than 10 years ago I began doing internet marketing.  Not like those crazy guru internet marketers that blast you with affiliate links and offers all the time, although I would probably be more wealthy today had I went that route.  Instead, it was 10 years ago I started helping companies build websites, publish eMagazines, and built audiences on the internet.

I am telling you this for a couple of reasons.  I am going to tell you a secret that will change the way you think about internet marketing, whether you are selling internet marketing services or looking to get internet marketing results.

The internet marketing secret is: To do internet market right, you have to continually do it and add to it and keep up with technology.  And you need a lot of hours or money to do it well.

The good news is that you can start small and grow your internet marketing effort over time.  But you need to have realistic expectations.  Starting small probably means getting small results.  You have to be disciplined and keep doing it.

Now you may wonder why I am telling you it is expensive and time consuming.  I am not doing a very good job of selling internet marketing services, am I?

Well, ten years ago when we started doing Internet Marketing, we were thrilled when we got our first client willing to spend $500 per month with us to do Internet Marketing.  Of course, we were fairly new at it and we tried everything to see what worked.  Eventually, he saw he was not going to get the marketing cost back each month in sales - he was selling a book -  and we lost the account.

What I learned from that is that Internet Marketing is hard if you are starting from scratch.  And while $500 may seem like a lot to some people, it is usually not nearly enough to make an impact.

How to get Internet Marketing Results

I am going to list the ways that you can get real internet marketing results.  You have a lot of options, but if you are looking for a quick, easy and cheap fix, it is not in the list.

#1 DIY Internet Marketing

You can do it all yourself.  However, there is a catch.  You have to have an automated business that is profitable and runs itself with little effort from you.  Why?  Because internet marketing is now your full time job.  You also should have some good money coming in, because to get good results you will need to do training courses, attend workshops and buy lots of books. Plus you will loose money experimenting with tool and advertising until you get your techniques down.

#2 Outsource Internet Marketing Tasks

If you have the time and desire to do strategy and management, but do not want to spend your days writing blog posts, doing keyword research and hanging out in social media sites, then you need to craft your strategy, identify your high value tasks and hire a team of virtual assistants to help you.

The mistake someone makes here is thinking one person working ten hours a month is going to make a big fast difference.  Remember what I said earlier, Internet Marketing gets results when you make a big effort.  I love the virtual assistant route, but you need a good plan, patience to find the right virtual assistants and to built a team that work on your behalf.

#3 Hire a Full Time Internet Marketing Employee

Certainly hiring and training a full time internet marketing employee is a great option for some people.  Just be sure that you document everything (right, I have never seen this happen) and cross train people.  The problem with hiring a full time internet marketer is that as soon as they get good at their job, they have the skills to go out and make a lot of money for themselves.  So there is a good chance that once you get them where you want them, you will lose them.

#4 Hiring a Professional Internet Marketer

When you hire a professional internet marketer, you are paying a lot more.  But don’t feel like you are getting a bad deal because of the cost.  If they are any good at their profession, they have spent MANY hours researching, learning and experimenting with internet marketing.  Trust me, I spend most of my day doing non-billable internet marketing activities to learn and increase my own income.  When I am billable, you are paying for the experience, not just the hours.

Remember that internet marketing secret?

Remember that unfortunate internet marketing secret?  It is not fast and cheap, despite the hype you read from people trying to sell you things.  It is going to either be someone’s full time job or you are going to have to assemble a team or hire someone that can do the full time job in less time (but at a higher rate).

The good news about Internet Marketing is that it grows and builds on itself and gets stronger when done well.  An advertisement starts at zero every month and you hope to get ROI.  An email list just keeps getting more powerful for you.  A blog will keep getting more search engine traffic if you work on it.  You can keep modifying your adwords and landing pages to increase profits until you get the perfect formula.

Internet Marketing has the best long term ROI, but getting from here to there is no easy task.  And it is definitely not something you buy once and forget about.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Internet Marketing, Small Business, Viral Marketing 

Quick Marketing To Do List

October 1, 2008 | 1 Comment

So you have some time to come and read a blog?  How about I give you a quick marketing to do list.

Your Quick Marketing To Do List

  1. Leave a comment on this blog and at least one other - and be sure it links back to your site.
  2. Email 3 people you have not talked to for at least 3 months to touch base.
  3. Post a message with a link on twitter.
  4. Add a friend to facebook
  5. Add a connection to LinkedIn
  6. StumbleUpon 3 Things Not Yours, and one thing yours  (Maybe this blog, hint hint)
  7. Sign up for the free buzz marketing course if you have not already done so.
  8. Set up a blog and start publishing.

Hmmm, ok that last one will not be quick if you have never done it before.

Why not develop a quick marketing to do list that you will do every week at the same time.  This is exactly the kind of thing we do with virtual buzz assistants.  They develop a list of quick online marketing activities that help you keep your profile high and they do the activities for you.

Then you can evolve this group of marketing activities into a social media marketing plan once you start measuring the results.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Internet Marketing, Small Business 

Web Marketing Non Profit Organizations

September 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

This post, Web Marketing Nonprofit Organizations is written by guest writer Hans Strock.

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Non-profit organizations need marketing, and luckily for them, it can be done online for less. It just takes some time to develop. Here are some things charity and non-profit groups can do to spread the word. We’ll Use African United Partnerships for these examples.

  1. Start a blog. Yes, this is obvious, but the way you craft it really counts here. To be really effective, talk about what you are doing. Tell stories about what is going on. Most importantly though, show the results that donations are doing. Keep it positive and show people that their donation money is being put to good work, and to make them feel good about helping out.
  2. Fundable.com. This site is totally dedicated to fund raising. It allows users to set a timeline and dollar amount for your cause. Its quick and easy to use, to boot. The only thing to be aware of is that if you don’t meet your goal within the deadline set no money gets donated at all. If you are confident you can make it though, this is a great, easy tool to use. For an example of this, check out the page for African United Partnerships .
  3. Squidoo. This was originally started for charity groups, so this should be a no brainer. You can eve submit your group to be added to their list of charity/non-profit groups. This means that any user creating a lens can have a portion of any profits made on it go to your group. Be sure to join groups to take advantage of this. Once again, check out the lens from African United Partnerships to see how it’s done.
  4. blog Networks. Once you start a blog be sure to claim it on a blogging community like MyBlogLog.com and BlogCatalog.com. Be sure to follow other blogs here to grab their attention as well.

5. Mingle. Don’t just build these things and sit on it. Talk to people! Read other blogs and comment on them. Send them emails with helpful things. Make them see you as valuable. When the time comes, they will return the favor.

6. Main Site. Make sure you have a professional looking main site that details your cause well. Also, make sure there is a very clear, easy way to donate. It doesn’t help to get people rallied for your cause, but be confused on how to help. Here, we see that AUP (http://africanunitedpartnerships.org) has a professional looking site with big donate buttons on every page.

The important thing to note is that you really have to focus with these and take the time to cultivate them. Use the powerful social aspect of these tools to build links and relationships with other people. It is also important that you look professional. People want to make sure their money is going to a good cause. Leverage the power of relationship building combined with good design on your sites to build that trust and audience. The web has some powerful methods of reaching people around the world. Take advantage of it to spread the word.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Branding, Internet Marketing 

Fear of Leaving

September 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

No, this is not about co-dependency and relationships.

I have had the experience recently of several situations where people kept paying money because they were afraid of losing what they had, even though they were not using it to the full extent.  This is interesting if you think about it.  Can you offer some kind of preferred membership that keeps a reoccuring revenue coming in that people will not want to lose?

Example #1

Cell Phones  - I found that I was not using all my minutes every month and I’d banked many thousands of minutes.  I could change plans, but I would lose most of my banked minutes.  Even though I was never using those minutes, I was also afraid to give them up - I’d already paid for them.  Finally I did make the switch - but many months after I should have.

Example #2

New Pricing - I just got off the phone with a guy that has an aWeber account.  He is still on their old pricing plan even though they have increased the price.  He will probably never change the plan or cancel it because he now feels like he has a fantastic deal.

Example #3

I was in a blog publishing network where I could publish articles to thousands of blogs.  I liked the service and I thought some of my clients might find it useful, but to pay what I was paying just for me was not worth it.  So I thought about it for months and finally did cancel it.  But I was afraid of losing it because I kept thinking that a client might want it, and the group was closed for new members.

In all of those cases, you can see that people were paying for something that they did not want to stop having but could also not really justify as an expense.   It is just food for thought.  Is there a way to make people afraid of losing your service?

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Internet Marketing 

Blog Making Money?

August 29, 2008 | 2 Comments

Waterstone's notes Is your blog Making Money?  Sometimes it is hard to tell.

A little while back, I wrote an article that you should make money with your blog.  You owe it to your readers.  It is very unlikely that you will keep blogging long term if you do not make money from it.

  • Is your blog making money with Ads?  Read this article about tipping bloggers by clicking on ads.
  • Is your blog making money with Affiliate links?  Even if you do not sell a ton of these, it is nice to get a check every month that it feels like you did nothing for.
  • Is your blog making money with product sales?  You can use a blog to create great relationships and sell your own products.
  • Is your blog making money with access?  Interviewing people for your blog can give you access to people that may buy something from you after they get to know you.
  • Is your blog making money by generating speaking fees?  Mine does.
  • Is your blog making money because people are paying to reuse your content?  I have had people buy blog posts to include in books.
  • Is your blog making money by creating more traffic to your main website?

Want to see a guy making over $110,000 per year blogging?  Go visit Yaro Starak.  That is what he teaches people.

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Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzz with Blogs, Internet Marketing 

Free Blog Software

August 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Amsterdam servercluster in its own rack I frequently get asked about the many free blog software options that are out there.

First, let me explain something.  Free blog software is not the same as free blog hosting.  I have never used blog software that I have had to pay for.  Wordpress is free to download and install on your server.

Where people get confused is whether to pay to host their blog someplace or to use a free blog platform like wordpress.com or blogger.com.

Both places will host your blog for free.  The issue is ownership, customization and security.  When you set up a blog, you want to be able to truely build an audience that keeps coming back for your valuable information.

The issue with the free blog hosting options is that they can take down your blog any time they want.  If they believe you are spamming or abusing their system, they can simply remove your blog.  Also, while wordpress.com is free, it is not free if you want to customize things more.

To avoid the risk of losing all your hard work, you should host your blog on a web host.  This gives you full control and you cannot be shut down as long as you are not breaking any laws.

Does that mean you should not set up free blogs too?  Absolutely not.  Go ahead and set up blogs on those free sites.  Write summaries of your posts on your main blog and use those free blog sites to send traffic and links your way.

Remember, free blog software is not the issue.  Owning the space and developing an audience is how your blog will succeed.

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Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzz with Blogs, Internet Marketing 

Floating Window - Increase Email List Signup

July 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I use and love aWeber for my email system.

I could hand build a great pop up window with aWeber, but it was going to be a lot of work, so I kept putting it off.

Then I tried Floating Window.  It more than doubled my sign up rate, it integrates with my aWeber account and it really is as simple as they show in this video.

There was one thing that I did not like.  I could not have it only pop up once per visit.  So to solve that, I added it only to the front page, but not the sub pages, that still use a simpleraWeber form.

If you want to save time, impress people with a great pop-up email offer and get more people to opt into your email list, I recommend Floating Window.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Internet Marketing, Small Business 

Wordpress Blog SEO for Beginners

July 10, 2008 | 2 Comments

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is when you modify your website so that it ranks higher in search engines and generates more traffic for you.

The great thing about blogging software like Wordpress is that it is search engine friendly.

Does that mean your site is as optimized as it can be? No. But you have a good base to start from.

One thing you can do with your Wordpress blog is to optimize the permalinks to use the title as the default link text. This strengthens the title words for the page.

The following image shows where to put the custom code. The code is /%postname%-%post_id%.htm

Wordpress SEO Permalinks

The code makes the link the post name and the post ID (to avoid duplication.) This is only one option, but it is a good way to set it and forget it and your posts will get better search engine results..

Another important element of SEO on your Wordpress site is the All in one SEO pack. This is a free plug-in that you can install on Wordpress that will let you set the meta tag information for the site and better target your keywords. Just search for it in the wordpress plug-in website.

Wordpress SEO Pack

The reason we want to bring this to your attention before you get too far along is because you do not want to publish a lot of information and then modify the url after it has already been indexed by search engines. It is much easier to get it set up correctly from the beginning.

The Best SEO may be NO SEO?

OK, I would not go that far.

Search Engine Optimization will always help. However, if you have a few hours to invest in your website, you should create more great content instead of worrying about modifying your meta tags. I saw one client that published 15 articles per week for years get great search engine results, even though they did not care about search engine results.  They were only publishing for their employees.

Great information, especially if it gets linked to by other people, will help you get noticed quickly in search engines.

You can set up a Wordpress Blog in a few minutes at www.outstandahosting.com and buy a great template at template monster.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzz with Blogs, Internet Marketing 

Is Twitter Your “Get Out of Jail Free” Card?

June 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I speak a lot about ways to create buzz, use the web to create relationships, etc.

One story I have begun to include is the person that twittered one word and got out of jail.

Now he is trying to help a friend - read about it here.

Yes, Twitter can seem pointless and annoying - but it can also be a very powerful tool if you build up a real network.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Internet Marketing 

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