Working on your core competencies is one of the most important things you can do to ensure the succes of your business, but many business owners, especially in start-ups, often have to wear a lot of different hats in their business because they feel that they do not have a budget to hire anyone.
But the truth of the matter is that you can outsource very inexpensively these days and save money provided that you follow a few simple rules. The main one is to do what you are best at and love, and farm out the things that you do not like to do, are not good at, or do not generate revenue directly.
For example, there are many day-to-day business chores that can be assigned to a virtual assistant, such as customer service, blog maintenance and so on. For higher end task, you might still want to hire an expert to save you time and money in the long run. If web marketing is not one of the things that your business is noted for, it is easy to outsource the task to a company that specializes in marketing.
The web is an incredibly powerful driver of traffic for just about every industry and niche in the world. If you have not yet started marketing online, rather than hire someone in-house, you might decide to quickly get the skills your company needs by outsourcing the work. When you’re outsourcing to web marketing professionals, you could choose to hire one firm to handle all your marketing needs, or choose specialists for each department.
Here are some of the main areas you may want to look into when thinking about outsourcing.
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay Per Click marketing is one of the most profitable kinds of marketing you could do today. It’s highly trackable and allows you to target potential buyers very directly.
Running PPC campaigns requires a very specialized skill set. It’s rare that you’ll find someone who’s truly great at both SEO and PPC.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Getting your site ranked in the search engines is important, but difficult. Expect to pay significant amounts of money to have this handled by an outsider. Make sure you understand exactly what kind of techniques they’ll be employing before you hire them. Try to research the risks and potential rewards of these techniques beforehand.
Tracking and Split Testing and Conversion Optimization
Split testing is the act of testing different aspects of a website to figure out the best way to make the most sales. For example, you can test different versions of your website’s fonts or test different price points to see what makes the most money.
Affiliate Program Management
If you have products that can be sold by affiliates, you may want to look into hiring an affiliate manager. Your affiliate manager’s job is to go out and find affiliates for you and manage those relationships. They may also help you get into affiliate networks like Commissions Junction and ShareASale.
Newsletter Management
Your newsletter is one of the most important tools you own in your business. A marketing specialist can help you build a connection with your newsletter, as well as market products to your newsletter.
Tips for Outsourcing
Make results your main criteria. Even if you hire a PPC expert who talks a great talk, if they can’t deliver results, don’t keep paying them. Decide early on in the process which metrics will tell you whether or not your business is on the right track.
Test small. Don’t sign a one year contract with an affiliate manager until they’ve delivered at least a few high volume affiliates.
Web marketing. is one of the best way to build your business online and increase profits, but it is not for everyone. While you can absolutely outsource, you still need to manage your outsourcers and know enough to determine whether or not they are doing a good job.
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