Cornwall SEO

Content Marketing Blog

11 Tips to Help you Outsource your SEO and link building

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Last year I bit the bullet and started hiring and have now built a team of about 10 link builders and writers. It was hard letting go, but if you follow certain rules and deploy a strict process it can be highly rewarding.

A lot of people don’t want the hassle of working for themselves, they like to do the work at home in their own time and at the end of the day turn the computer off and go out and party. I don’t care when my team work as long as the work is done within set parameters. And so a team can be created

Here are 11 quick tips to think about when hiring an online workforce.

1. Don’t call them outsourcers, they are part of the team. Instead of saying “we can outsource this”, say, “we can let the team handle this. They are human beings and it’s wrong to commoditise them.

2. Pay more than every one else pays. When I have someone work on my work I want the best not the cheapest. I want to continue to work with the best and paying them extra is the best way to do this.

3. Work hard to turn the best freelancers into the best full time employees. Cost of acquisition in terms of time is high, so when you find the cool workers, keep them. Keeping long term team members means training does not go to waste.

4. Do not micro manage. Control freaks will have issues with this and have problems sending work half way around the World. Odesk (a place where you can find team members) have this thing where you can get screenshots of the freelancers work to check up on them. This is nuts, if you don’t trust them, don’t hire them. Give them the task, if they do it great, if they don’t then that’s the signal that you don’t hire them again.

5. Expect to get ripped off and lose money. Give out with small jobs and pay in advance, potentially setting yourself up to get burned. I learned this from a guy called Richard Cussons, who really has the whole outsourcing thing covered. He pays new people in advance for little jobs, some of them scarper and are never seen again, whilst others do the work and finish the job. This is the price you pay to find the best workers, consider it an investment rather than a loss.

6. Expect life to happen. People get ill, family crisis happens. This should be factored into your hiring. If any of my workers fall ill or have a problem they get a paid day off. They are worth it and are not the type of people to lie. You get to that point of trust by going though a set of processes, even though this is a human resource issue it should be run on a process based system.

7. Use your team to build your team. Your current workers are the best people to find you more workers. They will not want to introduce you to people who do not come up to scratch as it will reflect bad on them. The people you want are the people who care about their quality of work and have a good work ethic.

8. Ditch your racist stereotypes. Different countries have different cultures, I used to get into a lot of trouble being ironic and sarcastic when I lived in the USA. What I saw as witty banter was mostly taken as offence (this still happens but online). So when hiring in India or Germany or Columbia, best to see the people as people rather than through a prism of prejudice. Although references to Basil Fawlty are allowed when dealing with the Germans, (joke, see what I mean it’s easy to fall in to the trap)

9. Pay on time. This is the most important thing, and I will bust a gut and sometimes have to run down to the Western Union office in Truro to make sure payment gets out within the set time if the website is down. BTW, the local Cash Converters shop in Truro is the best one to use if you are in Cornwall and need to send cash around the World.

10. Be nice. You are dealing with human beings not commodities. Treat your team with respect and you will get it back tenfold. Just because the annual GDP of the nation they live in is lower than the cost of serving lunch to the employees of Google does not mean they are stupid or not informed about stuff. They have the Internet and they know how to use it.

11. Try to pick a country that speaks the same language as you, if you need content creating that is to appeal to a certain nation it’s best to have the content created by a national of that country. When I have content aimed at the American market I make sure the writer is American, although a lot of countries can speak and write English, you still need that nuanced writing. In linkbait this is really important, not so much if you need articles just for Google.

I continue to build my team and they continue to do amazing work, maybe I got lucky and got the right people. There have been problems as there always are when hiring people, but most can be sorted. It is different hiring people you have never met who are from another culture. A little research and you can soon get up to speed on the does and don’ts.

I always make sure my team has spare capacity, so if you want to benefit from outsourcing work without the hassle of hiring and managing get in touch and we can work something out. I will be putting together a more detailed service in the future so make sure you sign up for the email newsletter and keep in touch.

Inspired by Byrne Hobart CEO of Due Digital Dilligence on Search Engine Land

SEO Linkbuilding Video of the Day

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Very interesting debate with Wil Reynolds and Brett Snyder from Seer Interactive, an (if you want the points you have to give the right anchor text as well as the link 😉

I have this conversation with clients all the time. Both sides have merits and I think it comes down to the business model of the client and the amount of knowledge they have. The best client will just give you the cash and say, “you do that voodoo that you do so well,” but very few actually say and even less sing it in key.

There is something I call, Positive Domain Name Context. If you have a blog and call it Death Star Pizza and stick a blog post about space ships, it makes it more likely that you will get links. You tap into a niche where you clients and the clients competitors will not normally be able to get links. The site then only links to the sites the client wants to link to.

Also, there are a few other things that you can do with a Microsite like this which gets good quality links. But, I’m going to leave that for another time.

Linkbait has definitely evolved and there are quite a few creative ways we can use content that gets links. A client I was chatting too last week was amazed how his site for Ironing Board covers jumped in the SERPS from a link from a an authority site on cat snacks. (Niches have been changed to protect the innocent) You hear a lot about you gotta get links from sites from in your niche to rank for your keyword. No you don’t.

Time and time again I see sites ranked with links from all sorts of niches, as long as those sites are linked to and are seasoned over time it doesn’t matter.

Now, back to creating content about space ships.

The Best Blog Post on Google +1 you will ever read

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I hate to say this, I really do. But Google +1 will fail.

I don’t think this because I have done an in depth analysis of it’s features and tested it for the last 6 months it’s more instinctive, so take that for what it’s worth. My thinking is based on the following.

  • Google does search very well, social is a different thing entirely
  • Google isn’t hungry, failure will not move the share price or cause a significant bump in revenues
  • Google can buy Twitter whenever it realises it can’t do social, so why try too hard
  • Sheds of sock puppets are on standby to manipulate the system
  • There is no void for Google + 1 to fill, we can already do what it offers and are embedded in other networks
  • Social networks are powered by fundamental forces like sex, money, social approbation etc. I don’t see any of these primal forces being sated in the current features

There are a few more reasons I will save for the email list.

I hate saying all this because Google could have done it, they left it too late. I remember saying back in 2007 they should do something like this.

They have spent too much of the evening working on their PhD papers and turned up at the party with a bottle of Peach Schnapps wondering why the hot chicks have already left the party.

The other reason of course is that Google search is very, very good and it would be hard to improve it. Google Search and it’s commercial cousin Adwords are truly the works of genius. Which is why it feels awkward watching people get excited over this.

Ah well, gives SEO bloggers something to write about.

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Twitter – Follower of 10

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There is a new Twitter movement out there, it’s called “Follower of 10”

It simply means reducing the people you follow on Twitter to 10 people.

The point is to increase the signal, decrease the noise.

It’s not for everyone, everyone has their own social media strategy.

I’m taking up this challenge, it’s difficult as I get the feeling I’m missing out or am unable to influence a useful connection. But, there are so many more efficient ways to stay connected. Also, if you are worried that someone will de-follow you simply because you de-follow them, then their follow is probably worth less than you think.

This is not a hippy dippy movement to keep things real and fruity, rather it’s a time management thing.

Increase the signal, decrease the noise.

Where Can I Find a Great Link Builder

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Throughout my travels in the world of Internet Marketing and SEO, you meet a lot of liars, bullshitters, schmoozers and arse-lickers, (a nice line inspired by Alan Sugar). There are a bunch of other words too, but I don’t have that long to write this.

Point is, how do you know who is good.

How do you know when you have found a good link builder?

It makes little sense for a good link builder to show work they have done as it is commercially sensitive. I always keep a few in my back pocket that I know I can show, but most of the time there is little visible sign of anything really happening.

Link builders tend not to have showrooms or large shop front windows.

But, one bunch of people do know and that’s long term clients. I say long term as there is no such thing as short term link building. Not if you want a long term business.

Great link builders take a strategic look. Here are a few I have found along my way who I would recommend.

This is not a definitive list by all means, and if you are a great link builder and feel you should be on my list then let me know and I can make another list.

But these link builders stand out and would be who I would hire to manage my link building. They are also who I recommend to other clients when I have no client spaces available.

So, take it from me. These are people who are at the top of their game and have impeccable credentials and can be trusted to get the job done.

Of course the more interesting blog post would be the dark side of link building and the story about the one armed, Ukrainian, transexual midget, who can do amazing things with sub-domains – but lets save the best till later.

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Great WordPress Plugin of the Day

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I found this plugin a while back, it’s called the CBnet Plugin optimizer

What is does is make sure you don’t spam by pinging to much. I add a whole list of ping services to my WordPress blogs and have to make sure when uploading a bunch of posts that the services don’t get too much ping action which leads to a black.

So, I am making CBnet Plugin optimizer plugin of the day.

You really want to have this installed on all your blogs.