Secrets Of Outsourcing Your Internet Business
June 22, 2009 by Tyrone
Recently, my friend Adam suggested I take a look at replacemyself.com, which is a website that shows you how to train and outsource your business to people in the Philippines working for you full time starting from $250 US per month. Although the information provided is not free, it was extremely valuable and for the price of $97.00 US, it is definitely worth it! It sparked my interest because I am already outsourcing tasks to assistants in the Philippines and I wanted to see how this system could improve my business further. Before we get into the details of this system, I am going explore what outsourcing is and how you can use it within your own Internet business.
What Is Outsourcing?
For me, it is taking routine tasks or areas of my business and hiring good quality people to do them for me at a fraction of the cost. One of the main reasons why I outsource a majority of my business is to eliminate the tasks that I am not good at and focus on tasks that utilises my strengths. For example, I currently have all of my emails and telephone support outsourced to a team of assistants. Therefore I am able to focus my time and energy to do more podcast interviews with leading experts and deliver them through this blog.
Marketing Your E-commerce Business Through Social Media Networks
May 28, 2009 by Tyrone
A popular way to generate traffic to your e-commerce business is through social media networks. You can market your e-commerce website through places such as Digg.com, Twitter.com, Facebook and MySpace. The goal with social network marketing is twofold:
- You are trying to enhance your site’s community by establishing outposts on social networking sites so people who share your interests, or are interested in your products and services, find you and your site.
- Getting involved in social networking multiplies the number of places that your site and your products can be found by search engines, which is critically important to the success of your e-commerce business.
How To Leverage Social Media Networks To Our Advantage?
Simply, we are trying to spread the word about your e-commerce business. You can take your product reviews or blog posts and spread them as far as possible online enlisting the help of these sites. It’s important to make sure the content you’re promoting is interesting and helpful to the audience you’re trying to reach. Remember, people like to do business with their friends if they’ve never met you offline. By being reasonable and participating in social networking, you’ll expand your credibility and potential customer base in many important and helpful ways.
It’s also important to recognize that these social media outlets were designed to serve as conversation platforms, and not as overt marketing channels. Sending messages that are overly promotional or commercial is often compared to shouting at a party where everyone else is chatting quietly, and the backlash can overwhelm the benefits of participation. As an ecommerce business owner I recommend taking a couple of weeks to monitor the various sites to get a sense of the patterns and informal rules before posting anything.
Mixing Breakfast With Business
March 4, 2009 by Tyrone
This morning at 7am I went to Chatswood for a business networking breakfast event (and yes it was early for me). I was pleasantly surprised to have breakfast and network with such fantastic and motivated business owners from across the northern part of Sydney. We had a delicious breakfast served at a restaurant called D’Foreigner that provided excellent food and service. Lucy Martin from Juice Plus and a NEIS panel interviewer invited me a couple of weeks ago after my panel interview. I attended as a guest and was very excited to meet other people who were in business as well. 17 people attended the breakfast and everyone had an opportunity to exchange contact information and talk about their business.
What Is the Leads Club?
This breakfast event was not just any ordinary breakfast where business people come along. It was a very organised and systematised approach to helping both members and guests come together to share their businesses and to help each other generate leads. Hence the name the Leads Club.
Over the years I’ve been involved with network marketing and running other people’s businesses and never once have I been invited to an event like this. I’ve attended Toastmasters, local chamber of commerce events and many other networking seminars and this one has been the most effective for me. The first thing that struck me was how smartly organised and upfront they were about this meeting. Graeme Inglis from Smartline, who chaired the meeting today stated at the beginning that “we are here today to talk about our businesses and to provide leads or referrals on to each other“. By saying this at the beginning I felt more comfortable to approach the meeting from a business perspective and be open to share my business without any hesitation, knowing that I will be able to help others and vice versa.
How Can A Leads Club Benefit You?
For me I could see lots of benefits by attending the weekly meetings and becoming part of the club as the service I provide is quite applicable to most businesses. Though, there are some factors to consider and how a club like this may benefit your business:
- Am I offering a niche product or service that is suitable for local businesses? e.g. I ran a Dragonboat business that sold paddles to Dragonboat club members. Unless you know or are involved in the sport it would be quite challenging to get leads from other local businesses.
- Can I generate leads faster from other sources? If so, should I still attend?
- Does this lead generation technique fit into my business plan?
If you are interested in getting more information about the leads club in your local area, visit Leads Club Australia or contact Catherine Lonergan on 0407 899 988 or via email catherine@leadsclubaustralia.com.
Tyrone Shum
Breakfast Marketer
