April 15, 2008
Sherman Hu & Friends at Howie Schwartz Workshop 2008
Howie Schwartz's Sustainable Traffic Workshop 2008 was a 2 day transformation and paradigm shift in building sustainable businesses and generating traffic. Lots of brilliant business-people, fun, food, networking and masterminding.
Let me share with you some nuggets from the workshop weekend. (I signed an NDA, and Howie's a good man and friend, so I won't share 'juice' I'm not allowed to share, so don't even ask, ok?)
Tip: Outsourcing is an expense. Train your team, give milestones & turn it into profitable tasks.
Tip: If use eLance.com for outsourcing, "escrow" is your best friend.
Tip: When trying out a new team member/staff, assign 1 task at a time to determine quality. Not all at once.
Tip: In creating training materials, use screencast tutorials (eg. Camtasia) for N.Americans, & screencapture + descriptions for International staff.
Tip: Outsource to leverage your time & business & balance. Our role as CEO: Recruit. Train. Retain. Fire.
Tip: Hire Fast. Fire Faster.
Tip: Providing a service? Consider marketing to sub-groups (industries) using SIC Codes or Yellow Pages. Offer a specific report. Get gigs.
Tip: Did you know Google has their External Keyword Tool?
Tip: Stop buying stuff. Only purchase marketing training and resources ONLY if you're going to use it.
Tip: Unsubscribe from all email lists UNLESS you're getting value or content, including mine. Unless you're in Internet Marketing & need to research what other marketers are doing.
Tip: I do this. Use a seperate email address for receiving email subscriptions.
Tip: In general, marketing forums are a waste of time, except for market research. Stay out. Focus on productive work instead. I'd rather pluck my armpit hair than spend time in forums.
Tip: (Keyword Research) Search & find "buying keywords" ie. long tail vs. general terms; (Theming) Use tight silos & categories for your sites.
Tip: Pay attention to what Google buys or creates. Use their interests for your advantage.
Tip: What's the pulse or vibe in your space? Subscribe to personalities and celebrities' RSS feeds (ie. bloggers, podcasters, vloggers, pr, social media)
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