INDEX
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ABC, 169
Accounting task outsourcing, 80
Acknowledging efforts of VAs, 188–189
Administrative task outsourcing, 56–58
Ads in articles, 134
Advertorials vs. articles, 153–154
Affiliates, article writing and, 146
Aggregation software, 7
Agreements for outsourcing and VAs, 68
Amazon, 127
Ambergris Solutions, 52
American Dream, the, 1, 191, 195
Animoto, 169–170
Arbitrage, by task, 86–87
Article Assistant software, 145
Article directory sites, 146
Article Marketing Automation, 123
Article Submitter software, 145
Article writing. See Written content/article generation
Askaripour, Darius, 46–47
Atomic Apps, 41
Audio conferencing via Skype, 66
Audio recording and training tapes, 78–79
Author information, in articles, 135–136
Automated video submission services, 158–164
Automation, 43
Backup plans, outsourcing problems and, 183
Backwards planning, 80
Bangladesh, 51
Bank accounts for your business, 213
Bank of America, 51
Bartering services, 206–206
Bestjobs.ph, 62
Bing, 31
Blogs and blogging, 7, 28–32, 123, 210–211. See also Written content/article generation
delegating, 31–32
Google rankings and, 29–31, 139–140, 175–179
marketing through, 29–31
search optimization through, 31
video marketing and, 166–167
Bluehost, 210
BPO. See Business process outsourcing (BPO)
Brand pages, Facebook, 104–106
Branding, Google rankings and, 178–179
Brazil, 51
“Bribes,” ethical, 99–100
British Airways, 52
Business cards, 213
Business expenses, 194
Business name selection, 209–210
Business plan for outsourcing, 208
Business process outsourcing (BPO), 54
Business Processing Association of the Philippines, 54
Business secrets, 85–86
Buzzle, 128
Call desks. See Phone support tasks
Canada, 51
Career switching, 6
Caribbean region, 51
Chang, Mitchel, 52
Change as positive force, 6, 36–37
Charitable giving, 195–196, 214
Chat via Skype, 65
China, 51
Choosing tasks to delegate, 11–13, 16, 27–32
Citigroup, 51
ClickBank, 127
Client concerns with outsourcing, 55
Combination-type articles, 150
Comedy Central, 169
Commenting, in social media, 110
Communication
increased speed and expectations of, 2
outsourcing tasks of, 57
Skype for, 64
telephone, via Skype, 64
virtual, 64
Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) and, 67
Companies engaged in outsourcing, 51
Company policy document for VA, 89–90
Compensation, 68, 69, 70–72, 204–205
Computer applications/software, 10, 81
Confirmed opt-in (COI), 118
Connecting with others, 216
Conseco, 51
Content generation. See Written content/article generation
Continuity programs, 100–101
Control, loss of, 42
Copyscape, 130–131
Copywriting. See Written content/article generation
Corporations, 212–213
Cost effectiveness of outsourcing, 16, 17, 50
Countries leading in outsourcing, 51–52
Coupons, 99–100
Covey, Steven, 12
Creative Genius (Dalal), 47
Crow, Mike, 22
Daily reports from VA, 84–85
Daily tasks and delegation, 11–13, 16, 19
Dailymotion, 175
Dalal, Alka, 47
Database building, 214–216
Davao, 52
Deep linking, 175
Defamation, social media and, 111
blogs, blogging and, 28–32
choosing tasks for, 11–13, 16, 19, 27–32
daily tasks vs. income generating activities (IGAs) for, 11–13, 16, 19
doing what you like and delegating the rest in, 26
event management, 33–35
excuses for refusing to, 44
flexibility of, 24–25
gaining skills and knowledge through, 23–24
globalization and, 36
globalized, 11–13
important vs. urgent activities and, 12
learned competency and, 42–43
loss of control and, 42
marketing and, 98
outsourcing vs., 16–18
redefining, 27–32
security risks and, 44–45
strategic planning and, 32
successful, 16
time management and, 25–26
website design/maintenance and, 27–28, 115–121
Digg, 108
Directory sites, articles, 146
Discounts, 99–100
company policy document for VA, 89–90
Performance Reviews in, no-pass/termination, 93–94
Performance Reviews in, pass, 94–95
Performance Reviews in, warning, 96
Termination notification in, 93–94
Time Sheet for VA in, 92–93
Work for Hire Agreement in, 91–92
Doing what you love, delegating the rest, 5–6, 26–27
Domain names, 176–179
Down-sell, 100
Drescher, Anushka, 18
E-commerce, 115–121
back-links for, 118–120
E-zines and, 124–127
making recommendations for, using caution in, 117–118
opt-in systems for, 118
shopping cart apps for, 116–117
social shopping and, 117
value of sales in, 116
E-mail task outsourcing, 81–82
E-zines, 124–127
Eastern Europe, 51
Eberhart, Casey, 104
Economic pressures to outsource, 50
Editing an article, 151–152
EDS, 54
eTelecare, 52
Ethical bribes, 99–100
Etiquette of social media, 109–113
Evans, Mike, 23
Event management/planning, 33–35, 112–113
Expectations of VAs, 182–183
Facebook, 25, 56, 100, 104–113, 158, 163, 197. See also Social media
Facts-type articles, 149
Fax machines, 2
Fear as business mindset, 2
Fear of delegating, 40–42, 48–49
Feedage, 175
Fees. See Compensation
Field, Sally, 20
File transfer methods, 70
“Fit” of candidate to job, 75–76
Flexibility of outsourced workers, 24–25
Flickr, 108
Formatting articles, 136, 146–147
Fortune 500 and outsourcing, 51
Freedom through outsourcing, 50
Freelancers, 59. See also Virtual assistants (VAs)
Frequently asked question (FAQ) articles, 150
Getafreelancer.com, 61
Ghana, 51
Ghost writers, 129–131. See also Virtual assistants (VAs); Written content/article generation
Goal setting with your VA, 182
Goals and objectives for outsourcing, 19
Goins, Larry, 56
Goodwin, Blake, 24–25
Google, 31, 108, 119, 120, 131, 140, 142, 161–162, 163, 167
Google Calendar, 37
Google rankings, 29–31, 139–140, 175–179
Groupon, 99
Guardian Life, 51
Guerrilla Marketing (Levinson), vii–viii
Hartman, Stephanie, 125
Harvard University, 104
Help, 6–7
Helping others and delegation, 4
goals and objectives listed for, 19
Human Resources department and, 24
mistakes in, 181–182
sources for, 73
testing candidates before, 21
History of outsourcing, 17, 51
Hootsuite.com, 103
Host Monster, 210
HubPages, 123
Human Resources departments, 24
Ideal Networker, The, 104
Important vs. urgent activities, 12
In-person training sessions, 80
Income-generating activities (IGAs) and delegation, 11–13, 16, 19
Indonesia, 52
Information technology outsourcing (ITO), 54
Infrastructure issues, 53–54, 66–67
Innovative Investors, The, 46–47
Instant Article Wizard (IAW), 143–144
Insurance, 22
Intellectual property (IP), 85–86
domain names in, 176–178
E-commerce and, 115–121
marketing and, 97
power sites (.edu and .gov) and, 179
traveling and, accessing of, 194–195
Interviewing candidates, 20, 73–76
Interviews as source material for articles, 152–13
Ireland, 51
Israel, 51
ITO. See Information technology outsourcing (ITO)
J.P. Morgan Chase, 51
Joint ventures, marketing and, 101
Jumptags, 175
Kappel, Adam, 41
Keyword Elite, 141
Keywords, 134, 140–141, 143, 144, 178–179
Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), 55, 80
Korea, 51
KPO. See Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO)
Lead-generation, 97
Learned competency, 42–43
Learning styles, writing to, 150–151
Legal and financial realities, 83–96
Lehman Brothers, 51
Levinson, Jay Conrad, vii–viii
Licensing a business, 212–213
LinkedIn, 107–108
Links, back-links, 118–120
List-building, 97
Location for your business, 211–212
Lord, Robert, 56
Loss of control and delegation/outsourcing, 42
Magazines, online, 141. See also E-zines
Managed facility as source for VAs, 63–67
Management of VAs, 187–189
Manila, 52
Manuals, training, 79
Marketing, 56, 97–113. See also E-commerce
advertising and, 99
advertorials vs. articles in, 153–154
article writing and, 145–146
attracting traffic to your website in, 98–99
blogging for, 29–31
continuity programs and, 100–101
coupons and discounts in, 99–100
delegating tasks in, 98
E-zines and, 124–127
“ethical bribes” in, 99–100
Internet and, 97
joint ventures and, 101
marketing plan for, 208–209
materials needed for, 214
Meetup.com and, 111–112
online presence and, 210–211
opt-in, 99
promotion vs., 165
push, 165
social media and, 102–113. See also Social media
up-sell/down-sell in, 100
VAs for, 98
video. See Video marketing writing to promote your business and, 128–129
YouTube marketing and, 101–102
Marketing plans, 208–209
Martin, Steve, on doing what you love, 5
Mauritius, 51
MaxBlogPress, 175
Medium and large company outsourcing, 21–22
Meetup.com, 111–112
Merill Lynch, 51
Metacafe, 175
MetLife, 51
Mexico, 51
Microsoft Word, 70
Mistakes in hiring, 181
MITprograms.com, 125
Monitoring your VA, 83–96
Mrs. Doubtfire, 20
MTV, 169
MySpace, 25
NeedanArticle.com, 130
Negotiating compensation with VAs, 68, 70–72
Nepal, 51
Networking events, social media and, 112–113
Networking groups as source of VAs/referrals, 60
Neurolinker, 175
Newsletters, 126–127. See also E-zines
NicheBOT, 141
Nielsen Report, social media use, 102–104
Northern Ireland, 51
NoteTab, 146
Odesk.com, 62
Office space/equipment, 9
Online marketing, 7
Online presence, 210–211
Online sources of VAs/freelancers, 61–63
Optimization, search, 31
Outlook, 38
Partnerships, 212–213
Payment methods, 69
Payroll deductions, 22
Payroll, 17–18
PDF files, 70
Performance Reviews for VAs, 93–95, 184
Perot, Ross, 54
Personal experience-type articles, 149
Phone support tasks, 66–67
Ping Optimizer, 175
Pinterest, 162–164
Plagiarism, 130–131
Posting a video, 166
Power Moves, 6
Power sites (.edu and.gov), 179
Power supplies/power outages. See Infrastructure issues PowerPoint, 170, 173
Price. See Compensation
Private label rights (PLR) articles, 142–143
Problems encountered in outsourcing, 207
Productivity, 13–14, 23–25, 64
Project management, 36
Project work, 59–60
Promotion vs. marketing, 165
Proofreading articles, 148
Prudential, 51
Push marketing, 165
Quality of life, 196
QuickTime, 78
Ranking. See Google ranking
Reality of outsourcing, 39–40
Reasons for outsourcing, 55–56
Reciprocal linking, 120
Recommendation-type articles, 149
Recommendations, using caution in, 117–118
Red flags raised during interview, 75
Reference checking of candidates, 75
Referrals, 216
Register.com, 177
Registering a domain name, 177–178
Remote/virtual office, 10
Resource box, for articles, 135
Retail business, 3–4
Retention rate of trained VAs, 66
Review articles, 149
Risk and delegation/outsourcing, 44–45
Roles held by VAs, 201–203
RSS feeds, 175
RSSBOT, 175
RSSMicro, 175
Russia, 51
Sallie Mae, 51
Santa Rosa, 52
Scheduling for outsourcing, 37, 69, 184–185
Screen capture/screen shot video, 78, 170
Screencast, 171
Screenflow, 78
Scripting a video, 171–172
Search engines, 29–31, 139–140, 175–179
back-links and, 119
blogs as optimizers for, 31
domain names and, 176–178
Google rankings and, 29–31, 139–140, 175–179
power sites (.edu and.gov) and, 179
Search engine optimization (SEO) and blogs, 31
Security risk and delegation/outsourcing, 44–45
Self-employment, 203–204
Seminars, 81
Senegal, 51
Service businesses, 203–204
Shopping cart apps, 116–117
Skill/knowledge enhancement through outsourcing, 23–24
Social marketing, 56
Social media, 7, 25, 43, 56, 102–113
commenting on, 110
defamation and, 111
etiquette for, 109–113
Facebook brand pages, 104–106
LinkedIn and, 107–108
Meetup.com and, 111–112
networking events and, 112–113
outsourcing of, 108–109
social shopping and, 117
statistics on use of, Nielsen Report, 102–104
time wasting with, 13
Twitter and, 106–107
VAs tasks in, 103
Social shopping and, 117
SocialBOT, 175
Software. See also Computer applications/software
Software file transfer, 70
Software tutorials, 79
Sources for VAs, 60
South Africa, 51
Specialization of outsourced services by country, 51–52
Sri Lanka, 51
Stationery, 213
Stewart, Martha, 26
Story-type articles, 149
Strategic planning, 32
Strengths/weaknesses assessment, 15–16
Stress increased by technology, 2
Submitting a video, 158–164, 174
Submitting articles, 128, 137–138, 144–145
Support services, 7
Suspicious behaviors, 86
Taiwan, 51
Task arbitrage, 86–87
Task lists on Google Calendar, 38
Task-specific training, 80
Taxes, write-offs, 194
Team building, 201–203
Tech support tasks, 81
Telephone communication via Skype, 64
Telly, 107
Termination notification, 93–94
Testimonials, 216
Testing candidates for outsourcing, 21
Thailand, 51
Tholons investment, 52
Tillman, Justin, 25
Time for change to outsourcing, 14–15
Time management, 13–14, 25–26, 50, 197–198
Google Calendar and, 38
imbalance in work/life and, 43–44
task lists and, 38
Time Sheet for VA in, 92–93
time zones and round-the-clock productivity, 23, 64
timelines/deadlines and, 69, 184–185
value of time in, 26
Time Sheet for VA, 92–93
Time zones and round-the-clock productivity, 23, 64
Time-saving promise of technology, 1–3
Timelines/deadlines, 69, 184–185
Tips-type articles, 148–149
Titles for articles/written content, 131–133
Toto, Bardi, 56
Training manuals, 79
for accounting tasks, 80
audio recordings for, 78–79
backwards planning in, 80
for computer tech tasks, 81
for e-mail tasks, 81–82
in-person sessions for, 80
manuals for, 79
recording a video for, 78–79
screen capture videos in, 78
seminars and, 81
software tutorials in, 79
task-specific, 80
videos for, 76–79
Travel, 192–195
Trend Micro, 52
TubeMogul, 162
Turnaround times, 2
Tutorials for training, 79
Tweet Adder, 106
Tweet Spinner, 106
Twellow, 106
Twitpic, 107
Twitter, 25, 56, 106–108, 111, 163. See also Social media
Twitvid, 107, 157, 168. See also Video marketing
Understaffing problem of small business, 3
Unique Article Wizard, 137, 140
Up-sell, 100
uQast, 157, 168. See also Video marketing
Vega, Victor Jr., 103–104
VegaInvestmentSolutions.com, 103
Vesting your VAs in your success, 188
VH1, 169
Video conferencing via Skype, 65–66
Video marketing, 157–174
Animoto for, 169–170
automated video submission services for, 158–164
blog posting of, 166–167
creating a video for, 158, 168–173
effective use of, 166–167
Facebook posting and, 158
Google and, 161–162
importance of, 165–166
Pinterest and, 162–164
posting of, 166
promotion vs. marketing in, 165
push marketing and, 165
screen shot, 170
Screencast for, 171
scripting for, 171–172
strategies for, 171–172
submitting a video in, 158–164, 174
Traffic Geyser for, 158, 161–162
TubeMogul and, 162
Twitvid and, 168
uQast and, 168
URL in title of, 160
Vimeo and, 167–168
website posting of, 166
Windows Movie Maker for, 172–173
Videos for training, 76–79
Vimeo, 157, 167–168. See also Video marketing
Virtual assistants (VAs), 9–10
acknowledging efforts of, 188–189
advertising for, 61
agreements and negotiations with, 68
article writing and, 123
backup plan for, 183
business secrets and, 85–86
company policy document for, 89–90
compensation of, negotiating, 68, 70–72
daily reports from, 84–85
documentation of work by, 85
expectations of, 182–183
file transfer methods for, 70
financial issues with, 83–96
finding, 60
ghost writers as, 129–131
goal setting with, 182
hiring process for, 73–76. See also Hiring
infrastructure issues and, 66
legal issues with, 83–96
managed facility as source for, 63–67
marketing and, 98
mistakes in hiring, 181–185
monitoring of, 83–88
online sources for, 61–63
payment methods for, 69
performance reviews for, 93–96, 184
phone support tasks and, 66–67
retention rates of, 66
roles for, 201–203
social media and, 103
suspicious behaviors by, 86
task arbitrage and, 86–87
team building with, 201–203
termination notification for, 93–94
time sheet for, 92–93
timelines/deadlines and, 69, 184–185
training of, 67, 76–82. See also Training of VAs
vesting in, 188
warning of poor performance for, 96
webcam monitoring of, 84
Work for Hire Agreement for, 91–92
worst-case mentality (yours) and, 87–88
written content generation and, 70
Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), 67
Warning of poor performance, 96
Webcam monitoring of VAs, 84
advertising on, 99
attracting traffic to, 98–99
back-links for, 118–120
design and maintenance of, 27–28
domain names and, 176–178
e-commerce and, 115–121
E-zines and, 124–127
making recommendations for, using caution in, 117–118
online presence and, 210–211
opt-in systems for, 118
shopping cart apps for, 116–117
social shopping and, 117
video marketing and, 166
YouTube marketing and, 101–102
WeSubmitArticles.com, 131
Where outsourcing takes place, 51–52
Wikipedia, on e-commerce sales, 116
Williams, Robin, 20
Windows Movie Maker, 172–173
WordTracker, 140–141
Work being outsourced, 54–55
Work ethic, 12–13
Work for Hire Agreement, 91–92
Work/life balance, 43–44, 196, 198–201
Worker’s comp, 22
Workload increased by technology, 2
Worst-case mentality, 87–88
Write-offs, 194
Written content/article generation, 55–56, 70, 123–155
ads in, 134
advantages of marketing through, 147
advertorials vs. articles in, 153–154
affiliates and, 146
Article Assistant software for, 145
Article Marketing Automation and, 123
Article Submitter software for, 145
author information with, 135–136
automation of, 123
back-links and, 147
body of, 133
categories for, in submitting, 138
combination-type articles in, 150
conclusion in, 133
consistency of output in, 139–140
content of articles in, 133–134
cost of hiring another to write, 130
directory sites for, 146
disadvantages of marketing through, 147
E-zines and, 124–127
editing of, 151–152
effective writing in, 148
facts-type articles in, 149
finding content for, 141–145
freelancer sources for, 129–130
frequency of output in, 139
frequently asked question (FAQ)-type articles in, 150
ghost writers for, 129–131
Instant Article Wizard (IAW) software for, 143–144
interviews as source material for, 152–153
keywords in, 134, 140–141, 143
learning styles and, appealing to, 150–151
length of, 134–135
marketing plan for, 145–146
mistakes in, 140
outsourcing of, 129–131
personal experience-type articles in, 149
phobia against, 128
plagiarism and, 130–131
private label rights (PLR), 142–143
promoting your business through, 128–129
proofreading of, 148
recency of output in, 140
recommendation-type articles in, 149
resource box for, 135
review articles as, 149
search engine ranking and, 139–140
story-type articles in, 149
submission of, 128, 137–138, 144–145
three parts of an article in, 131–133
tips for, 151–152
tips-type articles in, 148–149
title of articles in, 131–133
VAs and, 123
who should write, 128–129
Yahoo, 31
Yahoo Groups, 142
Yfrog, 175
YouTube, 101–102, 108, 157, 167. See also Video marketing
Zuckerberg, Mark, 104–106