Internet Marketing Grim Reaper???

My website, BlackAtlanta.com, was sparked as an idea some years ago.  Many of you know the story… and if you don’t, I promise to blog about it soon.  However, it was basically a site to feature African American lifestyles in Atlanta, GA.

In doing SEO research for the site, I kept seeing a website for the keywords “Black Atlanta” in Google. I kept coming across this site:  http://blackatlanta.tripod.com/

Now, during the late 90s and early 2000′s, web hosting was Expensive.  There were a few big hosts that offered free hosting, in exchange for ads being all over your page.  They made money, just like social networking sites do today!  You drove them a lot of traffic to your pages and they advertised on it and made money.  What a model!

Back to the Story.  I tried like crazy to find the “owner” of the Tripod site.  I traced it back to a gentleman who was a Civil Engineer…. Ronald Smith, PE  He was SO before his time.  Images of Structures and complex cement foundations were all over some of his other sites… Keep in mind, this was the late 90s!

Ronald F Smith, P.E.

I tried emailing him.  I tried calling him.  Nothing.  The BEST that I can presume is that he won the lottery and then moved to the Amazon Jungles.  Why else would a guy as progressive as that leave the face of the earth? Perhaps I just have not found him yet….   Maybe… Just maybe, he lost the love that we all have of the internet and decided to call his ideas quits.  I still look so we can share ideas of his early pioneering.

The reason why this guy’s concept was special to me, was that he was a pioneer of what I was trying to do:  Index the business, entertainment, and people of Black Atlanta.  Furthermore, he did more cities.  He was a true internet pioneer and one whom we honor on BlackInternetMarketing.com. Guys like Shoe over at ShoeMoney.com have BOLDLY asked where are all the Black Techies online… Well, this guy is the epitome!

Now, the original question… What would happen if you died tonight?  In a case like the tripod above, your site would be abandoned and would only be up as long as your hosting was paid.  If tripod was not that free service that was being kept alive by a ton of google ads, it would not be up today.

If you died tonight….

• Would your internet business run itself?
• Would your relatives and/or heirs have the logins to your registrar for your domain renewals?
• Would your whole business crumble and die around YOU?  Have you branded your business correctly to continue in the case of your death?
• Could your business be sold or would a potential buyer shy away because your site Died with YOU?

I have had this discussion with my cousin Kelvin of KelvinBrown.com.  IF something were to happen, we have mutually shared logins for registrars, web hosts and more.  I am sure that maybe, my wife and family, will be in Cancun relaxing if I were to go LOL  Just kidding.

10 Steps to Beat The Internet Grim Reaper.

In the case you were to become disabled or die, here are some steps to protect your hard work. Internet bloggers and marketers like Yaro Starak report $10K a month and more revenues per their sites.  Is he prepared?    Here you go…

1. Prepare a will. Make sure your internet holdings are documented in your will.
2. Have the hard talks. Talk with family about your internet wishes in case you were to pass.
3. Find a Techie Partner. My cousin acts as my techie partner.  I can trust him with my information and he would understand next steps in case something would happen.
4. Domain Logins: Give your Techie Partner your logins for your Domain Registrar.
5. Web Hosting: Keep your Techie Partner informed about where you host your sites.
6. Share backups: I am guilty.  But you should put your sites on a CD every once in a while and mail them to your techie partner.  OR, let them know where to find them in the case a site needed to be restored.
7. Share Merchant Acct and paypal information: If your site continues to make money, you need to make sure that your family or heirs will know how and where to get to your money!
8. Keep a customer/client/contact list: Add a client list to your backup.  Backup all email lists.  Give access to autoresponders and Outlook accounts and/or Gmail type accounts!
9. Have an exit plan for Your web site: If you were to leave, and this site revolved solely around you, then you should plan to inform your family that the income would stop!
10. Get life insurance: As entrepreneurs, we all too often overlook good medical care and life insurance.  If your business makes great money, replace that income with life insurance.  If it does not… replace that nothing spot with life insurance.

Here is an 11th as a bonus. If you are like me, you spend hours in front of the PC.  Put the twinkies down and take a walk outside.  Don’t magnify health issues such as obesity… which also influences how fast the reaper visits you.

I hope that this post is THOUGHT invoking…. My grandmother used to say…

“The Young MAY die… The OLD MUST die.”

Get with the program, and do not let your site become an ORPHAN.  Comment below on your plans to keep your site going!

ShareThis

A QUICK example.

1. Client needs site and can pay up to $1000
2. Outsourced web development company does site for $500
3. You have $500 disposable cash to account for issues or additional development time.

The BEST way is to have an established rapport with dependable firms.  This MAY TAKE TIME and an effort to really build a reliable business relationship.  However, the basic steps, go like this:

1. Find 3-5 good outsourcing development groups in web design, graphics design, and copywrighting.  A lot of the times, the same group can do the web and graphics design. 
2. Check out their online work and portfolios.  This will help you to choose who you like and be able to match to the needs of the job.
3. Let the development group know that you have jobs and figure out rates for generic orders.  In other words, for a 3-5 page website, see what they will charge, how long it takes to develop, how many iterations they will give you to satisfy the client. 
4. Check out any credentials they may have to validate work.  Look for dependable and proven testimonials.  See if they have certifications or are parts of organizations like the Better Business Bureau.
5. HIRE THEM YOURSELF.  This is an important step before you put your name out for real jobs.  Ask them if you can get a reduced rate for a job in order to establish an outsourcing relationship.  Look below under TIPS and Techniques to get a super idea to do this.
6. Once you get a development group and a possible lead for a website, then create an outline of the development needs and share it with the groups.  See who offers the best rate and turn around time.  NOTE:  in some cases, the development groups may even give you a MOCKUP, or a JPEG image of a rudimentary layout.  (Show these to your clients for direction and early approval of design)
7. Select a Development group based on the matching needs of the client.
8. Project Manage the web development.  Act as the intermediary between the client and the web development group. Take constructive criticism and advised direction of the client and translate for the web designers.
9. Always act fairly for both your developer AND your client.  You must be realistic as to the number of iterations of development based on the price and promise. 
10. Complete the site once all parties are happy.  Ask for referrals from the client.

Tips & Techniques For OutSourcing and Additional Revenue!

• Test the development group first.  A great way to do this is to ask the development group to make you an OUTSOURCING website.  This lets you see their work.  They normally will also do it relatively inexpensively OR in some cases for FREE.  Again, this is helpful as it helps you to see their work and best of all, can give you a slick website to generate leads and from which to conduct your new found business.
• If you have lots of leads for web jobs:  Put a development firm on retainer.  A flat rate of $1500 a month for a pre-allocated number of development hours may be cheaper for you than on a “by the job” basis.
• Learn to Upsell:  find out the total needs of your client.  If they need business cards and logos, then that is something that the development/design group could possibly couple with the web site. 
• Couple in Consultation with Web Development:  Another upsell, is to let the client know that once a site has been developed, that there is a definite need for promotion.  Search engine optimization, pay per click campaigns and more give you room for consultation and perhaps, a monthly income residual.
• Make money from hosting:  The client will need hosting.  I like to take the headache out of my hosting situation by making my money in advance.  If you do lots of web sites by outsourcing, why should you want to trust that this client will be yours for months or years?  Become an affiliate of HostGator.com or another reliable hosting company.  Make your money UPFRONT from the hosting, as many of these companies pay well for the affiliate referral.  Hostgator pays between $50 and $125 currently to affiliates!
• Use an Escrow Service:  An escrow service, when used properly, allows the web development firm to know that the money for the service is safe and ready once the job is complete.  Once they deliver the product appropriately, then you release payment from the escrow service.  This protects you AND the service provider.  But don’t be surprised if they watermark their work until the finished product is delivered.  If you are REALLY frugal, ask the web development company to split the costs with you. 
• Use a Freelancer Service to find web development firms.  Services like GetAFreelancer.com have a very high number of firms bidding on jobs.  Go there, pay the $5 needed to post a job.  Then post a job… like a 5 page website.  See how many firms write you to bid on the job.  I have posted many jobs like this to develop relationships and it was at LEAST 10-15 bids per job!  Check out portfolios and work from there.
• Resell the Domain names:  The customers will need Domain names.  Use your affiliate ID for a  registrar!

My advice is of course, is that you are qualified to scope these jobs and manage the design/development projects.  You should Plan to be competent! 

Good luck and if the role fits, good luck on outsourcing!

ShareThis