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I’m Nicole Dean and I’m a friend of Loretta’s. That’s us to the left. (I’m the goofy-looking one.)

I’m here this week as a Guest Expert helping you to make blogging more fun and profitable by outsourcing anything that you don’t like, aren’t good at, or keep putting off.

So far we’ve talked about:

• How to Outsource Your Blog Installation and Plugin Installation.
• How to Outsource Your Blog Content without Tears.
• How to Outsource your List Building.

Today, we’ll move ahead into blog comments.

First of all, I always encourage using automation before delegation, so be sure that you have a plugin installed that can handle your blog’s comment spam. I have switched over to Akismet now as it seems to recognize my spam better (less bad ones getting through and less good ones getting sucked into oblivion).

So, outsource the installation of the Akismet plugin if you don’t like to do that type of thing.

Once you have the plugin installed and set to your liking, you can have a helper still manage the ongoing task of keeping an eye on your comments, weeding out the spammy ones, and pulling your friends out of the spam vortex! I have a few helpers keep an eye on several of my blogs to manage the spam comments that come through.

Then, if you want, you can have your helpers also interact on your blog –

1. Post comments to keep your blog discussions active. Oftentimes, a blog post that has no comments will sit that way. However, if you have a helper on hand to initiate discussion on a blog post, you will find more people who will pitch in with their two cents, too.

2. Respond to comments if you’re out of town or busy. Everyone likes to have their comments read and responded to, but sometimes it’s impossible to stay on top of it yourself. This is where having some helpers can come in really handy, so that you don’t appear rude — just because you’re sick or traveling or working on other projects.

Of course, there’s the other side of things, which is commenting on other blogs with a link to your blog in the URL field. I’m not a big fan of outsourcing that, simply because I don’t like it when others do it to my blogs. However, it is an option. Just do it carefully. And, if you allow your helper to use YOUR name, then make sure you’ve got a really good handle on your relationship with that person first, and you know they aren’t going to post something inappropriate, controversial, or just plain icky that you then have to do damage control.

I’ll be back tomorrow with my wrap-up. But, first, I’d like to share this article from my mentor Jimmy D. Brown that is all about being more effective at home:

The Real Secret To Building A High-Profit Internet Business
By Jimmy D. Brown

My wife laughs every time she sees me doing it.

At least once or twice every week, I’ll be at my desk (or at the dining room table) with my Franklin Covey planner open and a stack of laminated checklists in hand.

“What are you doing, honey?” she calls, already knowing the answer.

“I’m planning”, I reply with a smile.

She laughs and I get back to work.

She laughs because she swears I spend half of my time “planning”. But, if you ask me how I’m able to get as much work done as I do in only 3 hours a day, I’ll point to a black Franklin Covey planner with about a dozen laminated checklists inside.

Building an Internet business is easy. Seriously. I’m not saying that it’s not complicated, because it is. I’m just saying that it’s easy to accomplish if you just have a system in place.

There’s very little in this world that can’t be accomplished with the right set of action steps in front of you.

Today, I’m going to give you such a system for building your Internet business. There are only 4 steps…

1. Decide What You Want To Do. Do you want to run an eBay(R) business? Be an affiliate marketer? Buy and sell reprint rights? Get involved in niche marketing? While all of those things will likely find their way into your plan in time, you gotta begin with one thing at a time.

My recommendation: Choose a “broad” topic you are interested in and begin building a list of folks interested in that topic.

2. Determine A Weekly Action Plan. After you decide what you want to do, it’s time to determine how to get it done. What I do is this: I create a weekly set of action steps. That is, I have a set of things I do on Monday, on Tuesday, and so forth. Decide how many hours (as little as ONE) you want to work each day and schedule yourself a reasonable amount of things to get done in that time frame. Repeat this process week after week.

My recommendation: Begin writing ezine articles to promote your list … and affiliate programs. It’s the easiest way to get free traffic and build your list at the same time.

3. Devote Yourself To Staying On Schedule. The important thing here is to stick to it. The easiest way that I know of to make certain you develop discipline in your schedule is to NOT set unrealistic expectations. Give yourself ample time to do each day’s action step – don’t overschedule. Look for progress along the way to celebrate. Reward yourself when you’ve reached a milestone. And, remember, you’re GROWING a business. Just like physical growth, it takes time … it WILL happen if you remain committed.

My recommendation: Weave in simple activities related to the following categories – List building (ezine articles), product creation(conduct interviews or hire ghostwriters), site development (making your site convert more visitors into buyers),and education (continuing to learn new ways to grow your business).

4. Develop Additional Shortcuts. As you get better and better at working with your lists, creating products and tweaking your site, you’ll want to continue to improve your business with new ideas, strategies, tools, and resources. The key is simple: never stop learning!

My recommendation: Visit forums. Read articles. Download reports. Identify sites and resources that CONTRIBUTE to your success in educating you. You want faster results, bigger increases, automated processes, and other ways to get more accomplished and more profit, with less work involved.

Everything depends on your developing a plan and sticking to it.

And that is the REAL secret to building a high-profit Internet business!

Believe it or not, there is a tremendous “operations manual” that you can download right here at SR Zone to help you create a plan that works for YOU. Check out “Homepreneur Habits: How To Run A Successful Home Business ” by clicking here. You’ll learn all the tools you need, how to setup your work space and how to create a day-by-day schedule of recommended activities to start and grow your business.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. If you like what I have to say here, I teach a course called Outsource Weekly that teaches you how to outsource effectively. Check it out by clicking on the banner below.