All Forum Posts by: Rachel Rofe

You can use TweetLater.com to automate your replies. :)

A basic blog from Wordpress.com is a great starting point, and you can mix and match different templates to customize the look you like.

It's super-simple, user-friendly, and search engines love it.

If you grab a domain, a lot of hosting companies have "fantastico" set up in the user panel so you can add it to your site seamlessly. :)

If you need any help, PM me - and FYI, I'll be going away tomorrow until June 6th.

First off, I'm not 100% up to speed with RE terminology (got started on this board to help my boyfriend, who is).

That being said - I'd focus on getting one thing first - maybe all sellers, maybe all buyers - and then inviting the other group to come through.

There are tools you can do to speed up the process, like Lead Evolution (not mine, I just adore it like crazy), or you can hire people to do Google searches for you and then contact people.

If you do a forum, I'd suggest pre-populating it so it doesn't look devalued when people come in. I'm personally not a huge forum person but when I DO use them, I like to hire the people at WiredFlame (again, not my service, but inexpensive and great work). Their service helps get some introductory posts on the forum so it doesn't look like your site is a ghost town.

As for building it, I personally love Wordpress. It can do pretty much anything, is easy to use, and there's a plugin for everything.

Joomla's another great one but the learning curve is insane!

Hope this helps - please clarify with any specific questions and I can try to target in more. :)

I love, love, LOVE article marketing.

On the site I just sold, I had one article going to it that was responsible for 18,000 click-throughs alone (on a very competitive keyword), not to mention tons of other supplemental keywords.

Articles are an INCREDIBLE way to get traffic, be perceived as an expert, build up backlinks, get more exposure, and a zillion other phenomenal things.

Great post :)

There are Craigslist auto-posters, which are a bit black-hat... but they do work. I can't recommend any right now as I haven't used them for a long long time so I'm not sure - but it is an option. You can just Google "Craigslist auto-poster".

Another thing you can do is create multiple gmail addresses with the same gmail address.

Here's a site that explains it:

http://www.seandeasy.com/multiple-email-addresses-for-one-gmail-account/

Hope that helps!

It depends - do you have a systemized process for pre-screening?

If you have a systemized process, then it shouldn't matter TOO much on the VA as long as you can give them the system/good training of it.

A lot of times as long as you have a good-hearted, trustworthy employee and a system to go with - it works out phenomenally.

I've used a ton of VA's and have a half dozen people on my team now. If you let me know what you're looking for, I may even be able to place one for you (though I do ask for a finder's fee because I typically train them). Many of the people I use, because they follow systems, are much cheaper than a "traditional" VA (I hire full timers at $317/month, making them $1.98 an hour, and the work they do is incredible).

If you want a more traditional VA, workaholics4hire.com is excellent. More expensive, but they're all screened and you don't need to worry about making any mistakes.

Oh - and if you decide to hire one off elance or odesk or something, I would test them out with small projects first, or do 10 hour blocks, before committing to anything. That's saved me a LOT of time.

Good luck!

A bit late, but also wanted to mention InfusionSoft.

It's a bit on the more expensive side (though I can get it at half the upfront price if you PM me), but the specs are insane.

They guarantee to double your sales in a year, and Michael Gerber of E-Myth calls it a "gift from God", Dan Kennedy, and everybody else and their mother uses it.

(I swear I'm in no way affiliated with them - just got introduced recently and it was immediate love!)

I guess the only problem would be there's a little bit of a learning curve on it. The software is SO feature packed that it takes a while to use it to anywhere near full capacity.

Ah - and not sure if it matters or not, but it's web based. :)

Also - just realized who the stellar op was ;) - let me know what type of design you're looking for and I might be able to put you in touch with the right person.

I just hired a guy who is doing some webpage design templates for me, and another guy who did some phenomenal logo-style images! I'll shoot you over the proofs so you can check 'em out. :)

The logos were 38 for $106 (huge deal!), and the other one was 6 webpage designs for $300 - both had all "5" feedback and I'm extremely happy with them. The website designer's a little sick right now so not sure when she'll be back, but think it'll be within a few days. :)

I like elance, and find that people on odesk can be a bit cheaper and have found some excellent designers there.

Another thing I like to do is mention inside the bid description one thing that I'd like them to do once they bid.

So, for example, I might give them the job description, and then tell them to answer a question, and then close off.

This immediately narrows it down to 30% of people, because the majority shockingly don't read the entire post, and I know not to waste my time with them.

Some will provide you with a sample, or give you ideas before you award the bid to them (though you cant directly ask on elance).

Of course, their feedback helps a lot too. :)

I have a ton of blogs.

One's my personal blog - RachelRofe.com -

Then other ones are on experiences I've had, such as when I did a raw food trial, or experiences at events...

Some are just content-filled authoritative sites...

And yep, the majority of them are doing good in the SE's. :)