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Secrets of Becoming an Internet Research Specialist: How to Surf the Web for Freedom and Profit

Published by:

American Writers & Artists Inc. 245 NE 4th Avenue, Suite 102 Delray Beach, FL 33483 Phone: 561-278-5557 Fax: 561-278-5929 Website: www.awaionline.com

© American Writers & Artists Inc., 2013. All rights reserved. Protected by copyright laws of the United States and international treaties. No part of this publication in whole or in part may be copied, duplicated, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission from the publisher. Copyright and other intellectual property laws protect these materials and any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission will constitute an infringement of copyright law. Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or exhibition of copyrighted materials. Penalties for criminal and statutory copyright infringement are set forth at 18 U.S.C. § 2319.

If you’re ready to live “The Writer’s Life” without writing a thing by providing a valuable service to overloaded copywriters, publishers, editors, and marketers …

Secrets of Becoming an Internet Research Specialist: How to Surf the Web for Freedom and Profit will teach you everything you need to know to succeed as an Internet Research Specialist.

Here’s the best way to use this program to your advantage: 1 Decide for yourself, right now, that you’re going to put what you learn to work in your life, to create a new income stream for yourself. 2 Read each chapter carefully, reading twice or more when needed. 3 Take notes and complete the Try It exercises — cement what you learn. 4 As you go through the program, stop frequently to think about how you can apply what you’re learning — by doing this you’ll develop a far more useful understanding.

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5 Review the program frequently as you start working as an Internet Research Specialist. 6 Apply what you learn at every opportunity. No matter what you’re doing research for, practice using the skills you learn in this book. 7 Have fun! This is a great way to make a living that can feed your curiosity to no end. 8 Check up each week on the progress you’re making. Ask yourself what you didn’t do that you could, what you’re doing well, and what lessons you’ve learned for the future. 9 Keep a journal of your progress, showing how and when you’ve applied what you’ve learned, and what results you got. If you commit to learning this process, you will be able to help all of the copywriters and editors who desperately need help in researching their subject matter, and earn a very fair fee for your time.

So, are you ready to learn everything you need to know to cash in on this developing area? Let’s get started …

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Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 1

“What’s an Internet Research Specialist?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Chapter 2

“And What is it an Internet Research Specialist Does, Anyway?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 3

Your Starting Point: The Research Request Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 4

Your Ending Point: The Research Deliverable Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 5

The Research Process, Part 1: Beginning Your Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 6

The Research Process, Part 2: Digging Deeper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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Chapter 7

Mastering the Mental Game of Getting Clients . . . . . . . . . . 39

Chapter 8

What You Must Understand About Selling Your Research Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 9

Finding Your Niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Chapter 10

Getting Assignments From Copywriters and the Companies They Write For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Chapter 11

Other Sources of Freelance Internet Research Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Chapter 12

You Got a Client! Here’s What to Do Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chapter 13

Increase Your Presence and Credibility With a Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Introduction Hi! I’m Sandy Ferguson and I’d like to introduce you to an interesting opportunity I didn’t know existed until just a few years ago. One day, I was visiting my cousin and superstar copywriter Carline Anglade-Cole. We were catching up on things when she dropped an “Oh, by the way ...” into the conversation. What she would say next would trigger a huge transformation in my life, and is the starting point for everything you’re about to learn. “I was just talking to a client who’s been neck-deep in research to help me with a promo I’m writing for him. He knows I need the research to give him the best possible results from what I write. But, he’s frustrated because he feels like he’s wasting valuable time he should be spending somewhere else in his business,” she told me. “I asked him if he ever considered having someone else do it. Of course he said no. Then I told him I had someone in mind that may be able to help, and he wanted to hire them immediately.” “So … do you think you’d be interested?” When Carline tells this story, she says this is where my face turned white as a sheet. (And I’m a black woman!) She described the project for me, though all I remember is a big blur of questions and doubts going through my head.

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She reassured me that it was as simple as searching all over the Web from a list of topics her client would give me. “Heck,” she reminded me, “You already love to spend your time surfing the Web, digging things up.” (She’s been the ‘victim’ of many of my shopping emails — where when I’m in town, I dig up a dozen not-seen-in-newspapers sales we have to hit the next day, along with coupons found elsewhere on the Web to save us even more moolah!) She told me I was no doubt making this out to be much harder than it would ever be. That if I wanted it, I could get a nice paycheck for just a few hours of surfing online for interesting info. It literally took an afternoon of her twisting my arm for me to finally agree to even pick up the phone and call her client. But first we had to plan — because even though all Carline said I had to do was surf the Web, I wasn’t comfortable calling it that. I couldn’t imagine anyone paying me for just surfing the Web! So, we went to work on coming up with a good name for it, and decided when I called the client, I’d be offering my “Internet Research Specialist” services. She told him to expect my call. Well, I called him a day or two later (nervous as heck — I’m not good on the phone in situations like this) and he hired me on the spot. He’d pay me $18 per hour to search the Internet for every bit of information I could find on folic acid and heart health, to help Carline out with her promo.

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And then I went to work, surfing the Web for relevant articles, quotes, research, and other information. It was ... fun! ... And easy, too! I sent the information over to Carline and her client, and it was exactly what they needed! She used it to flesh out her promotion, providing proof and credibility around the client’s product. And, her promo was a hit! When all was said and done, my first project added up to a $450 payday for 25 hours worth of work. (I soon learned that even though this is so easy — after all, we all enjoy surfing the Web, right?! — it can be worth a lot more than the $18 I charged starting out!) I was happy, of course, to have this one-off payday. And, the experience I gained on this first project gave me the confidence to market my research service to other health industry clients. Now it’s your turn. What you have in your possession is a complete how-to introduction to this opportunity. How to surf the Web and get paid to do it — and gain all the freedom and control over your life and your destiny that you want. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll be able to do what I did … become an Internet Research Specialist for copywriters, the information publishing industry, and beyond. And, I promise you won’t need the connections I was lucky enough to start with. In this program, you’re going to learn exactly how you can go out and get clients cold, with no personal introduction needed. (Plus, how to “piggyback” your services so you don’t even have to do much of the selling!)

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In fact, in Chapter 1 you’re going to learn about exactly why this is such a valuable service ... and why marketing yourself as a Research Specialist is such an easy thing to do. Then, over the next few chapters, we’ll get into exactly how to do it. What projects look like. What you get from a client. What you’re expected to deliver. How you actually do the research. And, some fun little tips and tricks that are going to make your life much easier. Once you have the “how to do it” down, we’ll follow-up with how to sell your services. This is what transforms Web-surfing from a hobby into a steady income stream — something you can either do in your spare-time or you can take on full-time as your own boss. We’ll look at any challenges of where to find work, promoting your services, how to target your clients, simple things you can do to convince clients your service is something they need now, as well as additional things that will make it easier for you to make a good living providing this valuable service. And, don’t worry. This is something you can do. Trust me, I had no qualifications on the day I started. Yet, today I stand here already being recognized by many of the A-List superstars of the copywriting, information publishing, and alternative health industries as a critical asset to their continued success — in just a few short years. And your success can be quicker, because I never had a program like this — I had to start from scratch. As we go through, I’ll give you tips that will help you dispel any doubts you may have in your head right now, and show you how you can do this, too, and have fun while making a great income! So, what do you say? Let’s get started!

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Chapter 1 “What’s an Internet Research Specialist?” How would you like it if you could make anywhere up to $50 an hour ... or more ... (from your home, in your pajamas, if you please) ... by searching for relevant information on the Internet? There’s a huge hidden demand for this service for one simple reason. There is tons of information out there. According to Google, the Web has already exceeded 1 trillion unique web pages (it’s estimated they index about 15 billion of those pages for search purposes). There are millions more pages created daily. And, it takes valuable time to sift and sort through it all to find the exact information needed. Yet, there are literally thousands of companies who can benefit from having this information at their fingertips. Publishers, copywriters, marketers. In pretty much any industry imaginable. You’re saving them their most valuable resource — time. And, the time you save them can either be filled with another paid project, or spent as “time off” with their family and friends. By providing research services, you’re literally giving them back hours in their day and money in their wallet. It just makes sense for them to outsource this task — especially to someone who’s focused on delivering high-quality research that will give them exactly what they need.

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It’s not difficult, either. Once you go through this program and learn the fundamentals, you’ll have the exact tools you need to provide this valuable service. Often your research will start with Google, and branch off into niche-specific websites around the topic you’re researching. All you’re doing is digging deeper and deeper, looking for relevant information on your topic. And, you’re putting it together into a single document your clients will be able to sift through to identify those little nuggets of information they need. You don’t even need to be the judge. If you have a hint that a particular piece of information may be useful to your client, you just copy and paste it into your document and let them decide if it’s useful. You just want to give them as much potentially useful information as possible, so they have all they need and more for what they’re working on. And, what may make this even more appealing is the freedom and flexibility an Internet Research Specialist has. You don’t need to be in your client’s offices. Heck, you don’t even need to be in the same state, country, or even continent. You can do this from anywhere you have a decent Internet connection. You can do it on your own schedule, too. Sure, you’re going to have deadlines. And, you may occasionally have to accommodate a client on their schedule. But for the most part, this is something you can do whenever it works for you ... whether it’s after getting off from your full-time job, in the evening after your kids are in bed, sitting at the beach on your family vacation, or hanging out poolside at home. The flexibility is yours. It’s also great for introverts, and people who don’t want to spend much time talking to clients on the phone. (That’s me!) If you’d much rather work with clients through email, and it’s a bit painful to pick up the phone, dial a number, and wait for the voice on the

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other end ... no worries. I do 90% or more of my work via email, and infrequently does anything I do for clients require even a phone conference. This opportunity is yours to shape, based on what you want it to be. I think that’s why I’m so happy to get up and do this work every day, and why I’m so excited you’ve decided to join me and go through this program.

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Chapter 2 “And What is it an Internet Research Specialist Does, Anyway?” Let’s start off the “how to do it” part of the program with a deeper look into what an Internet Research Specialist actually does. A project for an Internet Research Specialist typically starts with a Research Request Document filled out by a client. This will be a Word document or an email that will contain a number of questions and topic-focused “keywords.” The requests will usually be around one specific theme. Such as, how regular intake of Vitamin C reduces risk factors for heart disease and cardiac arrest. Or, who has recommended precious metals and mining investments in the past year. This may be to provide proof and credibility elements for an advertisement or promotion, or it may be to flesh out an editorial piece such as a newsletter article or a special report. The person requesting your research services will often be a copywriter, but can also be a marketing manager or editorial director who will be using the information or passing it along. From that point forward, your job as the Internet Research Specialist is to sort and sift through all the information you can in order to answer the questions being asked. You want to find relevant articles and data relating to the keywords listed.

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While you will be sorting out some irrelevant information, your job is not to tell them exactly what information to use. Instead, you find every bit of quality information you think could be valuable to them, based on the questions and keywords in your Research Request Document. You copy and paste any relevant articles into a Research Deliverable Document you keep open on your computer. Along with the text of the article, you also include the URL of the web page where you found it, and any other information available that may help to find or cite the article later. We’ll go into more detail about the Research Deliverable Document in Chapter 4. Once you feel like your Research Deliverable Document contains enough information to answer all the questions and address all the topics in the Research Request Document, you send it to your client. They may come back and request more information on a specific area, or tell you they have everything they need. Then, you just bill for your hours worked, and collect your check. I’ve had projects that have run for as few as four hours, and as many as 55. I’ve had clients tell me they wanted me to dig up as much as I could in 10 hours based on their budget, and others who have given me carte blanche to find as much information as I could, no matter how long it took. Each project is a little different based on client needs, although they all typically follow this same basic process. And I assure you, it’s not a difficult process. In the coming chapters, we’re going to look at each step in more detail, and begin to practice these skills right away.

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Chapter 3 Your Starting Point: The Research Request Document We’ll get to exactly how you attract clients in Chapters 10 and 11 of this program, once you’ve warmed up your Research Specialist skills. But for now, let’s just assume you’ve landed a new client … now what? You need to get information from them about their product so you can start your research. By sending them a Research Request Document, you’ll show them your professionalism and begin a strong relationship. Let’s take a peek at a few examples of what those might look like.

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Example 1: Health Industry Client:

Supplement company

Promotion:

Sales letter selling Vitamin C for heart health

Topic:

Vitamin C and heart disease

Keywords:

• Vitamin C heart disease • Vitamin C heart health • Vitamin C hypertension • Vitamin C heart attack

Questions:

• What benefits does use of Vitamin C show relative to heart disease risk factors? • Does regular use of Vitamin C reduce the risk of cardiac arrest? • Are there benefits of taking Vitamin C after a heart attack? • Does low Vitamin C intake correlate with increased risk of heart disease? • How does Vitamin C affect blood pressure? • How does Vitamin C affect blood cholesterol levels? • How does Vitamin C affect arterial plaque? • Who has endorsed Vitamin C for heart health?

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Example 2: Financial Industry Client:

Financial advisory newsletter publisher

Promotion:

Sales letter selling advisory service on investing in precious metals

Topic:

Precious Metals investing

Keywords:

• Gold investments • Silver investments • Gold investment recommendation • Silver investment recommendation • Popular metals investments

Questions:

• What are the pros and cons of investing in precious metals? • What options are there for investing in precious metals? • What pundits have been recommending precious metals investments recently? • What pundits have been recommending against precious metals investments recently? • What publications have featured precious metals investments recently? • Which gold and silver investments are most popular?

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Example 3: Career Development Client:

Publisher of career development resources on copywriting

Promotion:

Sales letter for new membership website on how to succeed as a freelance web copywriter

Topic:

Opportunities in web copywriting

Keywords:

• Web copywriting jobs • Web copywriting projects • Web copywriter salary

Questions:

• What career options are there in web copywriting? • What types of projects does a web copywriter work on? • What are the most important skills for a web copywriter to have? • What niches need web copywriters? • How much can someone expect to earn as a web copywriter?

Simple enough, right? Well, this is the starting point of your entire project, and we’ll come back to these examples as we go through the program. You can download a blank Research Request Document from your Member Page (under Additional Materials & Bonuses) that you can send to prospective clients along with the Bonus White Paper that you can customize. Now that you have your starting point, let’s look at the ending point — where we’re trying to get to. That’s the Research Deliverable Document.

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Chapter 4 Your Ending Point: The Research Deliverable Document We’re going to take a big jump from where you started all the way to where you’ll end up. By having our goal in mind, it’ll make the entire journey of getting there easier. So, let’s look at what you’ll actually be delivering to clients — your Research Deliverable Document. While the name may sound fancy, this is nothing more than a basic Microsoft Word document into which you copy and paste information. If you want to make it look more professional, you can format it with the client name and project info plus your company name and contact details in the header or footer, though most of my clients are fine if this document contains just the information I gather. (See how simple this is?) As you’re going along, doing your research, browsing web page after web page, and you discover what you think would be a valuable statistic, article, or piece of other relevant information, you: 1. Select either the entire web page, or the relevant part of the information for your client 2. Copy it (the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-C will become your friend) 3. Paste it into your Research Deliverable Document in Microsoft Word (Ctrl-V keyboard shortcut)

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4. Go back to your browser and select and copy the URL of the web page (e.g., http://www.google.com highlighted below)

from the address bar

5. Paste the URL below the information in your Word document

Let’s look at an example of what this looks like. Let’s say you’re working on Example 3 from the previous chapter, on web copywriting as a career opportunity. You’ve dug up an article that answers the question, “What types of projects does a web copywriter work on?” on the AWAI website. Here’s what it looks like when you copy and paste it into your Research Deliverable Document. I’ve shortened the example with ellipses to show relevant information — you won’t need to do this for your clients as they will pick the relevant information out for themselves. NOTE: When you see this, I’m sure you’ll say, “But this looks like an article or copy.” You’re right, it does. That’s because it’s the original article, unedited. All you do is copy and paste it into your Research Deliverable Document for your client’s easy reference. In this case, the article is written by a copywriter, so it probably looks a bit more like copy. Though if it’s a journal article, it’ll look like a journal article. A news feature will look like a news feature. And so on ... Simple, right?

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How My “Dirty” Little Secret Can Help You Succeed as a Copywriter By Guillermo Rubio I have a confession to make. You might be surprised when I tell you. But I want to come clean – because knowing my “dirty” little secret can help you earn more and achieve copywriting success much faster than you could otherwise. So, here it goes: I worked as a staff copywriter at AWAI for a year and a half. During that time, I never wrote a single direct-mail package. In fact … One-hundred percent of the copy I wrote was for the Web! And, now that I’ve been freelancing? I STILL haven’t written a single direct-mail package. It’s all been web copy. { ... } Here are just a few projects – off the top of my head – that a client would want (and need!) to hire you for: • Standalone Emails • Autoresponder Series • Blog/Forum Posts • Product Descriptions • PPC Ads • E-books

• Articles • Home Pages • Sales Pages • Landing Pages • SEO for Web Pages and Content • Email Newsletters

The list is practically endless. And, the opportunity for you as a copywriter to make serious money on the Web is HUGE. That’s because you can bill anywhere from $300 – $2,500 for any one of those projects. What’s more, they can be done fairly quickly (many only take me around 2-4 hours). And here’s the thing – Even if you do decide to specialize for the B2B market or any of the other more “traditional” copywriting niches, guess what? All those companies are marketing on the Web, too! No matter which way you look at it, learning the principles of effective web copy is a must. It’s the foundation for everything you’ll do career-wise (after learning how to write a sales letter!). I can’t stress it enough. Do whatever you have to do to upgrade your skills. Learn to write for the Web. { ... } SOURCE: http://www.awaionline.com/2009/12/how-my-secret-can-help-yousucceed-as-a-copywriter/

Take special note of the source URL pasted in below the article. 20

Why do you also need to copy and paste the URL into your Research Deliverable Document? Because unless you provide a source, most clients will consider the information you gather to have very little value, and they won’t be able to use it in their promotion or other marketing materials. Sometimes they’ll want to go back to the source to look at additional information, or they’ll just want to reference where they got the information from in their publication (very important in many industries!). Either way, it’s critical they have the source as well as the information itself — and always presenting information from reliable sources and providing that source with all information will help ensure you look professional and get future work and referrals from your clients. From here, you repeat this process over and over again for every bit of information you find. I’ve gathered as much as 250 pages for a single project! The client will then sift and sort through this information to find what they’ll use for their own content. Remember though — even though 250 pages may seem like a lot to give a client to sift through when they may use just a couple of pages of it, you’re saving them the time it takes to search and sort and sift through the millions of pages online. You don’t need to spend too much time paring down the relevant information for them — just get them everything you can find that you have a reasonable assumption answers one of their questions, or gets them more information on one of their requested topics. So, now that we know your starting point A — The Research Request Document — and your ending point B — The Research Deliverable Document — let’s look at how to get from A to B. Let’s start researching!

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Chapter 5 The Research Process, Part 1: Beginning Your Research Beginning your research is simple. Just dive in. I usually start by searching Google. I just type the keywords from the Research Request Document into Google, and see what I find. You already do this all the time when you’re looking for something of interest to you. You search Google — knowing what you’re looking for — and scan through the results. Some of the results will seem right on. Others — even on the first few pages — will be an obvious mismatch for what you’re looking for. Now instead of doing this on your own topic, you’re doing it on your client’s topic. The process is much the same — with a few important differences.

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Tabbed Browsing First, a little hint. “Tabs” in your web browser are your friend. Tabs let you open up multiple pages within a single browser window — each under its own tab that shows up along the top of your browsing window, below the toolbars, like this:

See across the middle where it lists Google, Yahoo!, and American Writers & Artists Inc.? These are your tabs — like tabs on files in a filing cabinet. All you have to do is click on them to switch between them, and go from page to page to page. Most browsers allow you to open up a link in a new tab by holding the CTRL key while you click the link. You can also right-click the link, and select “Open link in new tab.” (If you’d like more detailed tutorials on using tabs, you can learn about tabs in Firefox here, and tabs in Internet Explorer here.) They are also available in most other browsers ... For instructions for your particular browser search Google for “[browser name] tabbed browsing” to find a tutorial.) Using tabs lets you open multiple web pages you’re interested in without ever leaving the search results page. Once you have a number of different pages opened — each in its own tab — you just click along the top of your browser from tab to tab to tab, looking at the content. Copy the good content into your Research Deliverable Document, and close the tabs when you’re done or where the info isn’t relevant.

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As you go through the different pages, you’re just looking for all relevant information you can find. So you want to follow leads, click links (opening them in a new tab), and do whatever it takes to dig deeper for as long as you’re on the trail of relevant information. Every time you find something of interest, copy and paste it into your Research Deliverable Document (remember to include the SOURCE information — the website URL — so the client can check on it or dig deeper on their own later). As I’m digging in, I go much deeper than with personal research. This is how I can provide my customer with as much proof and credibility as possible. Where with personal research I’d spend most of my time on the first page or two of search results, when I’m doing work, I spend a lot of time going through the first five or ten or twenty pages of results. As I’m going through, I’m constantly thinking to myself, “Is this a solid, reliable source? Is this new information? Does it provide more relevant insight for my client?” As long as I’m consistently getting more information that makes me answer “yes” to those questions, I keep going. When I start to find too much repeated information — you’ll quickly recognize this point — that’s when I expand my approach. Here’s the first step to expanding your approach. When you do your search, Google’s little blue bar above the search results will display something like this (on the right hand side):

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Well, of course, you’re not going to look at all 5,770,000 results. Yet this tells you that there’s a lot more information out there than what shows up on the first five or ten or even twenty or fifty pages. So, here’s how I dig in and try to get some of that additional information without scouring every page of search results. After I’ve spent my time going through the first five or ten or twenty pages culling every bit of relevant information I can find, I start to click deeper and deeper into the search results. Down at the very bottom of your Google search results page, it tells you what page of results you’re on:

Well, what I do is start clicking the last page shown, and the last page shown, and the last page shown, until I’m dozens or even hundreds of pages deep into the search results. Then I’ll scan the page for anything that jumps out, and follow that trail. After looking at that page, I’ll go back down to the page indicator and keep clicking deeper and deeper into the search results pages, randomly stopping every once in a while to scan what’s on the page. This is not always fruitful. Google is usually pretty good about delivering the most relevant information first. Sometimes it’s a waste of time. But sometimes I strike gold. So, unless I’ve already found tons of useful information with my simple search of the first few pages of results, I like to do this.

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Because one article, one stat, one quote I find may be exactly what the copywriter needs to write a blockbuster promotion. And, that piece of information could show up on page 1 of the Google results, or it could show up on page 138. I don’t know, so it’s usually worth at least a quick look. Using this approach, I keep digging up more and more relevant information. At some point — and this is usually by gut feeling — one of two things happen: 1. I decide I’ve collected enough information to answer all my client’s questions and cover all their topics (which is wholly possible at this point), I name the document including the date and my name with underscores between words (XYZ_Research_022916_JaneDoe), and I click “save” one last time and send the Research Deliverable Document over to my client, along with an invoice for the project fee we’ve agreed upon previously. 2. I decide I’m not getting any more relevant info from the Google search results and I start to dig deeper using other methods for finding the information I’m looking for. (We’ll cover that in the next chapter.) First, an exercise for you to put what you’ve learned to work.

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TRY IT This program includes an easy-to-print PDF for you of the Research Request Document examples from Chapter 3. Pick the example topic that interests you most and print it out. Now you’re going to use Google to start collecting information on that topic, like it’s a paying assignment. 1. Open up a new Research Deliverable Document — an empty Microsoft Word Document or use the template we’ve provided on your Member page — and cut and paste your research findings. 2. Open a new web browser window to www.google.com. 3. Begin searching, using the keywords and questions in your Research Request Document. 4. Spend 30 minutes or so digging up as much relevant information as you can, copying and pasting it into your Research Request Document. Dig deep into the search results to see if you can find any additional information not on the first few pages. 5. Be sure to save your Research Deliverable Document often! And don’t forget to name it as recommended. Good job! You’ve just proven to yourself you have what it takes to be an Internet Research Specialist, to get paid to surf the Web. Now let’s dig in to the next chapter to see what to do when you’re not getting enough research from Google alone.

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Chapter 6 The Research Process, Part 2: Digging Deeper So far, you’ve done your legwork on Google and you may not have dug up quite as much as you’d like. Or, maybe you’d just like to see if you can find anything else by coming at the research from multiple angles (I do this on a lot of projects). Well, that’s what this chapter is all about — other sources of research you can use to get more or different information than you find with Google alone.

The Client’s Website If your client is a publisher or has collected a lot of information on their website, this can be a great source for additional information. For example, many of the financial publishers have free newsletters and websites, where they publish weekly or daily insight and observations on investing. This is a great source of useful information, and shouldn’t be overlooked on projects where this applies.

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Quick Note If there is no search feature on a specific website you’d like to get more information from, Google’s Advanced Search can help. With it, you can search for a keyword and just get pages on a specific site that are relevant to your search, helping you gather as much information from that site as possible. And, that’s just the beginning of how you can get even more focused search results. You can access the Google Advanced Search page here: http://www.google.com/advanced_search You can also read Google’s tips about all the different ways you can use Advanced Search here: http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html If you’d like to make your life as an Internet Research Specialist easier, then this is a good tool to become familiar with.

Client Recommendations In addition to your client’s own website, they may have one or more websites from which they prefer to get information. They may give these to you on their own, without prompting. Or, you can ask for them. While you may not get recommendations on every project, when you do, they’re worth looking at because these can be your most valuable sources of information on the topic.

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General Research Sources There are lots of other sources for good information on the Web. The top results from many of these sources will show up in your Google search results — that’s why I tend to always start with Google. But, if you’re not finding what you need with your Google searches, these sites may be good ways to dig deeper.

Other Search Engines The main benefit of using different search engines is that each uses a proprietary algorithm to decide what’s relevant and what’s not out of the millions of pages out there. This means the results may be different. Some of the top results will contain links you’ve already found, but some may be new to your search. Here are three top search engines besides Google you may want to try: • Bing (http://www.Bing.com) • Yahoo! (http://www.Yahoo.com) • Ask.com (http://www.Ask.com)

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Other Google Tools Google has a number of different tools to give you more focused search results in areas that won’t necessarily show up at the top of your normal Google Search results: • Google News (current news: http://news.google.com; news older than 30 days: http://news.google.com/archivesearch) You can search current and past news items online using Google News search. The main Google News site lets you search current news items, and the Archive Search lets you search historical news archives going back decades. A benefit to using Google News in your research is they’ve done a lot of the legwork in identifying credible news sources for you. • Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com) Blogs may or may not be highly-credible sources on their own, depending on their source. Yet, they may link you through to content you wouldn’t have found otherwise. They can also provide another benefit — while news sites are written in a journalistic voice, blogs are written in the “voice of the people,” and good blog posts may provide inspiration along these lines for your copywriter.

Quick Note Blog posts about your client’s product or service may provide deeper insights into the mind of the prospect and his thoughts, beliefs, challenges, and feelings. This is valuable information for your client to have.

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• Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) Google Scholar is a direct window into scholarly articles on your subject. These are highly-credible sources for key stats, figures, and scientific findings. You can search through theses, abstracts, books from academic publishers, patents, professional societies, as well as legal opinions and journals. • Google Book Search (http://books.google.com) This is your quickest way to find which books and magazines cover your topic. You can search the full text of books and magazines, and be shown where in the content your information is covered. Some publications offer a full view of the contents, others offer a limited preview around your search results and link you to where you can purchase a copy from a site like Amazon.com to read more. (If you end up doing this, you may want to highlight and mark pages in the books you use, and send the physical book to the client if they ask for it and then it’s generally accepted to bill them for the book.)

Popular Resources There are a lot of popular resources for finding information on a variety of topics. I could go on forever and still miss quite a few. Yet, there are a few worth pointing out: • Wikipedia (http://www.Wikipedia.org) Billed as “The Free Encyclopedia,” this site has articles on just about everything, and the topics are contributed to by anyone who wants to offer information. While it got a bad rap early on because users could freely contribute and add content and things got a little wild, times have changed. Recent editorial rule enforcements have increased the reliability of content, and make this a mostly-reliable resource. The best part is articles

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include citations throughout, with links at the bottom of the page taking you directly to their sources — so almost every claim can be verified directly, and those that can’t should be checked elsewhere or not provided to the client. • About.com (http://www.About.com) About.com is a network of niche-focused sites owned by The New York Times, Co., providing editorially-reviewed content from “Guides” around the world. They add more than 3,000 new content items each week from vetted (that is, evaluated, investigated, or approved) sources. You can search the site from their home page to find the most relevant of their thousands of topicfocused articles. • HowStuffWorks.com (http://www.HowStuffWorks.com) HowStuffWorks.com is a site owned by Discovery Communications, LLC. (owners of The Discovery Channel television network) that is all about — you guessed it — how stuff works. They have hundreds of topic areas along many of the same lines as About.com — with articles submitted by vetted contributors, similar to About.com. • HighBeam.com (http://www.HighBeam.com) HighBeam Research is a paid research service that allows you to search millions of articles from thousands of credible publications. You can get limited previews of the articles with a free search on their website, and read the entire article with a paid membership. (Their service is $3.85 per week, which is really a small investment in providing your clients with high-quality research from credible publications. It’s an optional tool but when you consider you can make up the cost in no time, it’s probably an investment worth making.)

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Niche-Specific Sites Much of your research will be drawn from niche-specific sites you find through your normal Google research. If there’s a site that keeps coming up, you may want to dig deeper into that site and keep it as a bookmark for future projects. Listed below are nichespecific sites from two of the top industries for direct response copywriters — health and financial.

Health Sites • WebMD (http://www.webmd.com) WebMD is perhaps the most recognized name in online health information — and well-respected for it. They have tons of information on health conditions, healthy living, diet, natural and traditional remedies and treatments, and more. • Medscape (http://www.medscape.com) Medscape from WebMD is a sister-site to WebMD, focused on health professionals rather than laypeople. This means more comprehensive information — which can lead to better research for you. • Intelihealth (http://www.intelihealth.com) This site is owned by Aetna, with a significant portion of the health articles contributed by Harvard Medical School faculty. Not only does it include health news and solutions, it also has tools to search for health problems by symptoms as well as by name. • Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com) The Mayo Clinic is one of the most well-known names in medicine, and their website is packed full of information on healthy living and addressing health issues — plus they have a paid newsletter

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you may want to subscribe to if you’re serious about working in the health industry. • Johns Hopkins Health Alerts (http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/alerts/) This is a free service from Johns Hopkins University covering the latest breakthroughs in healthy aging and common health problems. Again a credible resource because Johns Hopkins is considered one of the — if not the — premier medical schools in the country. • The Merck Manual Medical Library (http://www.merck.com/mmpe/) The Merck Manuals are a series of medical books designed for both medical professionals and consumers, and a well-respected resource in the medical community. The content has been enhanced and published to their website for free access by all. • The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com) The Lancet is one of the world’s leading peer-reviewed medical journals, and is completely independent of any medical or scientific organization. Quite a bit of information is free on their website, plus full text of many of the articles is available through subscription or for a per-article fee. • JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association (http://jama.ama-assn.org/) JAMA is the peer-reviewed journal of the American Medical Association — the largest association of physicians and medical students in the United States. Like The Lancet, they have some information free on their website, yet most content is paid by article or on a subscription basis. • Healthy.net (http://www.healthy.net) Articles, discussion boards, expert columns, and more give this site a wealth of information all focused on natural health.

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• Prevention (http://www.prevention.com) Website of the popular Prevention magazine, and it’s packed with tons of information from previous issues of the magazine as well as exclusive online content. • HyperHealth (http://www.hyperhealth.com) This is actually a CD-ROM encyclopedia of nutrition and natural health information. You can purchase it once and use it forever, though there are always updates coming up that are worth the additional fee. It contains information on over 5,300 topics and is equal to a 40,564 page book on natural health — all compiled from 1,000’s of peer-reviewed journals, textbooks, and other publications, for a total of 59,287 clinical references. If your topic is anything having to do with natural health, this is worth looking at. (On natural health projects, I often look to this before I even do my Google research.)

Financial Sites • Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com) This has long been the top financial website, covering investing, news and opinions, personal finance, and more. Particularly when you need a wealth of information on specific stocks, mutual funds, and other investments. • Google Finance (http://www.google.com/finance) Not to let Yahoo! beat them at anything, Google put together a very substantial — and helpful — site on financial news, insight, and specific information.

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• The Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com) Most content is limited to paid subscribers. It may be worth the subscription, depending on your clientele, because in the world of finance there are few more authoritative sources than The Wall Street Journal. • MarketWatch (http://www.marketwatch.com) MarketWatch is part of The Wall Street Journal’s network of online properties — and provides insight on many of the same topics as The Wall Street Journal in free online articles. • Investor’s Business Daily (http://www.investors.com) Investor’s Business Daily is the second-most popular investing-focused newspaper behind The Wall Street Journal, with a specific focus on their CAN SLIM technical trading system. Their content offers intelligent insight into the markets and investing strategy, and is worth looking at • The Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com) This is one of the best places to pick up information about basic investing concepts and learn about individual companies from other investors. • Edgar Online (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml) This is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website. You can look up all corporate disclosure information for any stock listed in the United States.

This isn’t a comprehensive list of all available resources. In fact, it’s just the beginning — and even now you can probably add a few more of your own. But, this should give you a good start on your quest to find more and better research gems for your client.

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TRY IT Let’s dig deeper on the research you were doing at the end of the last chapter. Using the additional resources given in this chapter, spend another 30 minutes doing research on your topic. Try to use as many different sites as possible as you get started, to decide which you like and find most useful. Then you can start collecting a list for yourself of the niche-specific sites you prefer, so you can easily visit each whenever needed (I have my list bookmarked in my web browser). Remember, as soon as you find something you like, just copy and paste it into your Research Deliverable Document. Don’t forget to include the source information, either. And, I hate to belabor the point, but save often! There you have it. Digging through these resources and collecting your client’s needed information in your Research Deliverable Document is what you’ll spend most of your time doing as an Internet Research Specialist. Now, let’s look at what it takes to sell these services and turn these skills into money in your bank account ...

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Chapter 7 Mastering the Mental Game of Getting Clients This may be the single-most important chapter in this entire program. Because once you absorb what’s in this chapter, it’ll make success come far more easily. (So, don’t hesitate to come back to this chapter time and time again, as often as you need — for as long as you’re working as an Internet Research Specialist.) This is the “mental game” behind getting clients and succeeding as an Internet Research Specialist. This is what will get you from wanting to take advantage of this opportunity and become an Internet Research Specialist — through to obtaining the freedom you’re looking for, and taking complete control of your life and your destiny. It starts by recognizing the three biggest roadblocks to succeeding as an Internet Research Specialist: • Fear. I can’t approach this client. I can’t be good enough. What if my research stinks? What if I can’t provide value? What if they say “no”? • Time. When am I going to do this? How much experience do I need before getting started? How do I know how much time to commit? • Clients. Where will I get clients? What will it be like to interact with them?

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You may have already found yourself asking these questions and more, and experiencing these roadblocks on some level. That’s okay. Here’s where you’ll learn how you’re going to break through and not let anything slow you down. Here’s where you’ll learn to get ahead even when there may be obstacles in your way.

Fear Did you know some of world’s best-known public speakers — who’ve spoken thousands of times in front of millions of people total — still get the jitters before speaking? The ways they cope are different, but the same momentary fear is the same. Some yell at the top of their lungs to break through their fear. Others have a ritual they follow. Others just relax and breathe deeply as they let their fear dissipate. Yet all do something consistently that lets them conquer their fear. They feel the fear, and act anyway. This is something you can do, too. Feel the fear, act anyway. When you’re going to pick up the phone to speak with a client, give yourself a moment to do whatever it is that calms your nerves. Then feel the fear, and act anyway. Within five minutes, you’ll be so lost in the conversation with your client, you will have forgotten your fear.

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To get over the threshold all you have to do is give yourself a moment to calm your nerves, using whatever works best for you. Then feel the fear, and act anyway. This advice seems simple, yet it works wonders. Just give it a try. Relax, let your nerves start to calm, then feel the fear and act anyway.

Time To do this successfully, it’s true — you’ll need to set aside some time. As you get started, this is something you can do as little or as much as you want. So, it’s easy to get rolling as an Internet Research Specialist on the side — either to supplement your income, or on top of a full-time or part-time job. (It’s how I got started — splitting my time between doing this freelance, and doing accounting parttime.) Then, as you get more and more clients interested in your services, you can ramp up at a speed that’s comfortable to you — all the way up to doing it full-time. Tracking time. When you do the research, you’ll need to stay focused and track the time spent on each project. Both for your own sake and for your clients’ you’ll need to know how much time was spent. There are plenty of options out there for Time Tracking software, find what works for you. It could even be as simple as a paper planner you pick up at the office supply store for $20. Find what works and use it.

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“Other” time. In addition to research time, you’ll also want to dedicate about 10-20% of the time you spend to getting new clients, at least until you have a solid client base built. (Of course, the coming chapters make this a bit easier as they give you templates you can use for approaching and getting new clients.) What to remember about time. One of the best things about being an Internet Research Specialist is that you’re in control. Unless you’ve accepted a project where the client needs the research completed immediately, you have the ultimate flexibility to do the work on a schedule you decide. Take advantage of it. Be flexible. Take time for your family, enjoy the people you love. That’s one of the best reasons for being in control of your own work. And, it’s something you can have when you have your own Internet Research business.

Clients So, you’re a little nervous about getting clients? That’s okay. If you’re nervous it’s probably because you don’t yet have the tools to get clients, or past experience getting them ... Yet. You can be confident though; that by the time you finish this program you’ll know how to find work and to get clients. You’ll have specific templates and approaches you can use. You’ll have the tools you need to make it happen. And with those tools, you can be confident approaching potential

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clients and offering your services. Not every client will say “yes” today. That’s okay. You’ll get experience getting gigs, and you’ll get experience not getting gigs. Both will help as you move forward because you’ll start to become more and more comfortable as you realize no matter what the client says, you can always get more work from other sources.

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Chapter 8 What You Must Understand About Selling Your Research Services Why would someone hire you to surf the Web, digging up research on a topic they probably know more about than you do? Understand why, and it will become easy to offer and sell your research services. Mainly because you’ll understand why what you offer is so valuable. Plus, it’ll be crystal clear why clients want to hire you, and why they need your services more than you need them ... Even if they’re not aware of this fact yet. So, why would a client need an Internet Research Specialist? First, let’s look at the single-biggest WRONG REASON you might imagine a client would need to hire an Internet Research Specialist: • They can’t find the information. Most people in business today — particularly in information-based businesses — have at least adequate skills using Google and other search engines to find information online. The information is out there and well-indexed. So, they don’t necessarily need to you to help them find the information. If you think your value as a researcher is based on finding information the client can’t ... You’ll be making things more difficult for yourself when it comes to promoting your services and getting clients.

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So, what’s the single-biggest RIGHT REASON a client needs to hire you as an Internet Research Specialist? Time. Time. Time. Time. Your best clients will be those that are the busiest, and who know the value of their time. If someone is booked doing work that’s worth $100, $200, $1,000 an hour, they’re looking to outsource as much work as they can that doesn’t match that value. And, they’ll pay premium prices for someone who can reliably deliver work that gets them what they need while allowing them to focus on their highest value tasks. Your biggest value to a client is in the time you save them. Sure, most of them will be able to do the work themselves. They may even be able to do it better than you, faster than you, and to dig up more research if they invested the time. But they don’t want to invest the time! They want to be doing things other than sorting through the millions and millions of web pages out there to find relevant information to support their copy and content writing. They have many items on their to-do list that create maximum value, and earn them more money than spending hours on research. By honing in on all the information out there, and delivering only the most relevant research for them to sort through, you’re able to save them hours and hours of work. That is where your value is. That is how you can sell your services as an Internet Research Specialist. They have a problem — they need information, and it takes time to gather that information.

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You have the solution — you will spend time gathering relevant information, so all they have to do is sort through this smaller pool of information and use what works best to get their message across. All you have to do is show them the value — and that value is the time you save them by doing the information gathering for them.

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TRY IT Let’s create a Unique Selling Proposition for your services. When somebody asks you what it is you do, this is what you can tell them to get them interested in hiring you. It’s the “reason why” someone would want to pay for your services. First, as if you’re talking to a potential client, paint a picture of the problem they face when they need research done but they don’t have enough time in the day to do it. Talk to them directly, using “you” language. Here’s an example: “Do you ever feel like you take up too much valuable time doing unfocused Internet research while creating health promotions?” Now you try: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

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Next, using “you” language, explain how you offer a service that solves the problem of gathering relevant information, saving them time, and letting them focus on other important things in their business. Let’s continue the example: “I’ll help you be more productive on your high-value activities by taking the Internet research off your hands, and giving you only the most relevant results to choose from as you craft your promo.” Now it’s your turn: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

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Now rewrite those into a single message you can tell potential clients, or anyone else who asks what it is you do. Completing the example, here’s what you could say: “If you’re a health marketer who feels like you’ve ever spent too much time researching when you should be focusing on other high-value activities, I can help. I scour the Internet for info on your healthrelated topic, and give you only the most relevant results you can use as you craft your marketing message.” _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

Feel free to practice saying this over and over again, in front of a mirror, into a recorder, to friends and family who you can tie down so they’ll listen ... Until it’s so ingrained in you it’s the first thing that comes out — before even thinking about it — when you get asked about what it is you do. Having this problem-solution Unique Selling Proposition about your Internet Research Specialist business can be the key to getting as many clients as you’d like, booking your calendar full, and getting the fees you want.

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Chapter 9 Finding Your Niche You’ve probably heard it a million times before. “Find your niche.” Well, it’s as true for an Internet Research Specialist as for anyone else. Here are some big advantages to finding a niche: • You’ll have more fun surfing the Web, looking up info you’re interested in • You learn the niche-specific sites where you can go to find good, reliable information, fast • Because you know the niche, you can speak the client’s language, too, which gives them confidence you’ll know how to find the info they need • Everybody within a niche talks to everybody within that niche, so your reputation can spread fast and land you more clients with less work There are other benefits, too — those are just the beginning. My personal niche, of choice, is the alternative health field. I suppose it’s in part because I got into being an Internet Research Specialist in this field. And, because there’s a ton of opportunity in this particular niche. It’s also something that interests me greatly, and I think it’s fun. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have reached my current level of success if I weren’t enjoying myself every day as I do my work.

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So, let’s look at what some of the hottest niches there are that need your skills as an Internet Research Specialist — and how you can pick and choose the one that’s right for you.

Niches That Need Research The same niches that hire direct response copywriters also need researchers in droves. Let’s look at what some of those niches are. • Health. This is a huge niche and growing, largely because of the aging Baby Boomer population. Vitamins and supplements, exercise, health information, and more are sold through direct marketing. And, the less “establishment” or “main stream” they are, the more these products need to be backed up with the proof and credibility you dig up. • Financial. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and more — there are tons of people who want to know how to make their money generate more money. There are hundreds of publishers of financial newsletters and courses on how to invest wisely and reap the biggest gains. Not only is there tons of need for research to support their sales copy, the publishers in this industry are cranking out loads of content daily that is also based on research you can help them with. • Business and Marketing. This ranges from business opportunity products to Internet marketing to copywriting and beyond. It’s all about how to make more money through effective business strategies. There’s a lot of clutter in this space — so if you can identify the real, usable information about what really works, you’ll have a lot of value as a researcher.

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• Personal Development. Improve your life while you research? It’s more than possible — it’s something you can do! Learn about things like goal setting, human potential, The Law of Attraction, and more — while you get paid to dig up quotes and stories that will help your client sell more of their programs. • Business-to-Business (B2B). There are plenty of projects out there in the B2B realm that need your research help. White papers, articles, special reports. And, the products could be everything from industrial water purifiers to software to sales training courses — these all fall under the B2B umbrella and can take a lot of good research to develop the sales and marketing for. These are the biggest niches for copywriters, and because of that, they will be your best targets as an Internet Research Specialist. True, these just scratch the surface of all the niches out there. And, each of these niches contains a thousand sub-niches. Yet starting today, you’ll want to focus in on one of these broad categories as you start to build your Internet Research business.

How to Pick Your Niche Here’s a good set of instructions I got from Master Copywriter Bob Bly on how to choose your niche …

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Start With What You Know The best place to begin is what you’re already interested in. Do you have a number of publications you subscribe to in a certain subject area? Are there websites on a specific topic that you visit regularly? For example, if you’ve been a mortgage broker for 20 years, this could be a “natural” market for you. You’re familiar with the industry, its needs, its lingo, you have contacts there, and you know where to get more information. Of course, people have experience in multiple arenas. Try not to follow them all at once — focusing helps you achieve more, faster. At the end of this chapter is an exercise you can use to narrow down your multiple interests into the niche where you can start your career as an Internet Research Specialist.

Qualify Your Market Doesn’t do much good if you pick a niche where they don’t need or want your services, does it? So, you’ll want to narrow down the niches you’re interested in to those most likely to pay well for your research services. Here are some questions to ask: 1. Is my interest in one of the niches listed above? The Health, Financial, Business and Marketing, Personal Development, and B2B niches are predisposed to needing Internet Research services. They hire high-priced copywriters to churn out a lot of information and marketing material, and all of those promotions need to be backed up with the proof and credibility your service can provide.

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2. What is the size of this market, and how much content does it produce? A small market that produces tons of content may have plenty of need for your services. A big market producing very little information (say, online retail clothing businesses) may not need you at all. The happy medium will be a large or growing market cranking out tons of content daily.

3. Does this market know they need your services? If they’re already doing a lot of research, it will be easy for them to see your value. If they don’t do any research at all for themselves, it’ll be hard to convince them they need to hire you to do some for them.

4. Are there people in this market whose time is very valuable? Where you can find people whose time is worth hundreds of dollars per hour — and who know it — you can find people who want to outsource tasks like research.

5. Do you like the people? Even if you primarily work with clients via email, you’re still dealing with personalities. If you pick a niche full of personalities that don’t jive with yours, your life will be miserable. Find one where dealing with the people brings you energy, and every day you’ll be excited to get to work. If you can answer all five questions in a way that works for you, you have a market qualified and appropriate for your services. Now, before we get into how to find work and get clients for your Internet Research services, try this exercise to cement your choice of niche.

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TRY IT Here’s a little exercise — easy as A, B, C — to narrow down your target market: A. Identify 5-10 markets with which you have some connection, experience, or familiarity. List each market, why it’s a good candidate, and mark down if you’re familiar with at least a couple reputable places online where you could gather info on the market. Here’s an example of what that might look like: Market: Health Why: When my family has had health issues, I’ve been the first to dive in and do the research to discover what’s going on and what the best ways are to treat it. Websites: WebMD, Medscape, Prevention, HyperHealth, Intelihealth Now try this own your own and shoot for 5-10 markets.

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B. Take a break, do something else, and let your brain process your options in the background. Come back after at least an hour and pick the three most promising candidates. Then, examine and reassess your top three options by asking yourself the five questions we discussed in this chapter: 1. Is my interest in one of these key markets: health, financial, business and marketing, personal development, or B2B? 2. What is the size of the target market, and how much content does it produce? 3. Does the market know they need the services? 4. Are there people in this market whose time is very valuable? 5. Do you like the people?

C. Finally, to determine your most promising market use the questions below to further research all remaining choices: 1. How many copywriters and companies in this niche could use my services (locally, nationally, globally)? 2. What would an average project look like — how much research and how much income? 3. How often would they need your services per year?

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There you are. Hopefully this has given you a clear understanding of your favorite niche market to begin with. If you’re still left with more than one, try imagining yourself in each niche a year or two from now. Which one are you still most excited to be working in, day after day? That’s your one — focus on it!

Now, on to getting clients ...

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Chapter 10 Getting Assignments From Copywriters and the Companies They Write For Finding Copywriters To get started, copywriters and the companies they write for are prime candidates to become your clients. Let’s begin with getting work from copywriters. I was lucky to have a cousin that is an accomplished copywriter and that gave me my start. But how do you find copywriters? You start with a Google search, of course. Type in the word “copywriter” in the Search bar and you get millions of results. Now, of course, these are not all listings for people who are copywriters, but there are a lot of potential clients buried in these pages. So, start a Research Deliverable Document for yourself and build a list of prospects for your research services. Go onto their websites, get their name, company name, contact information, client list … anything that will help you connect with them. Collect little nuggets of gold that you can use to personalize an email or letter introducing yourself to them. Create a list of viable, working copywriters who may well need your help.

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Here’s How You Can Approach Copywriters Here’s a sample letter showing how you can approach copywriters to get them to recommend your services to their client. You’d be wise to tailor it to each and every writer you view as a prospect. And, of course, to include your Unique Selling Proposition (Chapter 8).

Free Internet Research Service For Copywriters? [name], Hi, my name is [your name], and I can dig up golden research nuggets for you that will give help you make your next promo a blockbuster. I work with copywriters in the [your niche] industry to give them focused research they can use to give their copy all the proof and credibility it takes to make the sale. Plus, my research can help you write faster by consolidating every bit of info you might reference in your copy in a single document — so you can pull, copy, and reference in a snap while you’re cranking out your copy. The best part is, you can hire me free. Well, not quite free — but, there’s no money out of your pocket. You see, the first option most copywriters have is to do research themselves — but the problem with this is your biggest value is writing copy, not doing research. The second option is asking the client for research, though they’re not always able to dedicate their valuable time to doing research, either (or they just don’t want to do it).

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Your third option is how you get my services — FREE — on your next project. If researching is not an efficient use of your time, and your client doesn’t have research readily available, you can recommend your client hires me to do the research. It’s an easy recommendation when you ask for the research and they don’t have it readily available. And, you’ll quickly find most of your clients are ready to outsource this task in a New York minute. Then, I’ll work to dig through the millions and millions of pages of information on the Internet to get you and your client the exact research you need to make your promo a success (which makes you look like a superstar). Just give me a call at XXX-XXX-XXXX or email at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to provide more information on my Internet Research services. Sincerely,

[your name] [your contact information]

P.S. If your client isn’t interested in hiring me and you’d still like me to do the research for you, I’d be more than happy to help. Just call or email to get the conversation started.

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You can adapt this to work as a phone script, First Class letter, or email. Just be sure to rewrite it in your own voice, incorporating tidbits you’ve learned from your copywriter research, creating a truly personalized inquiry. If your letter shows that you’ve gone the extra mile to find out about the copywriter and written a thoughtful proposal, the likelihood is that your letter may actually be read and receive a considered response. Don’t worry if you send this out to one copywriter or even a handful and you don’t hear a response. Sending out inquiries like this is a numbers game, and soon you’ll find copywriters to work with. They’ll start to hire you, and you’ll do good work just by following along with what you’ve learned in this program. They’ll be satisfied with your services. Then, they’ll want to work with you again and again. The good news is, the direct-response industry is tightknit and once word gets out that your research is solid and reliable, the work will start to flow in project by project by project — to the point where you’ll get unexpected calls and emails from clients on a regular basis, most looking to hire you immediately.

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TRY IT Here are three exercises for you.

Exercise 1: Find Copywriters Your first exercise for this chapter is to find a list of a dozen or so (more is better) copywriters in the niche you’ve chosen. Use your new Internet Research Specialist skills to dig up their information. (Don’t hesitate to include the big names — they need this service as much as anyone, or more, and are willing to invest in it.) Collect their contact information in a Research Deliverable Document, as suggested earlier. You can also keep a handy spreadsheet of basic information, as outlined below, where you can mark off the dates that you mailed, emailed, or phoned, as well as the all-important response dates. Get this information about the copywriters for your spreadsheet: • • • • • •

Name Business Name Phone Number Email Address Street Address Website Address

This will be your contact file for copywriters you’d like to work with. The more you have on your list to begin with, the better.

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For your Research Deliverable Document, also include additional information you’ve learned about each copywriter through your research … details you’ll use in your correspondence with them.

Exercise 2: Adapt the Sample Letter Use the letter as a template to approach copywriters who you’d like to provide your services to. Pick your preferred contact method and then rewrite it in your own voice, using your own ideas and language. • If it’s by phone, you can rewrite the letter as a phone script, including introduction, details you’ve learned about them and their clients, questions to ask them that will build their interest, and additional points you want to be sure to make. • If by email, write it as an email. • If by mail, write a printable letter. You can rewrite to suit one of these contact methods, or multiple methods are fine, too. One thing proven by marketers over and over again is that frequent contacts through multiple media channels significantly increases someone’s chance of responding. So, you could call them, send an email, and send them a letter — they’re sure to notice you then!

Exercise 3: Contact Those Copywriters! You have your list. You have what you’re going to send them, or talk to them on the phone about. Now do it — nothing happens until you take action. Once you start sending personalized emails and letters, and making phone calls, you may be surprised at the response you get!

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Finding Companies that Need Your Research Skills In the last section, we learned about contacting copywriters and reaching out to them in a personal way to forge a relationship. When you do that, there’s a possibility of generating instant business for a current or upcoming project. Yet, it’s also a strategy more focused on nurturing long-term allies who will help bring you project after project (by offering your services as an add-on to theirs) without you needing to do much repetitive selling. Much control, however, rests with your allies, but if your relationship is solid, you can trust they’ll have your back. So, why not go directly to the source? The companies that hire copywriters. You’ll find there is a massive amount of work out there, just waiting for you. The key to getting that work is asking — offering your services to potential clients who may be interested. Without your asking, many clients may be in dire need of your services (they want to save time, too), yet may not even know they can hire someone like you. But, by asking, you plant a seed — you give them an idea … They can hire you to save themselves the time they’re already spending on research, freeing up that time for some other high-value activity in their business. Once you’ve planted the seed you’ll find one of three things happens: 1. The seed sprouts instantly — they have a project they want you to do now! 2. The seed needs time to germinate — they recognize they need your services but may not have something for you right now.

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3. They’re not fertile soil — they show no interest, so you can move on to find better clients.

If number three happens, fine, move on. It’s as important to determine if a client is a bad match for your services as a good match — now at least you know and you can cross them off your list. If number one happens, great! You’re in. You may have found a client for life because once someone raises their hand and says they’re interested in research services like yours, they are unlikely to stop needing the services any time soon. If number two happens, you’ll want to stay in contact. You have someone who has said they can probably use your services. Yet, the timing isn’t right. Your job is to touch base from time to time with a friendly hello, and to remind them 1) that you exist — everyone is busy and forgetful, and 2) that you’re there when they need your services. Some may come back later and say they’re not interested after all, but a large portion of people who say they’re interested will be in a position where they want to hire you within 6-18 months. For those who don’t have an immediate need, it will pay dividends to be the person who’s sent a friendly hello from time-to-time, who is on the top of their mind. A lot of work can come through consistent “check-ins.”

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How to Introduce Yourself to Potential Clients Remember back in Chapter 8 we created a Unique Selling Proposition for your services? Well, when it comes to selling your services directly to companies, it’s as simple as sharing your Unique Selling Proposition with as many targeted companies as possible.

Who is a Targeted Company? There are a couple factors that will help you identify a targeted company: 1. They are within your niche or area of interest. 2. They produce a lot of information.

A quick note on number two. If a company produces a small amount of information it’s going to be difficult to get them to hire a researcher. Because a small amount of information comes from a small amount of research. On the other hand, a company that produces daily free newsletters plus multiple paid newsletters — and sales copy to support them all — is likely to have high demand for research. And, that high demand means you’re more likely to get your foot in the door, plus get hired over and over again. If those two factors are present in the companies you target, you’ll find it a lot easier to get “yes” when you introduce yourself and your services.

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Reaching Out Reaching out to a targeted company to introduce them to your research services is simple. You just need to introduce yourself, present your Unique Selling Proposition, and give them a way to respond. It’s much like introducing yourself to copywriters, as we covered in the previous section. Send a letter, an email, or make a phone call to the person within the company in charge of marketing or editorial content (their title may be Marketing Director, Editorial Director, Publisher, or many others — a quick phone call asking who’s in charge of marketing and editorial content can usually get you the info you need, or better yet, do some Internet research). Here’s an example letter you can adapt and send to clients (or rework into a phone introduction).

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Is Your Time (Or Your Copywriter’s) TOO VALUABLE To Spend Doing Research?

[name], Hi, my name is [your name], and I help copywriters, content writers, and their editors in the [your industry] industry focus on the most valuable ways they can spend their time. Even a 1,000 word article can take 30 minutes or more of researching to give proof and credibility to the content. Sales letters and marketing promotions can take much longer. Yet, that’s not the most valuable way your writers can spend their time (it’s probably not the most valuable way you can spend your time, either). So, let me take it on. Let me do the research for you — and deliver it on a silver platter for you and your writers to use. I’ll sort and sift through the millions and millions of pages of content on the Internet — focusing on credible and quotable sources your writers can use to provide maximum proof behind what they’re writing about. I’ll find what’s most relevant and leave out the rest. Then your writers can focus on doing that one task that gives you the most value — writing! As they write, they can just scan through the focused research I provide to quickly pull out the quote, statistic, or other element that will make their copy as persuasive as possible.

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Not only will it help them write stronger, more compelling messages — many copywriters have reported that having research at their side helps them write faster as well. You’ll find it’s a wise investment, too — you can hire me to do the research and I can work to match your budget and research demands. Please contact me immediately — whether you’re ready to move forward today or not — to let me know you’re interested. I’ll let you know a little more about my services, and I can answer any questions you have. I look forward to speaking with you! Sincerely,

[your name] [your contact information]

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Remember; adapt this to an email, First Class letter, or phone script. Put it in your own words. Add relevant facts and details about the company so they know you are serious. Then send it out. You can even modify the same basic message multiple times, and send them once a month for as many months as it takes until the client hires you. The key is to just do it! Let clients know you exist, and that you provide these services you know they could use. Ask them to contact you to discuss the services.

How to Close the Deal Once you’ve sent out the letter — or presented it on the phone — and a potential client contacts you back, there’s just one more step. Ask questions. Ask what specific project or projects they’re thinking of bringing you on board to help with. Begin asking details. You don’t even have to “sell” them. Just be curious, and try to figure out — and get them to say — exactly how you could help them. By asking questions and getting them to explain to you why they need your services — and what for — you predispose them to say “yes” and to hire you to do research for them.

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TRY IT This section has three exercises that mirror the exercises from the previous section.

Exercise 1: Find Targeted Companies Your first exercise is to find a list of a dozen or so (more is better) targeted companies that meet these two criteria: 1. They’re in your niche or area of interest. 2. They produce a lot of information Use your research skills to find their information, and collect their contact information in a Research Deliverable Document including company-specific facts, figures, and details and a contact information spreadsheet. (Remember — if you can’t find the specific person who manages copywriters, a quick phone call into the company can usually get that name.) Collect this information for your spreadsheet: • • • •

Company Name Person’s Name Title Phone Number including extension

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• Email Address • Street Address • Website Address

This is your contact file of potential clients. Be sure to keep track of dates of contact and response. Finding new clients is a numbers game — you’re better off with as many on the list as possible.

Exercise 2: Adapt the Sample Letter Use the letter as a template to approach clients who you’d like to provide your services to. Pick your preferred contact method and then rewrite it in your own voice, using your own ideas and language, including your USP, and company-specific nuggets. • Phone? Make it an interactive phone script — including what you’re going to say first, how clients may respond, and what you’ll say for different responses. • If by email, write it as an email. • If by mail, write a printable letter. You can rewrite to suit one of these contact methods, or multiple methods are fine, too. Remember — more contacts usually means more responses!

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Exercise 3: Contact Your Potential Clients! You know who to contact. You know how you’re going to contact them. Now it’s time to take the next step — contact them and introduce yourself. This is critical to remember: clients won’t hire you unless they know about you, and why they need your services. It’s up to you to let them know. That’s how you’re going to make it as an Internet Research Specialist! So, just do it — send emails, send letters, make phone calls. Make it a goal to get through your list, regardless of the response you get. You could easily walk away with a month or two of work to get you going!

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Chapter 11 Other Sources of Freelance Internet Research Assignments In the last chapter, we learned about contacting copywriters and reaching out to them in a personal way to forge a relationship. But maybe you don’t have time to invest right now. You’re dedicated and willing to build a relationship with a copywriter, but you have bills to pay and need to start working now! Well, I’m happy to tell you that you can do both. There is no reason why you shouldn’t start working immediately. Even as you continue to reach out to copywriters and make connections you can be cashing checks. And I’ll tell you exactly how …

Freelance Brokerage Sites Right now, there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of employers seeking out freelance workers via the Internet. These employers range from mom-and-pop shops in your backyard to multi-national businesses with offices all over the world. All you need to access this pool of job opportunities is a little know-how, and a push in the right direction. Let’s start with the know-how.

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“Freelance brokerage sites,” as I like to call them, are not as ominous as they sound. First of all, there is not an actual broker to deal with! Whew. And the great thing is that these websites provide traditional brokerage services without an actual middleman. And all of them operate nearly the same, so once you know how to use one you will be able to use all of them!

Here’s how it works … Employers have a need for people to do work. They do not want to commit to hiring an employee, or even a temp, so they will go to a freelance brokerage website and create an account. They can then create jobs or projects they are trying to find someone to do. Employers often post a description of the job, some information about their company, and an idea of how much they are willing to pay. This is usually done on a per-project basis, although some companies do pay on an hourly basis. These jobs will appear for any freelancer who goes to the website and uses a relevant keyword in the website’s search bar. They will also appear in Google searches. Once you arrive at the website, start your job search by typing “Internet research.” Some jobs that appear in the search results may not be for you. Try to weed through and find the jobs that sound like they play to your strengths. If you have a niche, add your niche to your search and see what results come up. This may be all you need to find a job that you feel right for. But there may still be too many results. If this is the case, add a keyword that is relevant to another skill you have. Or possibly an area of interest or a hobby you have. This will bring up results for job positions that you are best suited for.

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For example, first search with keywords — Internet+research. This will bring up job descriptions related to both research and the Internet. If there are still too many results to look through, add the word health (or another area of interest) to your search keywords. This should narrow the search results further. And, by putting quotes around all three words, “health Internet research,” your search will be even more targeted to just a few jobs.

Setting Up an Account If you feel like you have found a research job that plays to your strengths, then it is time to set up an account on that website. Pay close attention to the fine print when signing up. The majority of websites that provide this online brokerage service take a fee for every job that you complete. This is not a problem. These websites provide a connection to thousands of employers you would not have found otherwise. It is a valuable service and they deserve to be compensated. But each website takes a different fee, so pay close attention and calculate that cost into what you will charge your clients. At this point, the process will vary a little depending on the website you are using. Lucky for us, the majority of the websites operate nearly the same. The first step is creating a profile. This is the information potential employers will read before deciding if you are the freelancer they are looking for. This is a huge opportunity for you. Employers want to know why you are qualified for the job, so take this chance to highlight your strengths! Detail your excellent research credentials, areas of expertise, and education. Different websites will request different information for profiles, but these are among the most important across the board. Make sure your profile is 100% complete. On some websites, freelancers with 100% completed

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profiles are seven times more likely to get jobs. So make sure they are complete!

Bidding for Jobs Once your profile has been created, you can begin to bid on jobs. Placing a bid on a project does not mean you have earned the contract. Freelance brokerage websites are structured so that employers can review multiple bids and the freelancers’ corresponding profiles before they decide whom to grant the contract to. This is why your profile is so important. But this structure works in our favor! It allows you to bid on as many projects as you want! By bidding on multiple projects at one time, you have better odds of receiving a contract. This is especially important when using a freelance brokerage website for the first time, because you haven’t had an opportunity accrue website metrics. Website metrics are different bits of information that the website collects about you as you use it. Things like how many hours you have billed using the website, or what percentage of projects you complete. Website metrics are another key component to procuring contracts. Employers don’t want to give out contracts to freelancers who don’t follow through. So completing a high percentage of the jobs you agree to take on will give you a competitive edge in the online freelance marketplace! Now that you understand how bidding works, we can get to the most important part. How much money you are going to charge for your services! Along with a description of the project, employers usually add a range that they are willing to pay in compensation. This range can vary widely. This is because employers often do not know

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how much they should be paying for a job. For instance, you might see a range of $500-$1,500 for a project (or $5-$20 per page or $10-$30 an hour). This doesn’t mean the employer will choose the lowest bid. It means they are not sure how much the project should cost, but if you are qualified and make a reasonable proposal, they will consider your offer. Some jobs may not even have a range, but don’t let that dissuade you from bidding! I cannot emphasize this enough. Bid even if you are above the range the employer is offering to pay. Just make sure you accompany your bid with an excellent proposal, explaining why you are worth the extra money! The proposal is your last opportunity to convince potential employers that you are the freelancer they’re looking for. It is essentially a comment box that you can write in before you send your bid. Potential employers will read proposals in addition to your profile and website stats. You can use this box to drive home how serious you are about the project, or why the work you do justifies a higher level of compensation. But don’t get me wrong. If an employer is clearly offering much less than the job deserves, don’t bother bidding on it. You are going to be offering a higher quality of work than many freelancers, and quality employers will be able to recognize that. Once you have decided how much you are going to charge for your services, you will have the beginning of your formula for bidding projects. The second component is figuring out how long it will take. At first, it will be difficult to estimate how long each project will take you. But don’t worry! You will get better at this as you do more and more projects. You can cheat a little starting out by looking at what other freelancers are bidding on the project. This can give you an idea at first, but don’t do this for too long. As you become a skilled, go-to-freelance researcher, you will want to make sure you are not undervaluing your product.

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Getting to Work! Now that you understand how freelance brokerage websites work, how to set up a profile, and bid for jobs, you are ready to get to work. I’ve already assembled a list of the more reputable freelance brokerage websites on the Web. Remember, all of the websites listed operate nearly the same. But there are differences you should be aware of. Some sites may tend to pay better, but have fewer job postings. Others may pay a little less, but have many more job listings. Don’t disregard any site right off the bat. You may find that you like the jobs that pay a bit less, because they are easier, and you can do twice as many. Or you may find that you like to focus on one big job every week. In the end, both approaches are going to make you money! Elance.com • https://www.elance.com/ • High number of job postings. • Lower average pay relative to other sites. Odesk.com • https://www.odesk.com/o/jobs/browse/?q=research • High number of job postings. • Lower average pay relative to other sites. Freelancer.com • http://www.freelancer.com/jobs/Research/ • High number of job postings. • High percentage of research oriented jobs.

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Academia-Research.com • http://www.academia-research.com/ • Low number of job postings. • Higher percentage of research-oriented job postings. • Specifically focused on research for academic purposes. PeoplePerHour.com • http://www.peopleperhour.com/freelance-research-jobs • Higher average pay as compared with ODesk.com and Elance.com. • Higher fees relative to other sites. • Higher quality of employers and freelancers than some of the larger and older sites. Guru.com • http://www.guru.com/pro/search.aspx?keywords=research# &&keywords=research • Low number of job postings. • The platform is free to use. • Offers collaboration tools for project management.

Research Agency Site My last secret for obtaining work as a freelance research specialist is using what I refer to as a “research agency site.” This is similar to the brokerage sites I listed, but works more like to a talent agency. I only know of one that exists, but it can be an excellent additional avenue for you to procure jobs.

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The difference between a “research agency site” and “freelance brokerage website” is a small, but ever-so-important one. What makes “research agency sites” so unique is that they hand-choose the freelancer for the job. That means it has all the traditional benefits of a talent agency. After working with your agent for a while, he will understand your style and abilities. He will know which assignments play to your strengths, and which ones will not. Your agent will filter through hundreds of jobs descriptions so you do not have to.

Here’s how it works … An agent working for the “research agency site” carefully considers every project an employer brings to them. The agent then selects several freelancers from their clientele list who could best complete the project. Employers have final say on whom they hire, just as they do with “freelance brokerage websites.” But your odds are much better, because instead of looking at an infinite number of freelancers, the employer is only looking at you and a few other qualified people. Typically this agency will charge between $500 and $1,500 a day to employers for freelance research services. So there is definitely potential for you to make some money with this website! It’s called Marketing Research Professionals and their website is: http://www.mrprofessionals.com. Visit to read more about their services and how to become part of their team.

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Get Started! Now you have all of my secrets for getting freelance jobs through the Internet. The only thing stopping you from making money now is you. So get out of your way, and start putting money in the bank!

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Chapter 12 You Got a Client! Here’s What to Do Next Great! You’ve followed the instructions in the previous chapters and have a client who wants to hire you to do some research for them. You’ve worked through this program, so you know how to do it. Now it’s time to connect the dots. Once you’ve learned how to get clients, this chapter may be the single-most important chapter in this entire program — and the advice in it can pay for the entire program many times over. Because following the advice in this chapter makes you look more professional, makes it easier to work with clients, and will save you a lot of time in the long run. This chapter is about client control. Now, before you get in a tizzy about “controlling” the client, let me explain. For you to perform your services efficiently and to provide maximum value to your clients, it’s important for you to have a process. And, beyond just having a process, it’s critical that you get your clients to follow the process. This is really a simple concept. Let’s see how this works in a familiar setting ... When you go to the grocery store, you walk in the door, and the carts are there for you to take one. In many stores, the produce section is what you see first. So, you get your produce. Then, you go up and down the aisles to grab the items you need. Frequently,

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the store is laid out so the frozen and refrigerated food sections are near the end of your shopping trip. Then, you make your way to the checkout lines, which are at the front of the store. You go through checkout, have your groceries bagged for you (or bag them yourself), then head on out to your car. Once you’ve loaded the groceries into your car, you hopefully either put the cart in the cart corral, so it can be taken back inside, or wheel it back there yourself. That’s client control — everything is set up and you are trained to follow the basic procedure for shopping for groceries. Following the procedure (and having it work the same way at pretty much every grocery store you go to) makes your life easier. And, it makes the grocer’s life easier, too. While the process you’re about to learn in this chapter for controlling the client relationship looks different than the process at a grocery store, the aim is the same. To make everyone’s life easier by laying out a specific procedure most projects will fall within. And, because it’s not as common as buying groceries, this process also includes steps to educate the client. So, let’s dig in.

Your Client Says They’re Interested ... Now What?! “Sure, I have just the project for you.” Your client is interested! Yikes, excitement tinged with panic ... What do you do next? Here’s what you tell them. “Great, let me send you an information kit about how my services work, and we can get started right

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away. This will tell you what I need from you to get started, as well as what you can expect from me.”

Here’s What Your Information Kit Should Contain: 1. A cover letter with a basic explanation of your process 2. A fill-in-the-blanks Research Request Document 3. An explanation of your Research Deliverable Document

What follows are templates you can use and adapt for each.

Please Read First!

[name], Thank you for bringing me on board to help with your research process. You’ve made a smart decision. This information kit is designed to help us work better together. It lets you know what I need from you to deliver the best possible research. Plus, it tells you what you can expect from me when we’re all done.

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What I Need From You The first document I’ve included is a Research Request Document. This document is the best way for you (or your copywriter) to tell me exactly what research you need. Be specific and complete when you fill out this document, because it will be the basis for all the research I do. Please fill this out and return it to me as soon as possible, as I need it in order to get started.

What to Expect From Me What you’ll get from me when we’re all done is a Research Deliverable Document. This is a Microsoft Word document that contains all the research I’ve gathered, including source information for future reference. Depending on the quantity of information gathered this can be anywhere from a dozen to a couple hundred pages of targeted content, pulled from the thousands — even hundreds of thousands — of pages online that reference your topic.

Additional Details For most projects, I spend as much time as is necessary to research all subjects and answer all questions in the Research Request Document. Depending on your needs and on the topic itself, this can range from just a few hours, up through 50 hours or more. If you have any budget limitations in mind for my research, please let me know as soon as possible as I will schedule my time accordingly.

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Once I have sent you the Research Deliverable Document, I’ll give you a couple of days to look over it for additional questions or needs, then I’ll invoice you for the research at the agreed upon rate. Please look over the other two documents in this information packet, and let me know if you have any questions. Then, fill out the Research Request Document and send it my way using the contact information below so I can get started. Thank you again for your business. Sincerely,

[your name] [your contact details]

Research Request Document From: [Insert Your Name] [Your email address] Please fill this out completely and return at your earliest convenience. Company Name: Your Name: Your Title: Phone Number: Email: Project Name or Purchase Order Number (if necessary for billing):

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Promotion Name: Topic: Brief Description of Your Promotion:

Descriptive Keywords Around Primary Topics:

Questions You'd Like Research to Answer:

Example Research Deliverable Document To show you what to expect, here’s a shortened sample piece of research as it will appear in your Research Deliverable Document. This is from research on “the benefit of interval training over traditional cardio exercise.” The average project can have as many as 100 such focused citations — and unlike this sample, the full text will always be included. SAMPLE: The Aerobic Exercise Myth When it comes to losing weight, long duration aerobic exercise just does not work. Study after study has 88

shown that aerobic exercise provides only marginal help when it comes to weight loss. Interval training on the other hand works very well at improving muscle tone without creating the bulky look that many women want to avoid. Our research center recently conducted a study on female twins. One did progressively longer endurance exercise. The other did progressively shorter bursts of intense exercise, increasing the intensity during each session. After sixteen-weeks, the twin doing interval training lost 13 pounds of fat and increased her muscle mass by 8 pounds. Her body fat fell from 24.5% to 14.2%. The twin doing long bouts of aerobic exercise lost only 7 pounds of fat and gained only 1 pound of muscle mass. Her body fat fell from 24.5% to 19.5%. Neither of these women looked bulky, but the twin doing the interval training had better muscle tone at the end of the study. And she had far less body fat. SOURCES: European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation. 2004; 11(3): 216-222 http://cpr.sagepub.com/content/11/3.toc The Doctor’s Heart Cure for Women, Dr. Al Sears 2013 Wellness Research & Consulting Inc. http://www.alsearsmd.com/pdf/HeartCureWomen.pdf

Can you see how providing these resources up front will help alleviate any concerns, bring questions to the forefront, and give the client a sense of what to expect — while at the same time gathering the information you need to do your research? Good! Now it’s your turn to adapt these to use in your business.

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TRY IT Your exercise for this chapter is to adapt the client control documents to use in your Internet Research business. It comes in three parts: 1. Rewrite the cover letter sample in your own voice. Be sure to include both a description of the Research Request Document and the Research Deliverable Document. Describe your timeline and billing process as necessary. This is a template you’ll want to adapt for each client. 2. Use the Research Request Document template on your myAWAI Member Page as a starting point. Brand it with your letterhead, or at least include 3. Create an example Research Deliverable Document using the template from your myAWAI Member Page.

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Chapter 13 Increase Your Presence and Credibility With a Website In this chapter, we’ll look at what you should include on your Internet Research Specialist website. You know, in today’s business world you might as well not exist if you don’t have a website. Doubly so when your service revolves around the Internet — like being an Internet Research Specialist. You need to be present online to have credibility. There are plenty of free and fee-based tools and programs out there on how to build a website — so that’s not what this chapter is. (I had mine built for me.) Instead, we’re just going to do a quick overview of what it is you need to have on your website to give your clients the essential information they want about the services you offer. First, this will give the client a place to go to learn more about you. Second, your website could start attracting business in itself, as potential prospects discover you online. Here are your rules for creating a website for your Internet Research business. 1. Keep it simple. 2. Keep it informative. 3. Ask for action.

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Keep it simple. The website for your Internet Research Specialist business doesn’t have to be complex. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to look reasonably good, and get your message read. This means you don’t need distracting graphics, and you don’t need too much content. Keep it informative. Again, no distracting graphics. Stay focused. The primary job of your website is to let people know what you offer and how they can benefit from it. Ask for action. What good is it if someone comes to your website and is somewhat interested but then they leave and forget about you? Happens all the time with websites. So, be sure to ask for immediate action from visitors — ask them to get a hold of you to ask more about your services or offer a free report in exchange for an email address. Here are the specific pages you need on your website: • Welcome. This is the home page of your website. Most Internet experts say you have between three and ten seconds once someone hits your website to get them to think “this is the right site for what I’m looking for.” This is especially true of your home page. Be sure you put your Unique Selling Proposition created in Chapter 8 front and center on your home page, followed by an overview of your services that helps potential clients looking for research services say “this is exactly what I was looking for.” Toward the end of your description, give the visitor a logical next step in browsing through your website, such as reading more about your services offered on your services page. • Services. This page can be as simple as a list of services offered, or can go into detail about each. Remember to keep it simple and informative, no matter which you choose. From here, you can give your visitor the option of viewing your list of clients, or contacting you immediately.

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• Clients. Here you can add a lot of credibility by simply listing the names of clients you’ve worked for. Most won’t mind, but if you put up a client’s name and they later ask you to take it down, be sure to do so quickly. At the bottom of your client list, give the visitor a choice of reading testimonials for your services, or contacting you. • Testimonials. A good testimonial can do a lot to sway someone to hire you. Here’s a description of how an ideal testimonial could be presented: picture, name, company name, location (city, state), specific comments about how your services helped them. Try to get all of these when you ask for testimonials. And, any time you get a compliment from a client, be sure to ask if you can add their compliment (with the above information) to your testimonials page on your website. Once your site visitor has made it to your testimonials page, their last stop is to contact you. • Contact. For your contact page, remember that people like to contact you in many different ways. Just putting a contact form online will limit your responses. Be sure to include your phone number, email address, and a contact form to give people the option to contact you with their preferred method. At your discretion, you could include your address, too.

If it sounds simple, that’s because it is. Either get some basic tools that let you build your own website (there are plenty of options out there). Or, have someone build your website for you. Start off by putting these pages on your website. You can worry about adding others later, as an obvious need arises.

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TRY IT The exercise for this chapter will get you moving in the right direction toward getting your website online. It’s time to decide exactly what you want to say on your Welcome page, your Services page, and your Contact page. (Your Clients and Testimonials pages should be added as soon as you have content to put on them.) Here’s what to do. Spend about 90 minutes putting together your content for these three pages. Create a Word document for each. (You can get them online soon, but the first thing you have to do is decide what they’re going to say.) Be sure you follow the three rules in this chapter — keep it simple, keep it informative, and ask for action — as well as the descriptions for the content of each page. Then, once you have the content written, you can worry about putting the site online — whether you’re going to build it yourself or have someone else do it for you.

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Conclusion Well, there you have it. A complete roadmap for being an Internet Research Specialist — and how to make a comfortable living surfing the Web. Not only did you learn how to do it — how to perform the service that clients value because it saves them time and helps them create more compelling content and more effective sales copy. You also learned how to sell it — how to begin attracting clients for your Internet Research business, even how to get other people to sell your services for you. Now it’s up to you. Now it’s up to you to take action and make this program pay for itself time and time and time again ... Now it’s up to you to go out there and begin getting clients and giving them the research they need ... Now it’s up to you to make a name for yourself — while enjoying the independent lifestyle being an Internet Research Specialist provides ... So, what are you waiting for? Success is waiting for you!

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