If you’re going to make money online, outsourcing is absolutely essential. There are so many little tasks and things to do each day that you’ll be drowning in mundane tasks quickly if you don’t. It’s a lifesaver but it can also cause as many problems as it solves. Let’s look at when and what you should outsource, as well as some tips for doing it right.

When To Outsource

Outsourcing basically means buying the time of others because you don’t have it. Because it saves you so much time, you should start outsourcing as soon as possible. However, if you’re just getting started and you have yet to taste your first online paycheck, it may seem crazy to start spending money on outsourcing.

The best time for most people to start outsourcing is when you’ve started earning some money online. Once you’ve got a steady income going, you can start delegating some of that money to getting rid of annoying mundane tasks. Wait until you’re comfortable with what you’re making.

What To Outsource

At first, you should do everything that you possibly can yourself. If there are things you can’t do – like content writing or website design – go ahead and outsource those. You should learn to do whatever you can yourself, but if it’s going to cause major headaches or take up too much of your time, it’s not worth it. For example, there’s no reason to learn programming, which would take years, when you can hire someone to do it cheaply for you.

When it comes to easy routine tasks, you should always do them yourself at first. The reason is that if you don’t know how to do them, you won’t know if your assistant is doing them right. For example, you shouldn’t outsource backlink building until you’ve done a bit of it. Otherwise, you won’t know how much a reasonable rate to pay is. You also won’t know whether they’re getting you high quality backlinks or just junk link swap sites.

How To Do It Right

It’s incredibly easy to find help these days. Freelance websites like Elance (elance.com ) and Textbroker (textbroker.com) put you in touch with skilled service providers who’ll do your tasks cheaply. There’s also Fiverr (fiverr.com), where providers offer their skills for $5 per job.

This is the quick and easy way, but it’s much better to hire a long-term virtual assistant. This is someone who will get to know your business and take over your mundane tasks for you. Hiring a VA means that you don’t have to keep hiring workers for each individual task.

Whether you hire a VA or freelancers, you should document all of your outsourcing tasks in order to make training them easier. Use a screen recording software program like Camtasia (camtasia.com) to record exactly how to do the task. When you hire someone to work for you, simply send them the video. This way there’ll be no confusion and you don’t have to spend time training each new person.

Outsourcing makes life much easier for Internet marketers. It’s wonderful to finally say goodbye to all of those annoying little daily tasks that anybody can do. Once you’ve gotten rid of them, you can devote your time to more important things.