If you’re a regular Copyblogger reader, you get good advice about five times a week. Excellent advice, really. Stellar.

Especially on days when I’m posting. (Preens.)

Wait, what was I saying again?

Oh, right. You get really good advice, for free, five times a week. Very frequently, this advice would cost you upwards of $150 an hour for a consultant to tell you the same thing.

So when was the last time you actually put any of that advice into action?

Where’s your follow-through?

Are you all thought and no action?

Many of you might say, “I put advice into action all the time. Why, just last week I read a post right here about how using social media would help my blog, and I went and got right onto Twitter and tweeted all day. And it worked!”

Good for you. But did you do it the next day? Did you do it the day after that? Did you make a plan about when you’d get on Twitter each day, what you’d Tweet about, and how you’d tie that strategy to your business goals?

(And maybe just as important, did you come up with a plan to keep you from doing something other than tweeting all day?)

What about posts that offer advice on what you work at every day?

If you thought Jason Cohen’s post on how to write more magnetic copy seemed like sound advice, did you bring his 10-point checklist to your next blog post and double-check to be sure you hadn’t missed any?

Do you have Dan Zarrella’s post on the hard data behind Twitter headlines in your bookmarks, so you can pull it up and reference it when you want a tweet to spread like wildfire?

Most people don’t actively put a lot of thought into the advice they receive, other than thinking, “That sounds like a pretty good idea.” People read quickly and move on. They have good intentions, but they never do anything about them.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

You probably read blogs every day, blogs on marketing or entrepreneurship or Zen or gardening or getting your dog to behave.

Are you putting any of the advice you read there to regular, everyday use?

Sure, you’re reading the posts, and you’re thinking about the counsel offered. You might even comment. But you probably don’t commit to taking action and maintaining it consistently over at least two weeks to measure the results.

Think about it: Is there an action you do every day that you can trace back to a particularly savvy blog post written by a smart person giving good advice?

If you aren’t consciously putting good advice into action, you might as well not waste your time reading blog posts. You’re not getting anything out of them. Take that time and find something else to do, like shoveling snow or playing Frisbee.

Make a plan

The advice you read on blogs is, by and large, useful. Some of it may be information you already know or tricks you’ve tried in the past. But in general, most highly respected blogs offer nothing but really good advice. They have standards and stick to them, making sure they provide value for the reader.

But you’re the only one who can actually benefit from that value and follow through on that advice. Nodding your head as you read isn’t really enough.

The next time you read a blog post and think to yourself, “I should be doing that,” take action.

Bookmark the post. Stick a Post-it reminder somewhere obvious on your computer. Use red pen. Use big, bold capital letters. Grab your to-do list or scheduler and get that reminder in there.

Tell yourself that you absolutely, definitely, are going put that advice into action. And do it.

This means that if you read a smart blog post about how to write more powerful sales copy, and you know you don’t write very powerful sales copy, you bookmark that post. You take your schedule and block out a 15-minute practice session on powerful sales copy for every single workday for the next two weeks. And when you sit down for that session, go back and look at that post.

Step by step, line by line, apply the words of wisdom to the task at hand. If the post says to check for passive language, check your sales copy for passive language. If it says to use dynamic verbs, check every single verb in that copy to be sure it’s dynamic enough to compete in the next Summer Olympic Games.

Quit thinking about posts and start putting them into action.

Go a step beyond

Got the little stuff down? Scale it up.

I know at least three marketing blogs that, if you were to take their entire archives, have basically given their readers an entire executable marketing plan. The only work is putting all that advice into the right order.

Get a pen and a notepad (or open up a word processor) and start putting the advice in those blog archives into an order that makes sense. Go through every post, and leave out anything that you don’t think will work for you or that doesn’t mesh with your business.

By the time you’re done reading through those posts and putting the advice into action, you’ll have a free marketing plan that would have cost you thousands of dollars for a consultant to lay out for you. And your business will certainly already be benefiting from your active efforts.

That’s the ironic part. If you had had to pay for this advice — if you had laid a cool three grand on the table and received this marketing plan in return — you would damn sure have put at least some of it into action.

Lucky you: you can get that advice for free. But it’s by no means worthless, so put it into action while you can.

About the Author: Start rifling through the archives at James Chartrand’s blog, Men with Pens, for great action-minded freelance writing business advice. You’ll find what you need to rev up your freelance business.

So I’ve created something brand new, and it occurred to me it would be pretty silly if I didn’t let you know about it.

I put it together in response to a lot of frustration I was hearing about overwhelm. We’ve got hundreds of great resources. All kinds of good advice about this big, complicated problem of marketing.

But it’s like trying to drink from a firehose. There’s too much, it’s coming too fast, and it can be impossible to get your bearings so you can actually take action and move forward.

I thought it would be useful to put together my own take on a marketing blueprint, a step-by-step process on how to do “our kind” of marketing. (That’s marketing that rests on delivering exceptional value, communicating total respect for our customers, and creating remarkable relationships.)

It’s not just for bloggers, but bloggers find the tools particularly easy to adopt.

If that sounds like something you might find valuable, I hope you’ll check out the details for the Remarkable Marketing Blueprint.

The blueprint is a step-by-step marketing course, and it’s available at an extremely attractive price, but only until 5 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Monday, December 7, when I’m planning on closing the course to new students. When we re-open in 2010, the price will be bumped up to something more reasonable.

Click here to check it out before the charter pricing goes away.

One of the great things about working from home and online is that you can be your own boss. One of the downsides… you no longer have a team of co-workers doing their share of the tasks. The solution: Outsourcing.

If you look behind the curtain of any solo-entrepreneur, you’ll most likely find an entire team of assistants and service professionals keeping that business running smoothly.

One of the primary disadvantages of outsourcing is that you lose quality control over the tasks. This can be particularly risky if you are not familiar with the task, or how it should be done, and you’re working on blind faith. Especially with important aspects of your online business, like SEO or link building.

One of the major advantages of outsourcing: getting more done in less time…

I outsource quite a bit myself, but I thought I would bring in an expert to discuss the advantage & disadvantage of outsourcing in more detail. My friend Traci Knoppe runs an outsourcing company for web tech services, so I sent her an email with a few questions:

Hi Traci, I was just reading your article on the pros & cons of outsourcing and it reminded me of some outsourcing nightmares I’ve had in the past…

Fortunately most of my experiences have been positive… but, any advice on avoiding a bad experience with outsourcing?

In a word: References. Just like hiring anyone, you need to check their references. So many people are too quick to hire the first person or company they believe they can afford, regardless of the integrity and work ethic of the person or company.

Without checking references, you are acting on blind faith that this person or company can do what they say they will do.

Ahh – very good advice! I usually start by doing a search on Google for reviews or conversations about the company or person I’m considering. References I hadn’t considered…

I tend to outsource tasks I am not good at, such as graphic design or copywriting, and then I also outsource tasks that are repetitive or time consuming. With those, such as link building or article submissions, I prefer to do the task myself at first to get a feel for how I want it done.

That way I can share detailed instructions with the assistant or company. As someone who runs an outsourcing company, would you agree with this process?

It can be helpful when a client understands some of the processes involved in accomplishing the work they require.

When we would need information from them, knowing even a little of the how and why behind the request can make it easier for the client to provide us with the exact information we need.

However, it certainly is not necessary for a client to feel they need to learn about what we do in order to work with us. After all, that’s why most companies outsource, because they don’t know how to do something, and they don’t have time to learn, or don’t want to take the time to learn.

True – I do love the people on my team that seem to just be intuitive to what I need and “get it done” – they rock! Especially with graphics and site design.

A lot of people fear the cost of outsourcing. I’ve found it to be a very rewarding investment, increasing my productivity and revenue exponentially.

You’ve been self-employed for over a decade yourself – what’s your personal experience with this?

Everyone outsources something: we don’t do our own dental work, and we don’t cut our own hair. For many who do cut their own hair, perhaps they shouldn’t. We buy goods and services every day: and that’s all forms of outsourcing.

Coming to realize that we are already outsourcing, can help one see outsourcing as a help, not just an expense. Outsourcing can actually increase your profits, and it will most definitely afford you the time to manage your business more effectively, leaving you to do the parts of your business that only you can.

Once I personally saw outsourcing as a time saver for me, then I quickly became the ‘Queen of Delegation’. Yes, I’m an outsourcing service provider and I too outsource, that’s why I have staff to help me.

Good point – and great way to look at outsourcing. You wouldn’t want to see me if I cut my own hair! For that matter, that’s what some of my sites look like when I don’t outsouce: a bad do-it-yourself job. LOL

For someone that wants to try outsourcing, just get their feet wet a bit maybe, what would you recommend as the best first step?

My recommendation is to start with one task or small project as a test; and delegate that to an outsourcer.

If you’ve checked references before you choose someone, then the true test of your compatibility to work together and communicate effectively will be revealed through your test project.

If the test did not go well, determine if another test with that same outsourcer might help smooth out some of the new working relationship wrinkles. If continuing with that outsource provider isn’t an option, then find someone else. It’s definitely worth the effort to continue your search until you find the right person or company.

If the initial test went well, then look at your work load and decide what you can effectively delegate and outsource it!

Great advice. Not everyone, or every company, is a good fit. It has taken me time to create a team I can depend on and really enjoy working with. I use the word “team” loosely – it’s made up of a lot of stand alone disconnected individuals who are awesome at what they do.

But I’m working on that.

Thank you, Traci! Very insightful to hear your take on these issues.

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I would love to hear your thoughts on outsourcing tasks for your online business, and specifically your personal experiences with the advantage & disadvantage of outsourcing. Leave us a comment below!

Best,

p.s. Traci Knoppe runs Your Web Tech Team, a virtual outsourcing team with very affordable rates.