Copy the instructions below into a Google Doc or Dropbox Paper document and replace with words specific to your product.

When you first reach out to the VA, write a short message with a link to that document:

Short message

Hi #{VA Name},

I have a task for you that will involve some web research. There’s a good amount of detail, so I wrote up a separate document for you with instructions.

You can find it here.

Thanks! #{Your Name}

Note: "here" would have a link to your document.

The document itself

Hi #{VA Name},

Please make a copy of this spreadsheet. Delete all the data that’s already in there — that’s just so you have an example of what it will look like. You’re just going to be filling out the first six columns.

For each of the following types of resources, please find at least 10 resources targeting #{Target Audience/UX Designers} and fill out the spreadsheet. So that should be over 100 resources, total. More information below.

• Blogs and Websites
• Newsletters
• Podcasts
• YouTube Channels
• Instagram and Twitter accounts
• Individual high-view YouTube videos
• Online Courses
• Niche tools

Please check in with me once you’ve done the “Blogs and Websites” to make sure you’re on the right track. Then you can keep going with the other types of resources.

1. Blogs and websites

1a. Start by Googling things like #{top blogs on ux}, #{top ux tool review sites}, #{etc.}. Also search the same things on Quora.

Click on the lists in the search results, and then go through those lists themselves. Add those sites to the spreadsheet with “Company Name,” “Domain,” and the type of resource they are.

Here’s an example search result you should click:

1b. When you visit each site, run it through Alexa. Ignore sites that have an Alexa rank higher than 200,000. Then add their Alexa ranking to the sheet in the “Alexa Rank” column.

1c. Sometimes, the website will have a link for people to sponsor it. It will usually be called “Advertise with Us” or “Sponsorship.” Try to find that link and click it. Here’s an example for UX Magazine:

Click around and try to find out how many people they reach. Put that number in the “Estimated Reach” column.

For example, on the UsabilityGeek Sponsorship Page, it says they have 1.3 million pageviews.

So you would put 1,300,000 in the “Estimated Reach” column.

If there are a lot of numbers, try to pick the one that represents all the different people who would visit that website.

1d. Find the contact person and their email. Put that in the “Contact Email” section.

You might have to click around their website and look for a “Contact Us” or “Sponsorship” section. There’s usually a contact form or an email. If it’s a contact form, you can put a link to the form in the spreadsheet. At worst, put that we should message them directly.

Also, if they have a way to see the cost on the site, put that into the “Cost” column.

2. Newsletters

Repeat steps 1a through 1d, but Google things like #{top newsletters on UX}.

3. Podcasts

Repeat steps 1a through 1d, but Google things like #{top UX podcasts}. Skip the Alexa Ranking part.

When you’re trying to figure out “Estimated Reach” and you can’t find anything on the website, take the number of reviews they have and multiply it by 200. You might have to find it on the iTunes Store to do this.

Here’s an example from the iTunes Store.

So you would multiply 348 by 200. Put the result (69,600) in “Estimated Reach.”

4. YouTube Channels

You can Google for #{top UX YouTube channels}, but you’ll also want to go on YouTube and search for #{UX}.

Then, open up filters

And click on “Channel” and sort by “View Count”

These will be the lists you want to pull from.

Influencers expect compensation proportional to subscribers, but conversions happen proportional to views. So go after the influencers with high views and low subscribers. That’s the trick.

For “Domain,” put a link to the channel. For “Estimated Reach,” put the number of subscribers they have. Put “N/A” for Alexa Ranking.

For “Contact Email,” click on the “About” section of the channel. Also try googling “#{name of the channel} -site:YouTube.com” and see if a website comes up. Start to look for the contact information.

5. Instagram and Twitter accounts

Repeat steps 1a through 1d, but Google things like #{top UX designers Instagram} or #{top UX designers Twitter}.

For “Estimated Reach,” put the number of followers they have. Put “N/A” for Alexa Ranking.

For “Contact Email,” look for website links in their profile.

6. Individual high-view YouTube videos

Follow the instructions for Step 5, but instead of looking for channels, filter by videos and sort by view count.

Ignore any videos with less than 100,000 views.

7. Online Courses

Go to Coursera, Udemy, and Udacity. Search for #{UX} in their search bars.

For Udacity, you’ll need to search through the Program Catalog.

Coursera

Go through the top 5 to 10 courses.

For “Company Name,” put the name of the course. For “Domain,” put the link to the course. For “Contact Email,” try to look up the instructor on Google and find their personal site. They’ll often be working for a university as well. If you can’t find an email or contact form, look for a Twitter or LinkedIn profile. For “Alexa Rank,” put N/A.

For “Estimated Reach,” multiply the number of reviews by 200. There should be a section in each course called “Ratings and Reviews” where you can find this.

Ignore courses with less than 25 reviews.

Udemy

Do the same as for Coursera.

For “Estimated Reach,” go to the course page and enter the number of students enrolled.

Udacity

Do the same as for Coursera.

For “Estimated Reach,” you’ll have to log into the course itself. You can make up an email using Temp Mail if you don’t want to get spammed.

Then, find the first video in the course. It should be a YouTube video. Click the link that takes you to YouTube.

Then look at the number of views. Put those in as “Estimated Reach.”

Add every relevant course that shows up when you search (they have way fewer courses).

8. Niche tools

Repeat steps 1a through 1d, but Google things like #{top tools for designers}.