force host and play with friends in ranked help

ok, so i know how to force host, but how can i get my friends in the room with me for ranked matches. once i'm host can they just join my game thru the xbox menu, or does it have to be done by bridging.

my friends and i always play for hours in free mode, but i thought why not get paid for our killin sprees, so i was hoping to make a large deathmatch that's still in essence freemode, anyone could join, but long enough for us to past the time and get paid while doing it. are there only certain modes i can do this in? any tips appreciated