Outsourcing SEO work to elance / people per hour, etc

[JSTEF]

Hi guys,

Im thinking of outsourcing SEO work to a provider on elance.

I've had several bids which include the following:

In depth keyword research
In depth on-page SEO
Extensive link building campaign over several months

They inform me that all methods they use are white hat and Ive seen the breakdown of backlinks and it does look pretty solid. All the feedback they have received for previous jobs suggests they are legit.

My aim, which I have advised them of, is to rank within the top 5 search results on the first page of google for 4 keywords within 4-5 months.

My question is - has anyone outsourced ALL of their SEO to a company on elance or another freelance website before? What was your experience? Good / bad?? Cost effective? Did you see results?

Or if anyone had any advice at all, I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers guys,

Jay

[michaelcorvin]

Jay, I outsource ALL of my site builds, SEO, EVERYTHING is pretty much overseas. Best thing to do is give them a small test project and see how they are doing. If they do a great job keep them...if not, dump them. It is part of the deal. Have to let them get their hands dirty to see if they have what it takes.

Michael

[JSTEF]

Great stuff, I was pretty much happy with what Id found out to date and was going to go for it but wanted a bit of reassurance before taking the plunge... So thank you for that!

[jank858]

Originally Posted by michaelcorvin

Jay, I outsource ALL of my site builds, SEO, EVERYTHING is pretty much overseas. Best thing to do is give them a small test project and see how they are doing. If they do a great job keep them...if not, dump them. It is part of the deal. Have to let them get their hands dirty to see if they have what it takes.

Michael

Have you had good results?

I'm just curious.

Thanks.

[crismacana]

Originally Posted by michaelcorvin

Jay, I outsource ALL of my site builds, SEO, EVERYTHING is pretty much overseas. Best thing to do is give them a small test project and see how they are doing. If they do a great job keep them...if not, dump them. It is part of the deal. Have to let them get their hands dirty to see if they have what it takes.

Michael

Great advice. I agree with Michael. Give them test projects then if it is good, hire them if not, look for someone else. Giving test projects would help you find the best person for your job.

[joemy]

I also want to know about it

[mikelmraz]

or you can use Fiverr as well ...

[jesseholmes]

Most of the stuff that is out there for web design outsourcing is just downright ugly for the money I charge my offline clients for a nice looking site. I honestly use themeforest themes and have them built out. (I have a guy who I subcontract locally to as well as some outsourcers online who develop killer looking wordpress themes.)

As far as on page SEO, you can teach and hire someone else to do it or take care of it yourself with how easy wordpress plugins are nowadays. (Or fiverr

For SEO I rank 10 keywords for my clients and I get them first page listings within 30-90 days depending on the competition obviously. I've ranked some clients on the top within the first week, some people take a little longer. I have my own high PR link network I use to build high quality backlinks. Works like a champ in the local SEO market for me, getting my clients multiple listings on the first page (but don't tell anyone I told you how I do it).

Sweet method on getting potential clients, really hope you can close them.

My business model is putting together custom marketing packages for my clients ranging from $2000-$6000 a pop plus monthly marketing fees.

Hope that helps Jay

[myeanne]

Hi Jay,

Elance is one of the popular freelance sites but still, like other sites you can encounter freelancer who just pretending to be the right and best one. I always suggest to hire an outsourcing firm/company. Leasing a staff from an offshore company make sure that all your files and data are secured and confidential.
Your leased staff are 100% working for you and dedicated, the people you found at Elance and other freelance sites are all freelancers who are working from home and maybe working with other clients at the same time that will compromise the quality of their work.

[ShanghaiSEOExpert]

Originally Posted by jesseholmes

Most of the stuff that is out there for web design outsourcing is just downright ugly for the money I charge my offline clients for a nice looking site. I honestly use themeforest themes and have them built out. (I have a guy who I subcontract locally to as well as some outsourcers online who develop killer looking wordpress themes.)

As far as on page SEO, you can teach and hire someone else to do it or take care of it yourself with how easy wordpress plugins are nowadays. (Or fiverr

For SEO I rank 10 keywords for my clients and I get them first page listings within 30-90 days depending on the competition obviously. I've ranked some clients on the top within the first week, some people take a little longer. I have my own high PR link network I use to build high quality backlinks. Works like a champ in the local SEO market for me, getting my clients multiple listings on the first page (but don't tell anyone I told you how I do it).

Sweet method on getting potential clients, really hope you can close them.

My business model is putting together custom marketing packages for my clients ranging from $2000-$6000 a pop plus monthly marketing fees.

Hope that helps Jay

Hi, sorry I can't PM you. Can you provide me with an email just to ask you a few questions.

Many thanks

[FBueller]

I was wondering how to find a good local wordpress person who can take themes customize them (craigslist??) Also, how much do you pay them? do you pay by hour? I'd appreciate your input.

[John Moore]

Make sure you see examples of a persons work before employing them, there are a lot of scammers out there.

[jesseholmes]

Originally Posted by ShanghaiSEOExpert

Hi, sorry I can't PM you. Can you provide me with an email just to ask you a few questions.

Many thanks

hey shanghai, skype me at j2kinteractive.

[jesseholmes]

I JV'd with a freelance web developer (not designer) who does sites for me per contract. I'm sure there's a ton of them in your local town.

Problem with most local designers is they charge $60+ an hour to design which is a big no no. I found some real good graphics guys online (99designs.com, odesk, etc.) to make good looking homepage mockups for themeforest.net themes (striking is my favourite right now) and then I get my developer guy to fill in the blanks with the client's content.

Results: customized and beautiful looking sites on the cheap

[laurencewins]

vworker is a great site to find good freelancers.
If you happen to need written content. I can help you there but the other stuff I don't do so perhaps check out vworker as well.
Elance can be a pain in the way they are set up sometimes. I have only done a couple of jobs there, whereas I have done 45 jobs in vworker so far.

[rafiseo]

- oDesk is the best for outsourcing(My opinion)
- Freelancers from Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan etc. are rally good. You can give them priority.
- Before hiring anyone take a test. tell them to create 2 keyword relevant blog posts(must pass moderation), 1 forum post(good post so that people will start commenting on it. Not just spamming), let them create an account on ping.fm and then post using ping.fm to any one of social networking accounts. etc. etc. It will depend on your project.
- Finally tell them to submit reports every day. Then you will be able to check for what you are spending money.
- My fiverr experience is half good and half bad! I think you need to spend some money to select best 5 guys who are really experts in their fields. Then you will be able to use their gigs regularly for your projects...

[owenlee]

you need to interview them first...ie give a small task to test it out...this is to make sure they understand your job..

[packerfan]

I'm going to give you the most valuable piece of advice you'll ever get on outsourcing...

Spend your time finding the best possible RECRUITER / STAFFING MANAGER you can, and let them find you the best contractors.

You will waste countless hours, literally hundreds if you outsource a lot. I have been doing this for the last month or so, and the results are crazy. I am getting far better contractors, at far better rates, and I literally don't talk to them until they are hired.

It sounds crazy, but if you CLEARLY know what you want, and really put in the effort to find a recruiter, you will be amazed.

I probably spent 15 hours hiring my recruiter. So far she's hired 6 or 8 people for me, and they are all incredible. She writes job descriptions, posts jobs, evaluates candidates, reviews history, administers any tests I want, conducts in depth interviews, documents everything, consults with me on the top 3, makes a recommendation, and then hires them.

I'll never hire another long term contractor myself again, period. For the odd job, like create 50 accounts or something, I will do it. But for example, I recently wanted to add a 20 hour a week VA. That job posting got 119 applicants. I got a freakin rock star, and I spent less than 20 minutes on the deal.

[FBueller]

Originally Posted by packerfan

I'm going to give you the most valuable piece of advice you'll ever get on outsourcing...

Spend your time finding the best possible RECRUITER / STAFFING MANAGER you can, and let them find you the best contractors.

.

Thanks packerfan for that advice. Would you share who you use for your recruiter? Is it a 3rd party co that specializes in that?