Seth Stewart

In Backlink Commander, Gavin & Jake recommended FirstPage WebSearch as their favorite source for outsourcing SEO tasks.

FirstPage WebSearch is essentially a Virtual Assistant brokerage service that has all the big tools in house - SeNukeX, Scrapebox, BuildMyRank, ArticleRanks, etc., and has a stable of highly-experienced (so they say) Filipino SEO VAs who know how to use 'em, to get you ranked. Their $75-$85/wk. prices match what you would pretty much pay any Filipino VA you'd hire independently for SEO tasks

I know Gavin & Jake have had good success with them, and I'm thinking of giving them a try. Anyone here worked with them, and can report back about the quality of their service, and results?

Matt Poc

That's interesting.

I've never heard of them, but I hired a worker from that same country for 220 USD. I'll tell you that it is a pain to manage them, though.

You have to tell them what you want in detail and when I say in detail, I really mean in detail... And they need training on everything.

Seth Stewart

I've already had 3 independent Filipino VAs and know about the need to micro-train.

The whole point of this brokerage was that they say their stable of workers is already trained - in all these top SEO tools - so you don't have to. I'm hoping someone here on Warrior has actually used this service and can report back, thanks

Seth Stewart

Just found a current thread, here:

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...g-75-week.html

that totally covers FirstPage WebSearch's services and reputation, with lots of feedback from a variety of customers. Sounds like they do some good work and have many satisfied customers, but also have some issues with VAs quitting and not completing tasks, and some communications issues with responding to people...all typical.

Anyway we can close this thread and go over there

sonnywacko

ive worked with them, they are trained, but sometimes very unreliable at times, need to email them several times, they don't use Skype, they say it doesn't work there, so im thinking they all work from home, not in a office.

Kenrick C

I signed up with this service last week. So far, not good.

However, I am giving them a chance to resolve this issue by having a conversation on Skype; before the start of next week's work.

I have not heard back from them as of yet.

For five days of work, I only received work for 1 day. And the work was probably around 33%-40% completed for the day based on the blueprint.

All I want the VA to do is create backlinks according to their plan I tweaked and convert the spun articles I provided to other compatible formats using the tool and info I provided.

I sent over detailed instructions, 15 spun articles (so my VA did not have to write or spin anything), shared them with Jake, and asked for my VA to contact me via Skype on Monday Jan 2nd at 2:30 a.m. EST.

The purpose of this conversation is to get the VA quickly up to speed with my requirements, address any concerns he may have, and tweak the backlinking blueprint (if required).

If you are not going to take advantage of this opportunity and not send any clarification via email; then my work better be completed on time and according to desired specifications.

I stayed up to that time on both Monday and Tuesday and did not get a contact request from the VA on Skype.

I sent emails to Jake and he finally got in touch with me on Wednesday.

Found out that VA sent me emails on those days that went straight to my spam/junk folder I never check.

Jake stated that he will have other VAs make up for these missed days.

VA connected with me on Skype on Thursday around 2:00 a.m. EST (before the start of his shift) and when I asked if he would like to chat to go over my instructions... he did not respond.

Thursday went by and I did not receive a report of the work done for that day.

I chatted with Jake via Skype about this, he stated he can issue a refund (I do not want a refund but my work completed since I am running this as a business and am now 4+ days behind), and that he will have the VA send me the work he has completed for the week at the end of Friday.

My VA works like the 2nd shift for my assignment and on Friday sent me work that was around 33% completed for the day, addressed me by another client's name, and clearly did not follow my backlinking instructions for the work he completed.

So as a recap, so far:

-No attention to detail
-Do not follow instructions
-Seems to only want to do work according to their blueprint
-Afraid to talk via Skype
-Do not respond in a decent amount of time
-VA could be working double shifts
-No sense of urgency meeting deadlines or completing work to client's specifications

However, I am giving them a chance to resolve this. If they do and complete my work on time and according to my specs each day; then I will update this review.

Joseph Then

I've used them for a month, and I fired them.

Kenrick C

Update: I spoke with Jake on Skype and we ironed out the issues below and adjusted the weekly blueprint.

So far so good. Will report back at the end of the week in regards to the quality of work delivered.

firstpagewebsearch

Hello,

Sorry for the issues. I just found out about this thread today.

Anyhow, we did had internet issues last year because of the power shortage here but we are back online and we had some major changes since you tried our services last year.

Feel free to try our 2 days trial again.

Thanks,

Jake

humboldt

I have been using them for 2 months now. My SEO VA is very reliable, and does use Skype, and is quite responsive. I get daily reports.
So far I am happy with them. Hope this helps !

firstpagewebsearch

Hello Joseph,

Sorry if you are not happy with you previous VA. We did had some major changes and updates from the last time you tried us. We always put our customer first and make sure you are happy before we start billing.

We also have 2 days trial available for everyone to try our VA's.

Thanks,

Jake

firstpagewebsearch

Hello Kenrick,

Thanks. We had some minor hiccups last week because of the holidays but I'll assure you things will be better this week.

Thanks,

Jake

firstpagewebsearch

Hello,

Thank you for the review.

Thanks,

Jake

natoli@doremieux.org

We have been using this service for few weeks. Honestly the quality is not there. We did hire a managed content VA. The content is not original, generated by a software, and they don't even read proof the content they write. Many sentences don't make sense.
Jake is nice to talk with, but I am disappointed that he doesn't look at what is produce by the VA, especially when we hire a managed VA.
The worst part is that I got an email of the VA, saying sorry next time I'll read proof it, and the next article is the same quality.

Some automated program produce better quality. If you use iWriter, you get much better quality at a cheaper price. It took the VA a whole day to produce 3 generated articles, not even read proof.

firstpagewebsearch

Hello Natoli,

Sorry for the problems. I am on the process of solving this issue and will send over one of my Project Managers to replace this VA. Our SEO VA's are not trained to write, but she did produced some content. We basically used the Content for SEO but we don't advice for website content. We did have some good results with the SEO side, but we would not advice the content to use for websites.

On my end Managing the VA, you hired an SEO VA to do the SEO work, I supervise the SEO to make sure she will work as discussed and I have managed your keywords and URL and created a campaign to use. You did not hire a Website Writer, but an SEO. We spin the articles to be used for SEO, again the article is not to be used for Website Content.

Also, we don't offer Managed Content VA. Only Managed SEO VA's:

"2 SEO VA types:

Managed SEO VA's($100 per week)

- the VA will be managed by one of our Project Manager, the Project Manager will help in checking your site for onpage stuff, giving advice, building a good campaign for your site, and other SEO things. This will give you time to do other important things, this is a set and forget system, you will get updates from your Project Manager on a daily or weekly basis depending on what you want. You just have to relax and watch your site increase it's ranking.


Unmanaged SEO VA($75 per week)

- this option will give you freedom to control your VA. You will decide what campaign to use, and the VA will follow. The VA will also give you suggestions."

I also offered a refund since you are not happy with the VA and also some free weeks to compensate the problems.

Waiting for your reply.

Thanks,

Jake

jamesquin

Don't waste your money. These guys are terrible. They don't respond to emails, can't follow simple instructions and appear to know little to nothing about SEO. In my opinion they probably did more harm than good. Half of their 'included services' were 'unavailable'. I complained about the first VA and after constant complaints to Jake he gave me a 'Project Manager' who was just as bad as the first, if not worse. No replies, could not follow simple instructions or did not understand simple seo principals. The reported 'output' per 8 hours could probably be done in 2 hours or less by someone who knows what they are doing.

Jake did give me a refund when I complained again, so basically I just wasted a whole lot of time and probably harmed some of my sites. These guys do no know what they are doing, and can only assume they rely on clients that know nothing about seo.

It also makes me question the validity of the 'gurus' who recommended this firm. This is not sour grapes but an honest report - something that I think is needed more on this site.

firstpagewebsearch

Sorry for the problems. I'm really sorry, unfortunately this is a different case. I sent you an email to explain what happened.

This is not how our VA's performed, this is just a different case where the VA had our trust and screw us. This is a lesson learned from us. Sorry again.

Jake

Joseph Then

If you have so much problems, I suggest that you clean up your staff and make sure that your services is as good as you advertised.

Saying sorry and fighting fire is not a good business practice.

firstpagewebsearch

We'll this happened for the first time for us. We have to say sorry because it's our fault.

You cannot expect perfection in outsourcing, it's a trial and error that is why we are offering the 2 days trial. In case of problems, we can work it out by offering a replacement or sending a full refund.

Appreciate your post though.