Will a Virtual Assitant from the Philippines get traffic for you?

Your assistant should do what you ask them to do. You direct them. You're the boss.

I have a friend in India that runs a successful business. I asked him why so many programmers in India work cheap for Americans, rather than starting their own sites. He said that there is not the entrepreneur spirit that you find in other places, like America. Most just want a paying job and security.

On the other hand, people in countries like the PI and India are very happy with $300 a month. That's a lot of money in some places and it is much easier to get it by doing some tasks for somebody like you than it is to go through the troubles of running their own business.

Hi Jennifer,

I was sceptical at the start too; about hiring in the philippines. Yes they can do all the tasks, but there's specific people for different tasks, some are trained in different areas like, Virtual assitant, article marketing, programing etc.

The most important thing to watch out for is their command of the English language. If you find someone with perfect writing skills, you'll not have any trouble giving them any task to do with blog posting, article writing, forum posting, do test them out first with a short task.

E Brian Rose is right in saying, "there is not the entrepreneur spirit in them." They like to find a job with security.

Jennifer, I *highly* recommend you hire a VA for traffic - IF you have a system that successfully get's traffic all set up, documented, and training material made.

Basically - first create the traffic method yourself. Test it out. (it can be simple article marketing or advanced SEO, or PPC or...) Make sure the system works and provides consistent results.

Document how you did it, in EASY TO FOLLOW, step by step manner.

Then look for a VA that fit's with your traffic method. Hire them on a "probation" period, for 30 days.

Give them that document with the exact steps, plus any software they need.

Keep track of their work. Make them fill out a log sheet, which shows what they did and the hours they work.

Communicate with them everyday, training, answering questions, etc.

After 30 days, evaluate their service. Did it bring traffic? Did it bring sales?


Money doesn't lie.

Make a decision to keep them or find someone else.

After you find a winner, and you have them fully trained, they require much less hand holding.

The important thing here, though, is to make sure you have a system already designed, tested, and working. Don't just tell them to "go get traffic..." Give them a system and a process for working the system and make sure they follow it.

Many people make lots of mistakes when hiring, and the above paragraph is the biggest. Make damn sure you have a system already AND it's documented.

Best of luck,

Rob

Left to their own devices a VA is worthless

If you tell them where, how, when, and what to post you'll get some results. But then there are automated tools to do the same thing.

Spend a little more (o.k. a lot) on someone who speaks english as a first language and understands the topic you are building traffic to - much better results.

Example: My political writer writes for 5 of my blogs. He also comments on 10 other blogs a day, posts to the twitter, facebook, and other social accounts tied to it.

In a nutshell I pay him to run the entire business from content to marketing. Why he is still working for me I have no clue

hi,
you can hire a va from elance.com/guru.com

you're best to check their feedback from other users before going ahead and I highly recommend you have a terms and conditions stating both your rights and responsibilities. You can make this yourself, doesn't need to be prepared by a lawyer or anything.

You should give them specific tasks to complete eg: writing articles or whatever you need done and ofcourse agree a price. The price can vary depending on what you need done.

I guess some people are happy earning a stable income working from home and maybe dont want their own business. But VA's are a great help and do work!
All the best

Jenni, Jenni; (867-5309)

I wish I could say something wise and witty but E. Brian and Rob have the gist of it covered.

As I am sure you can see, even in New England, some people favor security over opportunity. That sentiment is pervasive in some cultures. Indeed there are many people that will be glad to serve you well.

The only recommendation I might add is to have a look at oDesk.com. I have a part-time VA that has been outstanding. If you would like to start with someone part-time, let me know and I will send you her information.

Please do not hold yourself back from one of the best business tools you can give yourself.

I am and do remain...


Digitally yours,

Joe Mobley

I do agree with E. brian. In other country's they would prefer for security rather opportunity itself.

If I may add my 2 cents. It was asked why they just don't start their own business? In the Philippines most people do not have a credit card. Without a credit card how can they buy a domain and web hosting and a autoresponder?

Hi Ray,

You have to outsource some work to them first that doesn't require you handing over to many details right off the bat, finding someone that is capable of doing the tasks is your first move.

Once you build trust with this person after a few months and have given them a step by step guide on doing things, then you are going to have to eventually trust that person and give them access to your credit card and some other accounts i.e., Google account, hosting account etc. You can put a cap on your credit card to limit the amount in the beginning, but from my experience they are trustful and won't rip you off.

Rob Howard give a well detailed plan on how to go about getting the proper VA to work for you and he's correct in his post in saying, you have to train them for your business, everybody has a different approach to the way they want things done online.

I have lived in China for a long time and one thing you hear over and over again among people is a secure and steady job, even if it is a low paying one.

I can say that the The Philippines is one of the world's most popular outsourcing destinations with some distinct advantages over countries like India and China.

Yes, I agree that most Filipino employees are very hard working because we all want a job security. We are giving our best to make our clients happy and for them to keep us.

I have VAs in the Philippines and they do great graphic design and programming work. Internet marketing and writing is another story.

I don't think they are good for IM because if they were so good, why would they work for you in the first place. If you can live over there for $800 per month, that is relatively easy to get if you know what you are doing with internet marketing. It took a year for me to get up to that with affiliate offers.

Now if you have a task that you know does well and can systematize it, they will do it exactly as you ask, so maybe for directory submission or posting spun articles that would work.

I've used VAs a few times...

Like everyone else said, they're AWESOME if you can

1) Give them a proven system (lay it out step-by-step)
2) Clearly communicate what you want

Especially as I'm starting to get more into the product creation side of things, I'm looking forward to having VA graphics designers and programmers!

I can't say enough about the power of VAs. I still use some from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines even though I am in the process of hiring a part-time American VA who works just with coaches/infopreneurs.

The key is they need clear instruction.

I've had fantastic research VAs who I paid less than $2 an hour. The average seems to hover around $3, though I've sometimes paid $10 for technical help.

Peace,
Stephanie

Some people will be able to do these things without training, but usually you will have to train your staff.

The main skill you should look for is their English ability. Preferably some technical skills as well (basic or advanced web design).

If they have these skills they can be trained in everything else.

Your virtual assistant will have an understanding of IM techniques but you need to train them and follow up with them until you are happy with their output.

They will only be as good as your training and follow up.

With regards to why they work for so low wages, bear in mind that this level of income is fair in their country as the cost of living is much lower than in USA or UK.

In most cases they'll do what you train them to do! Train them well and they'll do well for you!

I am currently living in the Philippines and employing local Filipinos to handle my SEO and traffic generation. I'd say that I have an insider perspective on this subject that you're not going to learn in any e-book or outsourcing course. Some of the above comments are on target: in the Philippines, very few people dream of being entrepeneurs. The whole idea of "if you can dream it, you can achieve it" is stuff that is taught in America and other Western countries. Here, they hope for a gig that puts food on the table for their families.

(When you hire a guy in his early twenties, you can assume he already has a wife and one or two kids -- that is the normal situation here. And $300 a month is a very good salary here....it would make them the breadwinner for a large extended family.)

This does not mean that they will therefore be grateful, loyal, rock-solid employees. A lot of cultural stuff comes into play, that Westerners do not understand and is never taught in the "outsource and get rich overnight" courses. Because I live here, I've been able to watch over my employees, relate to them, and get results. I don't know how it would pan out if I was trying to deliver instructions via the internet from another country.

I've always been skeptical about hiring VA's because of communication. But I think communication via internet has improved with services like skype, etc.

I also need traffic to my sites and my coaching program also recommended getting outsource workers from the philipines. So will consider doing that in the near future.

The most important thing in my opinion is finding someone with a good command of the english language and some technical skills.

$200 - $300 dollars in some countries is alot of money. I should know.

Hi Jennifer,

I've had good experiences with my VA in outsourcing SEO activities (linkbuilding, creating linkwheels, etc.). Make a small project description and do a test for a few hours and if that works, try another (bigger) project. Use Google Docs or Basecamp to check on the activities and if that works well, you might want to hire your VA for a month or so.

Good luck!

good and bad , check the reviews of the provider that you chose first , check to see if he has any disputes etc.Be careful when your hiring a fresh philipino , they can either make it or break it.