Outsourcing - Frequently Asked Questions

by Trevor
244 replies
  • SEO
  • |
Hello fellow Warriors,

I was planning on writing this guide for some time. Today I just got to finish it and now I want to share with you my guide on outsourcing containing my thoughts, experience and things I think are important to keep in mind when it comes to outsourcing.

Well, first off, Happy Holidays to all of you, and do not be tempted to think I'm such a workaholic I even work during Christmas - I don't, I only added a few last lines to the guide today and the only work I'm doing is uploading in onto the forum. All right, enough beating around the bush, let's get to the nitty gritty!

So What Is Outsourcing?

This is probably clear to most of you, but just in case you don't know what outsourcing is, let me clarify. It's having work done by someone else and paying them for the work, either up front or upon completion.

The fact is, most of the tasks in internet marketing can be outsourced (I believe up to 95% of all).

Why Would We Want To Outsource?

This is obvious, we are internet marketers. Not writers, not webmasters, not coders, not graphic designers, we are, over and above all, marketers. Our work is to market, not to write our butts off trying to come up with valuable content or what not.

That's why it's great to have your work done by someone else, while you can focus on other more important things, while other people do the work you tell them to do. The fact is, you don't have to be very good at any technical stuff to be a very successful internet marketer. I myself only know a bunch of html tags and cannot do any programming at all.

General Rules Of Outsourcing

This is the core of my outsourcing guide. Be sure to go through the below rules one by one, I hope you will get something out of it.

Rule #1 - Always Tell Your Workers Exactly What You Want

Many people don't realize that they should be more exact, while telling their workers what to do. For example, if you are paying someone to create banners or e-book covers for you, always tell them your exact idea of how it should look like, what should be included in the picture, how the pic should be structured, what text should appear within it, etc. The more detailed instructions you give to your workers the better.

Rule #2 - Stay In Contact With Your Workers On Skype

Being in touch with your workers on Skype is much better than simple email communication. Skype is faster and you can reach out them at any time and the response is usually much more prompt than communication via email. In fact, my first contact with any of my workers is via email, but I tell them right away that they have to be able to be online on Skype while they work, or else I won't hire them. Which leads us to the third rule, which is

Rule #3 - Fully Speak Your Mind Before You Hire Them

This is in correlation with the first rule. You have to give detailed instructions, but you also have to give them anything and everything that comes to your mind about the work you need them to do for you. You should also express your expectations (time, quality...), and ask them in your first email you send out whether or not they are willing to live up to your expectations. If not, don't hire them, there are tens of other people out there, who will be more than glad to work for you.

Rule #4 - Be Sure Your Workers Understand You

It is sometimes difficult to be sure your workers understand you well. It's not enough to just ask them "Do you understand this?", you should be a little more creative and tell them to answer some questions, so you can be sure you don't hire anybody, who doesn't know what he/she is going to do. In the questions you can include some jargon words or specialized terms only experts can understand to make sure your workers are real experts and knowledgeable in their department.

Rule #5 - Send Them A Sample

This has proven to be really helpful, not only in the process of selecting and weeding out the workers, who are not that great, but also for your workers to give you exactly what you demand. If you send them a work sample, they can be more targeted and the outcomes are usually better.

Rule #6 - Give Them Instructional Video(s) Or PDF(s)

This is optional, but has also worked really well for me. If you give them a video or two describing your demands, the outcomes tend to be better, as well. You can also send them a simple PDF with instructions, which also works great. See the following step to see how I always make sure they read the PDF(s) to the end.

Rule #7 - Include A Secret Word Within The PDF(s) Or Video

I actually learned this from another Warrior and it's a really clever thing to do while you are in the "hiring" process. If you send them an instructional video or PDF, you can include within it a secret word, a "password", which you tell them in the PDF or video to mention in the response email. This way you can see exactly which people actually read your PDF or watched your video and which ones did not. Therefore you can rule out the ones, who apparently don't care to read your instructions and the ones, who are really eager to work with you and read the instructions you send them.

Rule #8 - Test Out At Least 5 People Before Hiring Anybody

If I want a certain type of work done, I always reach out to at least 5 people and send the same message and give them the exact same resources. I pick only the best one (best in terms of how fast they reply, what they have to say/offer, how knowledgeable they seem to be, how well they understand what I want and how correctly they answer my questions, etc.)

Rule #9 - Keep Them Separate

If I'm starting a website, I hire one person to do the graphics stuff, another one to write content for me, another one to build backlinks, etc. There have been cases of marketers being ripped off by their workers. Although this didn't happen to me, if you asked just one person to do everything, you would also have to give him all the resources and ideas and it could happen he would steal your own ideas. So be on a watch-out and keep everything separate.

What Can Be Outsourced

As I said above, I believe that 95% of internet marketing work can be outsourced. Below you can see some great places to hire your workers and what kind of work I usually do outsource and do not outsource. However, this is just my personal approach and yours can be different, of course.

Writing - There are many places to hire quality writers. You can hire people from the Philippines at, for example, onlinejobs.ph. They are usually hard workers, who do what they are told to. Other places to hire quality writers: Warriors "For Hire" section, fweez.com, iwriter.com.

Linkbuilding - Although I also build links myself, a big part of my backlinking campaigns is outsourced. There are guys, who work in conjunction with certain blog networks. I've heard Vin does a great job, as he writes short articles and submits it to Build My Rank himself. All you need to do is give him your URLs and keywords. Linkbuilding can also be outsourced in other places like Fiverr. There are some really great Fiverr gigs that offer links from BMR, LinkVana, Article Ranks, Free Traffic System or Article Marketing Robot and Unique Article Wizard submissions. To find the best ones, do your search using the names of those blog networks and submitters and order the results by rating.

Graphics/E-design - I suck at graphics! I'm really horrible at any kind of graphic art and I hate doing this stuff myself. You can hire really great and talented graphic designers at Odesk, eLance, vWorker or Guru.

Forum Posting - You can outsource forum posting for backlinking purposes, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the only purpose of having somebody create forum posts for you. Have you ever thought of starting your own forum? It's a great way to get content for free, yet many people are afraid of starting their own forums, because they think the start is too hard. Well, it is, but it's not that hard. You can hire quality "posters", as I call them, at paidforumposting.com. They are really cheap and you can even hire somebody to moderate your forum! Think about this, you can simply start a forum in your niche, buy thousands of posts at the mentioned site (and these are not spam posts, the guys at paidforumposting.com make sure the posts are relevant, on-topic and provide value) and even have somebody moderate the forum for you. Auto-pilot is the right word here!

Copywriting - You can hire quality copywriters in the Warriors For Hire section of this forum.

The above are the tasks I outsource and now let me mention the ones I don't outsource and rather do myself.

Keyword Research
- After many attempts of finding a reliable person to work with, I decided to rely on myself only. Maybe I was just unlucky, but I didn't really find anybody who would live up to all my expectations and do keyword research for me with all the aspects I demanded.

Setting The Sales Funnel
- I like to do this myself, as well.

Writing Email Newsletter Series - I would not hire anybody to write the follow-up messages for my lists, I actually do care a lot about my subscribers and everything I send out is written by myself. I always strive to provide value in my emails, even when I'm promoting something, I wouldn't send my list anything I don't believe is a great product.

Recap & Conclusion

A few things I haven't mentioned yet: Be prepared that people tend to exaggerate about their skills and often lie in their claims and descriptions of themselves. You have to be really careful and picky, and as I said above, always try and test out more people before hiring anybody!

Last but not least, I didn't intend to promote anything with this guide, none of the links included are affiliate links and I have no affiliation with any of the sites I link to.

Ok, I hope this rather long post will be of some use to at least some of you. If this helps at least one person avoid the costly mistakes I made, then my work will have been worth the time!

If you have any questions at all, you can ask below and I will try my best to answer them. And if you want to thank me, don't leave a spammy-looking reply to do so, simply clicking the "Thanks" button will carry out the job!

Allright, that's it guys. Take care and enjoy the rest of the holidays!
#christmas #gift #guide #outsourcing #work
  • Profile picture of the author Awesomo
    Thanks Trevor, it's a great post with loads of information. Few more things to add to the list -> you can also outsource video creations, blog commenting, setting up websites.
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by Awesomo View Post

      Thanks Trevor, it's a great post with loads of information. Few more things to add to the list -> you can also outsource video creations, blog commenting, setting up websites.
      Yep, I just added them as they came to mind, I'm sure I left out a bunch! I may add them later
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    • Profile picture of the author atSad141
      Originally Posted by Awesomo View Post

      Thanks Trevor, it's a great post with loads of information. Few more things to add to the list -> you can also outsource video creations, blog commenting, setting up websites.
      yea.... you added some important terms
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  • Profile picture of the author sswaqas
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by sswaqas View Post

      thanks for your information
      You are welcome and if you have any questions at all regarding outsourcing, let me know via PM or here on this thread and I'll try come up with a meaningful answer!
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  • Profile picture of the author Rabindra
    Hi Trevor,

    Very nicely laid and a comprehensive post that warriors are getting their hands on for FREE! Some people offering WSO in the past had less valued info on their report than what you are offering here, freely.

    BTW, in regards to your rule #7, absolutely! that is what all the experienced marketer do. This will definitely speed up the selection process by quickly and easily disqualifying those people who don't pay enough attention. Not only for the video or pdf instruction, this is a must even if someone is posting a job on any outsourcing site.

    In this outsourcing field (or in any business), we need to work as a professional therefore one's emotion mustn't stop taking the right decision. For instant - this applies, when there is a need for someone to fire a VA (who has been working with you for X amount of time, and there is a naturally bonded relationship), as his/her service is either no longer required or becomes less effective for the sake of one's company.

    Finally, even if someone who has no- experience of outsourcing yet, walks out of this thread with just one lesson - the rule no #7 (not mentioning the rest as they are equally valuable too) then, it definitely worth the time invested in this thread.

    Kind Regards,

    Rabindra
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Rabindra,

      Thank you very much for your kind words and I'm glad you like my guide.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anthony Scorza
    Funny how things work Trevor.

    I was thinking I need to get a handle on outsourcing as I was out walking the dog this morning and I come across your post pretty much as soon as I've logged in to my PC!

    The Universe at work I guess

    Thanks mate, really valuable post.

    Tony
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by Anthony Scorza View Post

      Funny how things work Trevor.

      I was thinking I need to get a handle on outsourcing as I was out walking the dog this morning and I come across your post pretty much as soon as I've logged in to my PC!

      The Universe at work I guess

      Thanks mate, really valuable post.

      Tony
      Hey Tony,

      I'm glad that you like my guide. Yep, this is how things work out sometimes, life is a weird succession of coincidences

      - Trev
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  • Profile picture of the author Bofu2U
    Good post, #3 is a deal maker/breaker. Have to keep it up front.
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  • Profile picture of the author D Alishouse
    "Keeping Them Separate" is excellent advice. When you are outsourcing and especially if you're working with people who are new to you, keeping it separate can save you a lot of heartache later on! I'm like you, I am not really that worried about being scammed by anyone, but keeping jobs cleanly separated makes it easier to test out the capabilities of a new person. It also helps you if some of them don't live up to what you were wanting. Everything is separate and, therefore, easier to bring a new person on to if you must.
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by D Alishouse View Post

      "Keeping Them Separate" is excellent advice. When you are outsourcing and especially if you're working with people who are new to you, keeping it separate can save you a lot of heartache later on! I'm like you, I am not really that worried about being scammed by anyone, but keeping jobs cleanly separated makes it easier to test out the capabilities of a new person. It also helps you if some of them don't live up to what you were wanting. Everything is separate and, therefore, easier to bring a new person on to if you must.
      Although I have never been personally scammed myself, a close marketing friend of mine got scammed by a worker, who just grabbed the material he was sent and kept it to himself. It actually contained some valuable data like keyword selection, etc.

      You are right, I believe nobody can be a real expert in all departments, if you want to truly excel, you have to keep your focus on that one thing. That's my personal belief, anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author sasai
    Trevor, I want to know would you share WSO material with VA, I have a VA and it take time to train, obviously it save me tons of time if I just send them a guide and let him know my business model, thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by sasai View Post

      Trevor, I want to know would you share WSO material with VA, I have a VA and it take time to train, obviously it save me tons of time if I just send them a guide and let him know my business model, thanks
      Hey

      On the first occasion I would not give the VA any secret material or information, I would first test him out to see if he's responsive and trustworthy...

      I'm not sure I fully get you there, you mean send him a WSO that he would work by?
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      • Profile picture of the author sasai
        Yep, say, xfactor methods, I think some of them are open secret, I still wonder if it is a good idea to tell them how my business works
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        • Profile picture of the author TMG Jason
          Thanks, Trevor, lots of great resources there, and the post is very-well organized.

          Before any new marketer decides to go down this route, though, they need to make sure they have a system in place that they fully understand. Lots of people want a "push-button" solution for making money, and those don't really exist until you have a complete system that you know top-to-bottom and can begin to duplicate.

          So, make sure you know the why behind each of the steps that you are outsourcing. (I'm sure you understand all of this, Trevor, but this post is for anyone else who's reading this thread). Thanks again!
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      • Profile picture of the author HighRanking999
        Originally Posted by Trevor View Post

        Hey

        On the first occasion I would not give the VA any secret material or information, I would first test him out to see if he's responsive and trustworthy...

        I'm not sure I fully get you there, you mean send him a WSO that he would work by?
        Great post Trevor and thank you for sharing. Is there any specific criterion for trusting VAs? My experience is that they can be untrustworthy any time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Maraun
    I will take a closer look at paidforumposting.com, as I had trouble doing this properly with Oursourcers on ODesk. Thanks for sharing Trevor!
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    great share here. You can also split up your tactic with more than one outsourcer so you aren't giving anybody your entire secret sauce. They each have a piece of the puzzle!
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    • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
      Originally Posted by Kenster View Post

      great share here. You can also split up your tactic with more than one outsourcer so you aren't giving anybody your entire secret sauce. They each have a piece of the puzzle!
      The funny thing about this technique of splitting up the work is it tends to organically happen in itself as many contractors get bored and drift off to other projects in the middle of a contract. This fact is amplified when you test it with programmers and intellectual jobs.

      Here is a tip from my experience as I have found is inevitable for the majority of these contractors to not follow through to the end of the project.

      When they began to drift off in communication tends to lack let them know that you understand if they are no longer interested in the project and would love to end the contract if you can get their completed work this will often times invoked the contractor to reconnect with you in hopes that they will get paid for what the work that they have done thus far.
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  • Profile picture of the author kaidaiah
    Wow, definitely need to print this out and save for reference!! Your guide is a lifesaver for new and experienced marketers alike!! Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author Matt Attack
      I learn something new everyday thanks to posts like these. I never thought of the secret word trick, however it is definitely something I will be doing from now on!

      Thanks for the great information here
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      • Profile picture of the author Trevor
        Originally Posted by sasai View Post

        Yep, say, xfactor methods, I think some of them are open secret, I still wonder if it is a good idea to tell them how my business works
        I think you don't have to be afraid, just think about how many people read WSOs and never take action on them, I doubt your VA would even be experienced enough to put your WSOs into action properly. Often times they don't haveathe faintest idea about marketing, they are just good what they are good at

        Originally Posted by Maraun View Post

        I will take a closer look at paidforumposting.com, as I had trouble doing this properly with Oursourcers on ODesk. Thanks for sharing Trevor!
        Yep, check them out, Maraun and let me know how you like them!

        Originally Posted by TMG Jason View Post

        Thanks, Trevor, lots of great resources there, and the post is very-well organized.

        Before any new marketer decides to go down this route, though, they need to make sure they have a system in place that they fully understand. Lots of people want a "push-button" solution for making money, and those don't really exist until you have a complete system that you know top-to-bottom and can begin to duplicate.

        So, make sure you know the why behind each of the steps that you are outsourcing. (I'm sure you understand all of this, Trevor, but this post is for anyone else who's reading this thread). Thanks again!
        Thanks for your reply, Jason, indeed, there are no push-button solutions to making money on the Internet, if there were, then everybody would be doing it.

        And you are right, it still takes some experience to master outsourcing, but I believe this guide can speed up the learning process a little bit!

        Originally Posted by kaidaiah View Post

        Wow, definitely need to print this out and save for reference!! Your guide is a lifesaver for new and experienced marketers alike!! Thanks!
        I will be honored if you print this out I'm glad you like my work.

        Originally Posted by Matt Attack View Post

        I learn something new everyday thanks to posts like these. I never thought of the secret word trick, however it is definitely something I will be doing from now on!

        Thanks for the great information here
        Thank you Matt for your kind words, yep, the "secret word trick" is really effective and I would like to point out here that it's not my own idea, I got it from a fellow warrior but it really helps decide whom to hire and whom not!
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      • Profile picture of the author jithuwebtech
        Thanks for sharing such a beautiful article , its more informative, so keep update with new information you got.....
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  • Profile picture of the author drewmcntyre
    Thanks Trevor for this really great post about outsourcing. Now I understand what is outsourcing and why we do this. Really thanks. I bookmarked your post.
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    • Profile picture of the author ish
      Thanks for sharing this Trevor, it's given me some good tips on how i should outsource.
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  • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
    Nice but your stretching that when you say "Only Outsourcing Guide You'll Ever Need" as outsourcing is a continuous development of the understanding and management of people which can take over a lifetime to fully comprehend.

    I would add a couple things when it comes to outsourcing especially when dealing with workers directly.

    If you're hiring someone to do a complete project make sure you hire a least 4 to 5 people to do the exact same job and only bring on the most qualified individuals.

    You may be asking why in the heck would you hire fortified people to do the exact same job well through our experience we have found that one out of five will actually do the job to completion so it is very very important to tell your workers that you will not pay for their time if they do not complete the job in full before even hiring them.

    I just wanted to go ahead and bring this tip to you because if I would've known this from the beginning it would've saved us a lot of time as getting the product to the market is very important in our business.
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by Clint Faber View Post

      Nice but your stretching that when you say "Only Outsourcing Guide You'll Ever Need" as outsourcing is a continuous development of the understanding and management of people which can take over a lifetime to fully comprehend.

      I would add a couple things when it comes to outsourcing especially when dealing with workers directly.

      If you're hiring someone to do a complete project make sure you hire a least 4 to 5 people to do the exact same job and only bring on the most qualified individuals.

      You may be asking why in the heck would you hire fortified people to do the exact same job well through our experience we have found that one out of five will actually do the job to completion so it is very very important to tell your workers that you will not pay for their time if they do not complete the job in full before even hiring them.

      I just wanted to go ahead and bring this tip to you because if I would've known this from the beginning it would've saved us a lot of time as getting the product to the market is very important in our business.
      Well put, Clint, thank you for your contribution.

      It really does take time and experience to master outsourcing, reading about it is not enough, but hopefully this guide will help some of the newer marketers to get on the right track!
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      • Profile picture of the author Clint Faber
        Originally Posted by Trevor View Post

        Well put, Clint, thank you for your contribution.

        It really does take time and experience to master outsourcing, reading about it is not enough, but hopefully this guide will help some of the newer marketers to get on the right track!
        Yes absolutely happy to contribute to this thought-provoking and contributing topic.

        The main thing that you need when stepping into the outsourcing arena is to be 100% dedicated as there is a lot of subtext to learn that can only be understood by implementation. This is especially true when you have never had any management position or have ever been responsible for a team before.

        You will learn a lot and get frustrated a lot as well but eventually you will be able to escalate your business to a point where you can outsource the management itself and all you will need to be concerned about is outsourcing the management position so you can focus on the most important thing to your businesses success marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author michaelplies
    that's an amazing guide. thanks a lot Trevor
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  • Profile picture of the author sam m
    I liked the idea of secret password to weed out
    slicksters and I agree you have do skype with these guys

    Nice post Trevor
    Will you take off for New years.. Lol
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  • Profile picture of the author SmileKenya
    Thanks for such a marvelous guide to outsourcing. It is true that an individual himself/herself has much to play in order to get good work. He himself chooses the workers and gives the instructions. He is in control, and for that matter the determining factor for the quality of work he will receive. So despite having experts doing your work, you are ever in charge and your decisions will either give you a good or a poor job.
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    • Profile picture of the author myiphoneapp
      thanks for sharing such a informative thread on Outsourcing Guide. all point have to keep on mind before starting Outsourcing services.

      really informative post!

      thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author chrislangley
    Nice tips, I agree keeping in touch with your workers is a nice way of ensuring that the work is being done
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  • Profile picture of the author Georgios
    Thanks Trevor,
    very nice post !

    I think that the Rule #2 - "Stay In Contact With Your Workers On Skype" and and general the contact, communication and collaboration is the key!!
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author johnpaulgrant
      make them online on skype during working hours and perform a surprise evaluation. Employees often know when their performance evaluations are coming up and tend to 'butter the bread' when the time gets close to make up for instances when they were not on task. Performing a surprise evaluation without their knowledge. this will give them a realistic depiction of what they do when they are caught off guard. Allow the employees to see statistical evidence of work being performed to show proof because many will be left in disbelief without it.



      Originally Posted by Georgios View Post

      Thanks Trevor,
      very nice post !

      I think that the Rule #2 - "Stay In Contact With Your Workers On Skype" and and general the contact, communication and collaboration is the key!!
      Signature

      I am an expert in outsourcing to The Philippines and have been working with Filipino virtual assistants for more than 5 years. I am the co-founder of RemoteWorkMate (VA management service) and RemoteStaffRecruit (VA recruitment service) Check out my blog >>>LifeStyleBusinessDesign<<<!

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  • Profile picture of the author Kris79
    Nice job with this guide.
    Could you tell me from which part of the world you are hiring people?
    Is there any difference, or just everybody is going for Philippines?
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    • Profile picture of the author asiancasanova
      Wow, bookmarked. Thanks for the share. Do you believe in Odesk and Elance?
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      • Profile picture of the author wordsofmagic
        Thanks for the info, excellent guide and a real eye opener how to set up a business on auto pilot.
        Signature

        Paul Smith
        Start Up PPC Business Coach

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  • Profile picture of the author Kris79
    Thanks for the answer
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  • Profile picture of the author Ken Somerville
    One thing that I would suggest for people is to but your work out as a bid. Tell people what you want done and then tell them something like (I know with your skills that this will be simple) This plays to vanity and you will generaly get a better price then otherwise.
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  • Profile picture of the author ruoall
    How I wish I had come across your thread earlier... I am actually in the final stages of getting a document automation system developed and am on my second developer.

    I guess you learn from your mistakes and as you go along.

    Great post by the way!

    Ruoall
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    • Profile picture of the author vajra123
      Thanks for the great information.Entire this forum is having a great and awesome information about every field .I love this forum site.
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  • Profile picture of the author casinomegamall
    Thanks for the help Trevor. You are such a genius person and i have read your almost posts on this forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author bigmojophotos
    Thank you very much Trevor.
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  • Profile picture of the author brentcans
    Fine thread, nice to be here!
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Wow, so many positive reactions, I wasn't expecting that. Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author flipgrind
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Rollmodl
      Good read. I have also found that business that are now getting into online marketing (seo, social media, etc.), are still following the old business model by requiring these position to be filled "in-house".

      Maybe I should include this link before applying. By the way, let me know if you still need help with keyword research.
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  • Profile picture of the author theory expert
    Banned
    What is the 5% that can't be outsourced? Why wasn't this posted in the main internet marketing discussion forum?
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  • Profile picture of the author Drewry_Media
    quick question for you my friend. Do you outsource all of your online marketing, including your content creation, and PPC paper click advertising? :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by theory expert View Post

      What is the 5% that can't be outsourced? Why wasn't this posted in the main internet marketing discussion forum?
      For example, PPC bidding management and things like that - This is nearly impossible to outsource, for it needs your expertise and if you gave your keywords to someone else, he would probably take the profits for himself.

      Originally Posted by flipgrind View Post

      Thanks for the guide Trevor. Very helpful for me since I'm going to start outsourcing my works.
      That's great, I wish you good luck, any questions regarding outsourcing, just let me know!

      Originally Posted by Drewry_Media View Post

      quick question for you my friend. Do you outsource all of your online marketing, including your content creation, and PPC paper click advertising? :-)
      I answer this question in the guide, just scroll about half way down and you'll see what I do and do not outsource.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ryken
        Very nice outsourcing guide Trevor. I must say this could have easily been a WSO but nonetheless. Rich with very good information and sources. Thanks for such a valuable share. Well worth the couple of minutes to read it.
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        • Profile picture of the author Trevor
          Originally Posted by Ryken View Post

          Very nice outsourcing guide Trevor. I must say this could have easily been a WSO but nonetheless. Rich with very good information and sources. Thanks for such a valuable share. Well worth the couple of minutes to read it.
          Heh, thanks for stopping by. I thought of making a WSO out of my guide, but it was Christmas time when I was releasing it so I thought I'd give it away as a gift
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          • Profile picture of the author jamesquin
            If you find a good outsourcer - hang on to them. There are some good ones out there but also a whole lot of terrible ones
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            • Profile picture of the author paradoxical
              great post.thanks for sharing .Another piece of the puzzle is now clearer.
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      • Profile picture of the author dburk
        Originally Posted by Trevor View Post

        For example, PPC bidding management and things like that - This is nearly impossible to outsource, for it needs your expertise and if you gave your keywords to someone else, he would probably take the profits for himself.
        Hi Trevor, great OP, but when I saw this post I just had to jump into the thread and share an alternative viewpoint.

        I strongly disagree with your assertion that PPC bidding management "is nearly impossible to outsource". The reason you give also seems to contradict your earlier advice about outsourcing SEO projects. Certainly you must give your keywords out to your SEO workers, do you not? Either way, I hope you don't think that a professional ad agency will have any difficulty identifying your keywords, that is one of their core competencies. In fact, a half decent agency will identify more keywords and gather more intelligence about those keywords than most small business owners could ever manage.

        If you take a look at many of the best ran corporations around the globe you will find that outsourcing PPC bid management is quite common in those firms. In fact, many of those firms outsource their ad campaigns to ad agencies, and many of those top agencies will further outsource the PPC management to a specialist. The reason for this is that it is a difficult task that requires a highly focused specialist to get top performance.

        Outsourcing PPC bid management is such a common practice that Google AdWords has, from the earliest days, focused on providing tools and resources for agency support. Here is a partial list of Google's dedicated agency support:

        Hmm.. I wonder why Google has so many resources dedicated to agency support if, as you say "This is nearly impossible to outsource." :confused:

        The best PPC ad agencies often do not rely on a single expert. PPC is arguable the most technically difficult aspect of marketing to master today. A competitive industry will need to employ talent from range of disciplines, graphic artists, marketing strategists, ad copy writing, Video production (including video script writing, video editing, sound engineering, etc.), marketing experiments, Marketing analytics, Keyword research, and project management and more.

        There is no way that a single individual can be an expert in all of those various disciplines. If you try to do it all yourself, you cannot specialize. If you do not specialize you will not be able to keep up with those that do.

        In my opinion, one of the best reasons to outsource is that there is no quicker, and cheaper, way to assemble a top notch team of specialists to launch a new product/service, or to dominate an industry. And of all of the areas of outsourcing opportunities, PPC management is one of the most established and thoroughly supported specialties. Judging by the decision of so many well ran companies, a very popular choice as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author gs000707
    Thanks for sharing!

    Regards,
    George
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    I guess, here goes the fee first, fancy sig later after that, I'll have to wait then... .)

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    • Profile picture of the author jadesource
      Wow, great post. I'm in a rush right now with family matters but am going to digest it better on the plane back to Manila.

      There is an art to delegating, and not everyone has it. True in a small office, true when your employee is 5000 miles away in Cebu.

      I constantly struggle with the not under utilize and not overwhelm stuff too. If you underutilize you can make your outsourcer feel like they either aren't helping enough, can go get another job, etc. or a whole host of things.

      If you overwhelm, they'll disappear because they can't do it.

      And then, there's just patience, cultivation and time. Not push button, by any means.

      But I think any boss has that problem, and folks I talk to forget that the minute you outsource, you become a client/boss, and have all of the incumbent responsibilities.

      Each outsource country has a particular mix of cultural mores and work styles.

      But the same core rules apply.

      Wow, just a great post, thanks!

      Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author mundamuh
      Hi Trevor,

      Excellent post. I am just about to embark on the journey of outsourcing and going towards automation. Although I am very new at internet marketing, I am learning every day and this post definitely is on the top 10 most useful information thus far.

      Although this might be a very *newbie* question but what are some good resources to ensure that the articles that are being written are indeed unique.

      Thanks,

      Munda
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    • Profile picture of the author Saranya2011
      Wow.. Great information about outsource.. Very helpful for me.. keep it sharing like this always.. thanks a lot..
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      • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
        Originally Posted by Saranya2011 View Post

        Wow.. Great information about outsource.. Very helpful for me.. keep it sharing like this always.. thanks a lot..
        Perhaps you can share some info here too since you are running a website that deals with outsourcing
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        • Profile picture of the author newbiese0
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          • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
            Originally Posted by newbiese0 View Post

            yeah right
            Lol it's funny how often people come here and just thank the poster because they learned so much but don't elaborate at all
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    • Profile picture of the author tariqhoque
      Thanks for this nice post.
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    • Profile picture of the author essybiz
      Thanks for the tips
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      • Profile picture of the author Brandon Anthony
        Loving the information you have provided.

        I am especially keen to Rule #7.

        Thank you my friend.

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    • Profile picture of the author Amorersmen
      Great post! A complete article, to be honest. Nice effort.
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    • Profile picture of the author Birdi
      A great thread guys, made me realise on a few simple mistakes i was making which does make a massive difference in outsourcing.

      Outsourcing itself is a skill ... and i have been experiencing that, and what ever you do ask for samples of their work and qualify them as much as you can otherwise you will get burnt and yes im talking from experience, its the only way I learnt.

      Birdi

      p.s. im implementing these strategies from now on
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    • Profile picture of the author iexpress
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      • Profile picture of the author Josh MacDonald
        Originally Posted by iexpress View Post

        Thanks for this great information. I always thought outsourcing would be a huge headache since it is hard to find honest helpers.
        There are 2 methods to find honest people. Hire someone with a reputation on Warrior Forum or on oDesk.
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    • Profile picture of the author alicekluwer
      Hello..........

      Thanks For this information its very interesting ..........

      Thanks
      Team form
      Falconandsachz.com
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    • Profile picture of the author seophalanx
      Great post! Very well explained. Thanks for sharing...
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    • Profile picture of the author neo087
      Many many thanks for the very helpful guideline about outsourcing.
      I want to building my career with a good outsourcing but I can get any job in online. Because I have not previous experience.
      Now can any one tell me How can I get a work in outsourcing without experience?
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    Hey Trevor great thread thanks

    Bit of advice esp rule 4 what about when you outsourcing something you know nothing technically about but you know the result you want . The outsourcers could run rings round you if you start to throw in terminology to test them out and many times you may not know whether one response is better than another . Lets take programming unless you know you need say PHP to get the results you want how would you approach this as unbeknown to you another language could be a better fit for the results you want
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    Mike

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  • Profile picture of the author jenniferwhittle
    Hello Trevor!

    What a wonderful Christmas gift you had there! And it's indeed very informative for the newbies in Online Marketing. Outsourcing people may be a bit complicated at first but eventually, one must realize that in outsourcing, faith and trust between you and your worker is the key for a successful project!
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  • Profile picture of the author seoguro
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by gs000707 View Post

      Thanks for sharing!

      Regards,
      George
      Originally Posted by dengkane View Post

      Great guide, thank you.
      Originally Posted by mjbmedia View Post

      Hey Trevor great thread thanks

      Bit of advice esp rule 4 what about when you outsourcing something you know nothing technically about but you know the result you want . The outsourcers could run rings round you if you start to throw in terminology to test them out and many times you may not know whether one response is better than another . Lets take programming unless you know you need say PHP to get the results you want how would you approach this as unbeknown to you another language could be a better fit for the results you want
      Originally Posted by garathnormanmtts View Post

      Great post..!! Its really helpful for me, need to take a print of the article.
      Originally Posted by jenniferwhittle View Post

      Hello Trevor!

      What a wonderful Christmas gift you had there! And it's indeed very informative for the newbies in Online Marketing. Outsourcing people may be a bit complicated at first but eventually, one must realize that in outsourcing, faith and trust between you and your worker is the key for a successful project!
      Originally Posted by seoguro View Post

      traver you are really providing the best marketing techniques.
      You guys are making me happy and prove to me my work was worth the time.
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  • Profile picture of the author onlineproject
    its nice to here thanks for bringing up the PHILIPPINES!
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  • Thanks Trevor. It is really nice topics to share information.
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  • Profile picture of the author messi1453
    thanks for sharing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Foulds
      I ALWAYS give a deadline when i outsource too (though I guess you could say you covered that where you said tell them EXACTLY what you want)
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  • Profile picture of the author jhonybravo222
    such a great information that you deliver in this post amazing
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  • Profile picture of the author ina696
    Very helpful information. I just posted a new thread asking for advice for outsourcing a series of tutorial type videos. You answered many of my questions and concerns with this advice.

    Many thanks!

    Ina
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  • Profile picture of the author revstan
    How much of the work of the average bigger internetmarketeers is outsourced?


    Simplestan
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  • Profile picture of the author Tiffiney Cowan
    Thanks for sharing your insights Trevor! As a ghostwriter for nearly 5 years I find that when a client is invested in the project and is willing to communicate in the ways you've outlined the project is more fun, engaging, and successful. I love delivering a product which exactly meets the clients vision - and clear, complete communication is a big part of making that possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author 7bdanie
    Great post!!! Does anyone have paid SEO services, suggestions?
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  • Profile picture of the author Guru72
    Trevor,
    This is so concise and wonderful. I just experimented with outsourcing as my current seo company has been taking me for a ride. I was confuse how to move forward. You enlighten us
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor
      Originally Posted by onlineproject View Post

      its nice to here thanks for bringing up the PHILIPPINES!
      Originally Posted by transcriptionservices View Post

      Thanks Trevor. It is really nice topics to share information.
      Originally Posted by messi1453 View Post

      thanks for sharing.
      Originally Posted by jhonybravo222 View Post

      such a great information that you deliver in this post amazing
      Originally Posted by ina696 View Post

      Very helpful information. I just posted a new thread asking for advice for outsourcing a series of tutorial type videos. You answered many of my questions and concerns with this advice.

      Many thanks!

      Ina
      Originally Posted by Guru72 View Post

      Trevor,
      This is so concise and wonderful. I just experimented with outsourcing as my current seo company has been taking me for a ride. I was confuse how to move forward. You enlighten us
      Awesome guys, you are making myself happy.

      Originally Posted by Steve Foulds View Post

      I ALWAYS give a deadline when i outsource too (though I guess you could say you covered that where you said tell them EXACTLY what you want)
      Thanks for your contribution, Steve!

      Originally Posted by dburk View Post

      Hi Trevor, great OP, but when I saw this post I just had to jump into the thread and share an alternative viewpoint.

      I strongly disagree with your assertion that PPC bidding management "is nearly impossible to outsource". The reason you give also seems to contradict your earlier advice about outsourcing SEO projects. Certainly you must give your keywords out to your SEO workers, do you not? Either way, I hope you don't think that a professional ad agency will have any difficulty identifying your keywords, that is one of their core competencies. In fact, a half decent agency will identify more keywords and gather more intelligence about those keywords than most small business owners could ever manage.

      If you take a look at many of the best ran corporations around the globe you will find that outsourcing PPC bid management is quite common in those firms. In fact, many of those firms outsource their ad campaigns to ad agencies, and many of those top agencies will further outsource the PPC management to a specialist. The reason for this is that it is a difficult task that requires a highly focused specialist to get top performance.

      Outsourcing PPC bid management is such a common practice that Google AdWords has, from the earliest days, focused on providing tools and resources for agency support. Here is a partial list of Google's dedicated agency support:

      Hmm.. I wonder why Google has so many resources dedicated to agency support if, as you say "This is nearly impossible to outsource." :confused:

      The best PPC ad agencies often do not rely on a single expert. PPC is arguable the most technically difficult aspect of marketing to master today. A competitive industry will need to employ talent from range of disciplines, graphic artists, marketing strategists, ad copy writing, Video production (including video script writing, video editing, sound engineering, etc.), marketing experiments, Marketing analytics, Keyword research, and project management and more.

      There is no way that a single individual can be an expert in all of those various disciplines. If you try to do it all yourself, you cannot specialize. If you do not specialize you will not be able to keep up with those that do.

      In my opinion, one of the best reasons to outsource is that there is no quicker, and cheaper, way to assemble a top notch team of specialists to launch a new product/service, or to dominate an industry. And of all of the areas of outsourcing opportunities, PPC management is one of the most established and thoroughly supported specialties. Judging by the decision of so many well ran companies, a very popular choice as well.
      Don,

      Thanks for your great contribution, I don't claim to be an expert in all aspects of internet marketing and my opinions are, as anyone's, subjective. Again, thanks for sharing your point of view with us, I'm sure you are right!

      Originally Posted by revstan View Post

      How much of the work of the average bigger internetmarketeers is outsourced?

      Simplestan
      I mentioned that in the OP!

      Originally Posted by Tiffiney View Post

      Thanks for sharing your insights Trevor! As a ghostwriter for nearly 5 years I find that when a client is invested in the project and is willing to communicate in the ways you've outlined the project is more fun, engaging, and successful. I love delivering a product which exactly meets the clients vision - and clear, complete communication is a big part of making that possible.
      My pleasure, Tiffiney.
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  • Profile picture of the author mihaiherman
    Thanks for sharing this Trevor, i thought about starting outsourcing to phillipines a few months ago, but never had the courage to do it however, i might have some projects for them this month. Will let you know how it works.

    I've used some from fiverr and odesk, but as you said, i never found one that can do a great keyword research.
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  • Profile picture of the author AdamDer
    I have been doing out sourcing for the last 5 years. You can contact with me.
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  • Profile picture of the author mc9320
    Hi Trevor.

    Great thread here. Is it possible you could provide an example of the instructions you give when outsourcing?

    i have used fiverr for article writing but need to look at backlinking now as i don't have time. any guidance would be appreciated!
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  • Profile picture of the author phpdevelopment
    Thanks, Trevor, Thanks for the great information about outsourcing Now I understand how I should outsource.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Linley
    Great post on tips you have there! I think all things can be outsourced these days provided that you give them with all the exact details and explanation about your purpose. Outsourced workers need complete details most of the time so they could understand your business well. Thanks for sharing these things for FREE! Much help!
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  • Profile picture of the author bloation
    Good job! thanks for sharing, let me know about how clear do i need to be to for my outsoucers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jean1
    Originally Posted by Trevor View Post

    Hello fellow Warriors,

    I was planning on writing this guide for some time. Today I just got to finish it and now I want to share with you my guide on outsourcing containing my thoughts, experience and things I think are important to keep in mind when it comes to outsourcing.

    Well, first off, Happy Holidays to all of you, and do not be tempted to think I'm such a workaholic I even work during Christmas - I don't, I only added a few last lines to the guide today and the only work I'm doing is uploading in onto the forum. All right, enough beating around the bush, let's get to the nitty gritty!

    So What Is Outsourcing?

    This is probably clear to most of you, but just in case you don't know what outsourcing is, let me clarify. It's having work done by someone else and paying them for the work, either up front or upon completion.

    The fact is, most of the tasks in internet marketing can be outsourced (I believe up to 95% of all).

    Why Would We Want To Outsource?

    This is obvious, we are internet marketers. Not writers, not webmasters, not coders, not graphic designers, we are, over and above all, marketers. Our work is to market, not to write our butts off trying to come up with valuable content or what not.

    That's why it's great to have your work done by someone else, while you can focus on other more important things, while other people do the work you tell them to do. The fact is, you don't have to be very good at any technical stuff to be a very successful internet marketer. I myself only know a bunch of html tags and cannot do any programming at all.

    General Rules Of Outsourcing

    This is the core of my outsourcing guide. Be sure to go through the below rules one by one, I hope you will get something out of it.

    Rule #1 - Always Tell Your Workers Exactly What You Want

    Many people don't realize that they should be more exact, while telling their workers what to do. For example, if you are paying someone to create banners or e-book covers for you, always tell them your exact idea of how it should look like, what should be included in the picture, how the pic should be structured, what text should appear within it, etc. The more detailed instructions you give to your workers the better.

    Rule #2 - Stay In Contact With Your Workers On Skype

    Being in touch with your workers on Skype is much better than simple email communication. Skype is faster and you can reach out them at any time and the response is usually much more prompt than communication via email. In fact, my first contact with any of my workers is via email, but I tell them right away that they have to be able to be online on Skype while they work, or else I won't hire them. Which leads us to the third rule, which is

    Rule #3 - Fully Speak Your Mind Before You Hire Them

    This is in correlation with the first rule. You have to give detailed instructions, but you also have to give them anything and everything that comes to your mind about the work you need them to do for you. You should also express your expectations (time, quality...), and ask them in your first email you send out whether or not they are willing to live up to your expectations. If not, don't hire them, there are tens of other people out there, who will be more than glad to work for you.

    Rule #4 - Be Sure Your Workers Understand You

    It is sometimes difficult to be sure your workers understand you well. It's not enough to just ask them "Do you understand this?", you should be a little more creative and tell them to answer some questions, so you can be sure you don't hire anybody, who doesn't know what he/she is going to do. In the questions you can include some jargon words or specialized terms only experts can understand to make sure your workers are real experts and knowledgeable in their department.

    Rule #5 - Send Them A Sample

    This has proven to be really helpful, not only in the process of selecting and weeding out the workers, who are not that great, but also for your workers to give you exactly what you demand. If you send them a work sample, they can be more targeted and the outcomes are usually better.

    Rule #6 - Give Them Instructional Video(s) Or PDF(s)

    This is optional, but has also worked really well for me. If you give them a video or two describing your demands, the outcomes tend to be better, as well. You can also send them a simple PDF with instructions, which also works great. See the following step to see how I always make sure they read the PDF(s) to the end.

    Rule #7 - Include A Secret Word Within The PDF(s) Or Video

    I actually learned this from another Warrior and it's a really clever thing to do while you are in the "hiring" process. If you send them an instructional video or PDF, you can include within it a secret word, a "password", which you tell them in the PDF or video to mention in the response email. This way you can see exactly which people actually read your PDF or watched your video and which ones did not. Therefore you can rule out the ones, who apparently don't care to read your instructions and the ones, who are really eager to work with you and read the instructions you send them.

    Rule #8 - Test Out At Least 5 People Before Hiring Anybody

    If I want a certain type of work done, I always reach out to at least 5 people and send the same message and give them the exact same resources. I pick only the best one (best in terms of how fast they reply, what they have to say/offer, how knowledgeable they seem to be, how well they understand what I want and how correctly they answer my questions, etc.)

    Rule #9 - Keep Them Separate

    If I'm starting a website, I hire one person to do the graphics stuff, another one to write content for me, another one to build backlinks, etc. There have been cases of marketers being ripped off by their workers. Although this didn't happen to me, if you asked just one person to do everything, you would also have to give him all the resources and ideas and it could happen he would steal your own ideas. So be on a watch-out and keep everything separate.

    What Can Be Outsourced

    As I said above, I believe that 95% of internet marketing work can be outsourced. Below you can see some great places to hire your workers and what kind of work I usually do outsource and do not outsource. However, this is just my personal approach and yours can be different, of course.

    Writing - There are many places to hire quality writers. You can hire people from the Philippines at, for example, onlinejobs.ph. They are usually hard workers, who do what they are told to. Other places to hire quality writers: Warriors "For Hire" section, fweez.com, iwriter.com.

    Linkbuilding - Although I also build links myself, a big part of my backlinking campaigns is outsourced. There are guys, who work in conjunction with certain blog networks. I've heard Vin does a great job, as he writes short articles and submits it to Build My Rank himself. All you need to do is give him your URLs and keywords. Linkbuilding can also be outsourced in other places like Fiverr. There are some really great Fiverr gigs that offer links from BMR, LinkVana, Article Ranks, Free Traffic System or Article Marketing Robot and Unique Article Wizard submissions. To find the best ones, do your search using the names of those blog networks and submitters and order the results by rating.

    Graphics/E-design - I suck at graphics! I'm really horrible at any kind of graphic art and I hate doing this stuff myself. You can hire really great and talented graphic designers at Odesk, eLance, vWorker or Guru.

    Forum Posting - You can outsource forum posting for backlinking purposes, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the only purpose of having somebody create forum posts for you. Have you ever thought of starting your own forum? It's a great way to get content for free, yet many people are afraid of starting their own forums, because they think the start is too hard. Well, it is, but it's not that hard. You can hire quality "posters", as I call them, at paidforumposting.com. They are really cheap and you can even hire somebody to moderate your forum! Think about this, you can simply start a forum in your niche, buy thousands of posts at the mentioned site (and these are not spam posts, the guys at paidforumposting.com make sure the posts are relevant, on-topic and provide value) and even have somebody moderate the forum for you. Auto-pilot is the right word here!

    Copywriting - You can hire quality copywriters in the Warriors For Hire section of this forum.

    The above are the tasks I outsource and now let me mention the ones I don't outsource and rather do myself.

    Keyword Research
    - After many attempts of finding a reliable person to work with, I decided to rely on myself only. Maybe I was just unlucky, but I didn't really find anybody who would live up to all my expectations and do keyword research for me with all the aspects I demanded.

    Setting The Sales Funnel
    - I like to do this myself, as well.

    Writing Email Newsletter Series - I would not hire anybody to write the follow-up messages for my lists, I actually do care a lot about my subscribers and everything I send out is written by myself. I always strive to provide value in my emails, even when I'm promoting something, I wouldn't send my list anything I don't believe is a great product.

    Recap & Conclusion

    A few things I haven't mentioned yet: Be prepared that people tend to exaggerate about their skills and often lie in their claims and descriptions of themselves. You have to be really careful and picky, and as I said above, always try and test out more people before hiring anybody!

    Last but not least, I didn't intend to promote anything with this guide, none of the links included are affiliate links and I have no affiliation with any of the sites I link to.

    Ok, I hope this rather long post will be of some use to at least some of you. If this helps at least one person avoid the costly mistakes I made, then my work will have been worth the time!

    If you have any questions at all, you can ask below and I will try my best to answer them. And if you want to thank me, don't leave a spammy-looking reply to do so, simply clicking the "Thanks" button will carry out the job!

    Allright, that's it guys. Take care and enjoy the rest of the holidays!
    This is a very good post on outsourcing. Thanks for the great tips man..
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  • Profile picture of the author rohiteshwar
    thanks brother
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremiah L
    I've always think that outsourcing was easy once you have the proper knowledge and a clear plan -and it is !
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  • Profile picture of the author mdsurf
    outsourcing is the bane of my existence, cant live with them cant live without them. anyone who is succesful online has to be using outsourcers
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  • Profile picture of the author shailu
    nice article... good stuff here. thanks for sharing it is very helpful to me.
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  • Profile picture of the author speedbird
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts on outsourcing. This will definitely be beneficial to Internet marketers who are new to outsourcing and also freelancers who work in the now many outsourcing sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author sanjuk61
    Great....post....

    Thanks for the share nice information...
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  • Profile picture of the author GISA
    Thanks Trevor, it's a great post with lot of information. Few more things to add to the list -> you can also outsource, Facebook landing page, twitter management video creations, blog commenting, setting up websites.

    Anyway thanks could be a WSO
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  • Profile picture of the author bbbjdcan
    thanks for your information
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  • Profile picture of the author seo123india
    Really nice posting and learned a lot from the posting.
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  • Profile picture of the author alherabd
    Certainly this is very informative and helpful post. Both the newbie freelancers or advance level freelancer will be benefited by reading this book. The above mentioned discussions has brought some important things before us like job categories, payment system and so on. So it is helpful for us.
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  • Profile picture of the author Seo Mall
    I agree with all of your rules, Trevor! But MOST of all with 1st)
    I'm thinking about printing out your rules and put it near notebook!
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  • Profile picture of the author Lyfe Lyte
    I agree...outsourcing has made a huge difference in the success of my online ventures....too many of us try to do all the simple tasks that waste our time when that time should be involved in the direction of the business..

    I first started outsourcing...then eventually started hiring employees..from the Philippines and India...you can get good quality employees for $1-2 an hour.....there is a problem if you can't make some money off of that... It will for sure get you into the mode of ceo vs factory worker.
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    • Profile picture of the author HighRanking999
      Originally Posted by warriorwealth View Post

      I agree...outsourcing has made a huge difference in the success of my online ventures....too many of us try to do all the simple tasks that waste our time when that time should be involved in the direction of the business..

      I first started outsourcing...then eventually started hiring employees..from the Philippines and India...you can get good quality employees for $1-2 an hour.....there is a problem if you can't make some money off of that... It will for sure get you into the mode of ceo vs factory worker.
      Agreed, But why only from India and Philippines, I think there are several natives that are available in these rates, any particular reason?
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  • Profile picture of the author chicka
    Thanks for the share Trevor, this is indeed an awesome guide.=)
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  • Profile picture of the author zpivat
    Very nice post Trevor! How often do you update all the resources about outsourcing?
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  • Profile picture of the author gaboman
    Excellent information, in my business today is very common the use of managed outsourcing support and have had some bad experiences, fortunately always find a gem in the industry, its guidelines are very helpful for me
    regards
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  • Profile picture of the author troysmith1012
    "Stay In Contact With Your Workers On Skype" and and general the contact, communication and collaboration is the key!!- RULE # 2

    This is great! Thanks.
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    • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
      Originally Posted by troysmith1012 View Post

      "Stay In Contact With Your Workers On Skype" and and general the contact, communication and collaboration is the key!!- RULE # 2

      This is great! Thanks.
      Very true! It's amazing how many people fail to actually build relationships with the people they have working for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author hilarious89
    Originally Posted by Trevor View Post

    Hello fellow Warriors,

    I was planning on writing this guide for some time. Today I just got to finish it and now I want to share with you my guide on outsourcing containing my thoughts, experience and things I think are important to keep in mind when it comes to outsourcing.

    Well, first off, Happy Holidays to all of you, and do not be tempted to think I'm such a workaholic I even work during Christmas - I don't, I only added a few last lines to the guide today and the only work I'm doing is uploading in onto the forum. All right, enough beating around the bush, let's get to the nitty gritty!

    So What Is Outsourcing?

    This is probably clear to most of you, but just in case you don't know what outsourcing is, let me clarify. It's having work done by someone else and paying them for the work, either up front or upon completion.

    The fact is, most of the tasks in internet marketing can be outsourced (I believe up to 95% of all).

    Why Would We Want To Outsource?

    This is obvious, we are internet marketers. Not writers, not webmasters, not coders, not graphic designers, we are, over and above all, marketers. Our work is to market, not to write our butts off trying to come up with valuable content or what not.

    That's why it's great to have your work done by someone else, while you can focus on other more important things, while other people do the work you tell them to do. The fact is, you don't have to be very good at any technical stuff to be a very successful internet marketer. I myself only know a bunch of html tags and cannot do any programming at all.

    General Rules Of Outsourcing

    This is the core of my outsourcing guide. Be sure to go through the below rules one by one, I hope you will get something out of it.

    Rule #1 - Always Tell Your Workers Exactly What You Want

    Many people don't realize that they should be more exact, while telling their workers what to do. For example, if you are paying someone to create banners or e-book covers for you, always tell them your exact idea of how it should look like, what should be included in the picture, how the pic should be structured, what text should appear within it, etc. The more detailed instructions you give to your workers the better.

    Rule #2 - Stay In Contact With Your Workers On Skype

    Being in touch with your workers on Skype is much better than simple email communication. Skype is faster and you can reach out them at any time and the response is usually much more prompt than communication via email. In fact, my first contact with any of my workers is via email, but I tell them right away that they have to be able to be online on Skype while they work, or else I won't hire them. Which leads us to the third rule, which is

    Rule #3 - Fully Speak Your Mind Before You Hire Them

    This is in correlation with the first rule. You have to give detailed instructions, but you also have to give them anything and everything that comes to your mind about the work you need them to do for you. You should also express your expectations (time, quality...), and ask them in your first email you send out whether or not they are willing to live up to your expectations. If not, don't hire them, there are tens of other people out there, who will be more than glad to work for you.

    Rule #4 - Be Sure Your Workers Understand You

    It is sometimes difficult to be sure your workers understand you well. It's not enough to just ask them "Do you understand this?", you should be a little more creative and tell them to answer some questions, so you can be sure you don't hire anybody, who doesn't know what he/she is going to do. In the questions you can include some jargon words or specialized terms only experts can understand to make sure your workers are real experts and knowledgeable in their department.

    Rule #5 - Send Them A Sample

    This has proven to be really helpful, not only in the process of selecting and weeding out the workers, who are not that great, but also for your workers to give you exactly what you demand. If you send them a work sample, they can be more targeted and the outcomes are usually better.

    Rule #6 - Give Them Instructional Video(s) Or PDF(s)

    This is optional, but has also worked really well for me. If you give them a video or two describing your demands, the outcomes tend to be better, as well. You can also send them a simple PDF with instructions, which also works great. See the following step to see how I always make sure they read the PDF(s) to the end.

    Rule #7 - Include A Secret Word Within The PDF(s) Or Video

    I actually learned this from another Warrior and it's a really clever thing to do while you are in the "hiring" process. If you send them an instructional video or PDF, you can include within it a secret word, a "password", which you tell them in the PDF or video to mention in the response email. This way you can see exactly which people actually read your PDF or watched your video and which ones did not. Therefore you can rule out the ones, who apparently don't care to read your instructions and the ones, who are really eager to work with you and read the instructions you send them.

    Rule #8 - Test Out At Least 5 People Before Hiring Anybody

    If I want a certain type of work done, I always reach out to at least 5 people and send the same message and give them the exact same resources. I pick only the best one (best in terms of how fast they reply, what they have to say/offer, how knowledgeable they seem to be, how well they understand what I want and how correctly they answer my questions, etc.)

    Rule #9 - Keep Them Separate

    If I'm starting a website, I hire one person to do the graphics stuff, another one to write content for me, another one to build backlinks, etc. There have been cases of marketers being ripped off by their workers. Although this didn't happen to me, if you asked just one person to do everything, you would also have to give him all the resources and ideas and it could happen he would steal your own ideas. So be on a watch-out and keep everything separate.

    What Can Be Outsourced

    As I said above, I believe that 95% of internet marketing work can be outsourced. Below you can see some great places to hire your workers and what kind of work I usually do outsource and do not outsource. However, this is just my personal approach and yours can be different, of course.

    Writing - There are many places to hire quality writers. You can hire people from the Philippines at, for example, onlinejobs.ph. They are usually hard workers, who do what they are told to. Other places to hire quality writers: Warriors "For Hire" section, fweez.com, iwriter.com.

    Linkbuilding - Although I also build links myself, a big part of my backlinking campaigns is outsourced. There are guys, who work in conjunction with certain blog networks. I've heard Vin does a great job, as he writes short articles and submits it to Build My Rank himself. All you need to do is give him your URLs and keywords. Linkbuilding can also be outsourced in other places like Fiverr. There are some really great Fiverr gigs that offer links from BMR, LinkVana, Article Ranks, Free Traffic System or Article Marketing Robot and Unique Article Wizard submissions. To find the best ones, do your search using the names of those blog networks and submitters and order the results by rating.

    Graphics/E-design - I suck at graphics! I'm really horrible at any kind of graphic art and I hate doing this stuff myself. You can hire really great and talented graphic designers at Odesk, eLance, vWorker or Guru.

    Forum Posting - You can outsource forum posting for backlinking purposes, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the only purpose of having somebody create forum posts for you. Have you ever thought of starting your own forum? It's a great way to get content for free, yet many people are afraid of starting their own forums, because they think the start is too hard. Well, it is, but it's not that hard. You can hire quality "posters", as I call them, at paidforumposting.com. They are really cheap and you can even hire somebody to moderate your forum! Think about this, you can simply start a forum in your niche, buy thousands of posts at the mentioned site (and these are not spam posts, the guys at paidforumposting.com make sure the posts are relevant, on-topic and provide value) and even have somebody moderate the forum for you. Auto-pilot is the right word here!

    Copywriting - You can hire quality copywriters in the Warriors For Hire section of this forum.

    The above are the tasks I outsource and now let me mention the ones I don't outsource and rather do myself.

    Keyword Research
    - After many attempts of finding a reliable person to work with, I decided to rely on myself only. Maybe I was just unlucky, but I didn't really find anybody who would live up to all my expectations and do keyword research for me with all the aspects I demanded.

    Setting The Sales Funnel
    - I like to do this myself, as well.

    Writing Email Newsletter Series - I would not hire anybody to write the follow-up messages for my lists, I actually do care a lot about my subscribers and everything I send out is written by myself. I always strive to provide value in my emails, even when I'm promoting something, I wouldn't send my list anything I don't believe is a great product.

    Recap & Conclusion

    A few things I haven't mentioned yet: Be prepared that people tend to exaggerate about their skills and often lie in their claims and descriptions of themselves. You have to be really careful and picky, and as I said above, always try and test out more people before hiring anybody!

    Last but not least, I didn't intend to promote anything with this guide, none of the links included are affiliate links and I have no affiliation with any of the sites I link to.

    Ok, I hope this rather long post will be of some use to at least some of you. If this helps at least one person avoid the costly mistakes I made, then my work will have been worth the time!

    If you have any questions at all, you can ask below and I will try my best to answer them. And if you want to thank me, don't leave a spammy-looking reply to do so, simply clicking the "Thanks" button will carry out the job!

    Allright, that's it guys. Take care and enjoy the rest of the holidays!
    Thanks for your useful post. I have known many things about outsourcing from your post.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicolasodc
    Hi Trevor, thanks a lot for the tips and advices, very useful.
    Do you know of any platform in France similar to O'desk? I'll need to outsoruce some physical actions (to promote offline CPA campaignS) in France and i dont know where to find. So far i found some small ads websites, maybe that can help...
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  • Profile picture of the author pralbin
    Good reading! I am on the verge of outsourcing some of my work and it is always nice to read about others experiences first!
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  • Profile picture of the author bluedream
    Great post, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author sujeetets
    Thanks for giving good and more knowledgeable information.
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  • Profile picture of the author McCoy
    oh yeah.. this is great.. I am a freelancer myself.. I tried some of this work that's on the list.. like backlinks and such.. thanks for this man,
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  • Profile picture of the author alherabd
    Certainly you have shared some important information to us. Basically it will be very helpful for the new freelancer. You have shared some important tips. It'll work as a guidelines for the freelancer. Hopefully it will work for us properly.
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  • Profile picture of the author UW
    i want to outsource but i feel like it could be a waste of money since i am just starting a site and if it fails that outsource money would go to waste.
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  • Profile picture of the author xrampage16
    great guide. Thanks so much for sharing
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  • Profile picture of the author JackiPhone
    Outsourcing is the process of contracting an existing business function or process of an organization to a business partner, stopping to perform that function or process internally, and thereafter purchasing it as a service from the business partner. An outsourcing deal may also involve transfer of the employees performing that function or process to the outsourcing business partner.

    thanks for sharing.....
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    • Profile picture of the author santi
      I have never heard of paidforumposting.com before. I was thinking of putting a forum on one of my membership sites but was not sure how to get the ball rolling so to speak. Now I can be a little more creative. Great post.
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  • Profile picture of the author alherabd
    Certainly this is a great guidelines for us for doing outsourcing jobs. It would be very helpful for new users along with the experienced. You have shared some important information which is very essential to know for people who want to do outsourcing jobs.
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  • Profile picture of the author sufalamtech
    Its a best strategy to apply in outsourcing services.
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  • Profile picture of the author towhidzaman
    Great post.Will keep an eye here.
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  • Profile picture of the author mbitsol
    Nice post very informative. One Should have great communication and task management software skills for successful outsourcing.
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  • Profile picture of the author OmarNegron
    Awesome post! Very solid tips in regards to outsourcing. Definitely after reading the 4 hour work week outsourcing should be a goal of everyone getting into business of their own. Outsourcing many of the tasks needed to be done online is great and very inexpensive compare to many of the start up costs and constant costs of running a business offline.

    One thing I wanted to add regarding your workers, make sure to reward your superstars. You will get amazing workers that go the extra mile so make sure to reward them and they will remain loyal to you. Many times I consider them part of the team more than an employer and employee type of relationship.

    Again excellent information!
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  • Profile picture of the author HRC44
    good article - same as our industry - human resources outsourcing. Principles are very similar - but really good information in order to understand why businesses outsource generally.
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  • Profile picture of the author jonns
    tnx for sharing such kinds of helpful information..
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  • Profile picture of the author mnichs23
    such a wonderful post.

    thnks for sharing....
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  • Profile picture of the author Vitaliy
    Definitely useful info. Outsource leverage our time and help economy in poor country.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alina Tru
    I have read it very carefully and I am very very impress with this tutorial. It's very beneficial for worker and owner as well. Help of this tutorial they understand each very well. You ideas really great like secret word in PDF and other. Thanks for sharing this resource.
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  • Profile picture of the author Trevor
    Thank y'all guys for your encouraging words. You are motivating me to write another such guide - I think I will do so in the foreseeable future!

    Don't forget, outsourcing is what can really get you to the big bucks - Making money online requires work, sometimes hard work, but it's not you who has to be doing it.
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    • Profile picture of the author toman
      Originally Posted by Trevor View Post

      Don't forget, outsourcing is what can really get you to the big bucks - Making money online requires work, sometimes hard work, but it's not you who has to be doing it.
      Smart works brother!
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      • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
        Originally Posted by toman View Post

        Smart works brother!
        What you quoted was probably the best of point of the entire thread. You can always increase revenue by outsourcing, plus have the time to live the life that you want.
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  • Profile picture of the author ashish123
    Hi,
    very good collection of question, thanks for share
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  • Profile picture of the author backlinkxone
    That's cool.You have presented a nice collection of ideas on Freelancing.I will help me and others to know the every pros and cons of Freelancing as it is one of the best choice of youngsters.
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  • Profile picture of the author WorkOnline
    That's great. Thank you for posting that information here. It's a great help for all of us here who needs a guide in terms of Outsourcing. I've learned a lot from you.

    Please continue to post such a good informations!
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  • Profile picture of the author ProAffiliate01
    This post gives me great ideas of how to outsource. I also am happy to know that it is possible for me to send out more types of assignments than I thought.
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  • Profile picture of the author michiko1
    Trevor's guide look good! I understand what is outsourcing and why we do this.
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  • Profile picture of the author analsaha
    thanks trevor, post seems very helpful for me while outsourcing my project , i will keep them in contact via skype. lots of thanks to you for sharing your experience to us.
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  • Profile picture of the author Clark Pearson
    Thanks for this Trevor! Your list of tasks that you keep for yourself mirrors mine exactly. I also like your suggestion to keep tasks / workers separated and I've been leaning in that direction. My only problem is I have a VA for a certain number of hours per week and need to fill up their time so often tasks are done by the same person... I guess I need to think bigger! MORE VA's that are separate. :-)

    Thanks again for your thoughts on this!
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  • Profile picture of the author inazuman
    Thanks, it's a great post with loads of information, but I still wonder if it is a good idea to tell them how my business works
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  • Profile picture of the author abiwawan
    it's really helpful post, and i just know that you can outsource forum post too. I'll check it.
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  • Profile picture of the author mayankgangwal
    Thanks nice post.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ettienne
    Always give CLEAR instructions or do it yourself if you want the results you're after, depends on what you want to outsource, of course.
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  • Profile picture of the author mmansueto
    Thanks for this post. I agree, it always reminds me that "communication" is a big word in outsourcing world.
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  • Profile picture of the author seoconsulting1
    Thanks for the great info.
    I have also had a lot of sucess with instructional video's. Especially when explaining new ways of backlinking, it helps to explain the process a lot easier than having to type out a set of instructions. As they say a picture means a thousand words.
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  • Thanks. It gives me more knowledge in doing outsourcing job.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vivers
    Unfortunately the two companies I hired prior to taken over my own SEO I think outsourced to India or the phillipines and they really hacked things up.
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    • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
      Originally Posted by Vivers View Post

      Unfortunately the two companies I hired prior to taken over my own SEO I think outsourced to India or the phillipines and they really hacked things up.
      Gotta make sure you check for legit reviews before doing that, better luck next time though
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  • Thanks a lot of this very relevant post "Trevor". It gives me more knowledge about outsourcing because it's my job right now.
    Thank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author aaron86
    Lots of important information. Your post will help me. Thank you so much for sharing.
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    • Profile picture of the author CPA Reviewer 2012
      Great post. I think the few questions I would wonder are the following:

      1.How do you differentiate SEO companies? Have you found something in particular that helps you understand that they can keep up to date with the Penguin and Panda updates?

      2.How much transparency are they providing? Are there weekly and monthly reporting? Can you clearly see your ranking rising?

      3.How are you gauging the ROI versus time expended question? In other words, SEO firms say it takes 3-6 months to get things initially rolling. You are spending money on a monthly basis. How do you keep the firm committed and show results in a period to diagnose if they are doing things correctly?

      4.Is the current model for SEO based on all content and less linkbuilding?

      5.Are targetting massive amounts of long tails with fresh content one of the components to rank higher in less competitive keywords and build traffic?

      Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author awj888
    Great post, and solid sound advice
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  • Profile picture of the author seoinfotech
    Thanks a lot
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  • Profile picture of the author maxpine11
    Outsourcing techniques will be being infected with along with one more company or perhaps particular person to complete a selected purpose. Nearly all organization outsources in some way. Generally, this purpose currently being outsourced is regarded as non-core on the company. The insurance carrier, by way of example, could possibly outsource the janitorial in addition to gardening businesses in order to firms which are dedicated to people varieties of perform since they will be not relevant to insurance policies or perhaps organizing on the company. The outdoors firms which might be supplying this outsourced workers services are third-party companies, or perhaps since they tend to be more commonly termed, carrier's networks.

    Good reasons in order to Outsource

    There are many reasons which organizations outsource a variety of work, but the almost all notable gain is the point that that typically will save you income. A lot of the organizations offering outsourced workers services are capable of doing the project regarding significantly less of your budget, since they do not have to produce rewards with their individuals and still have much less expense expenditures in order to concern yourself with. According to position, that can also be inexpensive in order to outsource in order to organizations in distinct nations.
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  • Profile picture of the author coryDM
    I am work for a SEO company (digitalmoz.com)and I must say, it is a very challenging job. Over the past 3 years, we are outsourced by different companies around the world and as far as I know, our clients are happy with their ranks. We have clients that have been with us for years already and this kind of trust just develops naturally. We can compete with SEO companies in the world because we constantly update our systems and strategies.
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  • Profile picture of the author cpaunit
    great idea. I am not good at promote our website and searching one partner, but unluckily, I still dont find one.
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  • Profile picture of the author alherabd
    There is no doubt that this is very informative post. I am looking for these type of information for many days. So this is very helpful to me. Moreover the newbie freelancer and the advanced level freelancer will be benefited through this post. It is a great job really. We expect these kinds of informative post regularly.

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  • Profile picture of the author AbbyBryant
    Great, very precised. I am suggesting it to my warrior new friends.
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  • Profile picture of the author satinderbal
    i think this information helps me a lot. I am planing to hire a SEO professional soon . Very grate full to you for this information.
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  • Profile picture of the author taha83
    thanks man....
    It was really helpful.
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  • Profile picture of the author Haikela84
    Hi Trevor,
    You got a lot of good points here, but the best one is keeping them separate. I co-founded an agency that offers VA services and back when there were still few of us, we taught all of VAs EVERYTHING we knew. I believe we sort of wanted each of them to become a "Jack of all trades" kind of VA so that we could easily hand out any task to anyone who's available.

    It turned out it wasn't exactly a great idea. A couple who were of "entrepreneurial minds" started to run their own agency behind our backs and worse, pirated some of our best clients. =(

    I'm not saying it will happen if you don't keep your VAs separate, but it can.
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  • Profile picture of the author jibondash
    Excellent outsourcing guide. It helps to outsourcer to outsource their project and maintain their project with contractor. Thanks for you guide.
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  • Profile picture of the author mcatt
    How do you know who will really work correctly for your site and not actually damage your reputation in google eyes? That is my main concern really.
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    • Profile picture of the author jackwebson
      Originally Posted by mcatt View Post

      How do you know who will really work correctly for your site and not actually damage your reputation in google eyes? That is my main concern really.
      You will know by its reviews. Be sure to select a service provider which has a lot of positive/good reviews.
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  • Profile picture of the author Madridista
    I want try one of them
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  • Profile picture of the author JackeyRoe
    Thank you Trevor,it's really a great guide and I will outsourcing my work now for test.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ksnipe
    Thanks very useful info!
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  • Profile picture of the author marpfi
    Thanks very nice post
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  • Profile picture of the author crazyJon
    My Odesk account is suspended - my credit card was too low on cash - and I am waiting for 5 days to unlock it. Every time when I chat with live support they told me to wait.

    Do you know how much time it may take to unlock my Odesk account?
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  • Profile picture of the author sazzaduli99
    Thanks a lot for your information. Outsourcing is a marketplace where one can easily lead his life which information is in your post.
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  • Profile picture of the author Outsourcingnerd
    Great post!

    I have been using outsourcing for about four years now, and I agree with Trevor.

    It is extremely important that you feel from the beginning that the communication is fine.

    Depending from what country your contractors are from, you might find that they have a very formal tone. It is "hello sir," "excuse me sir" - sometimes it almost a bit too formal.

    Especially people from the Philippines - they really treat you like some sort of authority, because they are used to a strict discipline. (It is normal that if you work in a supermarket or a shop you stand up the entire day!) and in school, you actually shut up unless the teacher asks you.

    And the kids address the teacher miss or Mrs.

    There is no reason trying to fight this formal way they do things, I have tried several times, and it is not easy! :-)

    They want to do a good job - and they usually do! However, it really depends on your instructions and ability to follow up.

    If they get the instructions wrong and work for a day - that day is wasted... and keep in mind that some people are shy to ask again if they are not 100% sure (in case you get angry, and they don't get the job).

    So better " safe than sorry"... Trevor mentions the use of videos - and it is pure gold! Your contractor would love you for it! Just use a few minutes and create a video showing them HOW YOU DO IT.

    Then, ask them to do the same and confirm that they got it right!

    * A little trick when hiring someone - write within your job advertisement that they have to reply and name their application "VA - Link Builder" or something similar.

    You would notice that 60-70% simply ignore that! Meaning that they not paid close attention to your description and just send a standard "I am perfect for your position, look at my recent experience I have... blah.. blah"

    It tells you that the contractors are not able to follow a very simple advice, and there would be a big chance that he/she would miss other things once they have to work for you.

    Put faith into your contractors - tell them what you want to achieve from their work, share the progress, and if you can teach them something.

    I had a VA for a while, and I told that I would handle her some reading material, and that I would pay her to read it - was she happy? YOU BET! Because she learned something, she could use in future projects.

    As a buyer we also have to think about it is not only freelancers who had reviews - some sites also give the freelancer a chance to evaluate you.

    Think about that, if you want to hire someone, and you have a review saying, "not easy to understand, hard to work with" - that kind of review hardly attracts the top freelancers to work for you.

    Like everywhere else a little bonus for well done work never harm! ;-)
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    • Profile picture of the author jenmidas
      Originally Posted by Outsourcingnerd View Post

      Great post!

      I have been using outsourcing for about four years now, and I agree with Trevor.

      It is extremely important that you feel from the beginning that the communication is fine.

      Depending from what country your contractors are from, you might find that they have a very formal tone. It is "hello sir," "excuse me sir" - sometimes it almost a bit too formal.

      Especially people from the Philippines - they really treat you like some sort of authority, because they are used to a strict discipline. (It is normal that if you work in a supermarket or a shop you stand up the entire day!) and in school, you actually shut up unless the teacher asks you.

      And the kids address the teacher miss or Mrs.

      There is no reason trying to fight this formal way they do things, I have tried several times, and it is not easy! :-)

      They want to do a good job - and they usually do! However, it really depends on your instructions and ability to follow up.

      If they get the instructions wrong and work for a day - that day is wasted... and keep in mind that some people are shy to ask again if they are not 100% sure (in case you get angry, and they don't get the job).

      So better " safe than sorry"... Trevor mentions the use of videos - and it is pure gold! Your contractor would love you for it! Just use a few minutes and create a video showing them HOW YOU DO IT.

      Then, ask them to do the same and confirm that they got it right!

      * A little trick when hiring someone - write within your job advertisement that they have to reply and name their application "VA - Link Builder" or something similar.

      You would notice that 60-70% simply ignore that! Meaning that they not paid close attention to your description and just send a standard "I am perfect for your position, look at my recent experience I have... blah.. blah"

      It tells you that the contractors are not able to follow a very simple advice, and there would be a big chance that he/she would miss other things once they have to work for you.

      Put faith into your contractors - tell them what you want to achieve from their work, share the progress, and if you can teach them something.

      I had a VA for a while, and I told that I would handle her some reading material, and that I would pay her to read it - was she happy? YOU BET! Because she learned something, she could use in future projects.

      As a buyer we also have to think about it is not only freelancers who had reviews - some sites also give the freelancer a chance to evaluate you.

      Think about that, if you want to hire someone, and you have a review saying, "not easy to understand, hard to work with" - that kind of review hardly attracts the top freelancers to work for you.

      Like everywhere else a little bonus for well done work never harm! ;-)

      Nice "TRICK" you got there mate.
      Thanks a lot for your sharing.
      It's a huge goldmine to me.
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  • Profile picture of the author srgnmaster
    Outsourcing is excellent market nowadays this is very effective cost saving and effective to make profit thanks for the effort to post this to create avarness.
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  • Profile picture of the author affilorama-portal
    Very good post. I must also agree that providing proper and complete instructions help a lot in getting what you exactly want.
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  • Profile picture of the author shikshaasagar
    Many Bloggers don't find time to blog its because he needs to focus on lots other task also on other side to run the blog, so its better if you hire a person to handle some works and so that you can concentrate on other important work,sharing the work reduces the work easy and complete on time.
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  • Profile picture of the author chmae73
    Thanks for sharing this is useful to all newbies here.
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  • Profile picture of the author superman1231
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Outsourcingnerd
      Originally Posted by superman1231 View Post

      is it easyier and most importantly cheaper to outsource? such as captcha de captcha costs?
      I would say no, usually captcha services crack around 1000 captcha codes for around $2, so having a person doing that would be quite expensive.

      If you are using SEO software, most of them support Captcha Sniper - that would solve 50-70% of the capcha codes for free. Then you use your paid service for the rest of them. Death By Captcha is good and cheap.
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    • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
      Originally Posted by superman1231 View Post

      is it easyier and most importantly cheaper to outsource? such as captcha de captcha costs?
      That depends on how much you value your own time at
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  • Profile picture of the author iamking1
    All in one about freelancing. Definition to guidelines Helpful to for newbie to expert freelancer. Thanks for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author ahabib1
    thank you
    trevor. very nice and good information for outsourcing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Authentic7
    Outsourcing = a solid team in the Philippines Those are some truly honest, integrity-driven folks!
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    • Profile picture of the author Outsourcingnerd
      Originally Posted by Authentic7 View Post

      Outsourcing = a solid team in the Philippines Those are some truly honest, integrity-driven folks!
      I agree, there is a reason why companies from India and Pakistan recruit workers from the Philippines these days ;-)
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  • Profile picture of the author mitchmelkonian
    Banned
    Thanks for the info.
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  • Profile picture of the author waysmeans
    It is helpful information for those who want outsource their work/project. I want guide, how to get outsourced by someone. Please help me. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidSmithCorp
    Thank you!

    Good information for beginners.
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  • Profile picture of the author lindamriana
    thanks trevor..
    these very helpful me,
    im just starting,,and need many input
    super!^^
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  • Profile picture of the author dviraz
    that would be a great help in my outsourcing efforts
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  • Profile picture of the author jenmidas
    Hello my fellow WF mates,

    I need your favor here.

    Where do you usually outsource your project?
    Philippine? India?

    and Why is that?
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  • Profile picture of the author affilorama-portal
    This list is what you need when it comes to outsourcing. Great article
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  • Profile picture of the author cynthiamason
    I love this post as well. I have had my own lesson in outsourcing. You have clearly communicate the project to your worker and use project management skills to keep your project effectively and efficiently.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnnyS
    In promoting the site . Always remember to give the information that your client needs to know. About previous work , reviews and the services that your company can do . Also inform them about your discounts or special offers
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  • Profile picture of the author johnpaulgrant
    This is a great guide for the people who want to start up outsourcing their tasks to remote staffs. You really did a great job with your points and advises here Trevor. Big help!
    Signature

    I am an expert in outsourcing to The Philippines and have been working with Filipino virtual assistants for more than 5 years. I am the co-founder of RemoteWorkMate (VA management service) and RemoteStaffRecruit (VA recruitment service) Check out my blog >>>LifeStyleBusinessDesign<<<!

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  • Profile picture of the author mrt386
    That's very nice recap, thanks.

    One question about outsourcing link building. I know the post has been created a while ago when profile links and social bookmarks could do wonders. Which is not the case any more... What kind of links do you have build by outsources at the moment (guest blogging, anything else)?
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  • Profile picture of the author itcongress
    Thank you so much for sharing with us!

    __________________________________________________ ___________
    Adobe Photoshop CS6 Tutorial PDF | Information Technology Blog. All About Inormation Technology
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  • Profile picture of the author TheBlueWizard
    Good guide. Once you start garnering income or see clients/customers rolling in... outsource everything. I used to outsource all my link building from my offline clients by purchasing seo services right from here.
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  • Profile picture of the author charless
    I've outsourced to web designers and programmers successfully in Romania.
    Signature

    Working on three potentially large scale business projects backed by investors.
    If you'd like to chat or network with me, add me on Skype: charlesgmullen0.

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  • Profile picture of the author Lorenzo Basil
    This is the only way to expand! Epic Thread!
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    Make 1K in one week: ==> 1K Blueprint
    The real path to a successful Affiliate Business: ==> Build a Real Online Business from Scratch

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  • Profile picture of the author harryfedrer
    Outsourcing means hire people of another country to work for us and pay for it to them. All people are working on contract basis. Outsourcing is one of the finest technique for getting more profit and pay less to people.
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  • Profile picture of the author steveproxy
    Outsourcing help to grow economy of Country and highly profitable business for self growth as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
      Originally Posted by steveproxy View Post

      Outsourcing help to grow economy of Country and highly profitable business for self growth as well.
      Help yourself and then worry about the economy
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  • Profile picture of the author webgain88
    Thanks for information.
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  • Profile picture of the author michealburns
    People just consider these benefits of outsourcing:
    1) To get skilled expertise at lower cost
    2) Time zone advantage
    3) Increased productivity and Efficiency
    4) Faster and better services
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  • Profile picture of the author johnhowle
    One problem I have with sites like Odesk is that the feedback is usually unhelpful and not accurate because the contractors try so hard to get perfect ratings. For example, I had one developer who was terrible. He had great feedback (5 stars across the board) but his work was sloppy - to the point I had to re-do everything myself. I reluctantly paid, ended the contract, and left appropriate feedback. I got an email within minutes from the contractor offering a complete refund ($150) if I would change my feedback to positive.



    While I want to contribute to the overall health of the eco-system (and I realize I am only making it harder for other contractors), refunding $150 is hard to pass up. This has happened to me on multiple occasions, which makes me question the validity of any feedback system like this.


    Curious to know if anyone has had any similar experiences.
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    • Profile picture of the author xparte
      Originally Posted by johnhowle View Post

      One problem I have with sites like Odesk is that the feedback is usually unhelpful and not accurate because the contractors try so hard to get perfect ratings. For example, I had one developer who was terrible. He had great feedback (5 stars across the board) but his work was sloppy - to the point I had to re-do everything myself. I reluctantly paid, ended the contract, and left appropriate feedback. I got an email within minutes from the contractor offering a complete refund ($150) if I would change my feedback to positive.



      While I want to contribute to the overall health of the eco-system (and I realize I am only making it harder for other contractors), refunding $150 is hard to pass up. This has happened to me on multiple occasions, which makes me question the validity of any feedback system like this.


      Curious to know if anyone has had any similar experiences.
      That's like deja vu. I've had almost the same experience on Fiverr, except that it was about $15, and I felt really bad about leaving him the neg; the guy did try his best and he worked hard, but he just didn't know what he was doing. Yet 30 or 35 tumbs up.

      It's really a bad situation. You can't trust the reviews, how the hell are you supposed to know?
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      • Profile picture of the author Outsourcingnerd
        Originally Posted by xparte View Post

        That's like deja vu. I've had almost the same experience on Fiverr, except that it was about $15, and I felt really bad about leaving him the neg; the guy did try his best and he worked hard, but he just didn't know what he was doing. Yet 30 or 35 tumbs up.

        It's really a bad situation. You can't trust the reviews, how the hell are you supposed to know?
        I have been using Odesk for several years, and there is no doubt that you can find extremely good contractors and also few very bad.

        There are always people who try to game the system, and I would be more than happy to share some of the issues I have seen, and what I do to prevent those issues.

        First of all, it is impossible to depend solely about reviews - however, there are a few things you can consider.

        If the contractor only has a few reviews, or only done some small jobs, there is a bigger chance that some of the reviews are a bit to be positive.

        A contractor who had done like 30-50 jobs, is more likely to have genuine reviews - and it would only be natural that not all of them would be five stars.

        I have had examples where a contractor's bid as an individual, and once he got the job he passed it on to his team.

        In those situations, you might face a delay in work, and a chance that the communication would suffer. In my opinion, it is then best simply to terminate that contract and inform Odesk. Don´t feel sorry for the contractor - because he is the one not being honest from start and trying to game the system.

        I also had an experience of a contractor who tried to make a deal, and then wanted to work outside Odesk and being paid outside Odesk.

        Making that sort of deal could cost you a lot of money and time, and you don´t have any chance to get a refund or make a review. I reported that to Odesk, and the contractor was kicked out instantly.

        Another situation is when a contractor offers you a super price, and the start to work on the project and then start to complain that he felt that rate is too low and trying to make you increase the hourly rate.

        This is a rotten attitude, because a contractor must be aware that making an offer would also mean he should work at that rate he offered.

        When it comes to reviews, do not solely depend on them - use them as guidelines.

        You have to ask for samples, and if you are not 100% sure then do a little test job. Spend maybe $20-30 in order to see if the contractor can deliver the quality that you want.

        If a contractor has done several jobs for one client, or have been working a lot of hours for a client, it should be a good indicator that he/she actually did a good job.
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        • Profile picture of the author xparte
          Originally Posted by Outsourcingnerd View Post

          I have been using Odesk for several years, and there is no doubt that you can find extremely good contractors and also few very bad.

          There are always people who try to game the system, and I would be more than happy to share some of the issues I have seen, and what I do to prevent those issues.

          First of all, it is impossible to depend solely about reviews - however, there are a few things you can consider.

          If the contractor only has a few reviews, or only done some small jobs, there is a bigger chance that some of the reviews are a bit to be positive.

          A contractor who had done like 30-50 jobs, is more likely to have genuine reviews - and it would only be natural that not all of them would be five stars.

          I have had examples where a contractor's bid as an individual, and once he got the job he passed it on to his team.

          In those situations, you might face a delay in work, and a chance that the communication would suffer. In my opinion, it is then best simply to terminate that contract and inform Odesk. Don´t feel sorry for the contractor - because he is the one not being honest from start and trying to game the system.

          I also had an experience of a contractor who tried to make a deal, and then wanted to work outside Odesk and being paid outside Odesk.

          Making that sort of deal could cost you a lot of money and time, and you don´t have any chance to get a refund or make a review. I reported that to Odesk, and the contractor was kicked out instantly.

          Another situation is when a contractor offers you a super price, and the start to work on the project and then start to complain that he felt that rate is too low and trying to make you increase the hourly rate.

          This is a rotten attitude, because a contractor must be aware that making an offer would also mean he should work at that rate he offered.

          When it comes to reviews, do not solely depend on them - use them as guidelines.

          You have to ask for samples, and if you are not 100% sure then do a little test job. Spend maybe $20-30 in order to see if the contractor can deliver the quality that you want.

          If a contractor has done several jobs for one client, or have been working a lot of hours for a client, it should be a good indicator that he/she actually did a good job.
          Thank you for your thoughts, ON. Quite honestly, I haven't tried Odesk or other avenues yet. Being new, I've found Fiverr to be the easiest way to get the ball rolling, but I've gotta admit I 'm underwhelmed even though I've had a few decent experiences there. Low-balling attempts are common--hey, it's you, not me who's setting the price, now you're complaining about the work load? But the lack of communication and professionalism doesn't help either. If you know about your field even less than I do--and I know almost nothing--then I don't care how many times you call me "sir". It's not helpful.

          I realize, of course, that Fiverr is the low end of outsourcing. I gotta try some other avenues. Thanks again for your tips.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hubstaff
    Hey Trevor - Great post and I agree with all of these points. This is the stuff that people don't talk enough about... The REAL issues that online entrepreneurs deal with on a daily basis. Trevor - if you want to do a guest post on our blog with a similar guide we'd love to have it. You can PM if you want. Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author andlosek
    Thanks to Trevor for his all in one Outsourcing post. It,s not only a post also a tutorial.Many of us do outsourcing and some sometimes frustrate from results of failure of "hiring" a right one. So I like this trick by Trevor
    Rule #7 - Include A Secret Word Within The PDF(s) Or Video
    This tips helps a client (who want to hire) that his/her candidates are following his instruction and clear with work concept.
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  • Profile picture of the author adil91
    THANKS Trevor for a nice presentation on Outsourcing.
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  • Profile picture of the author OceanXian
    very informative..thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author keokeo123
    Banned
    How much cost ? if we hire your service ?
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  • Profile picture of the author zohaib134
    Thanks a lot for the guide
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  • Profile picture of the author DougHoltOnline
    Great post - thank you!

    I've gone as far as creating a unique YouTube account where I upload all my training videos for my outsourcers. I create them once and use them with each person along with the instruction for them to find holes in my instructions and add those details to an ongoing Google document with the goal of creating a system. Each outsourcer in turn trains the next person through the document.

    Again, thank you for the quality post!

    Doug
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  • Profile picture of the author sabujdesk
    Nice job.this information is so helpful for me.Well done!!
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  • Profile picture of the author ksnipe123
    thank you,Trevor Zacek, a great job
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  • Profile picture of the author sham2
    nice sharing . thanks for sharing nice info.
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  • Profile picture of the author Abdul Wafiy
    Very Nice Thanks a lot for the TIP
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  • Profile picture of the author Glowrry
    Dear Trever

    Very nicely done.. A few such more posts can really boost up the outsourcing market . Infact it is really good to know what a client should ask, look and know before outsourcing any thing. If a client make every thing clear then it becomes easier for every one to understand and work according to the given plan. So good job.
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  • Profile picture of the author RyanLow
    Thanks for sharing
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Hodge
    that is good Outsourcing
    But most of the times we need to compromise on the work
    what we outsource

    what you say about that
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  • Profile picture of the author AdamFinan
    Excellent post, oDesk is another outsourcing website but the quality of writers can be pretty poor. You get what you pay for with outsourcing!

    Always hire the people who did the tests and scored high.

    They have proven themselves on one level before applying for your work.

    Self tested English speakers are a disaster! I had web designers in India who couldn't speak any english which made things very difficult.

    Lesson learned!
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    Guys - a warning if you outsource:

    CHECK THE WORK YOU GET BACK!

    I found a site had copied 1000 HubPages and the owner claimed in response to my DMCA request that he hadn't checked what his Indian outsourcing guy was up to.

    Sheesh, that's a VERY risky way to run your business, and it could have cost him his AdSense account, and (if he was in the UK) an expensive lawsuit.
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    • Profile picture of the author max4web
      We must be careful while giving assignment from outside the country must check its reputation in internet community
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  • Profile picture of the author alexmkt
    Thanks for the post. I've been trying to find good people to whom I can outsource because affiliate marketing is taking too much out of my time. I'm kind of a newbie, so do you think that I should FIRST learn all the process by doing it manually by myself, or could I start outsourcing already?

    I'm focusing more on outsourcing link building because it's one of the most time consuming parts for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author K Mec
    I am going to outsource my work...this information will be helpful for me....
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  • Profile picture of the author andyredsox
    Thanks for sharing!

    I am outsourcing most of the work for my online business. It gives me more time to do important stuff like client sourcing ( I even outsource some of it too).

    They provide you with so much value and you still have more time for yourself.
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  • Profile picture of the author joewalter
    Nice information trevor... very clear picture you are giving here regarding outsourcing
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  • Profile picture of the author superman1231
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Outsourcingnerd
      Well, why do people not repair their own car, if they can buy a toolbox and a repair manual? ;-)

      First of all, people who do outsourcing would never leave a full blueprint for their hired hands - why should they spend time on that?

      Example: you hire someone to write 10 articles for you - that person don´t know you have a blog, and spend time on keyword research and on and off page SEO.

      Alternatively, if you hire someone to do some social bookmarking - again it is only a part of your overall strategy.

      That said, I have often had an experience where a contractor is VERY interested to know exactly what I am doing. ;-)

      It is often about the mindset... you might find a very talented web designer, but they don´t have a clue about copy writing or SEO.

      Many of the contractors have a very low salary - so even the investment in a domain and hosting plan is a big decision. And starting on their own means that they not making money, while they are working on their own projects.

      I don´t think outsourcing is very different compared to other businesses - I mean, if you know a guy who flips burgers at Mcdonald´s, you could also ask him why he not opens his own restaurant.
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  • Profile picture of the author Austin80ss
    How to check quality of outsourced team before giving a task?
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    • Profile picture of the author Outsourcingnerd
      Originally Posted by superman1231 View Post

      how come people outsource and peopel actually do the work if it was so beneficial surely none would do the work for someone else but do it for their own website only?
      Originally Posted by Austin80ss View Post

      How to check quality of outsourced team before giving a task?
      First of all, I suggest to hire individuals and build up your own team (try to avoid agencies, because often they just outsource your tasks to team members).

      Ask for samples of their work, and use sites where you can see reviews from others.

      A good idea is to hire them to do a sample work - that way you can determine if they are up to the job.
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  • Profile picture of the author valkyriecast
    Very good Step-by-Step Instructions.

    I own a Data Center, If any of you want's to outsource you're project, just give a Message @ my skype egoautodial@gmail.com, I am also looking for new employers since my last employer is out-of-town & taking a break. I have 20 Seats Ready for work ASAP.

    Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author yaji
      Originally Posted by valkyriecast View Post

      Very good Step-by-Step Instructions.

      I own a Data Center, If any of you want's to outsource you're project, just give a Message @ my skype egoautodial@gmail.com, I am also looking for new employers since my last employer is out-of-town & taking a break. I have 20 Seats Ready for work ASAP.

      Thanks!
      So what do you expect of your employees, and is it short-term or long-term?
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      Thanks, Yaji

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  • Profile picture of the author Smcnally555
    Thank you!
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  • Profile picture of the author yaji
    Like the post, especially Rule #7 - Include A Secret Word Within The PDF(s) Or Video.

    Thanks.
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    Thanks, Yaji

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  • Profile picture of the author murphyy
    Yes outsourcing can help people done his work properly if the outsourcing process complete successfully.I mean if you hire the right candidates and can deliver him the instruction for work completely than any project will be successful and Trevor writes in his post very well for how to outsource and how to handle the candidates very well.Thanks again Trevor for your right information.





    faschingskostüme kinder
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  • Profile picture of the author clubapple
    that keyword in the video/ pdf is one hell of an idea. thanks for the advise bro. i was looking into outsourcing the other day. i was told outsourcingcode dot com has a tutorial for outsourcing. i didnt get around to reading up on it but when i do, i'll come back here to give what i pick up from it.
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  • Profile picture of the author winz
    Nice Info
    thank you all
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  • Profile picture of the author mcario
    Very good information here. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author HorstStreit
    Thanks for sharing.
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