How to outsource SEO, web design, etc?

Did you find out anything more? I would be interested to know as well

Ever consider crowdsourcing over outsourcing?

There are many online sites which you could go and find quality outsourcing it's just a matter of testing. What I do is post a job then I go ahead and interview the potential provider.

I ask for previous work samples and also look at the reviews others have left about them. This is how I'm able to make my decision on who to use. Even after all of that I've ended up with horrible results which is why when I need to outsource now I create a small job as a test.

If their able to do the job in a timely manner and to my satisfaction then I go ahead and award a bigger job. It takes time but once you work with a reliable provider you start building a relationship and can use them over and over again knowing that the quality of work will be to your satisfaction.

Here are the sites I use when I'm looking for workers.

RentACoder - PHP and Programming.
Elance - For Content Writers and Web Design
Odesk - For Article Writers

Again, just test them first and then when you find a good one build a relationship with them.

Good Luck!

the best thing is to do is to create processes for whatever it is you want to outsource... then you will be able to give the processes to whoever and have them do the work

one important thing is to figure out yourself a specific amount of work you expect from the freelancer and agree on that output

for example, if a freelancer would work for you for 8 hours writing articles then you might agree on an output of 8 articles per day ...you should agree on this with your freelancer so expectations are clarified on both sides

otherwise, virtual freelancers might come up with lots of excuses for turning in a small amount of work

I think for certain specific, even ongoing tasks, hiring a freelancer from Guru, Odesk etc. can be worthwhile. I myself am a freelancer, and generally speaking, the sort of work you are going to get is based on the quality of the individual, and the task parameters that you provide.

Freelancing sometimes gets a bad rap, and from experience I can say that you might have the what appears, to you, as a very easy task to outsource to a freelancer. The work you get as result is largely affected by the specific task details you provide.

I don't want to bash anyone, but a lot of people seem to be utterly clueless on how to give specific directions to someone else. If your going to hire someone, please, give them the task details required to get the job done right.

Also, please understand the business your in. I frequently come across clients who expect instant high page rank with onsite SEO practices alone. If you are in the business of website building but don't want to deal with SEO, understanding the basic concepts can go a long way towards getting the proper SEO support you need.