Outsourcing in Philippines = Not Successful So Far

by 102 replies
119
I'm having problems hiring a right writer in Philippines.
I have plenty of responses to my ad that I listed on craigslist Manila but when I asked them for a test article they won't reply. I wanted to try this way because my previous workers were okay with interviews but when hired they had trouble with grammars and originality.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #outsourcing #philippines #successful
  • Have you tried odesk.com? I've had good results with them on some projects. I'm also about to try 123employee.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Are you looking for English writers?

    You may want to refine your search...
    • [1] reply
    • Are you paying for this test article? If not, that could be your problem right there.

      .
      • [ 3 ] Thanks
  • I usually have them write an article for me. If they really want the job and believe they qualify, they'll take the time to write you a quick article on the topic you asked for.

    -Chris
  • From a writer's perspective, if I can tell someone is serious about ordering content, I'm happy to write them a quick test article / sample up to 250 word. In my opinion, it's free advertising.
  • I found lots of good writers on Freelancer.com - Most of them are from India and other Asian continents, so far I did not work with Phil. guys, but I heard they are very good at English compare to other Asian guys,
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Sorry but I couldn't help it, "Asian continents?" :confused:

      I don't want to drift the thread into a different direction, but it seems to me that people in the western part of the world just think they can outsource whatever they want to Asia for a few pennies and still expect to get good responses - an approach which I think is bad for business if you don't think of several other factors like the country you're outsourcing to, the culture, the type of work, etc.

      To the OP, although it has been said already, I think you're advertising in the wrong place. It never would have crossed my mind to use Craiglist for writing.
  • Hi,

    What's your purpose of hiring writers in Philippines? Filipinos can write & speak American English but the filipino who can write perfect grammar depends on their education & what school they come from. If they come from a very good school/university/college, then, expect that. If they have higher education like MBA & Phd's, expect that as well. Otherwise, don't expect that if they come just from an average school or just any 2 to 4 years of college degrees.

    It all depends on your aim for writing. If you need writer for Press Release, there is $5 writer in Lordskye will write a press release between 300 to 400 words for $5, only on fiverr.com

    The good resource for anything $5 including writers is http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...4-15-12-a.html
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • When I hire people from the philippines, I do the following:

      I write out a complete job description explaining the kind of content that I need and a summary of expected tasks. I emphasize that the most important skill is written and spoken english. Everything else I am willing to train.

      As part of their application, I ask for 1 paragraph explaining why their qualifications are a good match for the job description. This accomplishes two things:
      1. It gives me an idea of their knowledge and experience that their resume might not show.
      2. It shows me how well they can write (assuming someone else didn't write it for them).
      That one paragraph is short and reasonable enough to them to prove I'm not going to make money off of a freebie article, but is still long enough to allow them to articulate why they are a good fit for the job.


      Those people that write well are then invited to a video interview using Skype. I ask them where they live, expected power outages, internet connection issues, and explain to them in more detail what is expected of them. I particularly ask if they are personally knowledgeable in a specific niche. This usually means they are passionate enough about the niche to do regular article writing for me with little fuss.




      Leading up to the video interview, I sometimes ask my candidates to briefly research a topic, and then summarize the topic for me in the interview.


      The skype interview does three things:

      1. Establish that they understand what I am saying and they are not going through some translator
      2. They can relatively quickly understand my instructions and description--communication matters.
      3. They have a fast enough internet connection if it can support a skype video chat.
      Using my 'funnel' I go from 50 candidates to 3-4, and I usually hire 2. As is often the case, one of those two workers will disappear on me for no good reason.


      Most people I hire are paid 10k-15k PHP / month. The first month I pay weekly, and the second month and onward I pay monthly. I have given some of my workers raises. Most of the people I hire are the kind of people who work the machine. As they grow with me, I hope to get them advanced enough so they can build up the machine even further.
      • [ 6 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Why not try placing an ad in oDesk? Most of the competent writers from the Philippines can be found in that site.
  • I have numerous employees from several countries.

    I have in-laws in the Philippines, have lived there, speak
    the language, and understand the culture.

    I've found that there are slight differences in the expressions
    that we use, even thought the Filipinos do speak the same
    English, and their education system closely mirrors ours.

    You will find that you have to sift through more interviews
    if you are looking for really great "American" English.

    I tend not to use Filipino employees for final versions of
    writing but may use them to write near final versions. It
    all depends upon your purpose. They are brilliant and
    hard working, but I tend to prefer America writers, even
    though the may cost substantially more.

    Willie
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I agree with mindreaderwriter. If you ask a test article you must pay it. I remember the one i interviewed from Philippines and ask her to write a test article. She asked me if i am going to pay the test article. Because she experienced most employers ask sample article and then when they get the article employers would always told her that her writing did not passed their standard. But one time while she was searching for an article she found it that her sample article was posted at the site from an employer that declined to hire her.
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      @Gentryliving - This is the exact same thing that happened to me. After that experience, I promised to myself that I would rather close my business if everyone is this world is looking for a FREE TEST ARTICLE.

      This is the same scenario that caused me to write my terms and conditions for refund and revision requests. I don't accept a revision request UNLESS and UNTIL client sends me a VERY DETAILED email, preferably with bullet points, on what we missed and how he wants it to be corrected.

      I am a victim (though better to be called as a nightmare survivor) of around 5 clients who told me that I delivered rubbish articles. Good thing I was not born yesterday. I checked the articles in CopyScape and found them published. I took a screenshot and made those clients eat them. I didn't hear any single word from them after that. Rubbish? Will you put a "rubbish" post on your money-making site? I don't think so.

      With my Terms and Conditions on Refund and Revision Requests, I have ensured that anyone who wants a revision or refund will exert some effort so I can weed out those who are using the technique of being seemingly angry so any poor provider, who's new in this business, will get scared and release a refund right away, from the ones who truly deserve a revision.

  • I've used Odesk.com a lot- love it.

    The trick is to try several different contractors at once. Then pick the best.

    If you don't have anything to compare them to, it's hard to select the best.
    • [1] reply
    • Ok, my opinion is not going to be popular but it is going to be honest and TRUE.

      I am an American that often visits the Philippines and I have hired many filipino writers. You can get some good ones, very good ones, but it is not easy to do.

      Even if they are VERY fluent in English the way they phrase certain things can be quite different than how we phrase things.

      As an example, just a minor one: If we were to go to our moms house for Mothers Day we would most likely say : We went to my moms house for Mothers Day.

      A filipino MANY times would say: We went to the house of my mom for Mothers Day.

      Of course this does not sound like what an American would say at all.

      There are so many instances of this. Again, you can hire really really good writers but you have to search and pay them at least a bit to write a test article.

      I will tell you this...if you find a good filipino to work for you, you will NEVER regret it. Treat them with courtesy and respect and they are extremely loyal and hard working. And very talented.
      • [2] replies
  • ODesk is a much more reliable place to get some outsources as they already have a reputation out there and have been rated by others.

    Another technique that has been very successful is building your contacts up in the internet marketing world so you know other marketers out there and what you can find is there are people who are already using outsources that are really good, but they can't fill their role 100%. They would much prefer to give you their contact details then have them get a full time job with someone else. This has been my best success with outsources as I can get references from people i know or have dealt with over a period of time.

    However I have not ever used an out sourced content, personally if i can read it and find an issue with it then there is a problem. And I can almost always tell if the person is not a person that speak English all day everyday. Eventually Google will pick this up in one of their updates also.
  • ODesk is a much more reliable place to get some outsources as they already have a reputation out there and have been rated by others.

    Another technique that has been very successful is building your contacts up in the internet marketing world so you know other marketers out there and what you can find is there are people who are already using outsources that are really good, but they can't fill their role 100%. They would much prefer to give you their contact details then have them get a full time job with someone else. This has been my best success with outsources as I can get references from people i know or have dealt with over a period of time.

    However I have not ever used an out sourced content, personally if i can read it and find an issue with it then there is a problem. And I can almost always tell if the person is not a person that speak English all day everyday. Eventually Google will pick this up in one of their updates also.
  • Did you check the date that those applicants have sent you the application for your job post? 'Coz it might happened that those applicants have had applied simultaneously on the same jobs from different companies and got the quickest reply from other employer so when they received your reply, they were already hired on another company. That's just being practical, right?

    And also, about the grammar and originality problems, not all Filipinos have high level of fluency in the English language so expect that you can encounter those kinds of problems on your job hiring.
  • the philippines is a large labor market. Like any market you have to work through these people to find the best for what you need.
  • Try to get as many example articles as possible. Even then, I received some "sample" articles that were written great but when the job was delivered it was obviously not written by the same person.. After you pick a person or two from their samples, start with a small job 10-20 articles. This should give you a good idea of their writing style. This is pretty much what I did and found a great writer. I have been working with her for over a year now. Good luck.
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      FNHPWR11 is correct! I don't advise my clients to put in bulk orders if it's their first order. I want them to order just 1 to 2 articles to see if our style and tone in writing are what they're looking for.

      • [1] reply
  • most of the good writers in Ph actually charge more than the usual price.. i agree they are very hard to find even i am filipino finding a good writer for my stuff is a challenge. so i only rely on referrals on my network.

    on your craiglist post you probably get application from a "middle person" that's why you will not get the same quality they provided on their sample.

    based on my experience most of the good writers came from this schools University of Phils, DLSU, Ateneo and PLM. but again if you are looking for quality content expect to pay $8 onwards.
  • Banned
    Just like what I said on my post above, I'm a Filipino with my own writing firm. You are free to message me so I can see how I may be able to help you. If I can do it, I'll let you know. If I can't, I'll let you know, too.

    I want to keep myself from advertising in this forum section but I feel like there are lots of fellow Warriors in here who need better Filipino writers. So, I'm here to help.

    Here's my thread:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/warriors...-960-date.html
  • Maybe consider hiring a revisor that is english who revises everything that you get for a small fee. Then hire a really cheap phillipino writer and provide templates for them to follow as damage control. Keep hiring and firing until you find one who is decent.
  • Philippines is a good place to hire writers. It happened that you don't find the good one but for sure you will find the best. Try another one. It would be better if you do a personal interview and ask for portfolios before you hire. Sometimes, to choose is not an easy thing to do, so I may suggest that you will look for companies who have the expertise. Hire from Philippines and find the best one for you. It is also cost effective.
  • To be able to find good writers in the Philippines, you should be able to more specific and "strict" with who you hire. Not all Filipinos are fluent both in the written and oral language. A quick sample article will work. But if it is paid or not would be an issue too. Most of them won't go for free sample articles though you can still find ones that will submit and work on this.

    But I would strongly suggest to be more precise on your qualifications and stick with it for whoever you hire.

    Let me know if I can help you Warrior to Warrior.

    Good luck
    Peter
  • Hi Redi... When you ask for a sample article make sure you include how much you're going to pay for it... That should solve your problem... Perhaps I can help you...
  • I recommend you try agents of value – just Google them. I've been using them for years and whilst I don't really do ad hoc small piece of work they are great if you're able to take somebody on for a part-time or full-time basis.

    I don't have any connection to them I just use them for a long time to get a lot of technical and content creation tasks done by wish to outsource to someone I can trust.

    The big thing about this outfit and others like them is that they actually employ these people full-time. They make sure they turn to the office, they monitor what their doing every hour of the day and they conduct regular reviews and appraisals of each staff member.

    If you're trying to outsource something with just an individual you have to do all the micromanagement yourself can be time-consuming, frustrating and often fruitless. Hope this helps.
  • Bottomline is... You have to mine deep if you want to find diamonds... You can't expect to hit paydirt with your first blow. I strongly believe that the only way you can get good partners is to offer them a win-win deal. As for me, whenever a client asks for a sample article... I tell them that it should be paid if they decide to use it... If not, I retain all rights... Win - win situation... Most of them agree to this and that is why most of my clients are now my partners.

    PS: There are lots of great writers from the Philippines and I know (and look up) to some of them. Thing is, they are already working full-time for some big companies.
  • Being married to a Fillipino woman I van tell you her grammar is better than mine. So are her friends. I hqve had them write a number of articles for me over the years. Make sure they have a university education and talk to them on Skype to confirm they understand what you are talking about and you will be fine. If there are a few things off fiverr has some kick-butt American editors.
  • offf ho just trust on indians writers.... quality content you got from their... it may be costly for you but try some new comers and companies.... definatly you got help.

  • It's not clear if you are asking people to write for free. What is better is to just order an article, send requirements and work through a first article or two - as a client. See if there is a fit. But don't try to make people work for free. You wouldn't want to do that, either. Just a little hint today

    And make sure to test communications, meeting deadlines and other criteria. More tips on posted on my Warrior blog:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/blogs/db...l#comment14472
    • [1] reply
    • I never had the intention of having people working for free. I just wanted to try out a different approach and willing to pay if I use the article. Several workers I hired previously didn't work out, as the result I lost money and time with them.

      Thank you to all who gave feedback constructively.
      • [1] reply
  • The problem is that you're trying to outsource writing for cheap. Writing is the one thing you never want to go cheap on. When I was still client copywriting, I had people come to me with dirt for a budget because they'd blown out the rest on fancy design. That's a mistake.
  • Hi Redi,

    Here's just the bottomline, you always get what you pay for. And if you're asking a test article without pay and you'll just get worse results. Look for a reputable company and do not take a risk with a freelancer. I think I already posted here that staff leasing is far more better than hiring a cheap freelancer.
  • Dont cheap out on article writing its the most important thing. The Philippines are great for outsourcing all most anytype of job.

    The Philippine population are very Americanized in my opinon they have the best command of the English language then any other third world country, but it is hard to find a perfect article writer. There are great writers but very hard to find a good one, as far as speaking the laungae there great!! I have a VA who sounds like she is American but is Filipino so you just have to search.
  • Outsourcing can be the best or worst decision you ever done. Make sure you test and give tests to your 'potential' employees. Many will say they speak English well and write it well, but always get tests or sample work done (paying for 1 article and seeing this person will not work out is much better than paying for a lot of 10 or 20 to find out the whole thing is rubbish that you won't be able to you).

    I found my best success is with digital for outsourcing. What I mean by Digital is video editing and graphic designing - damn the work was better than what i could have got here and about 1/15th the price! Now that's smart business!
  • It's always a matter of luck. It's like finding a diamond in the sea of stones.

    EXPERIENCED freelancers are having problems looking for employers as well.

    Most of us experienced working on something for weeks and never got a dime in return. So what we're going to do if the client didn't pay us? SMH...

    We have this group on facebook. Send me an email about the Job description and skills required together with the salary. I will post it there and maybe help you guys out a bit. I know them all personally so they are not going anywhere. efryll(dot)seo(at)gmail(dot)com

    Thanks

    Efryll
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • African writers are pretty good. Indian writers can be good but I find their English doesn't flow well.

    The standard of English in the Philippines is pretty low, I don't know why people don't consider other countries.
  • I have the same problem when I tried to hire writers.

    It is wise to pay more to get a good writer.

    But no problem in other aspects like web design.

    All the best,
    • [1] reply
    • Agree...they could be great for the technical stuff but you need to really look very hard to find good writers.
  • You want it done right, write it yourself.
  • Do you recommend odesk for outsourcing marketing other than writing in the Philippines? I'm looking to hire someone to do my backlinks, help with keyword research etc. but probably not writing.

    Thanks!
  • I would try odesk. There is a larger pool of qualified contractors to choose from and its minimal risk if you trial run a few workers.
  • stick with american writers for english content, speaking as a writer. too many mistakes or spelling/grammar errors and you'll just spend more time fixing it in the long run.
  • Try bestjobs.ph or onlinejobs.ph. I use iwriter. You can try them out. good luck
  • Hi redi,

    I've been working with a great number of writers for the past years. I know the pain of selecting the perfect one for the job. Some deliver well, some disappoint.

    From what I could read in your post, you are the type of employer who asks for a test article. Maybe the setup of Staff.com would work for you. They ensure that the staff they have are experts in their field with at least 2 years of significant experience. Most of them are excellent writers from the Philippines.

    If you would want to look at them, here is the list sorted according to 'writing' skill:
    https://www.staff.com/skillcategory/Writing

    I hope you find one that works well for you.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • Banned
    I would recommend you to interview Philippine-based writers via Skype through chat. You'll be surprised at how they respond to you. That's what I do, too. Every time I need to hire more writers for my team, I always interview them via chat. If it shows that their written English is good, I'll let them fill-out the application form and write the test article prior to formal employment.
    • [1] reply
    • How do you get their skype IDs? Most of freelance site prohibit contact detail exchange. Which ones do you use that allow?
  • There are so many talented writers on WF it's amazing. I also would never hire a Phillipino to do writing for me. I've tried it one too many times years ago when I did article marketing and discovered to my shock how poor they write. If you want a "cheap" yet good alternative try South Africa or New Zealand. If you want volume but good go Eastern Europe, and if you just want volume but passable go India, Pakistan, & Phils.
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      Oh boy, you got to blow your horn. Toot! Toot!

      I'm a Filipino - 100% proud Filipino. I've been running my writing services since 2005 and my company's revenue getting stronger and stronger. What does it mean? In your experience working with Filipino writers, you must have gotten some bad eggs. Bad and good writers are everywhere. Being a native English speaker does not always guarantee that the person can write well in English. Oh man, believe me. I worked for Blockbuster Online's Email Support Team. Obviously, you know who we were supporting but I rarely received an email written in a perfect English grammar with coherent structure. Same thing goes for Filipinos. Our national language is Filipino but not everyone gets the highest mark in their college score card for this subject.

      That said, I believe you already got what I was trying to put across.

      Cheers!

      JC
  • Working with people from the Philippines can be like anywhere. You obviously have to screen people beforehand. I personally work with people from the Philippines and have kept quite a few good people. If you want good writers, feel free to contact me..
    • [1] reply
  • Banned
    the worst option though for me was hiring people from India
    • [1] reply
    • What are you planning to do with the articles? Post them on your blog/site, guest pots, build backlinks?
  • If you're looking for writer's man go to elance.com or easyoutsource.com.
    iwriter is also another resource.
  • [DELETED]
  • Hi, if you are still in need of writers, I hope that you can spend some time to check out my thread. We are offering quality unique articles at a very cheap price. I hope that you can consider our services. Thanks!

    http://www.warriorforum.com/warriors...-purposes.html
  • Simply because the OP is a suspected "scammer" by the writers. You ask for a sample = pay for it. Been a writer before and on whatever country you get your writers from if you ask for a sample you have to pay for it!
  • I have been having good success with iwriter, I have been impressed with their quality!
  • You can't just generalise a whole country - you could go to the UK and still hire poor writers. Morale is there are good writers everywhere in the world (eg India and Bangladesh). You just need to find them.
  • Hey Redi,

    You could try going through an actual outsourcing company - that way you're more likely to get what you're after, but you'll pay a bit more for the convenience of not having to look for someone yourself.

    Hope that helps!
    ~S
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
    • [1] reply
    • I have been very impressed with virtual staff in the Philippines. So much so, that I setup my own outsourcing business there. The purpose was to provide better working conditions for our staff and a long term career for them. They are great. Win/Win.

      But the one skill we find hard to recruit............is writers.

      Not surprising really. How many of you can write well in a second language?

      I get most of my writing done on Elance.......
  • If you're looking for writers in the Philippines, then you're really going to search far and wide. Stumbling upon people who can write sensible and well-strewn content is kind of difficult within the country.

    However, it's kind of a good place to look for writers. Many of the Filipinos may not look the part and sound the part, but some of them have really good ideas and written grammar.

    Although, I would prefer to hire a Filipino writer that has BOTH spoken and written grammar in check, but beggars can't really be choosers. Still, a good choice to look for writers. You just need to get deeper into your search.
  • In my honest opinion, there are actually a lot of good writers in the Philippines who can produce articles for you with flawless grammar. The trouble is, there are also a lot of inexperienced writers out there who are looking for work and they are most likely the ones who are replying to your job postings. Perhaps you should try other websites... definitely not just craigslist... and make sure that your offer is substantial enough for someone with a writing experience to consider.
  • odesk doesn't charge you to post a job and it's free for job seekers too!
  • Why don't you consider American writers? The cost is a little more but you'll have much less hassle with spelling, grammar and content. The efficiency and effectiveness should more than make up for the cost difference.

    I find overseas work great for things like programming, design, etc. but not for things which require a good command of the English language. Consider writers who are native English speaking.

    Best of luck whatever you decide.

    Jay
  • Don't overjudge something/someone, It is actually depend on "what" "who" "where"..
    what is your work planning by outsource them? (not all of them can do all job, describe as it's necessary)
    who's you hiring? (Not every of them is good, try find that's good in their section)
    and where do you find them? (A good feedback not make us hurt, try find at good place and have feedback)

    for me
    I have my backup from myarea
    train them and make them as my employee
  • Banned
    Outsourcing is easy but getting outsourcers is tough. You should try out Vworkers and odesk as craigslist might not the the best option available to you.
  • I usually judge how good they are by the reply. It should be pretty obvious which ones are worth buying a test article from. Don't be too cheap though.
  • Everyone has already said everything. The only thing that we missed is the truth that Filipinos does not trust craigslist so in other words, you can't find good writers in craigslist Philippines.Odesk might be a good place but because of competitive prices, quality writers does not stay in Odeks longer than most. Once they got clients who are willing to pay good $ for their quality output, they leave Odesk.

    Why go to other places when there are dozens of quality writers with live feedback posted at "warrior for hire" folder?

    I think these links could give you more idea why people are hiring Filipino writers:
    http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ph--world-s...s-english.html
    http://ph.news.yahoo.com/3-philippin...XBhZ2U-;_ylv=3
    • [1] reply
    • I would suggest it has to do with what they are willing to spend. I personally wouldn't do any writing for anyone for less than $0.10/word. Here on the WF, as well as other places, many US writers will write for 1/10th that rate at $0.01/word (that or they'll sell you spun crap or PLR for that rate).

      A lot of these folks want to cut that penny in half and get $0.005/word.

      So, they are looking for 'quality' content at up to 1/20th the price of what a skilled writer should be charging and think they can get it in the Philippines.

      Compelling writing is not defined by perfect grammar, alone or entirely. Especially on da net where it is more conversational and 'dumbed down'.

      Know what I am talking about?

      Oops.

      Do you understand that about which I am talking?

      Not many people, aside from those that fancy themselves writers, will read that first rendition and think, "Wow, that dude just ended a sentence with a preposition. His grammar, and by extrapolation his writing, sucks." They probably will, however, assume the latter sentence to sound weird to their ears and penned by a bloke straight out of Victorian England, which will result in a lack of continuity.

      But for those hell bent on plastering the net with the largest volume of content they can, regardless of the actual writing skill/style of the author or the experience level of the writer as it pertains to the subject matter, and demand perfect grammar and use that as their benchmark to judge the writing, I would see if you can find any Filipinos that had grammar taught to them by a Catholic nun. I will put any 15 year old US kid's grammar who has been educated in the Catholic school system up against any average college graduate who received their K-12 education in our public school system. All day, everyday.

      Them ladies like to beat grammar into ya. Or at least they used to be able to beat it into you. Now they are relegated to nothing more than the use of a red pen.

      I don't know if the Philippines has just one school system or has parochial schools too. But, it is the first thing I would look into when screening a writer from there, considering how prevalent catholicism is in the Philippines.
  • Use the warrior forum for this type of work and you will not go far wrong!
    Hint;- Warriors for Hire
  • I actually don't believe in the saying "you get what you paid for". I agree that many US writers charges that low because they want to stay in their business by all means but it also doesn't mean everyone is doing the same. I charge almost the same and my writers are selected Filipinos who are not doing any activity in any of these freelance sites (because they are my regular writers).

    There are lots of reasons why someone charges lower and the first is because of competition. If you are talking about US writers then well, I believe you.It is a joke for someone living in US to charge lower than $1/100 words unless he has hundreds of orders a day and having dozens of writers whom he can pay half low and keep the other half as profit.

    Nevertheless, there are still reliable writers at warriors for hire folder who charges lower but deliver original content - and I guess you can't get that thing from Native English speaking service providers.
  • It could be a hit or miss when outsourcing to them. I did have some luck with some good writers from that country, but I've also had some bad luck where I did hire them for the job and then doesn't do the work at all and pretty much just ditched without hearing from them at all. This is hard also because even if they have a good portfolio, reviews, and test scores, some might still leave you hanging, but this is coming from my experience..

    I would just spend the extra money and hire someone who are fluent in English since all the money wasted on low quality articles could've been used to hire someone better.
  • Maybe it is caused by difference of time zone.
    I have an experience using service from there, they usually too long for responding my message but they have completed my order well.
    I think he will work fine too for you
    Please be patient
  • I heard that philippinians are very unreliable so I never even tried them.
    • [1] reply
    • Yes, no one hire philippinians are they do not exist......
  • Based on interviewing and testing writers over the past 10 years this is what I have seen. Out of say 100 applicants that apply, only 75 will actually have an appointment set. Of that 75 around 30 will actually show up. 10 of those will be decent enough to hire.

    It's all a numbers game, the more the people that hire in the Philippines the percentage of good writers available drop, and the percentage of bad writers trying to earn money online rise.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • odesk is good for this kind of work, but you need to test them before you hire anyone.
  • Tried an writer VA through a service provider here and didn't have very good results. The writing didn't make sense most the time and I gave up after a week.
  • I'm not sure if this a real issue with the Philippines or whether it is about finding writers on craigslist. I honestly haven't found good writers anywhere via craigslist when I've asked for low prices (anything below $5/500 words).
    • [1] reply
    • Whilst I have my own team in the Philippines, (we set up our own outsourcing business), we have struggled to find writers. All the material looks like it has been written by someone who's second language is English.

      Hardly surprising! Hey, I'm not being overly critical, it's just a fact. I'm amazed at my team's abilty to work in a second language. I wish I could. Its just that writing marketing material in a second language is a big BIG ask.

      I'm now hiring writers from eLance.

      Sure I will pay a lot more. But today I think we need to focus on quality content much more, so I'm willing to pay the price.

      Any heh, I'm getting writers on eLance for 3-4 c a word. I reckon that's good value for high quality / professional writing.
  • Banned
    I always get high quality writers in iwriter. In my opinion they are worth the extra $. I pay them 6-8$ for 700 word article and they are very good quality.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • I have never understood why people are so keen to hire workers from just the Philippines.

    I would strongly recommend you check out freelancing marketplaces with workers from all over the world.

    Outsourcing work is only as successful as you make it. You have to conduct a thorough interview and screening process, and that's not where it ends. Once you hire a worker, you have to give clear instructions as to what you expect etc. More importantly, you have to keep an eye or two on them, so that you can make sure they are not slacking.

    Most importantly, pay amounts that will keep them motivated, or else a writer you spent a lot of valuable time and money training will end up leaving you.
  • You can also try elance.com
  • Why do you bother with all that, use textbroker,6 bucks or so 400 words done deal. Written by Americans. No wonder the economy is it the crapper. Every ones just shooting them self in the foot with all this outsourced madness. Then ask themselves "Gee I wonder why the economy is so bad", Big DUH ! Fillpinos do not write in the same way there's a cultural difference. I've edited over 3000 articles THEY DO NOT GET AMERICAN WRITING, if you want to pay 3 bucks then spend your time editing be my guest. And if you do pay some cheap ass price it will be SPUN. more garbage on the net.
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 119

    Outsourcing in Philippines = Not Successful So Far

    I'm having problems hiring a right writer in Philippines. I have plenty of responses to my ad that I listed on craigslist Manila but when I asked them for a test article they won't reply. I wanted to try this way because my previous workers were okay with interviews but when hired they had trouble with grammars and originality.