Outsourcing Everything:a Pipe Dream?

François Planque@seofrancois

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Who am I? What do I know?• I create affiliate websites… (many!)• “one man operation” - no payroll• I rely heavily on outsourcing as much as I can…

– Research on products, Screenshots, Photo collection, Database collection, Content writing & re-writing, Logo & Website design, Website development, Spam filtering, Link building…

– Generally, all SEO tasks that require more clicking & typing than thinking.

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How I started thinking about it…

2005 2007

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Read these for: reasons, rationale, morality, inspiration…

3 ways to outsource

• Hire directly through a job board– Craigslist, Problogger jobs…

• Work with an offshore/offshoring company– Abhishek Rungta…

• Use a marketplace– Elance, rentacoder, oDesk, Amazon’s mechanical

turk, People Per Hour (UK based), etc.

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How I tried and I failed miserably

Recipe for disaster:• Start with one single provider• Communicate incomplete specs• Expect your provider to read your mind• Assume you speak the same language• Start with a very complex task• Start with tasks that require non-generic knowledge• Start with tasks that require a steep learning curve

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Outsourcing just got easier!• Market place network effect / Tipping point: 2009• Introduction of new tools – 2 examples:• 99designs.com (logos, web designs, icons…)

– Escrow service– Designers compete against each other– Radical change: impossible to hire wrong provider!

• oDesk.com (virtually anything…)– Pay providers by the hour instead of fixed price– Keep an eye on what they are doing– Radical change: impossible to write incomplete specs!

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oDesk - realtime monitoring

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• Providers install software on their computer• Records activity level and takes screenshots• You can monitor in real time on the web or on the iPhone

What Quality can you expect?• Test job on oDesk• Job title: « Logo design for website »

– « I need a logo design for a corporate website. The only requirement is for it to look modern / trendy / web 2.0, maybe glossy.”

• Announced estimated budget: $50• Candidates within 48 hours: 44• Average bid: $45.98• Selected 3 providers based on book/previous work

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Concept 1

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Concept 2

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Concept 3

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Concept 3.1

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Concept 3.2

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Revision 3.3

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Concept 2.1

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Revision 2.2

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Revision 2.3

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What problems should you expect?

• Language barrier / Communication effectiveness

• Time zones / Communication efficiency• You get used to having an « on demand »

workforce but it’s not actually quite like that…• Volatility (people disappear) / High turn-over

– Providers with multiple jobs

• Natural disasters (earthquakes, floodings)

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Tips for posting effective job offers• Keyword research is useful job offers too!

– “Content writer” vs. “Article writer” vs. “Technical writer”…• A/B testing is useful for job offers too!

– Title, description, requirements, pay rate, etc.• Cultural differences apply to outsourcing too!

– Identify which countries are better suited for each type of task– Also use diversity at your advantage for content diversity

• Give all time zones a chance to see your job post– Always wait 24 hours between posting and hiring– Repost at different times of day or week if needed

• Empathize with what providers want– Best providers will only respond to: Long term job, Sufficient #

of hours per week, Acceptable rate, etc.

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Tips for successful hiring• Don’t waste time on Skype interviews

– Come up with a standard « interview test task »– Refine it after each interview submission

• Always hire multiple providers for a given job – Select the best ones over time

• Hire on feeling/communication – Technical skills can easily be faked

• If in doubt, look at feedback.– Can be faked too…

• Bargains to be found – not just offshore:– Students on holidays– Very talented people in between jobs

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Tips to get the work you expect• Have a « getting started » document to get people

up to speed as fast as possible– Compensate for high turn-over– On your topic or niche, your audience, your site goal, your

internal standards, your code, etc.

• Focus on one single thing: does your provider have a commitment towards you?– If not, fire him and move to the next one.

• Providers won’t reach their maximum efficiency before 2/3 months

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Tips for long term success• Build a reassuring buyer profile

– Convince the best providers to reply to your offers

• Identify jobs that require a human relationship– Vs. a « quick work for quick cash » approach

• Make sure you have an effective and efficient communication channel.– Do you need to have a record of all

communications?– A picture is still worth a thousand words!

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Hitting the Middle Management limit• You can only micro-manage so many people yourself• Hiring middle management remotely is challenging• Outsourced management will dilute your message, goals &

values faster than in-house• You will still need one Project Manager at each end of the

communication channel• How do you pay a Project Manager?

– Full time may be too much– By the hour makes him not always available– PMs will try to combine multiple jobs

• I’m still undecided about whether or not I can continue to grow on all by myself…

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3 things to remember

1. Outsourcing really works2. Outsourcing is really easy to try3. Outsourcing is really cheap to try

Try it for yourself!All you need is $50 and 1 hour of time.

www.seofrancois.com/outsourcing

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