Search engine optimization (SEO) is a very important aspect of online marketing and many business owners have chosen to outsource the time-consuming task to a third-party company. The Philippines has become one of the world’s most popular outsourcing destinations when it comes to SEO, and for good reason. Not only is it a more practical and cost-effective choice, but it is also a less risky outsourcing option. Although it’s not completely devoid of scammers and frauds, it is by far one of the safest BPO hubs in Asia.

Reasons to Outsource to a SEO Philippines Company

Perhaps the most common reason why many businesses choose to outsource their optimization needs to a Philippine-based company is the huge difference in cost. In general, you could save about 50 to 70 percent in cost if you outsourced to the Philippines as opposed to outsourcing to a US-based company. The reason for this is that the cost of living in this tropical country is also much lower than it is in the United States and other Western countries. Therefore, what may seem like extremely low rates to you are actually substantial fees to them – a win-win situation if there ever was one.

Another good reason to outsource to a SEO Philippines company is that the country has a very high literacy rate and Filipinos are very good English speakers. Plus, they speak it almost exactly the same way Westerners do because of the country’s close ties to the US throughout its history. Add to that the fact that Information Technology produces the second largest number of graduates each year and you’ll understand why many business owners consider the location ideal for outsourcing their optimization needs. The abundance of technical skills and the people’s fluency in English assures business owners of getting the results they expect. This is also the reason why outsourcing to a Philippine-based company is considered highly cost-efficient.

Choosing the Right SEO Philippines Company

Remember that a true professional will always respond promptly to your query or correspondence. They also don’t hesitate to provide you with the contact numbers of their existing or former clients in case you need to verify the legitimacy of their business. They’re confident that you’ll hear good things about them from businesses they’ve worked with and are currently working with. Of course, checking out an outsourcer’s website and rankings should also be part of your screening process. After all, how their website ranks is a good indication of how well they can make your own website rank. It’s also a good idea to schedule a web conference with a prospective outsourcer; a credible company will never balk at having face-to-face communication with possible clients.

Just like any business venture, there are risks involved in outsourcing to a Philippine-based company. Despite these risks, however, the Philippines still proves to be a very attractive outsourcing destination. After all, the country has all the necessary ingredients: skills, training, language proficiency, government support, and lower cost.

 
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The Mission of SEO Philippines Post-Penguin and Panda 


One of the biggest challenges on SEOs during the past two years is recovering from blows of a Google Panda or Penguin penalty. Many of the websites that were affected by these algorithms and their subsequent updates suffered heavy losses. PR goes down, SERP ranking plummets, and as a direct result the traffic rate and conversions also take a nosedive. Naturally, the repercussions on sales were very disappointing. Penalized websites were basically pushed back to square one.

Service providers of SEO Philippines had to step up to the challenge of getting a penalized website to recover from the penalties imposed on it. Coping with the losses may be difficult, but the even bigger problem is earning back that page rank and recovering the original stats of the website.

SEO Philippines’ First Step to Recovery

In fairness to Google, there were indeed many websites that had enjoyed the benefits of having a high PR and SERPs ranking even though their contents were practically rubbish. There are websites that are built lovingly and diligently by responsible website administrators and content writers, yet they are ranked lower than those bogus sites. The Penguin and Panda updates helped correct that immediately soon after they were introduced to the search algorithms.

It is therefore necessary for any SEO Philippines service provider to have a website audit first and give a thorough and honest assessment of the penalized website’s status. SEOs need to determine if the website is worth recovering as it is, or if it needs a major overhaul from content to layout to link profile. Sometimes though it's better to start from scratch again if the website was so badly hit. They might be more difficult to rank than brand-new websites that are started post-Penguin and Panda.

Depending on the findings of the audit, SEO Philippines companies may proceed with all or some of the following damage control strategies:

1.       Identify backlinks that come from lower-ranking websites and request to have them removed in order to improve overall link profile.

2.       Clean out unnecessary graphics, videos and other decors from the website to prevent them from slowing page time. Keeping things simple yet attractive (and professional-looking, when necessary) will be the goal for website layout and design.

3.       Remove articles and other content that are not well-written, not carefully researched, not informative, and basically not of any value to the visitors or the site itself.

4.       Produce fresh, original, and high-quality content. A blog roll, news or articles section is recommended because this is where new content can be regularly added. As SEOs know, regularly publishing new content is one way to keep websites in the search engines’ radars.

5.       Map out the site navigation and organize the internal pages to improve user experience and to make it easier for bots to crawl and index the revamped pages of the website.

There are more that can—and should—be done for penalized websites. Having experienced SEOs and other Internet experts is an advantage for the SEO Philippines industry. Their knowledge, plus the dedication of the rest of their teams, is the driving force that propels penalized websites to jump back in game mode.

 
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If you’re just starting to get your business off the ground or if you’re simply looking for ways to increase productivity, you may want to consider leasing some of your staff from an offshore company. You know that turning a business into a successful venture requires a considerable amount of time and energy. You can’t focus on the core aspects of the business if you’re also busy with administrative and other processes. This is where an offshore staff leasing company can offer some much-needed assistance.

Tasks a Staff Leasing Company Can Handle

As you probably know, it is now very important for any business to have a company website where people can get to know you and your products and/or services. Maintaining such a website is one of the tasks you can assign to a leased offshore team. The team can make sure your site design is interesting enough to draw in a good traffic and that the site content is relevant enough to offer excellent visitor experience. They can also help develop your site such that visitors are encouraged to actually make a purchase and come back for more.

It’s also common knowledge that social media has now become an essential online marketing tool and this is another area where a leasing offshore staff can be of help. The team you lease from them could be made to handle social media marketing on your behalf. They could promote your brand on the most popular social networking sites as well as selected niche-specific sites. They could create campaigns and come up with promotions and online events that will help generate traffic from social media to your company website. They could, in general, serve as the voice of your brand on social media platforms.

Benefits Offered by a Staff Leasing Company

Cost-effectiveness is among the most important benefits you can gain when you lease employees. The amount you pay the leasing company is significantly less than what you’d have to spend if you hired in-house employees, but the quality of work you get is practically the same and sometimes even better. If that’s not enough to convince you of the value of this business solution, then consider this: You no longer have to worry about such things as payroll processing and income tax deductions. This gives you ample time to work on the business itself, thus increasing your chance for success.

Turning your business into a successful venture can indeed be very difficult if you choose to handle it by yourself. However, with the right business strategies and assistance from highly-skilled professionals, you can be sure of achieving your business goals soon enough. In some instances it may be necessary to hire in-house experts, particularly for processes that are crucial to the business. For some administrative and non-core operations, however, the best course of action may be for you to find a well-reputed offshore company where you can lease a highly-skilled team of professionals.

 
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A lot of companies are now seriously thinking of outsourcing the software development aspect of their business. They may have been lured by the promise of huge savings or staffing flexibility. Perhaps it is the thought of finally being able to concentrate on the core aspects of their businesses that makes outsourcing an attractive option. Whatever the reason may be, it is important for you to remain cautious and take some things into consideration before making the final decision on whether to outsource your IT functions or not.


Inherent Challenges of Software Development Outsourcing

You need to understand that there are inherent challenges of outsourcing your IT needs, particularly when you choose to outsource to an offshore location. You will need to take some precautionary measures so as to avoid common problems and overcome these inherent challenges. One of the most significant challenges you need to note is that of providing clear objectives and project specifications to the outsourcer. You have to tell the outsourcer exactly what you want them to achieve and how you expect them to get there. Another possible challenge has to do with deadlines. Remember that there may be a need to go through several beta renditions of each type of software, so you need to be a little flexible with the deadlines you set.

When to Go for Software Development Outsourcing

You also need to understand that it’s not always advisable to outsource your IT needs. In most cases, it is a good idea to outsource only if IT doesn’t really form part of the core of your business. If it is part of the core, then you’ll need to monitor it very closely, in which case, it is much better handled in-house. It may also be a good idea to outsource if the kind of software you plan to develop requires highly specialized skills neither you nor anyone on your staff possesses. Otherwise, it would probably be a lot more practical to do the work yourself or assign an existing employee to the task.

Critical Requirements of Software Development Outsourcing

In order for your outsourced project to be successful, you need to define your requirements very clearly right at the outset. The project has to be broken down into manageable tasks and a timeline for the completion of each task has to be defined as well. You should also be prepared to devote a significant amount of your time communicating with your outsourcer to make sure everything is going as planned. Among other things, you’ll need to discuss a thorough testing procedure for the software being developed. The need for constant communication also makes it highly important for you to choose an outsourcer who can communicate effectively in your language. Of course, you need to go with an outsourcer with a proven track record.

As long as you go through it the right way, outsourcing can indeed be a cost-effective business solution. Keep the above things in mind and you should be well on your way towards successfully growing your business with or without assistance from an external service provider.

Software development outsourcing can be a cost-effective business solution, but only if it is truly necessary and if you go about it in the right way.

 
When you decide to outsource your social media marketing, don’t choose the first provider you see. There are guidelines to follow to ensure the third party company is reliable and delivers great results. This marketing strategy is different from commonly outsourced jobs like graphic design and content creation, so follow these rules to reach your Internet marketing goals.

Do’s of Choosing a Social Media Outsourcing Company

1. Ask for references. Everywhere on the Internet, there are Internet marketing experts who claim to be gurus, and many of them actually have an impressive track record. Request a list of their clients to study their quality of work and ask those clients regarding the service provider’s performance. If the company says no to your request, move on with the next.

2. Select a provider that’s an expert at engaging audiences and boosting brand awareness, not only at gathering followers and posting links on Facebook or Twitter.

3. Orient the service provider. Discuss how your business works so that the social media strategies work harmoniously with your brand.

4. Keep tabs on your profiles. Make sure you have access to the accounts they create and forbid them to run profiles you’re unaware of. Log in to these accounts once in a while and check all outgoing and incoming messages. Or better yet, create the accounts yourself so you have access to passwords, security codes, and emails used to create the profiles. Be clear about telling them not to spam.

5. Make sure the company focuses on your prospects and target audience. It’s a waste of time and money if they go for random people who aren’t interested in your business.

Don’ts of Outsourcing Social Media

1. Don’t choose the cheapest option. You could risk your business’ reputation if you rely on a social media outsourcing company with below par communication and research skills. Avoid providers with English comprehension skills that could compromise your reputation.

2. Create a schedule for report submission. Don’t wait until the end of the month to receive reports about the project’s progress. Ask for progress reports more often than that, like once a week.

3. Don’t hire industry-specific providers. If they fail to target your niche, they will fail at impressing and engaging your prospects and customers. They should also have a good understanding of social media and multiple platforms.

4. Don’t start your campaign without analytics. Metrics allow you to measure your progress so you can identify what needs improvement, what works, and what strategies to apply. Detailed data also helps you make informed decisions.

5. Don’t leave out anything in writing. A well-written, comprehensive contract lays out all the responsibilities and obligations of each party. You can also state ownership of assets and extent of control.

Deciding to manage everything internally or hiring a social media outsourcing company is entirely up to you, but if you already have a social network service provider or are thinking of hiring one, this guide will be your road map.