where can I outsource miscellaneous jobs?
One of my marketing strategies for my b2b product is to contact businesses through the contact form on their website. Basically, I go through a list of websites, and if they have a contact form I copy and paste my sales pitch.
It's a pretty brainless and tedious job, and takes up a lot of time.
Where would be the best place to find someone who would be willing to do this for a small fee per hour (i.e. unskilled workers in a developing country who have internet access)?
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Do a search on this site for oDesk, where you can find out about oDesk and other places that do this sort of work. – Xiaohouzi79 12 years ago
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@michael that is the sort of behaviour that gets all our Internet business's a bad name, it also devalues your site long term in google. Please find a more creative way to draw traffic to your site. – Robin Vessey 12 years ago
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@Robin - I sure agree about bad name, likely be of very limited use as well as will get binned by gatekeeper - but "devalue your site long term in google" how? He isn't talking about comments on pages. – Ryan 12 years ago
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@Ryan ... I was actually thinking of a group recently that has been posting comments on our blog "Great Post ... here is a link to our site" ... Panda will still dropping these sites down the index ... But the submitting through the contact form is just annoying and wastes my time. – Robin Vessey 12 years ago
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There are some companies that offers this kind of "service", but I not usre I want to promote them, since it sonds very much like dumping to me. – Paolo 12 years ago
3 Answers
Stop spamming people and go out and talk.
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a) its a product with a very low profit margin, so investing the time to do this would be impractical - even direct mail is impractical, and b) i'm not sending out 1,000,000 emails trying to sell viagra to everyone - i'm targeting businesses who i think would benefit for my product – Michael 12 years ago
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@Michael - Although Meow's answer is kind of abrupt, the main point is you are not likely to get good results doing what you are doing. – Xiaohouzi79 12 years ago
Instead of simply just sending out the same email via their Contact Us page (<<<--- which might be frowned upon as spam) I suggest you take a more consultative approach.
- Determine their Need
- Determine that you can provide Value to meet or exceed their Need
- Determine who the real Decision Maker is (<<<--- if the person you are speaking with is not then start over from step 1 when speaking with him/her)
- Determine their Budget
- Determine the Timeline when they will need to sign up for your services
By going through these 5 steps in order, you will be seen as a trusted resource and not as someone just trying to sell them on product/service.
Now regarding finding some to help you with your routine business tasks I suggest you hire a Virtual Assistant.
In regards to finding a reliable Virtual Assistant, you can either go the Do It Yourself (DIY) or the Done For You (DFY) route.
Going the DIY route: 1) Check out Virtual Assistant Forums such as VirtualAssistantForums.com and VaNetworking.com. Virtual Assistants from around the world hang out on sites like this to network and exchange ideas. You can go on there post your job request.
2) Check out Freelancing sites such as Odesk.com, Elance.com and the great thing about sites likes this is that you can get to review the feedback left for the providers and ratings on similar work that they have completed.
3) Make use of Job Boards like and if you are specifically looking to place ads for Philippine based Virtual Assistants, check out Jobstreet.com.ph and BestJobs.ph. Just be ready for a flood of responses.
Going the DFY route: 1) Virtual Assistant Placement companies such as VirtualStaffFinder.com for a one time fee will help you find a VA who matches your requirements and can get the job done.
2) Virtual Assistant Services Providers are firms like ContemporaryVA.com. AskSunday.com and http://www.HireYourVirtualAssistant.com (full disclosure - this is my firm) who provide Entrepreneurs with a team of Virtual Assistants and also project managers to handle all you time consuming business tasks so that you can focus on what really matters in your business.
My final point is that even though you find a Virtual Assistant to help implement the work, you have to realize that you have to monitor and manage the process so that you get the outcome you want. It's never going to be totally hands off don't believe the hype! That said when you hire the right VA, or team of VAs they will make your experience pleasant!
I have a free tool that you can use to create a TO-DO list so that you clearly know what you need to delegate to a Virtual Assistant? Do you want me to send it to you?
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Have you ever answered a question without mentioning you company? – Ross 12 years ago
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I provide answers to questions solely to help guide folks who have questions related to my field of business. That is why I do this and hence the reason why I place links to my company blog, videos and so on if they are relevant to answering the question – Owen Mc Gab Enaohwo 12 years ago
A quick search in Odesk and Elancer will help you. Lots of individuals are registered in that websites and are willing to assist you in your business needs. Most of them has less-work fees and are very affordable. You can also negotiate prices with them. Most of all, they produce quality services and outsource products.
