Outsourcing is an important part of our daily lives and growing rapidly throughout online and offline businesses. For the longest time I have made mistakes trying to do everything on my own. I still have this problem from time to time because I want to give 110% effort. These are the questions I ask myself whenever I feel like I need to outsource my work: Can he/she skilled enough to do my job? and results will be good as my own work or better? Can I trust that my work will finish in time?

You can outsource: logo design, website design, data entry, article writing, copy writing, link building, and just about anything you want them to do for you. All you have to do is have an idea and money to pay for it.

My review of outsourcing companies below:

Elance.com is pretty much go-to-place for freelance work. You will find many companies and individuals with high credentials and feedback ratings here but it comes with higher price. – Digg.com Founder, Kevin Rose hired a coder to build the site from Elance.

Getafreelancer.com – This was my very first outsourcing marketplace experience. I still browse and place work orders here to get competitive bids.

Getacoder.com – This company use to go head to head with Getafreelancer but now it is behind on demand/supply of work orders.

Scriptlance.com – Cheap labor, lot of novice designers/coders here. I’ve hired some web designers that couldn’t do their job in time or they were learning as they go working on my project???

Sitepoint Marketplace – Well known marketplace to buy/sell website and hiring developers. Only downside is that you have to pay $10 to list your project to get bids. I’ve experienced ups and down with quality of work here.

Digital Point – Another great place to outsource your work. It’s cheap and you can find talented designers here that will go above and beyond what you are asking for. I have added some designers/coders to my instant messenger for future repeat business.

Some companies I haven’t tried but heard great things about:

Odesk.com and Guru.com - I have to check these companies next time I’m looking to outsource work.

Three main things I look for when I hire an individual or firm:

1. Feedback Rating - Some projects I need help with are time constraint. I need to know they can do the job in timely manner. Always ask for project completion time.
2. Quality Portfolio - Need to see variety of work examples. Do not waste my time if you are trying to build your portfolio by undercutting the price. High quality work needed since I want 110% or I’ll do them myself.
3. Competitive Price - People assume that “outsourcing” is cheap but there have been few times where I felt like I over paid when I could possibly waited longer for other bids.

Also check referrals! Check out the site you like and see who designed it.

Filed under: Blogging Tips, Useful Web tools