By: Carol Bustos-Santiago
Outsourcing has evidently been the smart thing to do for American and European businesses even way before the onset of the global economic turmoil. At the turn of the century, customer service hotlines were directed to developing countries such as the Philippines and India. As a matter of fact, the strong demand for offshore call centers made Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) one of the leading industries in the Philippines today. As wages for professionals soar in an unstable economy, companies in the first world countries realized it would be highly beneficial for them to outsource other aspects of their businesses for obvious cost-effective reasons. In the recent years, web design, copywriting, content editing, search engine optimization and other professional services were sought from the Philippines.
To make it, let alone survive, in the digital age, you have to exist in cyberspace. This is precisely the reason why businesses, whatever the scale, and individual professionals resort to building websites to get the word out on their products and/or services. The work does not end with merely building websites. Maintenance and promotion of these sites are the key ingredients toward gaining an audience and, more importantly, customers. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in.
According to PayScale, the annual salary of an SEO Specialist in the United States as of July 2010 ranges from $32,370 to $52,441. The figures are derived from considering education, knowledge and experience, benefits, and profit sharing options. At these rates, the job of an SEO Specialist is solely confined to that of his/her core responsibilities: analysis and application of changes to websites for optimization for search engines, keyword identification for SEO implementation, and conceptualization of strategic methods for search engine ranking improvements.
It is but sheer common sense for website owners from first world countries to seek the very crucial SEO services in the Philippines. BPOs in the country market the skills of their SEO Specialists as cheap as PhP 15,000 (approximately $327) per month, plus office fees and benefits. Then, there is the option of hiring a freelance SEO specialist via online marketplaces or SEO forums. Freelance SEO in the Philippines cost a maximum of $10 per hour. Without the office fees and benefits (and the strings attached with opting for BPOs), SEO freelancers are even cheaper. Many freelance SEO Specialists in the Philippines offer packaged services. Aside from the “regular” SEO services mentioned above, most of them offer providing content for the websites they are to promote. That saves the companies between $32, 500 and $35,000 annually that they usually shell out for content editors.
Big savings, all-around website service plus near-native English proficiency. There is no reason for companies worldwide not to invest in SEO in the Philippines.
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Carol Bustos-Santiago is a Manila-born Offsite Content Editor based in California. Childhood dreams of being a diplomat urged her to complete a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Studies Major in European Languages from De La Salle University. However, the tainted politics, both in the local and international arenas, developed her aversion from a career she once believed is right for her.
An opportunity to provide web material for a travel website through a Business Process Outsourcing company awakened her love for writing from its long slumber. Before she knew it, she was engaging herself in a profession that once toyed in her head as a child.
Her role as an Offsite Content Editor for an Internet Marketing firm has allowed her to broaden her knowledge of copywriting/editing, business industries and the Internet itself. She has written website content, press releases and other materials for companies of various industries.
Due to the technical nature of her job, she maintains a number of blogs where she can unleash the creative writer in her. One of which is InadvertentlyDomesticated.com, a brainchild she shares with her sister, which ultimately imparts their (mis)adventures as women whether in marriage, parenting, friendship or life, in general. With the goal of building a community in mind, it has published various contributions about motherhood, domestic duties, career and recipes, to name some, from its readers.
She is a dyslexic who is involved in a love affair with books, a music enthusiast, an underground supporter (and the devil’s advocate of pop culture, with the exception of pop art), social media junkie, movie buff, nocturnal company keeper and a hole-in-the-wall hunter, among other things.
Need to know more? Ask.
Gtalk: fcbsantiago
YM: fcbsantiago1
Skype: carol.bustos.santiago
Twitter: fcbsantiago
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I am not against you personally or anything but what you are trying to promote is actually against Filipinos. You are trying to convince European and American business people to outsource here in the Philippines using the argument that labor is cheaper. Exactly my point! Is doing the same thing for a lower rate not a form of exploitation? You even went as far as promoting “freelance” SEO specialists because they are cheaper and “with no strings attached”. It is yet another form of exploitation because one is working without job security or tenure and without the other benefits he/she deserves like insurance or retirement plan.
Please, before thinking about those companies, think first of your countrymen.
@GOSH with the staggering rate of unemployment and the inability of the governments – phil, US, etc – to create jobs, outsourcing and freelancing might not be YOUR ideal win-win situation, but it helps to keep the parties involved afloat. so many professionals, whether here in the US or the PI, are out of jobs, not because they’re incompetent, but because nobody is hiring. if you have skills, i.e. SEO, promote yourself! sell your services! you gotta do what you gotta do to bring the bacon home.
so many writers, photographers and other skilled and talented professionals started out freelancing. it’s a good way to get the word on your services out. chances are, you get offered a regular job! or even earn enough to start your own bpo.
“and if you get to start your own bpo, you get to create jobs and help your countrymen”