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24/04/2014

Online Business Outsourcing Basics

Sometime ago I promised to publish articles on outsourcing. Well, these aren't really new articles, they are, in reality, a former Squidoo lens that is repurposed. I won't be copying/pasting it, though: I'm going to rewrite it entirely so as to provide you with updated information.

Outsourcing A.B.C.


Outsourcing is something that is very common in our globalized world. Most companies outsource. Many of us lost their jobs for the benefit of outsourcing. However, what is outsourcing in reality? Well it's quite simple: if you have a company based in the US and want to hire cheaper employers, you're going to hire Chinese employees that work for a company that won't cost you as much as if you'd hire US employees. The job will be done anyway and you'll save money in the process. It also works if as an US based company you hire self-employed people base in the US.

So, all in all, outsourcing is the fact of making other people doing the work for you. And it it's trendy it is because its main benefit is that it enables companies to make huge savings.

Outsourcing types:


1. National --> the use of employees or self-employed people in the same country than the one of your company;

2. Overseas --> the use of employees or independent of another country or another continent.

Both types work pretty well for online business owners, though.

Benefits of Outsourcing for Online Business Owners


What are the benefits of such a thing for my online business? Well, here are some of them:

  • You can highly reduce labor costs,
  • Social covers, health insurance and other benefits for employees are cut,
  • Labour is highly increased,
  • Provides higher productivity rate as in some countries the 35 hours/week tradition doesn't exist,
  • Can even eliminate in many cases the company's charges like renting fees, equipment, etc.

Here is an example of a recipe online business that would outsource its tasks


Let's say that webmaster A has a small company based in the USA. This company sells recipe ebooks or electronic books like Kindle. In addition A manages a website that shares cooking tips and promotes cooking ustensils.

However there are only 24 hours in a day and A must deal with:

  • Finding inspiration for the monthly recipe book,
  • Recipe writing,
  • Step by step photos of recipes,
  • Creation of ebook cover,
  • Site and ebook promotion,
  • Keeping in touch with potential clients AND readers,
  • Customer support,
  • and so on (see my previous tutorial related to ebook publishing)


In addition, A must set a price for his recipe ebook. Given the quality of the recipes shared, it might sell well for as high as $29.99. But the competition in this niche is so high that A should sell his monthly recipe ebook for as low as $5.99.In this case, A can't afford hiring an assistant in the US.

Still, A could find a way to deal with this problem by outsourcing most of the tasks overseas. 

A will thus think of : cutting labor costs and insurance; cut renting fees for an office; cut on equiment purchase. The answer to this is outsourcing and what's even more interesting: overseas outsourcing. 

Our recipe publisher has now different options to ease his work


1. A can hire a virtual assistant that will do all the work of promotion, social interaction, management of mailing lists, etc. for a fraction of the price an US employee would cost,

2. A can buy private label right recipes (along with pics) and have the articles rewritten by someone hired online - sites like ContentAuthority.com do that very well and for an affordable price. In the meantime, A can prepare all the recipes for his own family if he wants to provide his own pictures.

Another option would be to post an offer on sites like Fiverr or forums to have custom content made for the best price. Once the offer is posted A will review all offers and choose the one that will cost the less money.

3. A can hire a graphic designer on sites like Fiverr or in forums to have his book cover professionally done.

Though A can skip point 2 if he actually prepares ALL the recipes he published on his site and in his ebooks as not having to do the design and promotional tasks is a huge time saver in itself.

Outsourcing is a must these days if you do not want to get overwhelmed with all the tasks you have to do in order to make your online business survive the huge competition. 



Posted by Holly Day

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