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India is an attractive destination for companies who want to outsource their work. A good command over English, lower costs and a strong IT knowledge base have attracted many companies to outsource their projects to India from the US, UK, Europe and other areas where the costs are higher. However, it is not without its share of pitfalls. If you are one of the companies who want to outsource writing work to India and avoid any glitches, follow these tips for a happy outsourcing experience.
Prepare a detailed project brief: Before looking out for service providers, draw a detailed brief. Get a good grip on what all your projects should contain, the necessary keywords and the type of English the writer should use while writing the material. Remember there are differences in American and British English. Also determine the keyword density in each of the articles to make it easy for SEO professionals to optimise your content so that it features high on the search results with major search engines.
Ask for bids from freelancers: Once you have prepared your brief for the project, post your project details and requirements on various websites for freelancers like Elance, GetAFreelancer or Freelance Work Exchange, and ask for bids from various service providers.
Research all the bids thoroughly: After your project is posted on these websites, you will start getting bids for the project. Most of these websites that act as a go-between outsourcers and service providers provide a rating service. Check the ratings given by other outsourcers to each of the service providers. Do not consider the service providers whose reviews are less than 15. Shortlist 2-3 top service providers with good reviews
Don’t go for the lowest rate: The rates charged by each service provider will vary based on their experience, the nature of your writing project and the deadline you set. Though these rates should fit your budget allocated for the project, don’t select the lowest rate, as the service provider may not be able to give high quality output.
Ensure your selected service provider is accessible on Instant Messaging: Find out if the service provider uses an instant messaging service to allow you to communicate any changes in the brief immediately. Note the time difference between India and your country. Set up a time that is mutually convenient to both of you, so that you can solve any bottlenecks in the project.
Discuss business terms clearly: Make sure you clarify all the terms of business like payment, deliverables, penalties for failure to deliver on time etc. This will prevent any future problems between both of you.
State your stand on the copyright of the material: Define clearly who owns the copyright of the material. Failure to do this can land you in copyright problems later on if the service provider resells the work.
Ensure that the service provider submits unique material. Check to see that the work you get is original. Otherwise you can run into legal problems as in tip 7.
Be clear on any rework done on the project: At times, the articles submitted need to be altered if your client is not happy with the work. Or there may be many grammatical and spelling mistakes in the articles. Discuss your stand on this issue with the other party. They should not charge you twice for the same work.
Agree on the mode of payment: The normal modes of payment to India are: cheque, money order, Western Union, bank transfer, SWIFT and internet processors like Paypal. Normally Indian banks take more than three weeks to process cheque payments. So most of the overseas outsourcers prefer either Paypal or bank transfers. Find out from the service provider about which mode of payment is convenient for them. In the case of Paypal, both of you should have Paypal accounts.
Follow these tips to save yourself outsourcing problems in the future.
Happy Outsourcing!
Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.
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Developing India-centric content for a new web portal targeted at NRIs
