Author Archives: 123outsource

Your site is only as good as the weakest link?

Categories: Analytics | Tagged | 1 Comment

What does this really mean? What is your weakest link?

Does your site have great graphics, but broken links? Google will penalize you severely for this. Or perhaps your links all work well, but there are other problems. Maybe you have great content, but horrible graphics. Maybe your links are to irrelevant content or poorly organized. Or perhaps everything is perfect, but your server is so damn slow. In web business, to do well, your site has to be good in all respects. If there are 20 factors to consider and you are weak in even one, then you can lose a lot of traffic. Below are some considerations to what makes your site good.

Good content
This means that you have a lot of text on various pages about industry specific information. Not only do you display your projects, but you compare them honestly to other similar products and you give a lot of free related information. If your site is about lawn mowers, compare its features to your competitors lawn mowers. Have pages all about types of grass and the attributes of those species of grass. Have information about outdoor recreation. Write articles about what other people did with their lawns and show some nice pictures of the people and their lawns (and their pets of course too.) They key to good content is to grab your audience and make them want to stay on your site for a long time and come back go your site in the future. Those regular visitors are more likely to make a purchase from you than a short term visitor who thinks your site is useless due to limited or disorganized content

Good organization
If your site has one thousand pages, you need to keep them organized. A good navigation bar can organize your site in a very basic way. It might link to your home page, contact us, about us, articles, site map, and a few other pages. It can’t go beyond that. So, how do you organize your content after that? There can be links on the home page to the most popular content. Your site map or articles page can organize your additional content into sections.

Links
Google cares about links, and quality links. You need incoming links, but you also need outgoing links. You can barter for relevant links or just give them. Google respects you all the more if people click on the links you have on your pages, especially if the keywords on your page match the main keywords on the page you are linking to!

Graphics
If your site has good graphics and pics, people will gravitate towards your site. Some sites spend big bucks on fancy pictures. I wouldn’t do this until you are making the big bucks. But, quality photos and graphics go a long way, even if they are not the most expensive in town.

Speed
If your site is slow, then people will get frustrated waiting for pages to load. They might just forget about you.

SEO
Don’t hire the wrong company or you will get a bunch of links that Google will penalize you for. Then, you will be sorry. But, if you have a keyword structure for all of your main pages, having each main page focus on one or more keywords, then you are in good shape. For your secondary pages, they can focus on a single keyword per page, and repeat that keyword several times per page. That keyword could be in the URL, metatitle, and text, not to mention incoming and outgoing links from that page.

Internal link structure
Sure you need links from other sites. Those might come on their own if you offer quality content. But, if you have the right number of outbound links from each of your pages to other related pages on your site, you might find that Google is very nice to you! Finding the right number of links and the right types of links requires a lot of experimentation and use of Google Analytics, so learn these tools and good luck!

Fresh content
Good content is not enough, you need fresh content. The Google gods are not satisfied with your old content. You need to keep creating new content. Content writers are really in business as a result of this. A blog is a good way to have new content, but you can edit existing pages on your site and add new pages as well.

Layout
Part of a well organized site is layout. But, some layouts are more attractive than others. You need to space your information in an easy to digest way. There should be the right amount of space, the right amount of pictures in the right places, and the right amount of links. Finding a good layout is not easy, so spend some time on this.

There is a lot more to having a great site. But, if your site is lacking on any of these main points, you might lose a ton of traffic!

Tweets:
(1) Does your site look good, but have other things wrong with it? That can hurt you more than you think!

You might also like:

SEO is like acupuncture. There are so many energy channels!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/22/seo-optimization-is-like-acupuncture-so-many-channels/

SEO and little keywords
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/03/02/seo-and-little-keywords/

Good Sign Bad Sign: What to look for in newly hired workers

Categories: Hiring & Firing, Popular on Twitter, Popular Posts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sometimes it is hard to know who to hire, especially when you are in a bind and need someone right away. There are many signs to look for and many phases in the relationship. Sometimes people start off with a bang and end with a low thud or fizzling sound. Always assume that a good relationship can go South. However, I have never seen a bad relationship turn good. On a brighter note, people with good attitudes who are working on their skills might improve their skills over the period of a year or two.

Good Signs
The service provider:
(1) Is always friendly and happy to talk
(2) Conversations last for more than two hours!
(3) You feel that if you were stuck with the person in an eight hour car ride that it would be a pleasant experience
(4) The person gives thoughtful answers to all of your questions and suggests their own points of view too
(5) Finishes work on time or early
(6) Is not only willing, but happy to meet with you on a Sunday or email you on a Holiday about a work related issue
(7) Enjoys taking you out to eat or being taken out to eat
(8) Gives consistently reasonable bids
(9) Is willing to do small things at no cost

Bad Signs
(1) The person is not so willing to answer questions, and answers seem incomplete or evasive
(2) Conversations are short and the person doesn’t seem to enthusiastic about talking. It is more of a burden
(3) Work is finished late, or is sloppy.
(4) Refuses to lift a finger on the weekend no matter what.
(5) Politely declines when you offer to take them out to eat at your expense.
(6) Complains about the work
(7) Answers their phone less than 35% of the time and doesn’t normally return calls or emails.

Categories of signs
(1) Willingness to interact:
Length
Phone answer rate
Answering messages rate
Answering emails rate & speed
Willing to socialize with you off the job

(2) Quality of interaction:
Quality answers to questions
Suggestions — the person makes great suggestions on their own initiative
Complaining — the person complains regularly about small things
Tone: (happy, distant, absent minded, hostile, etc.)

(3) Punctuality — getting things done on time indicates a “Willingness to work”
(4) Quality of Work
(5) Efficiency of work — keeping bids reasonable and being helpful.
(6) Integrity — not cheating or lying.

Based on my experience, if you hire someone to work for you, nobody is ever perfect. So, don’t hold anyone to perfection unless you are Steve Jobs (who could get away with it.) Unfortunately, if a workers is seriously lacking in any of the six categories of signs listed above, you really can’t use them. But, if they are not too bad in any department and get the job done, you are in business.

One of the most critical signs that I read about in other people’s blogs is a gut feeling. How long would you consent to be stuck in a car with the other person. If the answer is twenty minutes, maybe you should not work with them. But, if the answer is all day, then you found a winner!

Pay attention to signs. A single sign doesn’t prove your destiny, but if there are too many question marks or bad signs, your work relationship will most likely not work. It makes sense to end a bad work relationship as soon as possible, or you will be complaining every day about the person!

You might also like:

What does Warren Buffet look for when he hires people?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/02/12/what-does-warren-buffet-look-for-when-he-hires-people/

Don’t hire an employee, hire 5 and keep the best one!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/20/dont-hire-an-employee-hire-5-and-keep-the-best-one/

The safest city in the USA & the most dangerous city in Mexico

Categories: America, Semi-Popular | Tagged | Leave a comment

It is an irony that the safest city in the USA and the most dangerous city in Mexico are right across a river from each other. El Paso is the most crime-free city in the USA. If you disregard the fact that many of the locals are the worst drivers in the country, it is a very safe place. On the other hand Ciudad Juarez is right across the river from downtown El Paso and is the most dangerous city in Mexico. Prostitutes are routinely murdered, and the cartels do plenty of shootings there as well.

It is interesting to note that many companies outsource to Mexico. Mexico does not have the cheapest manufacturing costs, but they do have the fastest turnaround for truck shipments to destinations in the USA. The average trucking time from central Mexico to the focal point of the continental United States is 17 hours. If you want to get goods from China, Malaysia, or Costa Rica to the United States, they have to be put on a truck, then a boat, then unloaded, then customs, then a train, then a truck, and it could take months to deliver your goods.

Mexico is a great outsourcing destination for manufacturing and not bad for call centers either. If only they could control their horrible drug war. Mexico could become a much more popular spot for future manufacturing operations, resorts and more. It is sad that the government is not in control of their own country. Personally, I feel that Mexico was governed more efficiently by the Aztecs — although their culture was based on routine slaughter of neighboring tribes who they sought to conquest! I guess some things never change.

Tweets:
(1) El Paso, the safest city the US is right across the river from Ciudad Juarez, the most dangerous city in Mexico!
(2) If you disregard the fact that half the residents have road rage, El Paso is the safest city in the USA!
(3) The Aztec culture was based on routine slaughters. Sounds like the cartel culture!
(4) Safest USA city is across from most dangerous Mexico city. Yin-ville and Yang-ville.
(5) Mexico is good for call centers. If only they’d call an end to the drug war.

You might also like:

Don’t expect to get paid more due to your GPS coordinates!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/19/dont-expect-to-get-paid-more-due-to-your-gps-coordinates/

The BPO across the border
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/08/the-bpo-across-the-border/

Google’s Algorithm for Blogs is Harder Now

Categories: SEO, Social Media | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

I wrote another article about how Google changed its algorithm regarding how blogs place in search results. Please keep in mind that this change happened in September 2013 and it was very pronounced. I do not do SEO for a living. I just noticed because I track my statistics for my notary blog and outsource blog regularly and train myself to notice things. The first relationship is between how good your blogs are and how you place on Google. The trick here is that a good article is not enough. You need to have incoming links and a way to get seen as well.

Blog tags are a wonderful invention, but are they all they are cut out to be? Using blog tags you can link up lots of blogs to each other in all types of ways based on keyword frequency. You choose tags based on whatever keyword you are trying to accentuate. The problem is that an incoming link is only given credit if several conditions are met:

(1) The link needs to come from a page with similar keywords. If you have tagged certain keywords, then we will assume you have the keyword relevancy. That is easy.

(2) The page that you link from needs to be indexed by Google. If a page gets low traffic, Google might not index it, which means you might get zero credit for an incoming link from that page. What I found is that Google will ignore a page which gets less than about 25-35 clicks per month. This problem wouldn’t affect a larger blog, but for small blogs getting less than 40,000 visits per month, your tags will only do you any good if they are for unusual keywords, or for particular entries which for some reason get lots of traffic. Newer posts that have been recently promoted might get a few hundred visits right away, but your older blog entries might get very little traffic even if your newer posts link to them. My outsource blog is tiny and my tags will not get me much play until I grow. A sad fact of life.

(3) If people actually click on a particular link, the value of the link becomes tremendously bigger. Very few people click on tags, but people would be more likely to click on a link in the body of an article, especially if it were dressed up in such a way that they would be encouraged to click on it. I often put suggested reading links at the bottom of articles and they get clicked on a fair amount, especially if they are highly relevant.

The value of a visit from Google
I noticed that despite how much harder it is to get blog traffic, for each additional click to my blog, I get many additional clicks to my site. Roughly 8 site visits per 1 blog visit. What an amazing correlation! I also learned that visits directly from Google give you much more reward in site visits. How does this work? I think that Google tracks how much traffic it gives you and then rewards you by giving your site higher placement as a result. It is a very helpful cycle, but you need skill to manage this relationship.

What is the solution?
Honestly, I am so overworked, that I make this mistake often — I do not put enough links on my posts until after the fact. Since blog entries on my blogs are generally only popular when they are initially promoted, putting the links on after the fact doesn’t help much. The solution is to pre-publish your blog articles and put as many quality outgoing links to other content as possible BEFORE you promote it. Put lots of good tags, and optimize the content so that you can put more tags as well. You can find creative ways to insert more of your essential keywords into the article to gain relevancy for your keywords.

Google is a wonderful tool. Try hard to master the art of blog promotion with Google. Facebook and Twitter have done miracles for me as well and should ideally be used to promote articles with good tags and outgoing links.

Tweets:
(1) #googleanalytics Google’s algorithm for blogs is harder now. It’s harder to get traffic period!

You might also like:

Social Media: The analytics are deceiving
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/05/27/social-media-the-analytics-are-deceiving/

The Google algorithm has some serious issues
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/04/the-google-algorithm-has-some-serous-issues/

Stand up comedian at a stand up restaurant in India

Categories: Humor, Popular Posts | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Well, what do you know? A stand up restaurant! I wonder if anyone ever considered having a stand up comedian perform at this stand up restaurant. I’m a stand up guy. Maybe I’ll improvise a routine right now. I wonder if anyone will mind. Let’s try.

Comedian: This is a great crowd!

Audience: (glances briefly at him)
Comedian: Something interesting happened to me on the way to the show today. I was on a flight from Singapore to Bangalore, and I decided to do a little comedy. I did a take off on take offs. But, the sound of the engines was so loud, that nobody heard the punch lines! The flight attendant had to assist by pointing to the emergency exits with both hands, and then pointed to the comedian during the punch lines with both hands… Then, she held up a sign saying, “The captain has turned off the no laughing sign”.

Flight Attendant: You are free to laugh as much as you like in the cabin areas. For those of you who do not want to hear these jokes, we will be offering ear plugs for $5 per passenger. If you experience turbulance, it might be due to the fact that the people behind you are bouncing up and down with laughter. For the vegetarians on the plane, we have a choice of corny jokes, and tomatoes to throw at the comic if you don’t like the corny jokes.

Comedian: I wish my ex-girlfriend were here. She can’t stand me, but here she wouldn’t have a
choice!

Audience: (several look inquisitively at him)

===============
Comedian: I wouldn’t want to be a proctologist at a place like this. How can you get hemeroids if you never sit down?

Vipool: Are you a proctologist?
Nuntheny: My uncle Ramesh is very constipated and needs to see a proctologist right away.
Shankar: My family doesn’t have this type of problem. Just have a bite of aunty’s
cooking, that will kill any infection and burn a hole through any hemeroid — or ulcer for that matter.

Comedian: Remind your aunty not to invite me for dinner.

Ramesh: I think I heard an anecdote about aunty’s cooking the last time I had
constipation. I was told the problem would be over in a few minutes. Just have three bites of
aunty’s dahl and everything will turn to mush. HOT going in… HOT going out…

==============

Comedian: I guess you save money with a restaurant like this. You don’t have to hire a hostess to get people seated.

Comedian: If I commit a murder here, at least they won’t give me the chair!

Vipool: No danger in that, your jokes are not exactly killing right now.
Nuntheny: Oh no, please do not commit a murder!
Shankar: What are you talking about — kill Vishal over there — that BASTARD!

Comedian: It looks like if you like my jokes, I stand a high chance of getting a standing ovation.

Comedian: This is my first trip to India. I heard that you have arranged marriages here. I want to know if anyone had an arranged divorce.

Vipool: We don’t do it that way. See that bridge in the distance? If we don’t like the marriage, we just jump off. If we don’t die from the fall, we’ll die from ingesting the polluted water in the river.
Shankar: Or, we could end our marriage by jumping in front of a train. There is a good train track for that three blocks up, then take a left.
Comedian: Oh, it’s nice to know you have a choice!

===================

Comedian: I noticed that at Indian toll booths, they use two attendants at each booth. If America would get its head screwed on correctly for once, we would realize that this is a very effective way to solve the unemployment problem overnight.

Comedian: I went to the hills and three people tried to sell me a hat all at once. They surrounded me and kept hounding me to buy a hat. I told them I already had a hat, but needed pineapple, chocolate, and a tour map. So, they disappeared, and came back to harrass me exactly 75 minutes later. All three of them started trying to get me to buy pineapple from them. I told them I had already eaten.

Comedian: I had trouble getting here tonight. I took a cab ride, but the cab driver who spoke fluent English, couldn’t understand my thick New York accent. So, I was forced to figure out a way for him to understand me. I tried speaking slowly. I tried writing everything down, but he couldn’t read English — he could only speak English. So, I decided to mirror his thick South Indian accent.

“Dear respected sir, I am very much in need of a ride to Rajeev Nagar near Patna Temple in Bangalore section 14 next to Uma’s bakery emporeum to Pati Pati restaurant.”

Audience: (Standing as they may be, the audience is finally on the floor roaring with laughter)

Vipool: Your Indian accent is so funny. It is hard to picture that sound coming out of your mouth! We were not expecting that.
Nuntheny: Your South Indian accent is so funny I can’t stand it anymore!
Shankar: Screw your lame jokes. You should come here every night and imitate us. You’ll make great tips. We just want to hear us the way you hear us.

Comedian: I hear you
Audience: (no reaction)
Comedian: (Thick South Indian accent) I HEAR you
Audience: ah ha ha ha …. ha ha ha….

Tweets:
(1) A stand up comedian at a stand up restaurant in India. “They can’t understand my New York accent!”
(2) The captain has turned off the no laughing sign, you are free to laugh in the cabin areas now

You might also like:

An American teaches Indian companies to be more American
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/23/an-american-teaches-indian-cos-to-be-more-american/

How to get outsourcing work without lifting a finger
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/25/how-to-get-outsourcing-work-without-lifting-a-finger/

Is it better to have a woman do your phone calls?

Categories: Management, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I do a lot of my own phone calls.
But, I learned that my female counterparts are more popular with our clients than I am. Hmmm, what am I doing wrong? Is it me, or is it my gender? I just had a lady do some of the calls that I normally do, but, she got a much higher sign up rate for our newsletter list than I get? Part of it is gender, but she is also slower and more patient — clients like that. Interestingly enough, I once hired a guy with a high pitched voice. He was very popular over the phone because people THOUGHT he was a woman.

But, is hiring a woman always good?
Speaking slowly, clearly, listening, and being able to answer questions is very important. I am a boss, and in a huge hurry because I have more tasks than I do time. People like someone who has the time to go a little slower, so hiring someone else who has less on their late is a great idea.

But, when should you hire a man?
People respect men more as authority figures as a general rule. I am a very gentle guy, but I get more respect as an authority as my company than my saleslady. The irony is that she is much tougher than I am, but because of her gender, she is treated as less powerful than I am. The fact that she is not the owner is part of the reason she is treated as less powerful. But, actually, she is very powerful, because she influences me. If she says a particular client is trouble, I will “write them up” in my files, and that client could be in trouble with us in the long run! I would say:

For call lists that involve a person of authority, a gentle man with a manly voice might get a better result than a tough woman!

Boy, the world is such an unfair place!

Tweets:
(1) Proven fact — it is better to have women do many types of customer service phone calls!
(2) Women are more patient with phone customers. They listen better than men. Ironic, considering guys spend so much time listening to them!
(3) Women listen better to phone customers than men. Ironic, considering men spend so much time listening to women!

You might also like:

The 2% rule; Only 2% of companies are worth hiring
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/21/the-2-rule-only-2-of-companies-are-worth-hiring/

Would you pay extra to have a better employee?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/17/would-you-pay-extra-to-have-a-better-employee/

Google has changed its algorithm

Categories: Analytics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Google changed its algorithm to promote blogs less

It is so ironic. The minute we published a blog entry a few weeks ago about how Google gives too much promotion to blogs, and not enough promotion to actual websites that offer valuable services — Google changed its algorithm. As of August, 2013, I am seeing a lot less blogs on Google searches. This is good and bad. I like to look for good service providers online. I might be able to actually find them now. But, what about the multiple blogs that I write for and promote?

I am noticing that we are not losing that much ground in our incoming traffic statistics from Google searches. The Google algorithm makes it hard to show up on main keywords for blogs. But, if you have certain phrases, or longer keyword variations including two, three or more words, it is easier to show up well. If a blog entry is promoted in Google+ then you have a much better chance of showing up, and Twitter can make the difference as well. Blogs that get traffic will show up better, and if they get traffic from particular keywords, that helps as well. The Google algorithm is complicated and always changing.

We are sad, because we try so hard to show up on particular keywords, and it is sometimes really hard. Power of Attorney is one of our favorite keywords that we have written multiple blog entries about. Perhaps we will have to write thirty, with a few popular entries in that bunch to show up well on Google. Remember, Google gives more weight also to newer articles, so if you value traffic from a particular keyword, keep writing fresh content!

Tweets:
(1) A year ago, I was saying that Google gives too much promotion to blogs. That ended!

You might also like:

The 2% rule; only 2% of companies are worth hiring
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/21/the-2-rule-only-2-of-companies-are-worth-hiring/

Active vs. dormant followers on Twitter
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/27/active-vs-dormant-followers-on-twitter/

What if classically trained musicians ran IT companies in India?

Categories: India, Of Interest, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

When you think of refinement, what type of people do you think of? Do you think of Mercedes engineers? Do you think of Samurai? Or, do you think of classically trained musicians? Think about it. If you are in a profession that requires intricacy, refinement, and mastery, a background in classical music would be a huge plus! The irony of what might really would happen would be that the musicians would bang their head against the wall in frustration when the people around them screwed everything up.

I wrote another quick article about how tabla and sitar lessons could help you succeed in business more than anything else. Well, it is true! Classical music teaches refinement, timing, grace, subtlety, and cooperation with others. What other recreation besides ninjitsu can teach you all of that?

The beauty of a classical music training during your youth is that you notice things. Your ears are tuned to hear subtle (or not so subtle) differences. You notice how different players on a team hand projects off to each other at the prescribed times — or don’t. If anyone makes an error at any stage, you notice. A classical music background can also be a detriment because you might become overly critical of the clueless morons that surround you which can drive you (and them) absolutely crazy!

If these reasons to engage in classical music are not enough, think of how nice it sounds to listen to Mozart. And besides — many do it for the wine and cheese that follows the performances!

Tweets:
(1) When you think of refinement, what type of people do you think of? Classical musicians?
(2) A classical music background is a detriment because you’ll be overly critical of the uncultured!

You might also like:

Slow by good, verses fast and sloppy programmers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/16/slow-but-good-verses-fast-sloppy-programmers/

Communication is not always possible
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/10/16/communication-is-not-always-possible/

Why your sitar & table lessons are the most important training for business
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/09/why-your-sitar-tabla-lessons-are-the-most-important-training-for-business/

The Korean Work Ethic is Based on Impatience

Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Korean Work ethic is based on impatience

I remember a year ago my Korean friend read me some sociological findings on Koreans. Their most distinguishing characteristic was impatience. Some say that patience is a virtue, but when you are doing business and have deadlines, you might enjoy working with Koreans. They have expectations of themselves that might be higher than what you expect from others! I have gotten tired of the American work ethic which seems to be based on broken promises and negligence. It is only the old-school Americans who believe in hard work and integrity in my experience. If you have deadlines to meet, find someone who is accurate and in more of a hurry that you.

Korea has demonstrated an uncanny ability to do things faster. Take ship building for example. They build huge ships in pieces and put them together on floating devices — seamlessly and very quickly. Their process is very innovative, and extremely reliable too. Koreans are leading the world in electronics too these days. If Koreans were doing typical outsourcing work like Data Entry, Call Center Management, or IT Outsourcing, I assure you that the rest of you guys would be out of business.

As with many Asian cultures, communication skills are rarely outstanding with Koreans, but my personal experience has been that the work gets done correctly and quickly even with some communication issues.

My Korean friend’s joke about Koreans is that when they microwave their instant noodles they stand next to the microwave counting the seconds so they can get their noodles fast. They will start stirring the noodles fresh out of the microwave instead of letting them sit for a while (like you should). Such impatience is a global anomaly, but great if you are hiring them to do work that involves deadlines! I’m going to talk some Koreans I know into going into typical outsourcing businesses. Maybe they can clean up the industry! We’ll see!

You might also like:

How do big companies get big? It is not an accident!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/20/how-do-big-companies-get-big-it-is-not-an-accident/

What is your management style?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/02/02/what-is-your-management-style/

Business Names Ending in “Solution” Sound Funny

Categories: Humor | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

India is filled with funny sounding outsourcing business names. TEX Solution, Indotech Solution, etc. Only one solution? Most companies who wish to hire you will need solution(s) to more than one problem. I suggest that you go to the consonant store and buy a consonant! Buy an “s”.

“May I purchase an s?”
“Sorry, we’re all out of s’s”
“No wonder Indian companies typically don’t have an ‘s’ at the end of the word solution”
“No, that’s not it. Many of them lack grammatical competency”

The next thing is your phone number
9199335235
That is very hard to read. It is much classier and harder to make a dialing mistake if you break the number up.
(91) 9335-5235 or 939-335-5235 would be a more American system of breaking the number up. Two sets of three numbers separated with hyphens with a final set of four digits.

What do you put in the language field?
english, hindi, gujrati

Why not put
English, Hindi, Gujarati
Spell everything as well as you can and capitalize proper nouns please! Remember, if American companies are looking over your profile, they will not like it if they see grammar errors!

Good luck renaming your outsourcing company names.
In the mean time.
I have to go.
I have an interview with Jake from J Solution.

You might also like:

Nursery rhyme music is not appropriate for when you are on hold
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/06/nursery-rhyme-music-is-not-appropriate-for-when-you-are-on-hold/

An American teaches Indian companies to be more American
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/23/an-american-teaches-indian-cos-to-be-more-american/

Writing Job Application Bios: The Right Way vs. The Wrong Way

Categories: India | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I see that there are three types of job applicants in India: There are the formal types who write a long bio that includes everything. Their i’s are dotted and their t’s are all crossed. Then, there are those who include some pertinent information, decent grammar, but don’t say that much. Then, there are the broken English types who write one or two lines.

If you are looking for a job, you need to stop saying, “Please give me a chance”. That is verbiage for someone who knows that they don’t deserve the job, but want a chance anyway, because PERHAPS later on they will figure out what they are doing. You are being a liability. If you want a job, be an ASSET, or go back to take more training classes so you will have better skills.

Here are some before and after clips of job application forms that I have seen. The after was written by me.

Example:
Before: Dear Sir, i want job doing data etney from home. i want make money on internet
My phhone number 9855555533

After: To whom it may concern at YZX company. My name is Rakesh Subrahmanian. I have six months of data entry experience working at Joe’s Data Entry in Secundrabad, AP, and would love the opportunity to assist you with data related tasks, or anything else that you need accomplished. I am available to start immediately. My related skills include:

Form Filling
Medical Data Entry
Online Forms
Data Cleansing (verification of spelling and formatting of previously filled out entries)
Data Scrubbing
Data Waxing (no such thing — I just added it for comic effect)

I can be reached at (022) 4444-3333

—————————–

Analysis
Please notice how the “before” example has “entry” spelled wrong. How on earth can someone possibly even consider hiring you for a meticulous job like data entry or data cleansing when your writing is littered with spelling errors? Your “I” should be capitalized since it is a proper noun. The fact that YOU want to make money is of no concern to the employer — skip that. THEY want to make money, and want you to help them make money. If you are a refined worker who gets a lot of work done, then they can use you to make money. If you are an incompetent slob, then they will lose money on you. Lastly, phone is misspelled, and the phone number is all in a big jumble. Most Indians write their number without hyphens or spaces, however, it is NOT professional and is VERY hard to read. In fact, it is ten times as likely to make an expensive dialing mistake if the number is all jumbled together.

Please note that in the “after” example, the person introduces themselves, and then tells exactly HOW MUCH experience he has and then specifies WHERE he got his experience. Nothing is left to the imagination here. Rakesh never begs for a job, however, he indicates enthusiasm for HELPING someone else with what he knows about, or whatever THEY want. Rakesh is thinking about others, and not about what he personally needs — smart! Then, Rakesh makes a quick list of SPECIFIC types of data related tasks which he is well versed in, and even makes a small joke just to lighten the mood. Be careful with jokes as they can backfire. But, a well placed joke that accompanies some thorough information might make you stand out as an applicant and be remembered. Last, please notice that the phone number is nearly laid out in a very easy to read and professional looking format.

You might also like:

Find audio transcriptionists!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/05/21/find-audio-transcriptionists-on-123outsource-net/

How to find a data entry job!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/05/14/how-to-find-a-data-entry-job/

A Chiropractor Stops Outsourcing Medical Transcription

Categories: Medical Transcriptions | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

I just got adjusted a few days ago. It felt good. My Chiropractor is the best. I have been his loyal patient for more than a decade. I get electric stimuli, a double treatment of ultra-sound, and an adjustment for only $40. I should offer them more since they are the best in town despite their out of the way location that takes me over an hour to reach!

But, during my last adjustment, we had a chat about Medical Transcription Outsourcing — his least favorite topic.

–Crack–
Me: “That was a loud one… so, I found some good software outsourcing companies who actually communicate effectively for a change”
Chiropractor: “I stopped outsourcing a while ago. I had a Filipino Medical Transcription company doing my dictations. They included verbiage I was yelling to my secretary during the dictation like — ‘close the door please’. I can’t believe that didn’t have the brains to know that was not part of the dictation. I can’t use these guys anymore. They are clueless”
Me: “I guess it was not worth the savings”
Chiropractor: “They were charging me $5 to do it wrong when I only get $10 from the insurance companies and American companies charge me $20 to give me a headache.”
Me: “That sounds really bad. I’m sorry to hear that.
–Snap–
Chiropractor: “Your neck is really bad, what have you been doing?”
Me: “I’m stuck at a computer all day and all night”
Chiropractor: “You need to go back to your old massage therapist, your adjustments were easier a few years ago”
Me: “So, what do you do now about your dictations?”
Chiropractor: “I trained one of my girls here how to do it. She does a perfect job and can do FOUR per hour with hardly any mistakes. With the outsourced Medical Transcription services I had to pay them to do it wrong, and then spend three hours a week fixing their mistakes manually. It probably would have been easier to just type it myself”
Me: “I wish there was a way to analyze quality control for these types of services. The good Medical Transcription services are typically owned by larger corporations and cater exclusively to in-house jobs”
Chiropractor: “Turn on your side — you are probably right!”

I’m learning that the way to do business is to find in-house solutions to your business needs. You are more in control of quality and timeliness of output if you hire your own people. But, if you hire smaller companies, learn to master the art of screening them. There are good outsourcing companies out there. You just need to know how to weed out the bad Medical Transcription Outsourcing companies, and handle the good ones.

You might also like:

Medical Transcriptions: a trip through a city
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/02/28/medical-transcriptions-a-trip-through-a-city/

Medical transcriptions and errors
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2010/12/10/medical-transcriptions-and-errors/