Author Archives: 123outsource

Why you should spend 1 hour+ on your next blog title

September 21, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

I just read about something called the 50/50 rule of blogging. You spend as much time on your title as you do on the actual content. In my opinion this ratio is somewhat true. If you have a beautifully written article with a horrible title, nobody will bother to read it. On the other hand if you have a great title, and a horrible article, they will begin to read it, and then your bounce rate will go up.

I often spend an hour trying different titles out on Twitter just to see what people will favorite or retweet. If I am going to invest in writing an article, I want an article that will be popular. So, I spent an hour researching what is popular, and then more time to get the exact wording of the title to be of optimal popularity. Finally, I write the actual article. As you can see, my total investment in the title could have been 90 minutes, while I might spend less than 60 minutes writing the actual blog. In real life, there is no perfect ratio of how long to spend on each part of blogging or social media, but don’t overlook how important a catchy title or catchy theme really is — and don’t forget to experiment with up to a dozen possible title wordings for maximum appeal!

Find audio transcriptionists on 123outsource.net

September 21, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Data Entry | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Find an audio transcriptionist on 123outsource.net

123outsource.net is an outsourcing directory that places a heavy emphasis on data entry, data processing, data transcription and many related specialties including audio transcriptioning.  We have hundreds of service providers throughout the world doing various types of data entry and BPO tasks, especially in the U.S., and in India.
 
What is Audio Transcriptioning?
Audio transcriptioning is a type of data entry, where the data entry clerk listens to a tape recording, or some type of audio file, and types information into a computer file based on what they heard.  In general, data entry consists of entering data into a database that was previously on paper, an audio file, or on another online database. 
 
Medical Transcriptioning
Medical transcriptioning involves a lot of audio transcription work.  In addition to having good audio transcription skills, clerks need to be intimately familiar with medical terms, physiology, anatomy, diagnostic procedures, pharmacology, and treatment assessments. 
 
The Philiipines
Audio transcriptionists are located in large numbers throughout the planet, but the Philippines has a monopoly on the outsourcing end of this business.  If you are outsourcing this type of work, please think about visiting our search results in the Philippines for best results.
 
Video Transcriptioning
Video transcriptioning is yet another term for a particular type of audio transcriptioning.  Videos sometimes need subtitles or text printouts, and a good transcriptionist can provide this service for you.
 
Business Transcriptions
There are many types of transcriptions used in the greater sphere of business transcriptions. Common types include conference transcription, interview transcription, seminar transcription, and verbatim transcription.   Some types of transcription omit unintentional sounds such as “um”, and “ah”, while others leave it in.
 
If you run a company that does data entry or audio transcriptions, please contact 123outsource.net and ask us if we can offer you a free listing on our directory. Or, just visit our sign up page!

Cultural differences are not what you think?

September 21, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

We have all read books about cultural differences. We have read about people’s bizarre experiences in foreign lands traveling, teaching, and doing business. But, what do books really teach us? Do they teach the real culture, or some outdated behavioral patterns from a few subjects in a particular subculture of a particular vast area in the globe.

Culture doesn’t exist

I remember reading that the Arab culture is XYZ. Then, I met real Arabs and they were the exact opposite of XYZ. So, which one is it? Are they or are they not like XYZ. Next, the politically correct nitwits will take this window of time as an opportunity to insert their unwelcomed chime in about how you cannot generalize people. Guess what, the existance of the notion of culture suggests that you can generalize people who belong to a particular culture of having a high probability of having cultural traits associated with the culture — assuming you have correctly defined the culture.

What is the right definition?

But, putting aside who is right or wrong, and which book is better or worse, and what definition of a culture is right or wrong — it is complicated. No dated text can possibly encompass the complications of defining a moving target involving hundreds of millions of people who are dispersed over large areas of geographic territory with multiple classes, subcultures, ethnicities, and other variables. So, how can you learn about culture? Put the books aside, and get on a plane! Yee-haw!!!

Getting off the plane

So you get on the plane and get off in China. You are given endless praise, and eat it all up only to find that people are upset that you accepted their praise? And you thought that dealing with women was difficult. “Do I look fat?” “No, honey, you look fine”. “No, I really do look fat, I have gained an ounce”. “I don’t notice that non-existant ounce”. “I did, it is here, are you blind?”. “Hmmm, you are right, you really did gain an ounce!.” “How can you say that!!!”

Have you eaten?

So you mangle saying, “Ni chi fan le mei?” and the Chinese tell you that you are an expert in Chinese. You say, “Not really, but thanks anyway”. They don’t like it when you get too arrogant. But, then later on, you notice that they will make some inflated statement about themselves and then you go back to your book. Wait a second, you are not supposed to say that. We are in China after all. So, the locals break the rules — they just don’t do it that often. Americans love individuality — so, therefor you are being un-American by getting on a bus, or agreeing with large groups of people about what they believe in. But, Americans are very predictable in their likes and dislikes and a lot less individual than you think. Chinese also brag more than you might think as well. So — it is complicated.

So, how does this relate to your business? This is a blog about business after all?

You need to understand other cultures, so you can squeeze more money out of people from different countries. It is that simple. But, which part of cultural competency really matters? A book isn’t going to teach you that. The bigger points are how to gain TRUST, popularity, and comfort with your culturally different friends.

Many Americans never want to see your face in business. How inhuman — no wonder I don’t have too many American friends! Indians insist on seeing you face to face. Asians want to gain trust and develop a relationship in many cases — at least if they are serious about you. I guess I fit the Asian stereotype although I am not Asian in this birth. Putting culture aside, don’t prejudge people who are from a particular land. Maybe the Americans really do want to meet you in person a lot. Maybe it is the client from Beijing who wants the entire relationship online with no phone calls. Understanding what people from particular cultures USUALLY like is knowledge you should have. Catering to their ACTUAL likes is a much more valuable skill.

My bottom line advice is to spend time with people from different cultures. Understand the cultures, and individuals. Learn how to be attentive and figure out what matters to them as individuals while using cultural data to guess what is more likely to matter to them. Guessing probability and making unflattering assumptions that prejudge someone are different and you need to be very aware of that distinction

When you don’t blog, you miss it!

September 21, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Blogging is something new to me. I never used to do it until late 2010. As a child I hated to write. As an adult I have grown used to it. I never imagined that I would have a job that involved so much writing. As a child, I thought I would be an efficiency analyst for big companies. In a sense I do a lot of that for my directories and I am very efficient in many ways and very analytical in my daily activities — something my customers appreciate as I teach them how to analyze markets that they participate in.

But, I miss blogging when I don’t do it for a while. There are spells for weeks when I am busy on a project and I won’t write blogs. I even have dreams about blogging. Symbolically, I might see a pencil in the dream, or feel sad in the dream because I am not in front of a computer. This happened on a recent meditation trip. I was enjoying a pristine forest, meditation, hiking, great food, and the company of other like-minded people. I started having dreams about blogging. I realized I need to do it.

Twitter has become an obsession too just like blogging. I need to write tweets daily, and they need to be ones that will be popular too. Underaverage tweets just don’t cut it with me anymore. No more writing up a bunch of tweets and publishing them. Now, I compare my tweets before they go into my scheduled tweet list.

I encourage others to engage in blogging too. It expands your consciousness and becomes part of who you are. Write a blog entry today!

What makes your outsourcing company stand out?

September 20, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Are you doing your work the same lousy way the other companies are doing it? Or do you stand out? If you stand out, do you know how to communicate how you stand out? If you are going to sell your company to others, you need to be able to mention many convincing attributes that your company has that other companies can’t realistically claim.

Through my career, I have learned that very few people know how to express what is good about their service. Many people draw a blank, or start mentioning long lists of adjectives with commas between them. I am responsible, reliable, and honest. Nobody wants to hear this. Most companies in India don’t want to talk about what sets them apart, they just want you to read their brochure or the FAQ page on their website. I am not interested in that. I want to hear it from you, and hear how you communicate. I judge people on how they communicate which is a problem, because most people can’t communicate up to even my minimum standards!

Let’s say that you are in Web Design for example. Someone asks you what makes your company stand out? You can mention that you do regular web design, but you like to hire people who are more experienced than other companies do. You like to specialize more in Flash design and less in multimedia. You prefer PHP, but do .net for existing clients only. Show them some of your best work. If your company has an internal checking system to check the work of your employees, mention that. If you have a specialized customer service department that is open twenty-four hours a day, that is a great perk.

It pays to brainstorm for a few hours and think about what makes your company better. But, telling them and showing them are two separate things. If you have a flawless web site where pages load really fast, and the art work is beautiful, that will leave much more of an impression than your self-aggrandizing commentary! If you speak well over the phone, and communicate clearly and in a helpful way, that speaks volumes about the type of service people might expect to get from your company. Of course in real life, it is not how well the salesman talks, but how well the web designers design and handle communication that really counts.

So, think about it. What makes you better?
Drawing a blank?
Start making a list of things that make you better
If your list is blank, then maybe it is time to try to think of ways to BECOME better — then, you can make your list!

Indian offices and ego

September 20, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: India | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Indian offices and ego, power, abuse, etc.

In India, the land of spirituality, it seems that the workplace is somewhat less than what I could consider to be spiritual. Of course, every workplace is different, and each human being is different too.  But, in Indian culture, it is all too common to have managers who are on some type  of ego trip. They think they are so great and powerful because they are managers, and they want to step on others who are lower than them to show off their power.  It seems very primative to me when I see this type of behavior.

Relationships between managers and workers seem to involve a lot of yelling. Managers often behave like tyrants in some movie about Egypt when they had slaves building the pyramids.   It all looks very abusive.  Some workers are good for nothing and NEED to be yelled at often to keep them in check.  But, as a policy for treating people in general, respect is a much better policy — at least for those who can handle giving and receiving it.  Appreciation gets more mileage than beration as well.

My friend pointed out to me that workers are often very concerned only with what their salary and position is.  They are often saving up for a dowery for their sister’s marriage.  It is always good to be able to pay whatever the market rate for dowery is. However, if workers are only concerned with superficial things like their job title and salary, and managers are only concerned with finding new and creative ways to demean their underlings, then what do you think the future of companies with these types of maniacs would be?  The answer is not very nice.

There needs to be a sense of commitment to the long range growth and health of the company you work for.  There needs to be a sense of professionalism as well.  Larger companies in Bangalore often have very professional managers — often NRI’s or Westerners are chosen to be managers to bring a more worldly sense of professionalism to these multinational offices.  Owners need to find a way to create that loyalty and commitment.

Employees will never be 100% loyal to any company, because it is all about their immediate pay check, and about their personal desires.  Very few employees can see the long term picture, or would care about that view in even the best case scenario. But, if employees are treated well, and see themselves at that company in the long term, there will be a natural bond between them and the company, and that bond is well worth creating and maintaining.

If you set an example, by keeping employees around forever as a matter of practice, the never employees might see themselves as having a realistic chance of staying at your company for life.  Then, and only then will they care about the long term health of our company!  Think about it!

Does visiting the desert make you smarter?

September 20, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged | Leave a comment

There are all types of techniques for how to become smarter. You can read, or do thinking exercises. Some people train themselves to remember long lists of numbers or other information. Some people go to school and attend lectures. But, I have come up with a real shocker: Going to the desert made me starter — and I have proof.

I play this Chinese game called Go. It is a very complicated game. Players have ratings that could be a kyu or a don. The stronger players are don players and don levels range from one to ten (the world’s strongest player is a ten don). I play online Go, and have noticed that my rating goes up and down very quickly. If you are having a bad day, instead of giving you some leeway, they demote you to a lower ranking after you have lost a few games. It really makes no sense, but is a great way to track how good your thinking was on a particular day.

In any case, I had not played in about three and a half years. When I went back to playing, I noticed myself making all types of very careless mistakes that lead to huge losses. As business people, we can all appreciate the fact that a single mistake can cost us thousands. In any case, after a month of playing, I got to the point where I made very infrequent tactical errors. But, I noticed that I was working too much, and getting mentally fatigued as well as physically fatigued. So, I went to Joshua Tree.

Joshua Tree is a desert destination with lots of hikers, rock climbers, photographers and many who engage in overnight camping. The energy there really picks me up. I always joke that there are different types of qi according to acupuncture theory, but the type of qi at Joshua Tree is Joshua qi. In any case, after I came back from my happy day of hiking in 92 degree weather in Joshua Tree, I noticed that my Go rank jumped up 1.5 ranks. After the energy that I had picked up in the desert dissipated after a few days, my ranking went far down.

The point of this quirky little analysis is that getting energy from nature can enhance your thinking ability. It is temporary of course, but isn’t it nice to keep an edge and always be your best?

May the qi be with you!

Ratios & Metrics in my personal social media adventure

September 20, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Analytics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

It always interests me to understand how much I invest in building a particular medium, and how much I can get out of it. I have been working on a few Twitter profiles for years. My largest has about 9000 followers, and we get about 1.5 clicks per tweet assuming those tweets are not during the middle of the night. Sure, there are optimal times in the day for tweeting, but I can only do it when I can.

Twitter click/tweet ratio
What I learned is that it takes me about 15 minutes, three times a week to manage a Twitter profile and grow it by about 300 members per week. Sometimes I am busy and can only do it once, but if I do what I am supposed to, I get a new follower rate of about 400 per hour spent, and then put time into following people back, doing a little tweeting, and interacting. 400/hour is not a bad ratio. I can’t do much more than 15 minutes per session or my relevancy rate of targeting new followers becomes not worth it. Since my largest account gets 1.5 clicks per tweet, and has 9000 followers, you could say that it might take me 22 hours of labor spent slowly for several months to get 1.5 clicks per tweet. If I spent 100 hours of time, my tweet rate might go up to 7 or more depending on the relevancy rate. Another factor to consider is that my older followers might not be so active. New followers on Twitter tend to click and retweet a lot more than old ones.

With my other Twitter account I get .75 clicks per tweet with 2000 followers, so the ratio is very different because the followers were more recently acquired. Interesting data!

Google+ click/post ratio
On a brighter note, my Google+ account is getting me more like 4 clicks per post average with only 600 followers. This is a rough estimate. I’ll fine tune it once I get to about 1000 followers. It is hard to take a measurement because I don’t know how popular a particular post will be until afterwards. In any case, It is exciting to get all of these clicks.

Google plus makes it slower and harder to acquire followers. I have become good at it, but the actual physical process of implanting them in one of your circles is cumbersome as the load time is currently slow with Googleplus. On the other hand, unfollowing is easy if you remove the whole circle that particular followees are in. Five seconds, and I can delete hundreds of followees with whom that I have given a week to follow me back.

Comparison
It seems that with Twitter, I get about 1 click per 3000 newer followers per tweet, and a somewhat lesser ratio with older followers of perhaps 1 click per 6000. It might take 8 hour of labor to get 3000 followers to get that 1click/tweet ratio. With Googleplus, it takes more like one hour of labor to get perhaps only 60 followers. I can follow about 500, but only 12-15% actually follow me back. However, those 60 followers are much more valuable to me than 60 twitter followers. So, it might take 2.5 hours of labor to get 150 followers on Googleplus. Those 150 followers would get me the same click rate that 3000 recent (12 months or less) followers on Twitter would get me. However, for the sake of numbers, let me do a 100 hour guesstimate for both mediums.

100 hours of twitter: 40,000 followers: 12 clicks / tweet
100 hours on G+: 6000 followers: 40 clicks / post

This is purely an estimate though. Additionally, I will say that on on of my Google+ accounts, the length of visits is much higher than on other mediums. I got average visits of four minutes this month which is fantastic. My other Google+ account (for notary work) got slightly above average for minutes per visit which is also encouraging.

Based on inconclusive evidence, it seems that Google+ might be a much more efficient medium for getting clicks than Twitter, although Facebook is still the king of social media as far as vast volumes of clicks is concerned. Also, don’t overlook Twitter for SEO value as it can be the most effective tool if you get in depth interactions with others or high quantities of retweets!

Offshoring & Outsourcing — why does it happen and is it worth it?

September 20, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles, Popular on Twitter, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Do you have a company that needs to outsource part of its busy work to another company to save time? It is hard hiring staff to do odds and ends, or busy work in America. Costs are high, people are lazy, and then you have to deal with payroll taxes, unemployment taxes, EDD, and more! What a pain!

The government doesn’t get it.
If they really want to stop all of the offshoring that is going on, instead of having RULES that stifle offshoring, they need to have incentives for INSHORING (if that is a word). All of these taxes, payroll rules, and minimum wages create high unemployment and make it risky to hire anyone. Labor laws make it difficult to fire someone without risking being sued for wrongful termination as well. If you combine all of these factors with the laziness and disrespect which is part of the modern American culture — a logical person will draw only one conclusion: Take it overseas — and fast!

In foreign countries, people ACTUALLY want to work.
I know this might sound hard to believe, but it is true, and I am an eye witness. People overseas might not have the work skills or communication skills that you want, but you can get lots of work done really cheap if you know who to go to and how to handle them.

Offshoring takes skill
Many Americans are afraid to outsource because they are afraid of what people in foreign countries will do with their work. This is a legitimate fear. There is an abundance of sloppy and unprofessional behavior. It can get so unprofessional that you will say, “What is wrong with these people?” frequently. However, if you find the right people who really want to work (sort through them), you will find that you can get work done at 20% of the cost, and often much faster than you could get it done here. In addition to needing skills picking a company, you need to know how to HANDLE them. I have taken many rick shaw rides in India, and you have to know all of their tricks and how to manipulate them instead of letting them screw you. Either you have to be a player, or you will get played. Overseas companies can be very unresponsive and uncooperative, not to mention sloppy. You need to know when to bribe them, when to threaten them, and when to pack up and leave them. It is a lot like how dating is if you live in a low income neighborhood. It is a jungle out there, so if you want to thrive, you need to know how to play the game.

Don’t fear foreigners — You can get screwed right here on domestic soil
The typical white American feels so comfortable with other white Americans and so uncomfortable when in a foreign environment. Your feelings have very little to do with reality. Sure, if your senses tell you that an individual is trouble, you very well might be right, but outsourcing is not something to fear — it is something to master. I have dealt with many American companies. Although they are more professional on the surface, they are notorious for not returning calls, not returning emails, keeping you waiting indefinately, and even outright cheating clients out of thousands. Remember: when you get screwed in India you get screwed out of Rupees (2 pennies per rupee). When you get screwed in America by middle class white Americans and you can lose thousands. The scale of proportion is very different and you can lose big right at home. People here cheat all the time. My personal experience is that you will get screwed twice as much in India as you will here, but the one time you get screwed here will be of a monetary value of 10x what you got taken for in India.

Basically, I recommend trying to do some outsourcing and offshoring. Start on a small scale and try some companies out until you find someone you like. If later on, they are too busy or become uncooperative, you can try some others out. In the long run, if you learn how to play the game, you will increase your profit margin in ways that you might previously have thought were unimaginable.

You might also like:

An emotional experience with a Russian outsourcing company
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/18/an-emotional-experience-with-a-russian-software-outsourcing-company/

Are you dealing with a broker or an owner?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/16/are-you-dealing-with-a-broker-or-an-owner/

The fastest way to grow on Google+ is…

September 20, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I just started using Google plus a few weeks ago. Honestly, I am nowhere near being able to call myself an expert. But, I have been doing social media for four years. I write my own blogs, tweets, posts, discussion questions, and I notice what works, with who, and why. I read a lot of materials for Google+ on the internet. The advice was similar wherever I went. You need to follow relevant people, plus other people’s content, join communities, comment on other people’s posts, blah, blah, blah. This advice is not bad advice, but here’s some really good advice.

Advice on commenting
Or should I say, my comments on commenting. As a general rule, commenting on other people’s material is a way to get noticed on social media. Most people write really witless comments that just take up space. When you see a beautiful photo posted on one of those travel sites, the comments are very predictable as well: “Oh, it’s so beautiful, I wish I could be there right now.” Commenting on Google+ will get you noticed, and will get you new followers, but slowly. If I spend an hour commenting, perhaps I’ll get around three followers as a result. I do recommend commenting on content that is very relevant and meaningful to you. Commentary should be done if you can’t stop yourself from doing it. I wouldn’t just comment on content for the sake of commenting as that is not an efficient use of your time.

Plussing
I spent a lot of time plussing one day. I went through feeds for all types of topics that interested me. Most of the feeds were based on business oriented keywords. I plussed the posts that I thought were worth having Google put in the spotlight. Plussing looks easy, but you have to read a lot to figure out what to plus if you want to give honest plusses. And there is no greater minus than a plus that lacks integrity! The day that I spent about an hour plussing only yielded me about three followers.

Posting
Posting is a great way to get seen in keyword feeds. I don’t know how many people bother to read keyword feeds. But, Google+ seems to be set up to be more focused on keyword specific searches rather than just seeing the posts from random followers that you have accumulated over time. Google makes it convoluted to see the posts of your followers. You have to lookup a keyword with a # sign to even get the option. So, it makes sense to post a few articles per day and use different keywords. The point is to show up in all of the keyword feeds that are relevant to your business. So, make a list, and make sure you are always showing up. If that means posting 20 times a day, then maybe you should! Choose your content wisely. I do not have a metric for how many followers I can get in an hour of posting, because I only spend a few minutes per day posting content. The result you get from posting depends on your “reach.” If many people will see the post, then you might get some results. See my section on communities as that is a way to get instant reach (which is a marketing term.)

Feeds
Keyword searches are pretty self explanatory on Google+. But, if you do a search, you might be able to query posts from your followers, specific circles or discovery (fun.) Unfortunately, most of the people I follow post dismal material. I only follow them because they are industry specific. The people I actually like, I put in the VIP circle, and they are in different industries ranging from general business, to photography, to social media, and call centers. The problem with the way Google+ is set up is that you will not see what your followers are posting unless you go out of your way to see it.

Following
There is a daily limit on following people which is about 30-45 people per day. I don’t have an exact count and it might change depending on how much the Google gods like you. Unfortunately, my experience has been that only 10% of relevant people I have followed will follow me back. Twitter’s follow back rate is more like 15-30% on relevant follows, so 10% is very slow by my standards. On the other hand, it is very quick to follow forty people per day, and if four will follow you back, then you have something. You might spend fifteen minutes to get your four members through following. That is a more efficient use of your time than plussing or commenting.

Share Circles
I have read on the internet that there are share circles. You have to repost content that is in these circles, and then others will repost your content as well. You can look up the term “share circle Google+” on the internet to learn more. I don’t like the idea of this system because it will not get you relevant followers. But, this is a way to get followers in a hurry.

Communities
The problem with starting out on Google+ is that nobody knows you and most people don’t want to know you. It’s a bit like being an unpopular kid in Junior High School. I’ve been there. Communities are a fast way to solve this problem in many ways. In my opinion, communities on Google+ are the fastest way to grow your account. I spent 20 minutes posting quality content on a dozen or more communities today, and got six followers as a result. That is a lot faster than commenting, plussing or general posting. The reason is that when you post on a community’s board, your post actually gets seen, and by relevant people!

Strategies for community posting.
(1) Find relevant communities and post content in them once per day in the larger communities and once every several days in the smaller communities. You might need a list of which communities to contact and when. Targeting relevant communities might not be as easy as you think. There are different niches that might be compatible with your general business model. Each different community might need a slightly different type of post. So, you might be advised against posting the same post in all communities.

(2) Finding large communities can be good.
When you post a regular post on Google+, you have the right to make your post public, sent to a particular circle, to all your circles or to your extended community which could include one, several, or all of the communities that you have joined. The beauty of this is that someone with zero followers can post some quality content, and it can be seen by millions of people — if you have joined a few dozen large communities. Unfortunately, Google+ is the new kid on the block as far as successful social media platforms go. Their communities are generally fairly small. There are only about two dozen large communities, and those tend to focus widely on photography, travel, and a few geeky topics. Even if you are in the empanada folding industry, you could post a few beautiful travel photos that you are sharing or retweeting — and you could share those with five million others by being a member of large groups. Just don’t abuse your privilege because you could get banned from these groups if you do.

(3) You won’t really be seen by millions, here’s how it works
I am not an expert at the Google+ search result algorithm. But, if you do a search in your account, you might have the option to search your circles, discover, or on the left there is an “all” link. I’m not sure how many people actually click on that link. But, if five million people are “getting” your post (whatever that means,) they might be able to see it if they click all. The all link, based on my very quick research, displays content from those you follow on top. But, if you dig down ten or more posts, you start seeing content from strangers mixed in. I’m not sure how they determine which stranger’s posts get put down there, or why, but your post might get a chance to be in the all section if you contact your extended community.

To sum up this article, to grow fast on Google+ is to:

FOLLOW — the maximum amount of people per day
COMMUNITIES — Post a lot of content on communities.
POST — I also recommend posting around seven posts on your main page per day. Posts with beautiful photos will do better, and you can also share other people’s posts with breathtaking photography to break the monotony of your industry specific content on empanada folding, the best music to listen to while doing empanada folding, and top empanada folders in California.

You can do a little plussing and commenting on the side to get your name out there and be social. Google also learns about you and what you like when you plus things, so you are sort of compelled to do a few minutes of plussing per day whether you like it or not. But, the top three activities are listed above. One last tip. Just make your hands are clean after folding all of those empanadas, particularly the lamb ones.

Mexico is America’s #1 choice for Near-Shoring

September 20, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: America | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Near-Shoring Popular in Mexico
America is outsourcing many services overseas these days.  However, it is difficult, complicated, and expensive to outsource to Asia in many cases.  When you have to send executives to Asia from America, it is expensive!  If you need to call Asia from America, there is a time difference of 9-12 hours. There are strong cultural differences too which lead to communication discordances. In short, there are many complications. 
However, outsourcing to Mexico, and various other Latin American countries is much easier in many ways.  Communication is easier due to the cultural similarities between Anglo and Hispanic culture.  Americans who don’t reside in Texas, New Mexico, or California typically think of Latin culture as something exotic and distant.  However, if you travel to Africa or Asia, you will quickly realize that the Spanish language is very similar to English, the Catholic religion dominant in Latin America is very similar to the Protestant religion dominant (or previously dominant) in the United States.  The culture is much closer to American culture than Chinese, Thai, or Indian culture.
Additionally, business trips to Latin America are much easier than to Asia. There is no jet-lag.  Air-time might be anywhere from 8-16 hours as opposed to 16 to 36 hours for a trip to Asia. If you are in an industry where you need to send your executives back and forth constantly, it will be a drain on a person’s health to be going back and forth to Asia.  However, going back and forth to San Jose, CR, or to Buenos Aires, or Mexico City will be much easier to tolerate in the long run.  There might not be the exotic pleasures of Penang Beef, or Kung Pao Chicken, but the lack of jet lag or long flight times really makes a difference in the long run. Outsourcing to Latin America is easier in many ways.
My friend keeps telling me that in the future, there will be airplanes that will be able to fly from Los Angeles to Mumbai in five hours.  That is a wonderful concept, and I hope it is true.  But, in the mean time, it easier to fly from Dallas to Guadalajara!

Which blog entries do best on which network? Crowdsourcing examined.

September 19, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Analytics, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Optimizing your blog involves a lot more than just adding the right tags and writing popular content. You need to know what types of posts work best with which types of audience. Twitter is a source for only a few hundred clicks a month to my blog, but the SEO value of each quality click that gets me a few pageviews can be astounding. This is why I created a separate category on my blog for posts that did well on Twitter. We have close to 100 such posts on my notary blog. We are going to tweet those particular posts more often on Twitter with different title variations to study which titles do best.

Next, we are going to map out which posts did well on Facebook and republish those periodically on our Facebook account, possibly using pay-per-click to further accentuate the damage.

Linked In, Google+ and others are viable networks for getting lots of traffic. Use them!

Another factor to consider has to do with basic crowdsourcing strategy. Some of our networks have mainly members who are in the industry. Take the notary business for example. Those that get our newsletter are serious service providers. They like technical notary information, stories about notaries and marketing info. However, those on our Twitter network are generally either laypeople who know little about the notary industry or are just people who rarely use their notary stamp.

The key in attracting laypeople to our blog is to write articles that are about the notary profession, but interesting and understandable to a regular person. I just wrote an article about a guy in New York, who runs a notary business from his parked car. It is very interesting, and filled with facts that every a grade school child will easily be able to appreciate and understand. We will be writing more “relevant,” but also layperson attractive type articles in the future to reel in people who are in the business community, but are not necessarily zealous notaries!