Līve Ambitions

In today’s economy, it’s not easy for small businesses to find a good SEO or Internet Marketer.  There are many hurdles to overcome when choosing to outsource some of your work.  Here are some of them:

• finding a provider within your budget
• finding a provider who is skilled enough
• finding a provider who is meticulous
• finding a provider who cares about quality
• avoiding SEO scams and rip-offs

The SEO market is so saturated, it’s gotten to be quite difficult to find the right one for the job.  You see the resumes and service offerings at nearly every job employment site, freelance job site, classified ads site, forums and even blogs.  So, from all these options, what is a small business owner to do with the little to no hiring experience they have?

Well, unfortunately there is no easy answer.  It comes down to how much time/effort you’re willing to put into the search, and also how much you’re willing to fork out.  I’m not saying you always get what you pay for, but pricing does play a role in the level of service you receive.

Here are some effective ways to find a good provider:

• Employment/Job sites are good for finding highly-qualified job seekers.  However for contract-type positions, you may be better off using a freelance job site.  Employment sites like Monster and Careerbuilder are better suited for businesses seeking a permanent, in-house employee.  And, you’ll mostlikely pay a premium if you hire someone from one of these sites.
• Freelance job sites like oDesk and eLance are ideal places for finding freelance or contract workers.  For some business owners, they like the ability to scan through provider reviews and ratings, portfolios, and being able to see the provider rates up-front.  Because so many service providers are from less developed countries, you can often find bargains.  However, for many others, the process of using a freelance site (middle man) can be quite daunting.  There is usually a learning curve before you can effectively use their system.
• Classified ads sites like Craigslist and Backpage are also good for finding local SEOs and Internet Marketers.  You’ll get a ton of responses, however you may spend a lot of time weeding through emails before you come across potential candidates.  With classified ad sites, you really need to watch out for scams and rip-offs.
• Forums like DP and Sitepoint are great places to find affordable labor.  Start by checking out their marketplace sections, since this is where most freelancers hang out.  Then, try to find a SEO or Internet Marketer who is a regular and trusted by other members.  Many forums have a ratings feature for its members, so you can see how they conduct business and if they’re trustworthy.
• Some popular blogs actually provide a section in their blog where they offer job listings.  The quality of providers is pretty good, but their rates may be on the higher end.

So, the bottom line is you can find legitimate help at most of the job/freelancing sources out there.  The hard part is avoiding scams and screening for the right person.

Business Listings with DoFollow Links:

VentureBeatProfiles.com
MerchantCircle.com
Kudzu.com
HotFrog.com
JigSaw.com
LATimesInteractive.com
BizCommunity.com
MyWikiBiz.com

Business Listings with NoFollow or Redirected Links:

AboutUs.org
GetSatisfaction.com
InsiderPages.com
Yelp.com
FreeIndex.com

Is it just me or have you also noticed a big increase in poor customer service (in the U.S.)?   It almost seems as if our society and culture is accepting this kind of behavior.  Here are some situations that I come across quite too often:

• Cashiers or order-takers that have personal conversations on the phone or with co-workers while they have waiting customers.
• Sales people who are rude and talk-back to customers.
• Workers that don’t take their jobs seriously – which results in half-ass work.

I think there are some obvious reasons for this negative trend:

• As our economy declines, companies are paying less to its employees.  And with lower wages, workers don’t take their jobs as seriously.
• Our society/culture accepts this type of behavior.  Remember the days when we used to have respect for our elders and strangers.  Well, not anymore.  Now, our kids grow up with the mentality that it’s not cool to be nice to people.  Customer service is more deeply rooted than simple personal attitude – it goes as far as childhood up-bringing.
• Poor management leads to poor employees.  Why would workers give a rat’s ass about the company if the owner or managers don’t either?
• Lack of discipline.  Some people don’t know how to separate work from personal issues.  When your problems from home start affecting your work performance, then something needs to be done.

So…how does this affect the businesses providing the poor customer service?

• Loss of customers.
• Bad reputation.
• Negative workplace morale.
• Eventually, a failed business.

Businesses need to keep in mind that customers are the life-blood of their business.  Without customers, there is no money.  Without money, there is no business.

I’ve tried selling stuff on both sites, but from my experience, I’ve had better results with eBay.  Here are the reasons why I think eBay is better for selling:

• Both sites get a huge amount of traffic, but eBay seems to attract the more serious buyers.
• Buyers tend to be more confident with eBay because they provide some protection for buyers.
• You would think that for local pickup items that Craigslist would easily win over eBay.  This is not the case.  eBay has massive coverage, so location is usually not an issue when finding local buyers. 
• Craigslist buyers are cheaper than eBay buyers.  I know the whole point of shopping at these sites is to save money, but come on now!

I like both sites, and use them regularly but eBay is simply more effective for selling stuff.  For everything else, I use Craigslist.  In fact, I found my current job using Craigslist.

Congratulations to Barack Obama on becoming our 44th President!  It was truly a historic moment and a breath of fresh air to see someone new at the helm.  I really hope he follows through with his promises because our country is in shambles right now.