Digital marketing is a difficult job. To do it right, you’ll have to give it a lot of time and energy. At times, it may even feel the entire day is not enough to do all the needed tasks for marketing. There’s only so much you can do so you might struggle with publishing and posting your content out there.

If so, then it might be time to consider outsourcing your content instead. In this article, I’ll teach you how to find the best content marketing companies or freelancers and where you can find them.

How and Where to Outsource Content

Choose A Platform Where to Outsource Content and Familiarize Yourself With It

There are numerous platforms to choose from if you’re looking for companies or freelancers. With the choices available, you may be asking yourself, “Where to outsource content?”.

You’ll have to pick one that is good for you. Search for a few, create free accounts in them, and explore to see the ones that provide for your needs best. Try and test placing a couple of orders to see the kind of talent you attract.

After finding a platform you like, whether it focuses on content marketing, digital marketing, web design, graphic design, or any other niche, settle with it. This way, it’ll be easier to oversee your creators in one site and you’ll be able to cultivate strong working relationships with them too.

There are numerous sites out there which answer where to outsource content. You just have to be diligent in finding them. Take our own, Qadra Studio, for example.

Research and Review Various Content Professionals

There are a lot of sources out there on where to outsource content. So if the first content creator you pick isn’t right the first time, you shouldn’t leave the platform and look elsewhere. Most of these platforms are filled with different professionals with varying skills and qualifications.

Just because a writer is not good for you, it doesn’t mean that all of the aren’t. There are lots of places you can to find that answer where to outsource content.

The most effective way to do it is by putting out a batch of small jobs so you can test the writers first. Once you receive their work, review what they’ve given, and get back to the ones you like and you can easily let go of the creators who did not do as good for you.

Provide Clear and Specific Instructions

You may already have a clear idea of what you want in terms of content, style, and structure. Now you just need to concisely write them out to give the creators a good idea of what they need to deliver.

For example, if you see a quality blog post and you want them to write something similar for your site, you give them the URL of the blog and instruct them to create their own version of it.

Let them use that information to prepare a usable post for your readers. If you have other instructions or ideas of what you want to get, you have to explain it to them in a clear and definite manner.

This is because it’s not just about where to outsource your content. You need to be concise and clear in asking for your content too from the provider.

If you’re being clear with what you want, it would lead to fewer revisions and back and forth. You’d also be creating more engaging content and reach and relate to your audience faster and more effectively.

Balance Quality With Cost Effectiveness

As you begin to make your writers start drafting your content, you’re going to choose between getting a publish-ready draft quickly by paying more money or getting drafts that require editing by paying less.

While both choices have their own pros and cons, it’s ultimately up to you on which way to go. If you have less time, it may be worth it to pay more upfront. If you’re willing to put in more effort, you can edit the drafts yourself and save a lot of money.

Build and Invest in Professional Relationships

What people normally do is to go to online platforms and seek and recruit content creators once and forget about them. After they get what they need, the creator and employer go on their separate ways.

While this is okay and a legitimate way of conducting business, it’s not ideal or effective in the long run because you should be planning on getting more and updating your content in the future.

After a job is finished, don’t cut ties too quickly. Use it as an opportunity to foster healthy relationships with the writers who are good for you.

When you have a longer and better relationship, they’ll be familiar with what you need and what you like so the outputs would be faster and higher quality. Each time, you’ll get better work without having to start over with someone new and explaining everything again.

Moreover, the creators would appreciate receiving regular work and return the favor in terms of the quality of service they do. So, when a project is done, stay connected with them and they’ll be glad to work with you again when the time comes. This means less time for you on where to outsource content.

Give Fair Rewards

As you would reward in-house staff when they perform exemplary work, you should do this with freelance staff or outsourcing companies as well. When they do a good job, thank them for it. If you have the budget, you can even give monetary bonuses.

There are some platforms where you can tip the freelancer you’re working with if you think that they deserve it. When you take care of your workers even if they’re temporary, they’ll be happy to return the favor and help you out when you’re in trouble.

Sites to Find Content Creators and Where to Outsource Content

Now that you have an idea of how and where to outsource content, the next information you need is where to outsource content and find content creators. The following are a few examples of the best places on the web to start looking:

• Shutterstock: When looking for visual media, such as photos, illustrations, videos, and music, this is one of the best places to look at when you want to find where to outsource content.
• iStockPhoto: You can check out high-quality stock images and videos here which are all royalty-free and ready to use.
• EssayRoo: Though this is typically for high school and college student assignments, the writers here are capable of writing blog posts that bring new readers in and keep regular ones. If you’re looking for affordable, this is where to outsource content.
• Student Gems: You can hire students for one-off projects. You receive content and they get writing experience.
• UK Writings: They can write product descriptions, blog posts, and articles for you.
• Upwork: There are all sorts of freelancers here including writers. Their experiences vary but it is a good site to build working relationships with them. Outside of full-service digital agencies, this is a good site on where to outsource content.
• BoomEssays: If ever you need to give a press release quickly, or react to the news or current events, this writing service promises a quick turnaround for you even for just a few hours.

Tools to Help You Check Your Outsourced Content

When you receive your content, it’s now time to start assessing and reviewing them. This is a good practice to do before releasing the draft for all your customers to see. It doesn’t matter what you got on where to outsource content, whether it’s a respectable company or not. You must do this each time.

These are some tools you can use to check them with:

• Tineye: For images you buy, you can be sure that they’re not used or copied elsewhere by using this reverse image search site.
• Australian Help: When you’re not sure about the grammar or syntax used in the content, you can consult this guide.
• Academized: Plagiarism is a no-no. Use this site to check if the article you paid for is original.
• Citeitin: This will help you make and add proper citations to your post or site.

Hopefully, you learned how and where to outsource content. These tools and advice will help you conduct your search and be effective in outsourcing your content. With the proper tools on hand, it’ll be a breeze for you to hire for content marketing and graphic design jobs online. When you outsource your content, your business will love how much time, money, and effort you save.

If you’re looking for outsourcing solutions that are more than just freelancers, you should consider hiring Qadra Studio. We are a full-service digital agency providing web design, web development, graphic design, and digital marketing services. Contact us today for your free consultation so we can start working together.

Hiring an in-house web developer can have its own benefits. You can work with them every day and it’s easier to reach and communicate with them. However, you may run into problems for ongoing commitment and development. Depending on your type of business, you won’t need a dedicated web developer all the time.

With that in mind, a web development company or a freelancer might be a more prudent and cost-effective option. Hiring a freelancer is often the more cost-effection choice but it may also introduce new issues along the way, such as miscommunications, late deadlines, and subpar outputs.

If you ever choose to outsource a web development company for the first time, it’s possible that you don’t know the benefits and process yet. You don’t want to be caught off guard with things you don’t expect. Read this article and we’ll offer a few reasons for outsourcing and advice on how you can successfully outsource your website development project.

ADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING YOUR WEB DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Compared to hiring a freelancer or an in-house web developer, there are various benefits of hiring a web development company. Before you learn how to outsource your web design projects, let me tell you about its benefits first. In here, I’ll share with you the biggest and most important ones:

• You’ll save time, effort, and money. In business, everything should be fast. Especially online, the best time to have completed everything you need was yesterday. A freelancer might make you wait especially if they’re working alone or have other clients. On long delays, you’ll still have to wait for their update.
  To save your nerves, time, and money, you can hire an experienced web design agency. It may seem more expensive, but in the long run, it is worth it since risk, mistakes, and extra charges will be decreased significantly. With their skill and experience, you’re more likely to get your product in the agreed-upon deadline. Agencies are more dependable and reliable and there will be fewer errors.
• Focus on your business. Outsourcing enables you to do what you do best and focus on your core business. While you do this you can trust the web design company to do their own. This way you are free to manage your business without worrying if the platform and technology are updated and how it’ll affect your project. Leave your worries to the company you hired.
• You can have more trust. In business, just like in web development, the entire project needs to revolve around trust. It’s impossible to work with anyone without trusting them and having faith that they’ll complete the job successfully.
  When you have trust, even if a problem occurs and a developer is unable to work — crippling the project — the agency makes sure that there is minimal disruption in the work and the team member is replaced. If you hire a lone freelancer and they get sick, there would be no replacement and the work will be inevitably postponed which causes you to lose time and money.

HOW TO OUTSOURCE YOUR WEB DESIGN PROJECTS

Now that you have chosen to get a professional web development agency, the following are a few tips and tricks on what you can do to have a smooth experience and receive an excellent website. These pieces of advice will greatly help you in your journey on how to outsource your web design projects.

1. BE CLEAR WITH YOUR PROJECT DETAILS

Before starting the outsourcing project, you need to make sure you already know what you want and can communicate it clearly. Web development is not one size fits all. There are many different kinds that various agencies specialize in. Creating a full website is different from change or redesigning or developing website assets, such as images, web applications, or any custom feature.

Depending on what you need — from simple to complex — you might want different kinds of companies that focus on web development, web design, mobile development, graphic design, or search engine optimization. After you figure out which is right for your case, you should then explain in comprehensive and clear detail what you need and what you expect from the outsourcing company.

2. SPEAK UP AND ASK QUESTIONS

If you’re not into web design and development, you may have never heard of wireframes, mockups, prototypes, and test servers before. That is fine since it’s not your specialty or forte. If there are concepts that you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to speak up and ask questions.

For concerns like that, you can always contact and ask the project manager who’ll answer you as best as they could with brief explanations that even people without technical experience can get. It’s your project too and its vital and important parts need to be properly explained to you. Learning the proper terms and jargon is absolutely required if you want to know how to outsource your web design projects.

3. COMMUNICATION IS CRUCIAL

One of the biggest hurdles in outsourcing is communication. Since the firm may be far away and you may only communicate through email or phone calls, there may be more chances for miscommunication. Effective communication and getting your ideas through is important for a successful project.

Find a good way to communicate with your developers at the moment you first contact them. If you are living in a separate country and time zone or speaking a different language, you don’t need to worry since there are multiple ways you can easily resolve these problems.

The first obstacle you need to overcome is the language used in speaking with your contractors. English would be the default and most used language for this. However, any other language, such as Chinese or German, would do as long as you agree with them and can communicate freely with it.

Most business communication is made through email which may have some subtleties hard to get across or complex concepts hard to explain. That’s why you can also organize online conference meetings through Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack, GoToMeeting, or other communication platforms. This will let you know and talk to your team better.

When they’re working in a different time zone, it is best to reach a compromise and determine the best time that is suitable for all involved. You can even use project management tools, such as ClickUp or Asana if you want better control for the project and process.

4. DIVIDE TASKS AND SET MILESTONES

Nowadays, most web developers utilize Agile methodology in their development process. So if you want to hire and collaborate with an outsourcing agency, you have to be accustomed to working in sprints. This is just a term describing how you should split big projects into smaller phases and parts which the developers can work on easier. This is a crucial piece of advice if you want to properly know how to outsource your web design projects.

At first, splitting the tasks was made so you can control the payment. When a task or a milestone is finished, it proves good faith that they can deliver as promised so you will now pay the agreed-upon money. You can more effectively do this by preparing a solid plan of when you want certain parts to be completed. Just communicate this with your project manager and discuss a realistic deal.

Additional Reading on How To Outsource Your Web Design Projects:
How to Outsource/Hire a Web Developer – The Ultimate Guide 2020
Outsourcing Graphic Design: Your Massive Guide this 2020

BONUS ADVICE: GET IT IN CONTRACT

Now that you learned how to outsource your web design projects, you may realize that offshoring your work may be too troubling. To ease your worries and get a deeper sense of commitment, you can draw up a contract with the firm. It’s not ethical but some freelancers hire someone else beneath them who can have different skills and expertise as they advertised.

A professional web design agency rarely does this since they value the trust and relationship with their clients. In fact, respectable web design agencies would even suggest this themselves. Getting it in writing and legal certainty is the best for companies. This way, you have more assurance when you start to outsource web design projects.

If you’re interested in outsourcing your web design, Qadra Studio can help you make that step. As a full-service digital agency, we specialize in web design, web development, graphic design, and digital marketing. Contact us now and get your free consultation.

There are many ways you can do this. One is you can create one yourself using website builder tools. WordPress, Wix, Foursquare, Joomla, and Drupal are just a few tools that can let you build websites on your own. Another is by hiring a web developer who will take care of the work for you.

There are numerous advantages and disadvantages to each option. Using a website builder would save you money but hiring a web developer saves you a lot of time and effort. You may save money by learning all about web development so you can develop a website yourself but you may not have the time and effort.

Even if you believe you are capable of it and do the work, you may not end up being an expert on web development and you’d encounter a lot of problems along the way.

To save yourself the stress, it’s easier to simply hire a web developer. They can fill in the gaps in your knowledge and create a professional website.

If you choose to get a web developer, you need to know the basics and tips on ensuring how to make your hiring process and project run smoothly. Continue reading our guide on just what it takes to hire a web developer.

Guide to Hiring a Web Developer

Establish the Details of the Project

The first step you need to do is establish your goals and objectives for the web development project. Without this, it’ll be harder to know what to look for. Even if you find someone to develop for you, you wouldn’t know what to instruct them.

There are two major tasks in creating a website. These are the web design (i.e. graphics and visuals) and web development (i.e. functionality or coding). Web design can be about creating a logo, header image, page layout, or design effects. The web development part is the behind the scenes functions of the site, including adding a shopping cart, custom image slider, or a management panel.

Depending on what part you need more, you may hire more people or specializations. When building a website from scratch, you need more people to do both.

Protips:

Make sure that you are clear, concise, and detailed in defining the project. If you do this, you’ll be able to:

Save time from the word go

When you’re already clear on your expectations and goals, the web developer wouldn’t have to spend so much time in the discovery and consultation process. When they have all they need without squeezing them out of you, they can get right into the project and complete it faster.

Appeal to the right candidates

When you post the project, you won’t attract the wrong people who are qualified for the job. Keeping it vague and general will let inexperienced candidates apply as they would seem capable of the job. With clear project details, candidates will know what you’re specifically looking for so they’ll only apply if they have the right skills and credentials.

Get better quotations

The complete project details and extent of the work will give potential developers the right idea of how much time and money the project needs to cost. Sudden changes in cost would also be unlikely.

Plan the project right

When you become specific in creating the project details, your ideas and concepts will be clearer to your team and the web developer you’re hiring. A better vision during planning is vital in completing the project effectively and successfully.

What kind of developer do I need

Once you’re clear with the kind of website you want to create or the redesign of your existing site, you need to start looking for a web developer to hire. The job of a “web developer” encompasses a lot of skills and duties that may surprise you.

Difference between a Web Developer and Web Designer

Both of these titles are in charge of the creation of a website. As such, their jobs may overlap in some aspects. But to put it simply, the designer is in charge of the graphics, visual facets, or look of the website. Meanwhile, the developer writes the code or programs the functionality of the site.

The designer creates assets such as images and icons using graphic design programs, including Adobe Photoshop. Outsourcing graphic designers do not develop or launch the site. They just devise a representation of what the site will eventually look like. There’s someone else who is typically in charge of developing and launching the site.

However, there are more designers nowadays who are capable of implementing the sites themselves. They have the skills of both web designers and web developers equipped with knowledge of writing markup languages such as CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.

The developer writes the code to enter and change files and functions on your site. They can make sites from scratch without the need for website builders like WordPress or Wix. They can also utilize development-related tools such as code editors.

Difference between a Front-end and Back-end Developer

Web development is divided into subgroups. The biggest ones are front- and back-end development.

The front-end is what visitors see in their browsers while the back-end refers to how the website manages and communicates with the server and database.

Front-end developers are similar to web designers if they’re not already the same. They use the same terms and both take care of the visual aspect of your website. They share a lot of responsibilities but the front-end developer does not necessarily have to be the one who designed or conceptualized the visuals of the website despite being in charge of it.

Back-end developers prioritize the functionality of the website. Aside from that, they handle the performance of the site to ensure that it remains fast along with other technical issues. They are proficient with various programming languages such as PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, and Java.

What is a Full-stack Developer

Front- and back-end developers are specialists in web development. They are experts in their domain but rarely dabble in the other’s discipline. Now, full-stack developers can work on all aspects of the website.

Typically, a website may need two or three people, namely a graphic designer, front-end developer, and back-end developer. A full-stack one can do everything. They’re a jack of all trades who can build websites from the ground up starting from design, functionality, coding, and implementation.

Full-stack developers are more expensive but they may require less coordination as there are fewer people involved. It can speed up the process since there will be less back and forth. However, a downside to this may be that they’re not as deeply knowledgeable in one part as the other. Maybe they’re better as developers and not as designers or vice versa. You still have to look for one that can competently and expertly do both.

Should I get Freelance, Full-time, or Retainer

It totally depends on your needs and your project details. Do you need to hire a part-time and freelance developer or a full-time developer?

If you only need a one-off and small job, a freelancer is suitable for your needs. You can simply agree on the deadline, price, and delivery and they’ll develop the website. After they complete the job, you manage the site by yourself. If you have any changes or additional features, you can simply hire them again.

That is appropriate for company websites or brochure sites that would not change or need a lot of maintenance. It’s ideal for those who plan to manage the website themselves.

While this is cheaper, it does have its drawbacks. For one, if you only have minimal technical skills, some issues may be too much for you. It could also be slow and long to hire a new freelancer when you want to add or change a feature. For these cases, you should consider hiring a full-time web developer.

This would be better if you’re building a complex e-commerce site with large databases or a complex news site with lots of content being published. These large and complicated websites need a lot of hands-on work for the various changes that can happen frequently.

However, you can also have a retainer for web development or a project-based developer. They’ll also work full-time but wouldn’t be a full employee of your company.

Where to Hire A Web Developer

The internet and the connectivity it brought to the world has made it easier to look for and hire web developers. Gone are the days you have to post and browse at local classifieds to hire people. Nowadays, there are user-friendly websites where you can find professionals across the globe that can work for you.

Freelance Websites

Upwork

It’s a popular site to hire all kinds of freelancers and not just web developers. You will find a lot of potential candidates here but it may require a lot of research in finding the right one fit for your needs. There are various tools in the site itself, such as time-tracking and automatic payments once goals are achieved.

Freelancer

Another popular choice for freelance web developers and remote workers. This site has the usual features as well including real-time chat and a milestone payment system.

Fiverr

The freelance web developers here can be cheap as they may typically start with $5, hence the name. Just take note that you get what you pay for. There are more expensive telecommuting workers, however. Again, you also need to do a lot of research if you want a quality web developer.

Codeable

It’s an outsourcing service for professionals specializing in WordPress. Like with other sites, you just outline what you need and you can match with the right developers.

Web Development Studio

If hiring lone or small freelancers doesn’t appeal to you, you can search for web development studios. You also hire them either in projects or retainers but you’ll be hiring a full team of experts instead of an individual. It’s usually more expensive than freelancers but it can be worth it based on your requirements.

For one a full team would have better checks and balances between them to ensure that the quality and standards are met. With large and complex projects, a team can work longer and provide better outputs. This is only recommended for big projects though. Small development projects for them would be overkill.

Job Posting Boards

If you’re looking to hire a full employee, there are job posting boards on the internet for this. LinkedIn, Indeed, and Monster are popular resources you can use. Various website building tools can also have marketplaces where there are freelancers, such as Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, and WordPress.

How Much Budget is Appropriate

Deciding on how much a website’s pricing and cost would be is a difficult task you’ll have to get through. Estimating the right price depends on many factors. These could range from the skills and experience of the developer, the size and complexity of the project, the work location of the developer, and even the job portal you found them in.

Pay by the Hour or Fixed Fee

The first you have to decide on is if you want to pay a fixed price or hourly. Depending on the project, it may have its pros and cons. The two simple factors here are the size of the project and the experience of the web developer.

With a small project and an experienced developer, you can choose to pay hourly. With a small project but an inexperienced developer, pay a fixed price. With a large project, pay a fixed price either way.

This is because experienced developers are already experts in their field. Small projects are nothing to them. They can finish them quickly and commit fewer mistakes. There will be less back and forth between you and them which saves time. For this, hourly pay may be less expensive.

With inexperienced workers, there can be more revisions and corrections which leads to more work hours. The process may be slow which will eat up a lot of your time and money. This is why a fixed price may be better in the long run.

With large projects, you can’t help but encounter errors, issues, revisions, and design changes throughout it. Paying hourly could quickly rack up a lot of costs on your end. That’s why it’s better to ask for a quotation or an estimate for the entire project and agree on a fixed price.

As said earlier, you have to be clear in communicating the project details. A complete and thorough project proposal and scope would fetch you a better pricing estimate and reduce the chances of additional work.

Short Estimate on Possible Costs

To better visualize how much it may be, you should get a rough estimate of the actual prices. As mentioned before, there are a lot of different factors that affect the price so the ranges may be wide. It’s just a reference to how much your web development project may cost.

Project-Based:

• Small Company/Brochure Site: $1000–$10,000
• E-commerce Site: $10,000–$50,000
• Enterprise-Level Site: $50,000–$100,000
• Resolving Bad Plugins or Code: $40–$600
• Custom Plugins and Functions: $100–$1,000

Hourly-Based:

• Web Designer: $25–$120
• Front-end Developer: $15–$150
• Back-end Developer: $75–$150
• Full-stack Developer: $75–$150

Bonus Tip:

Take note that if you really have no idea how much your web development project may cost, you can always consult with an experienced web developer. You simply need to communicate the details of the project to them and they can give you an estimate of it.

Should You Post a Budget Or Ask for a Quote

Each has different advantages and disadvantages. However, the basic guideline is a more flexible budget can ask for a quote but a stringent one should post the budget in the proposal. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, add it to the proposal so it’s clear for the candidates if it’s worth it to them or not. This may scare people off but it’s better than leading them on or outright lying.

If you have a flexible budget, you can ask for quotes. This way, you also won’t discount possibly perfect candidates right off the gate if you underestimate your budget requirements.

Creating a Job Offer

Right now, it’s time to post the job offer. As previously stated, you need to communicate the complete and correct details of the project. This allows the prospective web developer to get the right idea on how much the project should cost, what work is needed, and what skills are required.

What You Should Include

Background Information

Start by introducing yourself or the company you represent. What does your company do? What is your brand? Tell them about the overall goals of the company and your target market. This is important as it’ll give the developers an idea of the project scope and what you’re all about.

Project Summary

Second, give them a bird’s eye view of the project. Be clear on what website designs, site functions, features, and changes you’re after.

Deliverables

Include what result you’re after. Is it just a PSD or Photoshop file, a Wordpress theme, a custom plug-in, or a complete website? Let them know what format and what exact output do you want to have in the end.

Current Assets

This is helpful as it will let the developer know the existing style or identity you have. It could be brand guidelines, color palettes, existing assets, website copy, logos, wireframes, or the current website. Give whatever you have in stock as it’ll help them provide a better output for you.

Picture of an Ideal Candidate

Give them a snapshot of the kind of candidate you want. Clearly describe the skills and experience they should have and other special characteristics you’re looking for.

Deadline

When do you want the project to be completed? You can plan for delays or problems so it’s better to post a tighter deadline than needed. Through that, you have some contingency if you encounter some problems.

Additional details:

These may not be needed but this extra information can make your project details more effective.

Mockups

You can devise visuals to show them a rough mockup of what you want your website to look like. It could be as simple as a sketch on paper or a layout done using Adobe Photoshop.

Design Pegs

If you have sites or assets that are similar to what you want, you can also add them. This gives your developer something to start with. You could also go to the opposite and include designs that you don’t want.

Small Test

When you post a job, many people may just send a templated application to it even if they aren’t qualified or they haven’t read the project details. You can quickly eliminate these people out by instructing them to use a certain subject line, answering a question, or including something in the message body. You’ll know who’s actually read your project and is serious about it.

How to Assess the Skills and Experience of a Web Developer

Once your project is posted or sent to potential candidates, you will hopefully see applications and responses. But how do you know which to choose?

1. Technical skills

The first factor you have to check is if they have the technical skills and requirements to effectively complete your project. If they need to create a website from scratch, make sure that they are equipped with the knowledge required to do such a thing. Review their credentials or ask them about their skills to do this.

2. Response Time/Communication

Promptly reaching your hired employee is important. If you encounter an issue or want a change in the project, you don’t want to wait days before hearing back from them. You can test their response time by writing or messaging them a few times and see how long they respond back.

Also, analyze how they communicate with you overall. Do they speak clearly and concisely? Do they respond adequately to all your questions? Are they generally pleasant to work with? Their communication skills are important to complete the project smoothly.

3. Previous projects

If they have a portfolio, study it carefully. If not, you should ask for it. You’ll learn about their experience, skills, strengths, weaknesses, and style. They can show you their own website, or simply screenshots or code snippets of their past work.

4. Customer Rating and Testimonials

Many of the freelance websites have spaces for customer feedback. Design studios may also ask you for this. When reading through these, don’t just consider the overall rating but carefully read the comments. You can get an understanding of their work ethic, turnaround time, probable issues, and other features.

5. Experience

Web developers with enough experience make fewer mistakes and better outputs in general. They may cost more but they also work faster. New or less experienced developers may be cheaper but you may encounter more problems later on. It’s your call on what works best for your project and company.

6. Paid tests

If you have the time and resources for it, you can have your candidates perform a paid test. This is very useful for large projects. Give them a small task they can work on and evaluate their performance. Take time to assess how they work and communicate with you throughout it. You will get a sense of how they will be throughout the entire project

Completing the Project

After choosing a web developer to work with, you can start working on the project properly. Starting from the beginning, here are the steps you need to take:1.

1. Arrange and conduct a meeting

Message the developer if you can have a meeting. It depends on you if you want it to be by video call, phone call, or in person. If you have a complex project, emails or short messages are not advisable. During the meeting, go through and outline the project from beginning to end, field questions or potential problems, and ask for their input.

2. Establish milestones

With larger projects, you need to create milestones throughout the project. You’ll be able to see how the project is going throughout the process. Is it going well on schedule? Are there any problems throughout the development? You get to review the current progress instead of just receiving the finished product at the deadline.

3. Decide on a mode of payment

This is important in the exchange of service. Prepare a mode and schedule of payment that you can both agree on.

4. Pay the deposit

A deposit ensures that both parties are committed to the completion of the project. In the acceptance of the deposit, the web developer usually starts their work.

5. Follow up on the developer

Throughout the project, check on its progress by assessing it after every milestone. When you’re satisfied with the output and progress, you can also release the payment at this time.

6. Perform a final review

Once all milestones are done and the project is completed, you can do a final audit. Review if the web developer has done well throughout the project or if there are any problems encountered. Once you are satisfied, you can pay the remaining fee.

It’s a good idea at this step that there is a warranty or maintenance period where the web developer would agree on a time to fix issues that may occur on the website.

Hire a Web Developer Now

Website builders can enable anyone to develop a website nowadays. However, there are still a number of reasons why hiring a professional web developer will be better for you in the long run. For one, a real developer is capable of more than the builder can give you and finish the job faster. Outsourcing this task will enable you to focus on more important parts of your company or business.

Hiring a web developer can be difficult at first but it can get easier after you get more experience with it. If you build a good working relationship with previous hires, you can continue working with them. That way, the process can be faster and smoother.

Are you looking for a web developer to hire? Qadra Studio can give everything you need in website design and development and more. Contact us now and understand why we’re a top web design and development studio in the Philippines.

In this guide, we talk about where and how to outsource graphic design, the pros and cons of every facet, and what kind of specifications and key point indicators you need to measure.

Who should outsource graphic design:

Marketing Agencies:

• Print Design
• Social Media Collaterals
• Electronic Direct Mail / Newsletters
• Whitelabel Design (What is Whitelabel Design?)

Start-ups:

• Pitch Decks and Presentations for Investors.
• Website Design
• Social Media Page (Cover Photos and Social Media Marketing Materials)
• Advertisement Design
• Print Design for Flyers and Brochures
• Brand Guidelines

Large Companies:

• Presentations
• Email Newsletters
• Marketing Materials
• Print Design
• Branding

Printing Firms:

• Print Design
• Magazine Design

Web Design Agencies: 

• Web Design
• UI Design
• Web Marketing Materials

Graphic Design Studios:

Some western graphic design studios — whether you like it or not, outsource their work to 3rd world countries. They whitelabel the design and call it their own. The main reason is if they work on it full time themselves, it would not be cost-effective. It’s simply a reality of the industry and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. In any case, these design studios still implement their own standards so that they still give a quality product given to the client.

Who should not outsource graphic design:

Someone who just needs a one-off, project-based design and doesn’t have consistent design needs.

For that, we would recommend the following:

Hire a project-based freelance designer or design agency that can work on the budget you give. Outsourcing graphic design is usually a long-term, contractual agreement or a retainer. If you want a shorter service, outsourcing is not for you.

Graphic Design Studios vs Freelancers vs BPO Companies and Flat-Rate Graphic Design vs Graphic Design Contests

Outsourcing graphic design services to Boutique Graphic Design Studios/Agencies

Boutique (Small) Graphic Design Studios are suitable for companies that need to hire a dedicated team. Take note, studios charge higher than freelancers. The main reason is the upkeep, experience, and system they offer for quality control.

Freelancers struggle in quality assurance since they’re just a one-man team. They just have one brain. They don’t have any check and balance systems to make sure that they produce high-quality outputs. However, in a graphic design studio, the great thing about them is that team members or Creative Directors quality check the work of their designers. They have multiple brains and multiple decision-makers that work together to create a better output.

There’s accountability within the team to do better and deliver. When you’re giving your work to an external party, it’s important for you to get high-quality service.

Graphic Design Studios are also best for businesses with a consistent need for design work. If you want your business to grow, you’ll need more marketing materials and scale up the number of designers you need. A freelancer alone cannot adjust so you’d need to repeatedly hire new freelancers which takes time, money, and effort. This introduces more risk to you.

To sum up, hire graphic design studios if you:

• Need high-quality professional output and detailed work; (Better than BPO’s and Freelancers)
• Possess the right budget;
• Want to maintain a predictable standard or brand;
• Have consistent deliverables for a long period; and
• Need a design firm to grow with.

Where to find Boutique Graphic Design Studios for Outsourcing?

The short answer is, it depends on your budget and standards, along with the specialization of the graphic design studio you’re hiring.

If you are based in the United States, Australia, or Canada, hiring a graphic design studio can be a challenge in terms of budget. You may have a hard time finding a good deal with quality work in these countries due to the larger living costs.

It could be better for you to hire a design studio in a country with a lower cost of living and Westernized culture, such as colonized countries. With this in mind, the Philippines, India, and Romania are the best places where you can outsource graphic design services,

Graphic Design Outsourcing in the Philippines (Graphic Design Studio)

Outsourcing graphic design studios in the Philippines is tricky. Design agencies usually cost around USD 3000 to USD 200 per month, depending on the project scope and demand for work. For sure, Graphic Design Studios in the Philippines have better value for price and quality compared to hiring an American design studio. That is because graphic designers here cost less with comparable work outputs.

If you’re worried that the cultures and standards would be different. You need not worry. The Philippines is very westernized. We know a lot about Western Culture and we practice Western religions. This is why we can understand, communicate, and deliver better.

This is worth mentioning. One downside of hiring a design studio in the Philippines is the time difference. While designers in the Philippines provide great performance for the cost, you will be working in two different time zones. It could be a bummer in terms of communication as they may only start working by the time you go to sleep. However, there are ways to fix this problem.

Outsourcing Graphic Design to Freelancers

Now, from my experience, reliable freelancers to outsource graphic design to are probably the most difficult to find. Hiring an excellent and trustworthy remote freelancer is a challenge. There’s a lot of possibilities that can go wrong. You can hire someone who will ghost, change directions, unexpectedly resign, or be uncommunicative. That is besides the fact that it’s hard to find one who fits your standards.

Remember, a freelancer is just one human being who has:

• Other clients that can contribute to their plate;
• No one to check their work for quality assurance

Find a freelancer who is:

• Dedicated
• Trustworthy
• Reliable
• Efficient

Note: While we do put here the cons of hiring a freelancer, Qadra Studio does not support remote freelance designers who have a bad work ethic, are slow to communicate, and are unreliable with their work. While there are truly great freelance designers out there, it’s very difficult to find them.

Outsourcing Graphic Design to BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing Companies)

BPOs or Business Process Outsourcing Companies are usually large companies who can handle various outsourcing solutions such as graphic design. How it works is, when you inquire in a BPO, they hire a graphic designer to their company based on the experience you need and the budget you have. The more experienced the designer, the more costly it would be. BPOs handle recruitment, benefits, salaries, quality assurance, and standards. It is their responsibility to try and make sure the people they hired can do the job.

The problems with BPO’s are its difficulty to ideate, plan, and conceptualize compared to graphic design studios that are small, solid teams built to do this job. BPOs hire people with the best resume based on their budget and hope they deliver for their clients. They work as the middleman. Once they hire a team, it takes time for the team to get a good rhythm and collaborate well together.

Graphic Design Studios are more dynamic as a team, especially if they have years working together. The relationships and work processes built among a Creative Director, Art Director, Senior Graphic Designer, Project Manager in a Boutique agency are typically better compared to a larger and more corporate BPO team.

Outsource Graphic Design to Flat-Rate Graphic Design Services like Penji, DesignPickle, Design Unicorn

Penji, DesignPickle, and Design Unicorn all just hire remote freelancers from countries with low labor costs such as the Philippines, India, or somewhere with cheap labor. Same with the freelancers mentioned earlier, there’re lots of things that can go wrong. The prices here are very cheap.

You get what you pay for. So don’t expect great quality at these services. The reality in these flat-rate graphic design services is that they do not plan on hiring dedicated graphic designers. One designer under their team may work on multiple accounts. This means savings for them but that results in relatively poor quality for you.

Outsource Graphic Design to Graphic Design Contest Websites like DesignHill, 99Designs

Sites like DesignHill and 99Designs host contests for graphic designers who want to take on your project. The disadvantage here is that graphic designers will be random. Literally, anyone without any credentials can join a contest and post something. You won’t be sure if they’re effective or good at their jobs. You’ll have to do a lot of research and trial and error.

However, the worst part of this is that these sites are bad for the economy and take advantage of the graphic design community. Good designers wouldn’t know their actual worth in the market. They’re a middle man who cuts the profits for themselves. They dictate how much a graphic designer is given which may be underpaying them.

Outsource Graphic Design to Job Posting Sites (Freelancers)

Freelancer.ph, Upwork, and Elance are crowdsourcing sites that host freelancers who can post various kinds of jobs that they can do. The prices may vary depending on the service and the freelancers themselves as they set their own prices. Freelancer has the most number of freelancers among the sites at 7 million with 4.4 million jobs posted. oDesk has 3.1 million freelancers with 3.6 million jobs posted. Meanwhile, Elance has 3.1 million freelancers and 2.9 million jobs.

Not all of those freelancers and posted jobs are in graphic design though. Still, it is a big number so you have a lot of choices if you want to. If you want to get an experienced freelancer who is fit for your company and needs, then you have a lot of research and work to do. Keep in mind that these come relatively cheap compared to design studios. As such, you get what you pay for.

Don’t expect the quality to be as high with a lot of work. Be careful in the work you assign. These sites work best for small projects. Big and complex projects will be harder to control and you’re better off with other options.

Local vs Foreign

When you’re marketing in your country, it’s better to work with someone who would naturally understand the type of market you’re in. That’s why it can be better to go local. However, as said before, designers in Westernized cultures like the Philippines can do this too.

Outsourcing graphic design to outside countries can be cheaper. The labor and living costs may be lower there so they can offer more competitive and cost-effective prices. If you have a smaller budget, a foreign country may be for you.

You don’t need to outsource to a foreign and cheaper country if you don’t want to. There are most likely many BPOs, design studios, or freelancers who can provide their services if you know where to look. However, you should be careful since you may be misled that you’re getting the service from a local business. When in truth, they are outsourcing the service themselves and passing it as their own. Remember to be vigilant and adequately check where you’re getting the service from.

Types of graphic design work to outsource

• Logos

Graphic Design Studios and Design Competitions are a great way of getting logos done. Although, this depends on how you plan to sell or use the logos. If you sell logos as a service for your own company as a middle man, you’d have a lot of revising to do.

Design Studios or dedicated freelancers work better in not just designing logos but in iterating the entire brand. Design Competitions, on the other hand, are better for smaller and one-off projects.

• Website Designs or Layouts

Web Design agencies are the best choice for this compared to graphic design studios. The reason why is because their team is composed of Web Designers, UX/UI experts, and SEO and Content Writers. Web Design encapsulates more than the design and layout itself.

When designing a website, one of the biggest factors you have to consider is usability. Ask yourself these questions when users are visiting the site. Can they navigate it easily? Can they easily find what they’re looking for? Do all forms work as expected? Do users find it easy to fill forms? With bigger and more complex sites, ensuring that it is intuitive and user friendly is vital to the success of your site.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to find a designer who understands all the ins and outs of usability, or UI and UX. It’s practically impossible to find this cheap. If you don’t have a budget for a UI and UX expert, I’d suggest learning about this yourself and spoon-feeding the designer. You can both analyze and copy what other successful sites do, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google.

• Print Design

These include brochures, flyers, t-shirts, tote bags, or whatever traditional marketing materials they need. They work best when presenting and marketing to clients in shows. Which service to choose depends on the size of the design work. Freelancers work best for smaller or one-time projects while graphic design studios and BPOs are better for bigger print design projects.

• Design Retainers

Larger websites (i.e. more than 20 pages) with various elements will probably need a lot of ongoing design work. The best course of action for this is to find a designer that you can pay as a retainer. If you don’t want a retainer, you can get a designer to complete a lot of work on one go as part of a project-based service. However, you should ensure that you have very clear and final specifications before doing this.

• Design for Conversion

Having a company website is one thing but not all websites can convert visitors into paying customers and increase your revenue. Acquiring this service is hard for low-cost or high-priced designers. You’d have to analyze the competition, your market, and customers so you can get an idea of what strategies to implement.

This is where getting a professional outsourcing graphic design studio is recommended. With their expertise in the field, they have a good track record of building a company’s brand, expanding business, converting visitors to paying customers, and increasing revenue.

Get the Design Brief Right

Communication is key. Even if you hired the best designer in the world, it will not matter if you don’t get the design brief right. Make sure the brief got the specifics right and is clear in the instructions. Also, make sure that all internal decision-makers have reviewed and checked it so that it is final. You don’t want to confuse the designer by giving conflicting or staggered instructions to them.

In the brief, you should give a general description of the project. Ensure that the brief includes the following information:

1. Project title
2. Where do you want the project to be delivered? (i.e. FTP, Google Drive, or Dropbox)
3. Deadlines, milestones, and due dates
4. Sketches or existing resources that may be useful, such as relevant market research
5. Any calls to action, headlines, or body copy that should be added to the design

You also have to take into consideration if the plan in your design brief is the right one to go forward with. You need to be sure of the brief when you send it. You wouldn’t want to have work done on the design only to realize that it’s not the direction you want to go with. That’s a lot of time and effort wasted. If you need help or advice in creating the design brief, designers will often let you consult it with them. It’s a good idea to hear from professionals and experts in the field. If you want more brains to work together, Design Studios and Teams can do this for you, reducing any mistakes and resulting in a better design.

Protip:

In the revision process in graphic design, the communication will be clearer when you give feedback on actual images rather than just the notes with no image for it. Check below the design feedback tools below to learn more about this.

Specifications/Key Point Indicators

Quality of Work

Look for their portfolio, case studies, or examples of their work. Take note of their style and how they present themselves. Is it impressive and elegant? Does it appeal or fit your taste? Or do you find the quality poor and ugly? Their portfolio gives you a glimpse at the kind of output they can deliver. Freelancers, design studios, and BPOs worth their salt have this. Research and analyze the proof of quality they can provide as this is what they can potentially do for you.

Conceptualization

If they have case studies, take time to look at them. Case studies are detailed presentations of their process as a designer or design team. You’ll know that they’re good if they always offer a solution to a problem in their designs. Effective designers always aim to communicate a message in their design. They choose the designs not just because they did. There’s a well-thought-out reason for every design decision they have made.

The number of design studies they have can also be a factor in their experience. Large and more varied studies show that they have a lot of experience under their belt working for different kinds of clients. They solved varied problems through their design which they can also do with you.

Budget

What kind of project do you need? The budget can differ of course based on the scope, expertise, and deliverables. Is it a small project or a big one? Do you need a simple design or a complex one? How large is your company? Would you prefer an hourly based graphic designer or a design studio with a monthly retainer?

Ask yourself these questions within the company to determine the budget required for the project. With a smaller project or budget, a freelancer may be enough. With a more complex and large project, you may opt for a design studio or BPO company instead since they’d provide your needs better.

Deciding between Project-Based Budget vs Time-Based Budget

Project-based graphic design (1-time project) are usually charged higher by design studios, freelancers, and BPOs rather than a time-based retainer. This is because it would be a liability if the project went longer than expected. They base this on their own value to deliver the project and not the time consumed. If it goes longer, they may lose money on the project instead of profiting from it. So they charge a higher price to offset this. This is also the reason why freelancers who make up for lost time without any client ask for a larger rate than usual.

With graphic design studios, it’s better to be time-based if it’s a small project and project-based if it’s a bigger and more complex one. As a small project, they already have the expertise and experience to finish it quickly so a time-based project would be more cost-effective in the long run. With a larger project where many things can go wrong and it can be suddenly delayed for any number of reasons, it’s better to pay them per project. It may be more expensive up front but it’ll be worth it if the project extends or is more complex than initially thought.

Revisions

How are revisions made? Are there unlimited or only a specific number of revisions? As a client, I’m sure you’d rather want no revisions when outsourcing graphic design (And they do too), but this is a reality that happens with any work. The number of revisions determines how much the designer will let you polish and refine the work. More revisions typically mean that you have more quality assurance. Don’t fret though as revisions usually only go for one or two with freelancers, graphic design studios, or BPOs.

How are design revisions conducted? Let them know that you want timely revisions with all comments addressed. Nobody wants a long back and forth because your comments are not being resolved. You should be sure that you can see eye to eye as bad communication can be the reason why revisions will go long. Make sure that you’re on the same page and have a unified understanding of the comments throughout the revision process to reduce complications.

Deadline and Turnaround Time

How fast can they deliver the work you’ve asked? Does it take a week or a few days? It would definitely depend on the type of work but this is a good indication of the type of company they are. If time is of the essence, you should definitely pick a freelancer, design studio, or BPO company with fast turnaround time. But if you’re more patient, you can just opt for somewhere slower.

How fast they can deliver can also determine how responsive they are to concerns and how fast you can get the revisions.

Communication / Language

When you’re outsourcing work to another country, communication is very important. Especially with the work done far away, a lot of barriers to communication can be introduced. First, you should make sure that wherever you outsource, they can speak fluent English. Ensuring you speak the same language is a good indication that you can communicate well.

Also, it’s a good idea to check how fast they typically respond to your queries or concerns. If you encounter a problem in any step of the process, it’s comforting to know that they’ll promptly communicate with you so you can solve it as fast as possible.

Culture

If you’re from a Western part of the world, then it goes without saying that you’re marketing to Western culture. In outsourcing, they may not have the same culture as you. So the output that they produce may not work well for your market. To avoid that problem, you should look for places with inherently Westernized cultures, such as the Philippines.

Creativity and Style

One more thing to look out for is if you have the same ideas for style and creativity or not. Having similar styles and creativity can help both of you in working well together. You’d be able to communicate your ideas better and they’ll be able to understand. This is harder to find as you really need to do a lot of research to find a freelancer or design studio that fits well with you.

Time of Work/Availability

Do they work remotely or in another country and thus live in different time zones? This can be managed, but if you want to be fully hands-on with the designer, then I suggest hiring a person who can stick with your time zone. There’re a lot more ways to go wrong when their work only starts when you’re asleep. For example, you wouldn’t be able to ask for revisions promptly in your workday since they’re already off work.

Confidentiality / White Label Graphic Design

Will they keep their word? Will they abide by their contract and keep themselves shut about the projects they work on? It’s hard to find a freelancer who is willing to do this. Professional Graphic Design Studio’s and BPO’s most usually abide by this since it’s just the usual business for them. Moreover, they don’t want to ruin the working relationship between them and the client. If this is your worry, remember to do the proper research by searching them on Google and studying their track record for white label graphic design.

How They Treat Their Clients

Are they hired to take orders or are they design consultants? There’s a big difference between hiring a designer who simply follows your orders or actively collaborates with you in every design decision you make. Someone who will not just work for you but partner with you throughout the service because they want to see your business be successful. Get a service that’ll be invested in your company as a whole and not just there to get paid.

Other important specifications to consider:

Stock Photo Database – Do they have their own stock image/design database, such as Envato Elements or ShutterStock? If they own these, it can significantly benefit the process of designing since it’s easy for them to look for quality stock images or mockups that can support a design.

Originality – Do always check if the design work they give you is original work. Some lazy and thieving “designers” just get stock graphic design and call them their own. Why would you hire that “designer” in the first place when they do not add value in terms of design? A fast way to check is to do a reverse image search or use descriptive keywords in google search to find if there’s any design stolen.

Unoriginal work is problematic as you can be copyright claimed or ruin your brand since it looks like you stole the design and there will surely be many like you. From my years of experience working with remote workers in the early days, you must make sure that every design submitted is originally done by the graphic designer

Mode of Payment – Which payment do you prefer? Paypal, Credit Card, or Wiretransfer? You need to make sure the designer you’re hiring can accept that specific mode of payment to make sure everything goes smoothly. Depending on where you are, you may need to fulfill more requirements than getting a Paypal account.

For example, in China, you need to have official bank papers, such as business permits and company bank accounts in order to do wiretransfers. Freelancers would rarely be able to do this.

Work Ethic – Check what kind of employee they are. Do they finish their work on time? Do they show up when you ask them to? Catching their work ethic is key to knowing what kind of work relationship you can have. You’d know it whether they’re easy to work with or not. Poor work ethic can be problematic and lead to other issues such as stealing designs or giving bad output.

Workspace (Computer, Internet, Electricity) – Believe it or not, there is some work at home people (i.e. freelancers) who could have unreliable Workspaces. Ineffective Workspaces can cause a lot of distractions, internet connection problems, and equipment issues. If they work from home, chances are their attention could be caught by family and other responsibilities. Their home may not also be the best place to have a stable internet connection or even a reliable working computer. If you want to outsource, make sure they can get over these possible issues.

This is why there are companies out there that can make sure they have fast and reliable internet connections and equipment — to make sure the process and progress move smoothly like clockwork. With this assurance, you may pay a little higher in hiring BPOs & studios but it’s worth it.

Graphic Design Outsourcing Tools

Design Feedback Apps
Task Management Apps
Time Recording Apps
Communication Apps
File Sharing Apps
Payment Apps

Design Feedback Apps

Helio

Review: Formerly Notable, Helio has a lot of features. You can put in screenshots, annotations, and presentations so you can comment on the designs. It even has tools for project management, user testing, and prototyping so you don’t need to use another software to get a good view of the project you have. It may have a little too many features based on your taste. But if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, this is it.

Starting Price: Free Trial

Sign Up with Helio Here

Nimbus Capture

Review: It’s not as sleek as the other options in the list but it is feature-rich. You can do scrolling or whole-page screenshots which are very useful when adding comments in graphics that won’t typically fit one screen. I have encountered problems with the screenshots especially with animations but it is free with various sharing and annotation methods.

Starting Price: Free

Sign Up with Nimbus Capture Here

Annotator

Review: If you’re uncomfortable with installing anything extra for you or the client, you can simply integrate it into your site and it’ll work through JavaScript. It introduces an annotation functionality on the webpage. So when you send the site or design to your client, they can add comments, tags, or links all over the webpage.

Starting Price: Free

Sign Up with Annotator Here

Skitch

Review: The best part about this is its integration with Evernote. If you’re already in the Evernote ecosystem, it’ll be much easier for you to include this in your workflow. If not, it’s still a simple and easy way to get screenshots and highlight and comment on the design.

Starting Price: Free

Sign Up with Skitch Here

Task Management Apps

ClickUp

Review: One of the best task management systems out there. They have a vast number of features compared to other platforms. You can assign, categorize, manage tasks to the minutest of details. It is perfect for big projects or even small tasks with the proper tweaking and configuration. The problem right now we have is that their mobile app on Android needs a lot of work. The UI can be cumbersome to use compared to its web and desktop counterparts. It visibly lags on the phones we have as well. However, if you spend most of your work time on computers and rarely on your phone, the app will work really well for you.

Starting Price: Free

Sign Up with ClickUp here

Asana

Review: It is a widely used productivity managed platform for a reason. We thought it was the best until we transferred to ClickUp. Some might prefer the interface of Asana than Clickup.

Starting Price: Free

Sign up with Asana here

Slack

Review: A reliable chat system we’ve been using for a long time. Just make sure the point person you’re contacting and outsourcing to turns on their notifications. Slack is very reliable for documentation purposes since it’s a chat system. This means that the user interface is intuitive and user-friendly compared to alternatives such as Workplace, Bitrix24, and the chat client of ClickUp.

Starting Price: Free

Sign up with Slack here

Time Recording Apps

Time Doctor

Review: Since it has to be constantly running in the background, it can cause lag on the computer the outsourcing service provider is using. It’s also an extra task that the freelancer might need so the tendency is for them to forget to use and maintain. Some freelancers find it too invasive in their work. It certainly feels like Big Brother is always watching and checking on you with it on. However, if you want to track the performance, it is a decent app you can try.

Starting Price: $12 (With 14-day Free Trial)
Sign up with Time Doctor here

File Sharing Apps

Dropbox

Review: Dropbox Basic starts with a measly 2 GB of storage but you can pay for more storage. It pioneered the cloud storage and syncing services until other software and services seemingly overtook it such as Google Drive or OneDrive. It has integrated tools such as Paper and Showcase for documents and presentations respectively. It has web and mobile apps but I like it for its integration with the OS — your Dropbox folder wouldn’t look much different than the standard File Explorer. It’s a decent third-party storage app but there may be better apps if you’re looking for something more integrated with your workflow.

Starting Price: Free

Sign up with Dropbox here

Adobe Cloud

Review: This is integrated with any Adobe application that you purchase. It simply makes it easier to save and share files you made using their applications to other people. For example, you can save the PSD file directly in Adobe Cloud and share it from there. It’s a smoother workflow and integration if you’re already in the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem. However, it’s pretty much just an additional feature that Adobe Creative Cloud has and not a separate service in itself.

Starting Price: $4.99 (Free with App Subscription)
Sign up with Adobe Cloud

Google Drive

Review: The ubiquitous Google offers its own file sharing service in Google Drive. It is a fully-featured and generous cloud service with a lot of productivity and office tools included and integrated in it.  Starting out at 15 GB for a free account, you can also edit documents, take notes, store photos, and back up files. Subscribing to their paid Google One plans is one of the most affordable ways to increase your storage. Its productivity, cloud syncing, and storage capabilities will certainly help you in working office tasks by yourself or with a team.

Starting Price: Free
Sign up with Google Drive

Microsoft OneDrive

Review: As a Microsoft product, it works really well with other Microsoft apps. If you work on Word, Excel, Outlook, or PowerPoint, you can directly save your files to OneDrive as default. There are only 5 GB of storage for a free account but you can pay more for more storage. There’s also a generous 1 TB of storage if you bought Office 365. This works well if you want to keep working in Microsoft applications and Windows as they have arguably the strongest and most common office and productivity applications all around.

Starting Price: Free

Sign up with OneDrive

Other tips in outsourcing Graphic Design:

If you’re hiring a graphic design studio, find out if their owner is hands-on or is a skilled designer themselves. Leaders who are also experts in graphic design can uphold their standards for their employees. They’ll also be able to understand, communicate, and explain the technical details of designs better.

A boss who owns a design agency but does not know design itself could lead to problems in management. If you talk to them in terms of design, they may not explain it properly. If you provide instructions on design, they may not pass it effectively to the actual designers. This could also be more costly since it’ll take more time and effort just to get the desired output. They’ll be too far up the food chain that they don’t see or show value to the team or the product.

Let me present to you, “Outsourcing”, one of the best growth hack strategies you can apply to your business. You may be wondering why you need outsourcing. Well, it is a sustainable and proven strategy that improves a company’s profit margins and bottom line. Every day the demand for outsourced services grows. Soon enough, it’ll be normal for companies to do so. With the benefits it provides, it’s no wonder that more and more companies are outsourcing their graphic design, marketing, web design, web development, and other services.

Outsourcing is one of the growth hacking strategies you can do. What is growth hacking you may ask? It is simply the many bootstrapping strategies and tricks for massive and rapid business growth. Typically, they are low cost and risk but high reward which is why it seems like they’re done with hacking. This makes it very popular for small businesses and startups.

Just look at the following reasons why you need outsourcing, thus making it the best growth hack strategy in 2020:

• To reduce costs and lower overhead;
• To allow companies to focus on their core business;
• To mitigate burnout of internal resources;
• To increase efficiency in time-consuming functions;
• To gain access to global talent;
• To speed up hiring time; and
• To improve productivity and competitiveness

With the benefits up for grabs, it’s easy to understand why you need outsourcing to growth hack their business, such as startup companies and small businesses. Recruiting an expert in the field costs a lot of time and money. It’ll take weeks to find one, sums of money to onboard and train, and the company wouldn’t be sure if it’ll work out. Through outsourcing services to external web designers, graphic designers, and web development, businesses save a lot of money, time, effort, and paperwork.

According to an outsourcing survey by Deloitte,  the top five reasons companies outsource is to cut costs, enable focus on core business functions, resolve capability issues, improve service quality, and maintain operations that are critical to business needs. With these benefits on hand, it’s not a surprise that the global market for outsourcing reached approximately $85.6 million.

Why You Need Outsourcing as a Growth Hack

1. Cost Reduction: As said repeatedly, decreasing expenditure is a major reason for why you need outsourcing. Startups are especially fond of this as they may not have the internal resources yet for their big projects. Through outsourcing, they mitigate big expenditures during the launch of their business. According to Deloitte, 59% of companies use outsourcing to cut costs. This is because businesses no longer need to spend money on infrastructure or internal employees. The outsourcing service already takes care of the office upkeep, staff insurance, utility bills, and taxes. As a business, the money you save is nothing to scoff at.
2. Productivity Improvement: When in a startup or small business, owners need to wear many hats so their time and attention are limited. Outsourcing allows companies to share the workload to free their hands to prioritize what their business is about. External industry experts will take care of the outsourced service so businesses can be more productive in performing their in-house core functions. With the right outsourcing service, the business will significantly improve its efficiency and productivity. Not to mention how the outsourcing service will grow their business as well.
3.  Enhanced Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: The hiring process for talented resources is long, expensive, and uncertain especially if the business owner is unfamiliar with the field. Outsourcing allows the business to not break their backs and wallets. For small budgets and tight deadlines, recruiting excellent and talented staff is nearly impossible. With outsourcing, the business gains access to an expert in the field from anywhere in the world. For example, a business would be hard-pressed in obtaining an expert graphic designer quickly within their immediate area. Outsourcing graphic design services save them the trouble of hiring one while enabling them to get knowledgeable and experienced professionals. Connecting to people with the right expertise is just one reason why you need outsourcing.
4. Better Hourly Rates: For many businesses all over the world, outsourcing is convenient for the reasonable hourly rates available to it. Businesses will only pay for priced hourly rates or fixed rates for specific jobs instead of providing wages to full-time staff. Outsourcing saves businesses a lot of money on overhead. As an example, a business contacts an outsourcing logo design agency such as Qadra Studio. That business could then acquire a logo design service that is cost-efficient, fast, and high quality completed by experienced graphic designers and branding experts. This is why you need outsourcing.
5. Safe Investment with High Returns: If businesses outsource their projects, they share the associated responsibility of the job, thus lowering the risk involved. For example, a company outsourced their web design service. If a problem arises, the company and outsourcing service will work together in resolving it. An outsourcing web design company with years of experience in the field provides a better chance of dealing with a problem than someone without the same credentials. Moreover, a web design outsourcing service will provide better legal guarantees against copyright infringements and trademark issues. Fewer problems but higher rewards for all.

More Reading To Help You On Why You Need Outsourcing:
How to Outsource/Hire a Web Developer – The Ultimate Guide 2020
Outsourcing Graphic Design: Your Massive Guide this 2020

Outsource Your Business Now

By now, you should know why you need outsourcing for your business. The biggest growth hack strategy is easily within reach today. Businesses will only grow and develop if they get outsourcing.  This strategy enables companies to save time and money, open more opportunities, and increase productivity and efficiency. There is nothing more that they can ask for. So whether it’s a graphic design agency, web development company, web design studio, digital marketing firm, advertising agency, or any other small startup, outsourcing their services will allow them to be more resourceful and productive for years to come.

Contact Qadra Studio now and have a chat with us to understand why we’re the premier full-service digital agency, providing web design, web development, graphic design, branding, and internet marketing in the Philippines.

With the emergence and growing popularity of social media, like Facebook, Twitter, along with instant messaging and online chat, businesses have to tap into the power of words in an effort to be aggressive in marketing their company. The way in which your products or companies are described can flip or convert an off-the-cuff visitor just looking at your website right into a paying customer.

5 ways to build up your brand with words

1. Decide on a unified tone for your company. Probably one of the greatest methods to determine the proper tone in your web content is to think about your brand as a person. Ask yourself, “What is the sort of conversation that your customers are having?”. You should be able to relate to them with your words.
2. Write your content in such a way that it captures the attention of your audience immediately. Research has proven that you only have three seconds to get the attention of your visitor for online web content. Before you start posting content though, just remember to assess and review it to see whether it is charming and enticing from the beginning until the end of the copy.
3. Do not over complicate the message that you need to convey to your prospects. Make sure that you differentiate between the real USPs that can persuade a buyer to purchase and the issues that you simply think are interesting.
4. Be sure that your writing focuses on the benefits and advantages of your services and products and not on the features. Features and specs have their place, but customers are normally pushed to purchase a product/service if they can see that it benefits them.
5. Last but not the least, remember to edit, edit, and edit some more before publishing your content. As soon as the content is online, revisit the web page and verify that your words match the visuals.  Sometimes, your message will be muffled by extra and unneeded phrases. Less can be more when writing engaging and persuasive content.

Is content writing not your forte?

Honestly check yourself if you have the writing capabilities or the skills of your current resources. If content writing just isn’t your thing, then get assistance by outsourcing to the Philippines. You will not just keep your costs down, but you’ll also catapult your company’s efficiency by providing charming and attractive content. Wherever you are int the world, you’ll always have your content ready and waiting for you.

Qadra, a renowned branding agency in the Philippines, can give you quality content on your website, blogs, white papers, newsletters, press releases and brochures at an affordable value and inside a fast turnaround time. Read more about our content writing services and how we can help you build up your brand.

Would you like to share an outsourcing experience with us? Or perhaps, you have a question about how outsourcing to the Philippines works? Leave your feedback within the field under and we will likely be happy to get in touch with you. We, at Qadra, would love to hear from you!

Firms mainly outsource KPO companies to cut back on value and save on different assets. Over the past ten years, the Philippines is one of the most popular KPO sources. It is a good idea for organizations lacking in expert professionals to rent cost-efficient and expert companies and expert KPO consultants from third-world countries.

How is KPO different from BPO?

Compared with BPO (Business process outsourcing), KPO tasks are more intellectual and analytical in nature, requiring the skills of educated professionals.  While BPO services may only require a good command of the English language and some basic computer skills, the same cannot be said about KPO.

KPO work is often built-in with the core competencies of a company.  This kind of work is advanced in nature and often carried out by licensed professionals who finished graduate degrees. Accounting, legal research, market analysis, web design, and content development are some examples of services offered by KPO companies.

Top 4 reasons why companies outsource KPO

Over the years, the KPO outsourcing industry has grown by leaps and bounds. This is because this industry are found to be in demand by most businesses. After all, their service of information-based business actions are an integral part of a company’s business chain.

Here are 4 major reasons why firms outsource KPO services:

• Outsourcing KPO helps companies to drastically cut down on cost;
• Professional KPO companies provide a company with additional value creation;
• Outsourcing gives easy entry to specialized knowledge and expertise; and
• By outsourcing KPO companies to the Philippines, firms don’t need to search, hire, recruit, train,  and pay for in-house KPO professionals

Types of KPO Services

Almost all kinds of analysis and data gathering services fall under KPO. Here’s a list of some examples of KPO services:

• Intellectual property research;
• Equity research;
• Business research;
• Market research;
• Legal research;
• Medical research; and
• Research and development (R&D)
  • in fields related to Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Design, and Animation among others

The Philippines – A leading KPO destination

In 2016, KPO made up approximately 34% of the country’s outsourcing industry. The ITBPAP (Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines)sees that this will increase further in the coming years. Highly educated professionals with experience in research, fluency in English, relatively low labor cost,  and a favorable time zone are a few reasons why companies all over the world have chosen the Philippines as their KPO service provider.

Have you ever outsourced KPO companies before? Which KPO service would you like to outsource? Share your ideas, views, and questions on outsourcing with us. We, at Qadra, would love to hear from you!

1. Customer Support

Customer support or phone support tops the list as probably the most outsourced business operation. Corporations within the US find that hiring, training, providing office space, and paying taxes for American call center agents are much more expensive when compared to outsourcing to other countries such as the Philippines. Furthermore, Philippine BPO or call center companies can provide efficient and quality 24/7 support at a fraction of the cost.

2. Accounting & Bookkeeping

Accounting is second on the list. While it is an integral aspect of any sort of business, it takes up too much time. American companies instead choose to simply and conveniently outsource bookkeeping or monetary assertion preparation to the Philippines. This is because Filipino accountants are educated and skilled in the newest American accounting practices. Since accounting work is delicate in nature, it’s important that you select a reliable and qualified outsourcing company in the Philippines.

3. Web Design

Web design is third on the list of probably the most frequently outsourced business process to the Philippines. It’s a well-known fact that design groups in the Philippines are extremely skilled with web design software. Philippine design studios even supply abroad firms with ready-made web design templates that may be custom-made in accordance with their desires, needs, and specifications. If you are short on time, cost, or skilled designers, then outsourcing web design is one of the best ways to get an attractive website.

4. Data Entry

Data entry tasks like scanning, indexing, order processing, and cataloging are a number of the most regularly outsourced data entry work to the Philippines. Data entry is one of the most easily outsourced work, as all you must do is rent staff, give clear directions, and state your deadline. You’ll be able to ensure that your work will be accomplished on time, inside your price range, and completely accurate. Philippine information entry suppliers have safe web servers to make sure of the full safety and security of sensitive data.

5. Research and Development

Businesses at present outsource nearly all sorts of research and development work to the Philippines, including market research, financial analysis, customer demographics, and even pharmaceutical analysis. Philippine analysis professionals are certified and trained in using the newest analysis tools and methodologies. Corporations favor outsourcing analysis companies to the Philippines, since doing them in house in-house can take up a lot of effort, time, and money.

Some of the other business tasks that are outsourced to the Philippines include Tax Preparation, Manufacturing, PC Programming, Legal Services, Creative Services, Healthcare Services, and Engineering Services. Now that you’re aware of possibly the most outsourced business tasks to the Philippines, what would you like to outsource from Qadra?

In this digital age, virtually every fashionable device comes with an embedded software program system. In fact, the Embedded Systems Market is expected to reach $18.62 billion by 2023. More corporations are choosing embedded software due to their improved quality, increase in performance and re-usability. However, the price of creating and developing embedded software programs is on the rise due to the complexity of developing it. Outsourcing embedded software program development will help you reduce the price. Depending on the right company you choose, you can also expedite time to market and improve quality.

Listed here are 5 pieces of advice for outsourcing embedded software development.

1. Examine the expertise and experience of your outsourcing provider

   Make sure that the person you hire should have experience in using different embedded platforms and working programs. The outsourcing provider should also be capable of covering every aspect of embedded software development, like large data and real-time sign processing. Go for a partner who has expertise in a number of domains and industries. That way that they can give you a wide range of embedded software solutions, like firmware development, SDK development and maintenance, technical help and third-party applied sciences to name a few examples.

2. Evaluate the technical skills of the team

   The technical skills required for embedded software development will fluctuate based mostly on the kind and complexity of your venture. However, there are some skills which you should definitely always look out for. Experience in operating systems like Embedded Linux and RTOS, advanced knowledge of C and C ++, skill to work with information constructions, algorithms, hardware design language, and management programs are obligatory for embedded software development. Your business may additionally require the data using JTAG, Eclipse or Python. The software development staff also needs to be capable of working with totally different architectures of embedded programs. The staff you select ought to possess the above skills and technological expertise, so they can effectively complete and implement your project.

3. Check if the team has a good understanding of hardware requirements and capabilities

   The outsourcing team you choose should be able to exploit the right hardware that would give your end-user the most advantages. To do this, the team must fully understand the hardware they work with. Your embedded outsourcing associate should be able to correctly optimize a target system, and supply the perfect configuration of kind elements, storage, memory and CPU. The outsourcing associate shouldn’t solely advocate the proper embedded computing solution for you, but also give you with the proper embedded computing hardware, that makes use of the most recent processor applied sciences to ship progressive options to your venture. Search for an outsourced staff of firmware engineers who’ve in-depth background knowledge in software and hardware.

4. Use Agile development strategies for maximizing project efficiency

   Ask if the outsourced team uses Agile best practices to speed up the product growth life cycle, thereby resolving constraints such as poor quality, late delivery, unpredictable schedules, or long development cycles. Test if the outsourced embedded software program staff can give you an environment-friendly, Agile-based working test model that showcases how they’re implementing Agile practices on initiatives. Insisting on Agile practices to your outsourced embedded software program development venture can bring in advantages like early buyer engagement, early program risk visibility, and continuous testing.

5. Ask for flexibility

   Seek the services of developers who are versatile and might quickly adapt to changes is an efficient business transfer. Throughout embedded software development, you may require engineers to own totally different skills relying on the hardware traits of your project. Signing up on a staff of developers who can rapidly do a concept-proof prototype in a language they have already used or a team who can repair a bug in a legacy venture quickly will ensure that they’ll give you quality firmware.

Outsourcing embedded software development can bring in competitive advantages to your business. The most important part is to find a supplier who has the required capabilities to assemble a team of expert firmware developers. Through outsourcing, you will get access to better specialists, a predictable bottom-line and improved venture scalability. At Qadra, we promise to find you all of this and more.

Do you want to learn more about this subject? Did you think this knowledge was helpful? Would you wish to see more posts on software program coding, product development or maybe web utility development? Let us know by leaving a comment within the field under. We, at Qadra, would love to hear from you!