Filipino Content Writers - Any Recommendations?

Hey folks,

Heard GREAT things about Filipino outsourcing. I'm looking to hire a couple of trustworthy filipino's for:

i. Copy writing
ii. General assistance with my site (posting ads for me etc)

Can anyone recommend any good companies or freelancers?

THANKS!

PM me if you prefer.

 

Sorry Doctor Spock

NO POSTING FOR HIRING SWEATSHOP WORKERS HERE

See the Forum Q&A, plus you were asked by DP before posting if this was the right section.

A word to the wise, remove this post before you get penalized.

 

Post your offers at:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=102

You're welcome

 

Will do Kraven.

Thanks!

 

Uhhhhhhh, since their cost of living is so much lower than ours, it is not "sweatshop workers."



http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Filipino+Content+Writers+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

 

I second that.

When I went to Thailand I stayed in pretty nice accomodation for 50c to $1 a night. My own room, not shared. Fans, cleaned every day. certainly not 5 star - but wake up in my beach hut and be greeted by yellow sand, blue sky, palm trees and the beach.

Cost of everything is VERY different in these countries.

 

Amazing !! I think it's time I visited this place
Btw, not as a sweatshop measure, but in general Filipinos come across as very hard working and honest people and given their reasonable command on the English language and low costs of living , they are becoming the first choice of bargain hunters.

 

I'm surrounded by Filipinos all day, so I can tell you with certainty that the cost of living is very, very low in most places. In fact, $2 per hour (USD) is a decent wage in many areas. Just know that brownouts are very common.

As with anyone from any country, it's hit and miss. You might get a hard worker or you might not. And just because someone works hard doesn't mean they work right.

 

Simply unbelievable! Is there any such Thailand Writers here? We need some info pls...

We would recommend Phil writers, surely, they are of great quality at an affordable price tag!

 

the increasing 'globalization' of the world economy is opening up opportunities such as this. As the prev posters rightly point out, what might be 'sweatshop' rates in one country aren't necessarily low somewhere else. Hence the increasing reliance of western writers on software tools to make themselves more productive, so they can compete on an international basis.

 

Ehem...excuse me, filipino here...

 

Cost of living here is lower compared to other asian countries, that's why some of us here can give/offer a lower service compared to others ^_~

 

Cost of living, and the fact that a lot of Filipinos speak/write better English than most people in America make it a very good source for outsourcing.

<- Filipino descendant

 

So does a large part of the rest of the world, your point? LOL

 

i've been staying in the philippines for vacation for a while and oh boy it's so cheap here. mcdo burger meals are just $1. i could tell you that they speak great english. mostly very formal ones. don't think that it's sweatshops as well coz you could buy starbucks for $3.

 

Its just a matter of time until countries like that shape up, and with it goes the cost effectiveness. You see it in India, where they used to be the cheapest country to outsource to, that hasn't been true for the last couple of years. Another example is Czech in Europe, that used to be really cheap, but is shaping up as well, so prices rise with it. China is an upcoming super power and for the first time in years, it has problems competing with Korea, and the list goes on.

In the end it will all even out.

 

I will second you on that Kraven. Not so long ago, the average Indian youth would be glad to get a secure job and a steady income and then would hope for no more. That was post the time when unemployment was rampant and highly educated Engineers found it difficult to land a job. In today's time, for any youth, sky is the limit. Even if the costs of living are low in certain countries, that's no reason to believe that your work is worth less. Eventually every person wakes up to that reality. However, so many won't be able to do much about it as they won't have a mentor as knowledgeable and selfless as dyadvisor.

 

Please help me out of this one. When I converse with people in India there is always talk using the words college and engineering. However if you ever examined Odesk, maybe I missed it, but I did not see it in the Fillipinos. I would say they have a high drive of ambition, but I did not see any easy upgrade there.

If everything was so great, why do they literally beg for work. Sure some become successful, but why are so many here from India. With all my hospital visits, I see a lot of Indians and now Asians, but where are the Filipinos?


That is why there is almost a universal rate of $2.22 an hour, that nets them exactly $2.00 an hour. If some of them are writing an article of fair quality in 45 minutes, that means well below $2.00 per article.. My reference to sweat shop was misunderstood. Many of them work in a large combined group with a supervisor, and yes they do sweat it out for fear of being fired. This supervisor then pockets a tidy sum placing articles in other hands for a profit.

So sure they are not physically locked in, but if they want steady work they are. I am willing for some one to clarify this, I can only say what I do based on what I observe. To me it reminds me of the illegal Mexican wetback crop pickers in the United States, banded together with someone of their own profiting off of them. To some,g slave and sweat shops are dirty words, I see very close similarities are going on worldwide, with China and North Korea being near the bottom. All similar forms of labor are a disgrace.

Should you be proud of getting a bargain? Most people like low prices, but......

 

If they get 2$ an hour they are more than lucky, if they work 8 - 10 hours that would end up at 800 peso day, 20+k a month. If not in Manila or Cebu that is almost rich. You ain't make much more than 5k Peso (100 $) in the province and a normal job, 10K in a callcenter.

One big issue is certainly that someone has to stand controlling everything. If not, the priority of the writer is many times on chatting, facebook or any other social sites. There are exceptions but VERY rare.

I run some sites about the Philippines, and it is pretty interesting (and in some points very sad) that Indians write better, cheaper and faster articles than most of the own population some times even from the City I need the articles about. The only thing you get much more is funny excuses why things are NOT done to the deadline or according the outlines.

Sad but true. I certainly would prefer to spend the money in the country I stay since 9 years than giving it away, but well i make decisions according to accuracy and quality.

 

I disagree. I am a Filipino and I am now based in the province. The minimum wage for the Filipino construction workers (blue-collar job) is Php 350/day, Php 9,100/month. This rate is for those who did not finish a college degree. Public school teachers in the province receive Php 15,000/month as starting pay (my sister is a public school Principal III). I worked as an editor in a textbook company with starting salary of Php 19,000/month before working as Senior Editor in a Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO - similar to call centers) company in Makati City with an average monthly pay of Php 27,000/month, often receiving more than Php 30,000/month including allowances and incentives.

Last May, I started a writing company in Bataan province (3 hours from Manila). I have four writers now and we are growing. I see to it that my writers receive a decent wage based on the existing Labor Laws in the Philippines.

It is true that compared with other more developed countries, our cost of living is very much lower. We may be eating the same McDonald's hamburger but we are paying less than what you pay for in America. This is because the production costs here is much lower than yours.

Now with copy writing. Internet cost here in the province is way too low than in Manila, and of course in the US or other first world countries. We have many modes of transportation, thereby we do not need to own a car (with high maintenance costs) to go to our place of work. However, there are downsides to this. The Internet connection sometimes are unreliable, same with the electricity. The newspaper headline yesterday banners "More Power Outages Expected in Luzon." Luzon is the northern part of the Philippines. This is very unlikely in well-developed countries. However, Internet rentals is only Php 15/hour and you can buy 1Hp electric generator for only Php 5,000 in case Internet connection fails and power outages happen.

When it comes to writing skills, the Filipinos generally have a good grasp of the English language. However, as in any other countries, not every Filipinos are good writers. There may be good laborers, good teachers, good editors, and good writers, but not all are good laborers. Being a Filipino does not mean that I am better than Indian writers or other Asians who write in English. I may be better than some of them, but some of them are definitely better than me.

I hope this clarifies things about Filipino writers and the wages a Filipino worker receives.