It isn't necessarily your location. But I'll admit I proceed with caution on offers that claim for only $2, I'm getting 5,000 submissions. I remember reading about a guy who go deindexed in the English Google search results because he bought a package from an Indian SEO company. And guess what? He started ranking in Google India! Don't have the link to it, but it was on DP not long ago.
I have used plenty of Indian services and not had any problems. I have used plenty of UK, US and Aussie services and been burnt. Present your services professionally, price appropriately, act with integrity, use spell check. If you are hand submitting then hand submit, loading submissions into submission software is not hand submission. Good luck to you, perserverance is key.
Whilst I understand your point, I do often ask peoples location. For me its more to do with time differences etc. I must admit though, many people I have seen on DP offering content writing do have terrible spelling and grammer.
Because many get foolished by indians who offer services for few bucks and can't even spell their name or the curency in which they are paid. Take a look here. Indian traffic is a majority here...so next time you see a "donut" man or thread in here... or any horrible grammar... take care. This explains everything! => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCFx7X5bB9A
"Digital Point Forums > Hope > Jokes" Nope... Guess not. "Digital Point Forums > Search Engines > Directories"
The title wasnt the joke, it was the punchline. The guy that posted it was the joke. The OP was no more from India than I am. He was just doing a little trolling while promoting some negative stereotypes. He's gone now.
please.... I think the fact that they guy got banned speaks for itself. I have outsourced to India with good results. Good and bad people in every culture.
I wasnt belittling SEOs from India... was saying that's what the OP was trying to do by putting on the little charade.
I think the problem stems from volume, not an ethnic group living up to what is a stereotype. Think about it. over 40% of the audience here at DP is Indian. Heck, better than 40% of the audience to most of my sites are Indian. There is a large Indian population. Given the larger population and larger number of Indians visiting this and other sites, its pretty much a given that there will be a larger number of people that fit that "stereotype." Does that mean they OP's contention if valid? No, it just means there are a heck of a lot of Indian folks out there and there are shady people in every group of society. That said, think about this. That 40% accounts for the bulk of all the traffic and revenue here and at other places. I'd say the trust factor is a bit more favorable amongst Indians than the average WASP.
Many Indians are charging for work and they lack the mastery needed with English to succeed on the Internet. It's fair to call them a fraud. I would be a fraud if I "wrote" articles in German and sold them since I don't know the language. Overall, a lot of the work I've paid for that's been done by Indians has been of poor quality. As Mia stated this is probably just more related to the huge population of India than anything else. Of course there are excellent people in India offering work, as well. You can't judge anyone by where they're from, but you have to focus on the work they do. Once you find good people, you reward them with repeat business.
I faced the same problem too. Two years ago, I gave the forum theme modification to a freelancer in Canada. He vanished when the project was 95% completed. Faced the issues with programmers in India and Srilanka too. I would say that 50% of projects I gave to freelancers got messed up. The lesson learned is that always check the references. Get atleast 3 references from the freelancers before even discussing your requirements.
That's really the bottom line. You can't count on someone's nationality to be the saving grace in a business transaction. The key is to limit your potential loss on the first purchase. If they turn out to be good, give them more business.