Whether you are starting out online for the first time, or if you're an experienced online marketer looking to get a new site designed or plugin written, outsourcing is an option you should consider.

Be we go ahead though, for this post outsourcing means using a company or person usually in a foreign country, to get your work done. Anything you don't do yourself can be considered outsourcing, but for this post it's foreign.

One of the biggest advantages of outsourcing is cost. Sure, we might all like to be patriotic and keep our business at home, but when you talk anywhere from a 50-90% cost saving, you're better off keeping the difference, particularly with projects that don't have a huge margin. We cant all afford top class designers and coders either!

Outsourcing work can be daunting at first. There's a range of sites you can use, and the results in my experience can be a bit hit and miss. I personally use Scriptlance, so the following advice related to that site, although it should apply to most similar sites in this field.

Listing a job

• be very, very clear on what the job is. This includes where appropriate a long document describing exactly what it is you want, particularly if you're looking for scripting (as opposed to design) work
• Provide links to similar sites/ scripts as examples. Particularly relevant to design work.
  
• Reputation matters: like eBay the higher your reputation the more appealing you are. You will get a better class of firm bidding on your work over time as your reputation improves.
  
• Feature listings are recommended for bigger/ high priced jobs as it keeps your work up front with plenty of exposure. Not worth the money for a small job
• Ask for job samples from people bidding (particularly if it's design related). I've had ppl say to me that they have a great reputation etc so they won't show me their work. Sorry: if I cant see what someone is capable of, I'm not interested...but you should ask upfront in the listing.
  
• Escrow is cool and you should offer it to bidders, it will also help you attract more bidders. They want assurances that you're not going to rip them off; they don't know you so this is more than fair.
  

Bidding Process

• Use your job message board to its full potential. Many bidders will post there anyway, reply to them, publicly post other examples of the work etc... It's also important to have this if something goes wrong later: if it's on the record then Scriptlance can adjudicate (job disputes aren't common, but I've had one before).
  

Picking a Winner

• Reputation isn't everything, but it is pretty close to it. Like eBay, used Scriptlance's reputation system to see what sort of work the bidder has previously undertaken, and what people thought of them. If they are new they won't have a score; this isn't a reason not to use them, but if it's anything more than $100 for the job use someone with an established reputation
  
• Wait until the end of the auction. On Scriptlance the first bidders always come in high then everyone comes in underneath
• Sometimes you get what you pay for. I've run with the cheapest bids a couple of times with mixed results, where as higher priced bids tend to have more reliable results. Pick a combination of price and reputation.
• Don't be afraid to ask questions of a bidder if you're unsure.
  

Project Management

• Be prepared to send additional job specs to the winner once you've picked them
• Get your escrow sorted ASAP. Many wont start until they see the money there.
  
• Email them directly and offer to answer any questions, and communicate on IM if needed.
  
• Send follow up emails every couple of days checking on progress etc. The biggest problem I've had in the past is projects blowing out time wise because the person has over committed themselves with work. If they have, that's their problem, not yours. A couple of days or a week most people can live with, I've had a job 3 months overdue before, but because it was that involved I couldn't walk away and pick someone new.