Risks of SEM Outsourcing for Search Engine Marketing
MediaPost Publications - Fear of the O-Word, Part 1
SEARCH INSIDER of December 13, 2005 features an interview with the liaison for an off-shore based SEM company that does outsourcing for US SEM companies. He claims that his overseas copywriters are getting superb results.
As an SEO and SEM copywriter with experience on both the ad agency and corporate sides, I have to disagree. PPC technicians, who are not native English speakers, have caused problems with keywords in some of my recent consulting projects. I'll tell you the results, after we hear the offshore side of the story.
QUOTE
Rohit: Many agencies are today outsourcing a lot of their processes to companies abroad. They may not accept that, but I can tell you many companies do outsource. Secondly, I do not see why it should be of any concern. I know the whole question of outsourcing has become a big political debate, but we both know that's how the business will operate in future. It's smart outsourcing that will win the day for any serious business entity.
He says further:
QUOTE
If you talk about our agency itself, we have a team of copywriters. ... I am not trying to exaggerate things, but these are some facts, and the sites are doing wonderfully well on the search engines.
ENDQUOTE
Really? What are these 'best brands' websites that he claims are doing so '“wonderfully well on the search engines'”? I would very much like to read the copy that is produced.
Granted, I have worked with some skilled and intelligent offshore programmers and consultants but how can even a fairly intelligent offshore person be an effective copywriter for an American audience if he grows up in a foreign culture? Even assuming a period of 4 years in the US or Britain for their college education, I would approach relying on offshore-based copywriters with caution.
My recent and ongoing experience proves that technicians who speak American English as a second language have some difficulty with this type of PPC keyword work. A certain US-located Pay Per Click vendor uses some technicians that are not native speakers of English. I have found on several occasions that these technicians have done a poor job of creating effective Pay Per Click keywords.
For a Pay Per Click customer that sold ad banner software, the errant technician had chosen keywords that implied that they developed software for hire as well. The Ad Banner business owner called me shortly afterword to relate that, "your keywords suck". I reaped the client's anger for that keyword challenged technicians twisted grasp of the english language. I'm sure he would have done better in his native language. I corrected the keywords and peace was restored.
A separate accounting software website was given inaccurate keyword phrases that attracted customers for web development. Again this was the work of a non-native English speaker. The accounting software company owner was outraged when he read the keywords. Even subtle differences in PPC keywords can mean trouble if they attract the wrong customers. Once again I worked quickly to correct the errors of an English speaker who learned English as a second language.
It was painfully obvious to both myself and both business website owners that the keywords chosen by the non-native speakers were inappropriate to the target websites. Sure the keywords roughly matched some of the web copy, but in some cases the keywords were so broad that they failed to address why customers buy the products.
Aside from keyword selection, which is vital to both SEO and PPC campaigns, copywriting is even more sensitive to proper application of language skills. I recently rewrote the landing page copy for a freight container seller using a Pay Per Click campaign. The freight container seller complained that his PPC campaign was useless because none of the clicks converted to sales or even phone calls. I rewrote the landing page copy to add product benefits specific to the buyer's needs and a call to action. I published the new copy to the web at 4pm.
The next morning, the freight container seller called me in a good mood. He said the phone started ringing after 4:30 pm, "Right after that we got 4 phone calls from visitors to our web site. Three of those phone calls turned into sales that same day"”. This real life example tells me that good web copywriting is crucial to conversions and sales with Pay Per Click marketing.
An overseas copywriter is handicapped by several problems:
1) He is probably not a native American English speaker. Thus he lacks real fluency in common usage, American slang and American media, history and cultural references. Such a copywriter may write lifeless and wooden ad copy. Imagine highly skilled technical writers with little imagination. The customers would stay away in droves.
2) How can a copywriter not living in the US cultural madhouse, thus not familiar with many of the US consumer's motivations, really understand all the hot-buttons that motivate a US buyer to purchase the product?
3) Can an offshore copywriter really imagine and write about all the possible uses and benefits of a product if he lives in a different culture? Maybe this is possible if the US-based marketing department prepares a complete Copy Brief and written guidelines. It's possible.
Give the offshore copywriter a few more years of living in the US, and several years of writing for the US market, then I'm sure he can do a fine job. But then that writer is no longer an offshore writer.
Based on my own experience with business owners who became irritated PPC customers, I would approach using offshore copywriters for American consumers with caution. It would be wise to have the offshore writers selected based on several writing samples which show a good grasp of the US market and superb writing skills.
SEARCH INSIDER of December 13, 2005 features an interview with the liaison for an off-shore based SEM company that does outsourcing for US SEM companies. He claims that his overseas copywriters are getting superb results.
As an SEO and SEM copywriter with experience on both the ad agency and corporate sides, I have to disagree. PPC technicians, who are not native English speakers, have caused problems with keywords in some of my recent consulting projects. I'll tell you the results, after we hear the offshore side of the story.
QUOTE
Rohit: Many agencies are today outsourcing a lot of their processes to companies abroad. They may not accept that, but I can tell you many companies do outsource. Secondly, I do not see why it should be of any concern. I know the whole question of outsourcing has become a big political debate, but we both know that's how the business will operate in future. It's smart outsourcing that will win the day for any serious business entity.
He says further:
QUOTE
If you talk about our agency itself, we have a team of copywriters. ... I am not trying to exaggerate things, but these are some facts, and the sites are doing wonderfully well on the search engines.
ENDQUOTE
Really? What are these 'best brands' websites that he claims are doing so '“wonderfully well on the search engines'”? I would very much like to read the copy that is produced.
Granted, I have worked with some skilled and intelligent offshore programmers and consultants but how can even a fairly intelligent offshore person be an effective copywriter for an American audience if he grows up in a foreign culture? Even assuming a period of 4 years in the US or Britain for their college education, I would approach relying on offshore-based copywriters with caution.
My recent and ongoing experience proves that technicians who speak American English as a second language have some difficulty with this type of PPC keyword work. A certain US-located Pay Per Click vendor uses some technicians that are not native speakers of English. I have found on several occasions that these technicians have done a poor job of creating effective Pay Per Click keywords.
For a Pay Per Click customer that sold ad banner software, the errant technician had chosen keywords that implied that they developed software for hire as well. The Ad Banner business owner called me shortly afterword to relate that, "your keywords suck". I reaped the client's anger for that keyword challenged technicians twisted grasp of the english language. I'm sure he would have done better in his native language. I corrected the keywords and peace was restored.
A separate accounting software website was given inaccurate keyword phrases that attracted customers for web development. Again this was the work of a non-native English speaker. The accounting software company owner was outraged when he read the keywords. Even subtle differences in PPC keywords can mean trouble if they attract the wrong customers. Once again I worked quickly to correct the errors of an English speaker who learned English as a second language.
It was painfully obvious to both myself and both business website owners that the keywords chosen by the non-native speakers were inappropriate to the target websites. Sure the keywords roughly matched some of the web copy, but in some cases the keywords were so broad that they failed to address why customers buy the products.
Aside from keyword selection, which is vital to both SEO and PPC campaigns, copywriting is even more sensitive to proper application of language skills. I recently rewrote the landing page copy for a freight container seller using a Pay Per Click campaign. The freight container seller complained that his PPC campaign was useless because none of the clicks converted to sales or even phone calls. I rewrote the landing page copy to add product benefits specific to the buyer's needs and a call to action. I published the new copy to the web at 4pm.
The next morning, the freight container seller called me in a good mood. He said the phone started ringing after 4:30 pm, "Right after that we got 4 phone calls from visitors to our web site. Three of those phone calls turned into sales that same day"”. This real life example tells me that good web copywriting is crucial to conversions and sales with Pay Per Click marketing.
An overseas copywriter is handicapped by several problems:
1) He is probably not a native American English speaker. Thus he lacks real fluency in common usage, American slang and American media, history and cultural references. Such a copywriter may write lifeless and wooden ad copy. Imagine highly skilled technical writers with little imagination. The customers would stay away in droves.
2) How can a copywriter not living in the US cultural madhouse, thus not familiar with many of the US consumer's motivations, really understand all the hot-buttons that motivate a US buyer to purchase the product?
3) Can an offshore copywriter really imagine and write about all the possible uses and benefits of a product if he lives in a different culture? Maybe this is possible if the US-based marketing department prepares a complete Copy Brief and written guidelines. It's possible.
Give the offshore copywriter a few more years of living in the US, and several years of writing for the US market, then I'm sure he can do a fine job. But then that writer is no longer an offshore writer.
Based on my own experience with business owners who became irritated PPC customers, I would approach using offshore copywriters for American consumers with caution. It would be wise to have the offshore writers selected based on several writing samples which show a good grasp of the US market and superb writing skills.
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