Web site tweaks could be new niche for RP

BY VERONICA S. CUSI, BusinessWorld Online Editor AFTER CALL CENTERS and medical transcription, the Philippines could become an outsourcing destination for another information technology (IT) service. This time, the opportunity is in search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM), which includes strategies and techniques to ensure that a website ranks high in web searches. Ranking high in searches usually translates to profits since top of rank is equated to top of mind. SEO/SEM can easily be the next outsourcing wave for the Philippines as US firms are now eyeing the country as an alternative Asian outsourcing site after India, said Marc Hil J. Macalua, founder of SEO Philippines, an online interest group practicing SEO/SEM. The industry in North America alone was valued at $9.6 billion in 2006 and expected to double to $18.6 billion by 2011, according to the SEM Professional Organization (SEMPO). Mr. Macalua said US firms tend to outsource some of the time-consuming, labor-intensive SEO tasks such as article writing, link building, and HTML editing. "Skills that complement these tasks are in demand right now," he told BusinessWorld. Higher level needs like pay-per-click account management, SEO/PPC strategy formulation and advanced programming are not readily outsourced. Mr. Macalua said SEO/SEM could be an "alternative to a call center life" and search engine marketers need not even have the American twang to become a part of the billion-dollar industry. "Oral English language proficiency is not a requirement, but you have to have impeccable English writing skills. You don’t have to have the call center twang but it would be a great skill to have if you wish to interface with clients," he said. Call centers and medical transcription are some of the more prominent outsourcing opportunities for IT services in the country. Call centers and medical transcriptions offices are sprouting almost everywhere. Even some of the county’s top schools have joined the bandwagon by offering short-term courses. Job fairs focused on these are also abundant. Unlike call centers where tasks are outsourced to companies, SEO/SEM can be done by freelance individuals with specific skills such as programming or writing. "Some entrepreneurial SEOs don’t actually do third party client work. Instead, they focus on doing SEO for their own sites which when monetized correctly can earn anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per month per site," he added. In the US, Mr. Macalua said the task is usually done by marketing people, in collaboration with technology staff. Here in the Philippines, however, SEO/SEM is led more by technology people. Like call centers, SEO/SEM work not limited to Metro Manila. Major cities and university towns outside Metro Manila also have a pool of talent for SEO/SEM work, he said. While SEO/SEM is fairly new in the Philippines, the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPA/P), an industry association, said it welcomed other business process outsourcing (BPO) opportunities. "The SEO/SEM sector is not yet a part of the BPA/P but they are certainly most welcome," said Danilo Reyes, BPA/P president, in an e-mail reply to a BusinessWorld query. "Our objective in the BPA/P has always been to promote the country’s capabilities in the ITES (IT enabled services) and BPO industry. "If we are able to support promotion of new sectors such as SEO or SEM, then we are achieving our objective." In another e-mail, Oscar Sañez, BPA/P chief executive officer, said "SEM is definitely another sector that the Philippines can participate in." On the skills sets needed, Mr. Sañez said the outsourcing industry needs to identify the requirements "so we can adequately map out and prepare for their needs and match them with new or existing companies." "Already, we have companies focusing on either the technical side of it (programming, software development and application) or the creative/commercial side of it (content-building, marketing, etc.). "Given the relative youth of the sector’s development, these outfits may currently play primarily in the IT sector or back office/transcription or even animation/gaming," he added. Aside from US companies, Mr. Macalua said another market is Chinese businesses. Chinese language search engine Baidu.com, for example, has been rated by comScore, Inc. as the number three search engine property worldwide following Google and Yahoo! "There’s also a niche for companies that can do Chinese-English site promotion services," he added.