You’ve probably heard all the experienced Internet marketers talking about how outsourcing has saved their lives. They’ll tell you that you should start outsourcing from day one and it’ll make everything so much easier. However, in some ways, outsourcing is like marriage. It can be a wonderful partnership where both parties prosper, or it can be a horrible mistake that it takes years to recover from. Before you start outsourcing, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

1. Do It Yourself First

It’s always best to do the task at least once before you outsource it. The reason is that it gives you an idea of how difficult the task is. By doing it yourself, you’ll also be able to tell whether or not your hired worker is doing it right.

For example, let’s take building backlinks. It’s tempting to just hire an SEO service or a provider off Elance.com instead of doing it yourself. They guarantee hundreds of high-quality backlinks at a reasonable price. But how do you know if those backlinks are ‘quality’ or not? They could be links from link-swap sites. You have no way to quality check if you’ve never done it yourself.

2. Do You Have The Budget?

You can find freelancers to do your work very cheaply for you, but you should still make sure the budget’s there. If you’re trying to find the cheapest work possible because you’re operating on a shoestring, you’re better off handling the task yourself. The reason for this is the old saying, “When you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”

A great example of this is web content. You can find writers who’ll create articles for you for mere dollars. When your site isn’t making any money yet and you’re paying out of pocket, this can sound like a great deal. However, if you end up with keyword-stuffed nonsense that no one will read, it’ll be wasted money. Content has to be high quality. Until you have the money to pay for quality, you’re better off writing your own.

3. There’s a Learning Curve

Before you jump right into outsourcing, keep in mind that there’s a learning curve both for you and the outsourcer. There will be mistakes, hassles and rip-offs before you learn how to do it right. It’s another skill just like all the others you have to learn in Internet marketing. Even though it saves you time to hire help, it can also suck up your time managing them and dealing with irresponsibility or poor performance.

It can be rough at first, but once you start learning how it’s done, outsourcing will get rid of hours of mundane tasks for you. In order to prevent any disasters, start off slowly. Hire one provider for a simple task and see how it goes before you outsource everything. Wait until you know how to find and manage good help before you spend any big money.