PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

Today I present Gene Guerrero - a webmaster who is taking to world by its horns and giving the global marketplace a good shake. With an eye for a business opportunity, Gene is onto a neat idea!

If you run more than one website. what is the name and URL of your primary website?

I am with Webmaster Labor is a provider of offshore outsourced leased staffing services.

The internet provides access to global audiences and markets. Where are you located and is your market influenced by your location?

Webmasterlabor.Com is located in Metro Manila Phlippines. All of our clients are located in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the European Union.

What were the circumstances that led you to start your site/online business?

My first online venture, an academic site, was established in 1996. I didn’t focus too much on that since a corporation took over its operations since 1998. Webmaster Labor grew out of my experiences working as an executive at a venture capital firm in California in the late 90s. As much as we tried to expand our differing online properties, we kept running into the same problems: the high cost of content production, traffic generation, and site development. I was born in the Philippines and was aware of the high educational attainment of the Philippines’ English-speaking population. I formed the idea of starting offshore outsourced services for websites during this period. Unfortunately, the company I was working for folded at that time. After working as a fulltime webmaster for 3 or so years, I decided to revisit my offshore outsourced services idea and founded Webmaster Labor in 2003.

What does this site do?

Webmasterlabor.Com helps webmasters reduce their content and traffic generation costs by providing fulltime workers at less than $4 per hour. All our staff members speak English and are 4 year degree holders. They undergo extensive English skill testing and filtering before being assigned to projects. Moreover, each dedicated staffer devotes all his/her work time to the client assigned to him/her. That’s what we mean by DEDICATED EMPLOYEES. Our writers can assist with site content, blog entries, articles, and other online text, traffic generation, link list building, and research.

Is this your only site?

I am involved with a few other sites but Webmaster Labor takes most of my time. As my other projects mature I see myself spending more time on them.

Are you a full time web business person or do you have other income as well?

I am a full-time online entrepreneur.

There are many methods of promotion for website. What do you do and which do you think are the most effective?

Webmaster Labor gets clients primarily from word of mouth as satisfied clients spread the word to their friends. The last time I spent money on advertising is in 2004. We still do free promotions like posting tips on forums. Word of mouth is the best method of marketing. We try to boost our word of mouth referrals by taking good care of current clients.Where do you see yourself in a few years time?

I see Webmaster Labor branching out into other business models. Perhaps, it will morph into a holding company encompassing outsourced services, outsourced offline services, and media. We already have differing divisions along these lines.

If you could give two pieces of advice to aspiring or new webmasters/internet business owners, what would they be?

1. NEVER EVER GIVE UP. What infuriated me about Wily E Coyote in those Roadrunner cartoons is that he’d try a method then he’d give up after one try. Many webmasters are like Wily. They try a layout or promotions method and give up after they don’t get the results they wanted. Well, failure is there to push people to study what they are doing and apply principles that will produce success. Keep at it. Change a few things but keep pushing. Our tips on dealing with online business failure is located at http://webmasterlabor.com/articles/failure.html

2. EACH SATISFIED CLIENT OR HAPPY WEBSITE VISITOR IS THE BEST MARKETING YOU WILL EVER HAVE. Many webmasters all too often neglect their site visitors’ happiness or their clients’ satisfaction. This is wrong and short-sighted. I don’t care whether your user visited only 1 page or 20 or whether your client only bought a $20 service or a $2000 service. Each client visitor and client is EXTREMELY VALUABLE. It took a lot to get them to visit your site and order from you–the least you can do is satisfy their wants and needs. If you do, you will see loyal visitors or loyal clients.
If you keep up the good work, they will invariably start telling their friends. This is the most important form of advertising since by referring you, they are putting some of their reputation in line and friends will often drop their skepticism when being referred by a friend. So work hard on cultivating a loyal base that will promote you. If you’re a publisher, publish high quality materials. Ensure loyalty by not offending your readership with spam or spammy tactics. Maintain editorial quality. If you’re a service provider, offer quality services and listen to your customer closely.

If you would like to be interviewed, please just drop me an email an I’ll consider your proposal.