Elance For Freelance Writers
If You Are Spending more Time Working In Your Business Rather Than On Your Business You Definitely Need To Discover The Service That Transformed my Indoor Fountain Online Business
As a web publisher it is my goal to rank naturally for high traffic search terms related to the topic of my site. Through my experience on-line, I found there is one thing that is vital to becoming ranked within the top ranking sites within the most popular search engines. As a budding entrepreneur online I very quickly realized that I could simply not do everything I needed to do to make my online business thrive and grow. It was in a moment of frustration, feeling very overwhelmed at the amount of tasks before me, when a colleague recommended that I outsource the tasks and work that I was struggling with. It’s not like it never crossed my mind, but where do I start and who do I hire? In a simple reply he said, “Elance.”
The real struggle comes into play when I really feel unsure about what to write. Within some of the topics I have developed my sites around, I feel like I have written all I can and when I sit down to create unique content I just draw a blank. If you are a webmaster or a publisher of online content and can relate to my frustrations and experiences Elance is for you.
Elance is a company name that essentially is a play-on-words with the terms “Free Lance” and Ecommerce and business. Elance connects those that have marketable professional skills with those that are desperately looking for their services. Now this really caught my attention. All it took was a few minutes to set up a free account and I could post a job in their system and then people, literally from around the globe, would come in and bid on the project. If this is a new concept to you I hope you are getting excited because this transformed my business.
No longer are you restricted to your geographical location to hire professionals to offer you the services you need to help you move ahead with your business. As a buyer of services I have complete control and outlined very clearly what I was looking for: 20 articles, each article based on a particular key word. I outlined my specifications for the number of words in the article, identified which keywords were to be used with the keyword density rules that I was following. I outlined what the themes of each article should be as well as the source of the data I wanted the writer to use for their research. I posted my first job in their system and waited for the magic to start. Within hours I had bids from India, Canada, Australia and across the US wanting to write articles about interior water wall fountains for my website about indoor fountains and waterfalls.
I couldn’t believe it. The prices varied as did the experience of the writers, but I was the one in complete control to choose the writer that I felt would fit the job best. I could visit each writer’s online profile and read through the writing “resume” and evaluate their experience and credentials. Once the job was closed to bids I had the opportunity to filter through the bids, review their reviews within the Elance system and create a short list of potential authors. Some of the bids were very clear and precise and included samples of previous work, while others were lacking information that I felt was vital for me to know before I could award anyone the work.
Elance offers a fantastic communication feature that documents all contact between buyers and sellers. The system is a great way to keep all communications on file, recorded and visible to both parties. In the odd case that there may be a conflict between the 2 parties a moderator from Elance is available to read through the communications and help mediate both parties through the difficulty.
All payment is done through the Elance site as they take a percentage from the fee that the buyer owes to the service provider. Through my experience I have not paid more then 25% of the final bill up front before the project is begun and have found that for freelance writing work most will not require any upfront payment. Because both parties want to maintain a high rating from the other party it is uncommon for there to be many major disputes that arise regarding someone running off without delivering on the services rendered.
One strategy that is very effective to get some great content is to post a project with less articles then you may actually want, and then award the project to more then one author. By doing this you will receive several articles written based on the same key words, instructions and even research sources, but the final outcome is completely unique.
Another thing that I found very important was to be very clear on my expectations. In the beginning I made some assumptions that I shared the same definitions and guidelines of terms like SEO (search engine optimization). It became very clear that most of the projects that did not produce my desired results were because I was either unclear on what I really wanted or I made assumptions that we defined certain terms the same way. These miscommunications have been remedied by being explicitly clear. I have created an outline of my expectation from writers and I attach this list of expectations on all projects that may attract service providers that are not familiar with me.
As a buyer of Elance services I can also invite service providers to bid on a particular project. Through my experience I have seen great advantages to staying connected with writers which I have been very pleased with their work. I am a strong believer in developing relationships in business and I made an effort to develop long lasting business relationships with writers. There are at least 3 things that happen as I rehire the same writer again and again. We both get a deeper understanding of each other and we can create better content because we both feel a higher level of commitment to each other. I have also found that I become a high priority to a writer that knows I have work that I need to get done. If I am pleased with a writer and we seem to connect and they understand what I’m looking for, why start all over again just to potentially save a couple of dollars. Business is all about relationships and even though that can be forgotten when business is done online, there are real people sitting behind those computers.
I trust that this has helped breathe a breath of fresh air into your weary body. If you are anything like me and get caught spending more time working in your business rather then on your business and get caught in the drain of writing one more article, take heart, there are solutions. If you just love to write and are not sure what you could write about next, you may be just the person I’m looking for. Regardless of what side of the coin you may find yourself on, do yourself a favor and pay Elance a visit. Chances are you’ll be very glad you did.
About the Author: Garth Epp is an online entrepreneur who has been fascinated by the allure and mystery of moving water and also the inner workings of business online. He has combined both loves by creating Premium Indoor Fountains.com, an information based website introducing visitors to the wonder of indoor fountains. If you would like to view content that was created by an Elance service provider on the topic of indoor table top fountains please click on the link.