0 Tips for Posting Projects for New Employers on Freelancer

Freelancer.com gives service buyers access to freelancers from around the world for virtually any type of project. If you’re new to using our services, you may find the task of posting a project a little intimidating. We’d like to provide you with a few pointers on posting a project that will draw the attention of the right bidders and make the process of hiring your next contractor a pleasant and rewarding experience for you both!

1. Start by knowing what you need. While a good service provider may be able to fill in some gaps on a project description, your best bet in getting quality bids is to know what you’re looking for. If you aren’t sure exactly what to ask for, do a little research before you post.

2. Create a descriptive project name. A freelancer should be able to tell at a glance what you’re looking for. For instance, a project named “E-Book” may grab the attention of graphic artists, writers, web developers and others. A name like, “Write an E-Book about Snakes”, however is likely to bring bids mostly from writers and in particular writers with some knowledge of snakes or resources for the knowledge.

3. Provide a detailed description. Your description should answer as many potential questions as possible. Think about what will be required of the provider you hire and be as clear as possible. Details that are often overlooked are (note that this is not a complete list):

a. Special software skills required

b. Length of writing projects (word counts, etc.)

c. Language requirements (English, German, French, etc.)

d. Platform (Unix, Windows, Mac, etc.)

e. Programming language(s)

f. Rights you are purchasing (full copyright, internet rights, etc.)

g. Payment terms (up-front, milestones, etc.)

h. Payment methods (PayPal, escrow, etc.)

4. Select the Job Type carefully. Use all 5 of your available selections if possible. Many freelancers search the projects strictly by job type.

5. Consider your budget selection carefully. Too low a budget may eliminate some of the better candidates for your project. Setting the budget too high may leave the door open for some price gouging, but this is usually fairly easy to spot. No matter what, though, don’t set a budget higher than you’re willing to pay, just to attract more experienced freelancers. Freelance professionals will usually bid according to strict criteria and most won’t want to waste time with price haggling. Be straightforward about what you are willing to pay and allow the providers to do the same with what they will accept.

6. If you have examples of what you need, upload them. Note: don’t borrow content from websites, articles, programming code, or other sources as your examples, unless you own the rights to the source. Doing so may constitute copyright infringement!

7. Allow enough time for bidding. If your project isn't urgent, don’t make service providers rush to bid. Remember that the top professionals are usually the busiest, so you may eliminate some of the top contenders by setting the bidding time too short.

8. Select the right options. The Featured option will almost always be to your advantage if you can afford it. Nonpublic and Full Time options may be useful, but read the description of these options before selecting them.

Freelancer.com takes pride in matching employers to the best professional freelancers. We sincerely hope that these tips will help you find the best service providers for your projects!

Sources:- http://www.freelancer.com/news

0 Tactics of winning project free bidding website

1. Choose your projects wisely.
   Bid specifically for projects which you know you can deliver on, that play to your strengths and that interest you. Avoid personal projects like the plague – these are often the lowest paying jobs and the project owner is less likely to take the project timelines and budget as seriously as somebody who is doing it for commercial purposes.
2. Use a personal touch.
   Don’t use a template reply for every single project you bid on; tailor your response to the actual project spec and address the project owner by name if it’s on the bid. You should also ensure that your bid response addresses all the questions that are specifically asked.
3. Don’t bid the lowest bid for the sake of winning the project.
   Not only is this selling yourself and everyone else short as well as de-valuing the skills in your industry, but if you win you’ll end up having to do the job for that price. And what’s worst is you’ll usually end up resenting it. Set a price for the project that you are happy with and stick to it – no compromises.
4. Have relevant pieces in your portfolio.
   It’s important that if a project requires a certain style or specific skills for the job, that your portfolio or the pieces you bid with reflect this. If you plan to use the job bidding site a lot, then it is definitely worth taking the time to upload your best work to the internal portfolio within the site as well as having a good portfolio website that showcases your skills to send interested project owners to.
5. Be prepared to demonstrate your suitability and expertise.
   Whilst I’m not advocating doing work on-spec or for free (see next point), there are times when you might want to consider doing some brief sketches or provide a tailored pitch, to demonstrate that you can provide the specific skills the project calls for. If you have any suspicions at all about the integrity of the request however, politely decline and move on!
6. Don’t do on-spec work
   Don’t apply for projects which ask you to submit your actual designs or ideas so that they can then select the best one to win – this not only devalues the industry you work in, it encourages more people to use this tactic on the site. A useful resource for more info on this and one which you might like to refer people who use this tactic in their project spec to, is No-Spec.
7. Show professionalism at all stages in the process.
   As some FreelanceSwitch commenters noted, jobs you find through these sites can sometimes turn into long term clients. Always demonstrate that you are a professional in your industry. Treat any project you win, as you would a typical job and show no less professionalism than you usually would.
8. Above all, be honest, realistic and authentic.
   Don’t over-commit to deliver a job with a deadline you know you can’t make; don’t promise things you can’t deliver and don’t bid for jobs for which your skills aren’t suitable. Always show honesty, integrity and authenticity in your interactions on these sites – whether you win a job or not, the site is still a shop window that displays what you do…behave well, even if you think no-one’s looking!

Sources:- http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/how-to-win-jobs-on-freelance-job-bidding-sites/

2 freelancer orientation exam answers

1.  Where Can I Find a list of projects i’m Currently working on? 
Answer: On the freelancer View of my Dashboard

2. How Much Does it Cost To Register as a Freelancer On Freelancer.com
Answer:  There is No Cost To Register

3. How can a freelancer increase his/her chances of winning bids?
Answer: All of these

4.  How can A Freelancer stay up to date on new projects
Answer: BY any of these Methods

5. Multiple Freelancer.com accounts are required in order to both bid on jobs as a freelancer and hire freelancer as an employer
Answer: False




6. What is the Mountly Bid limit for a Premium member?
Answer: 500 Bids Limit

7 How can a Freelancer Increase his/her Chances of Winning bids?
Answer: All Of These

8. Which of the following is the Correct way for a freelancer to use the project Clarification Board?
Answer: To Ask Questions about a project after Bidding

9.How can A freelancer Avoid being Cheated on a project
Answer: All of these

10. Where can a Freelancer see how many bid He/she has Left?
Answer: in the Welcome Section of the Dashboard




11. What Would percipient a freelancer from bidding on a project?
Answer: Any of these

12. How can a freelancer contact an employer before being selected for a project?
Answer: Send a private message to the employer’s inbox

13. How much does it cost to bid on a project?
Answer: It Depends on the project budget

14. What advantages does standard membership offer a freelancer?
Answer: All of these are correct.

15. Which of the Following methods is Recommended for a freelancer to draw extra Attention to his/her Bid on a project?
Answer : Choose the Highlight my bid option.




16. Can a freelancer bid on a project that’s posted as private?
Answer: Yes,but there is a $3.00 fee to bid


17. What the Mountly bid limit for a basic member?
Answer: 50

18. How many job types can a premium member have selected the qualification section of his/her profile?
Answer: 100

19. What Should a freelancer do if he/she suspects an employer of fraud after bidding a project
Answer: Report the activity to freelancer.com Support

20. What Would prevent a freelancer from bidding on a project?
Answer: Any of these



21. Besides doing employer projects, how else can a freelancer make money on freelancer.com?
Answer: Any of these

22. I have Submitted feedback for an employer.But it doesn’t show on the employer’s profile ,why not?
Answer: The employer doesn’t allow feedback

23. What advantage does the Milestone Payment system Offer freelancers over other payment method?
Answer:All of these are correct

0 Top 10 Tips for Writing an Effective Bid for Freelancers

With thousands of freelancers competing for jobs and perhaps a hundred or more bidding on the same job, how do you make your bid stand out from the rest? The fact is each employer is as different as each freelancer, so there really isn’t a “magic formula” that works for every bid. There are, however some important steps you can take to increase the chances that a prospective employer will consider your bid seriously. Here are ten simple tips for writing an effective bid:

1. Read the project description carefully. After all, if the employer doesn’t feel you understand the project, you’re not likely to win the bidding. Besides, many employers will ask for specific details that you need to be aware of. In fact, employers often include a phrase that must be included in your bid in order to have it considered. The bottom line is, you should always take the time to go through the description thoroughly.

2. If you have questions, use the Project Clarification Board before you bid. Winning a project without knowing exactly what you’re getting into isn’t a good situation for you or the service buyer.

3. Keep your bid clear, concise and to the point. Remember that the employer may have dozens or even hundreds of bids to consider. It’s very likely that every word of every bid isn’t going to be read. Bids with unnecessarily long descriptions may be skipped over completely. Don’t invite the employer to ignore your bid by making it too wordy.

4. State your terms clearly. Using the project description as a guide, be as precise as possible in stating exactly what you’ll provide, how much it will cost, and how long it will take to deliver. Being vague about your terms implies a lack of confidence. If you’re not confident in yourself, the employer won’t be, either. As we’ve already mentioned, use the Project Clarification Board to ask the employer questions if you need more details.

5. Follow up with a private message. After you place your bid, use the private message board to provide more information. This is the appropriate place to add those less important details you avoided in your bid. After all, if your bid generated enough interest to get the employer this far, you’re halfway there. Now those details may make the difference.

6. It’s always a good idea to upload samples with your private message or provide links to online examples. Be sure, however, that your examples are appropriate for the job and represent your best work. Quality, not quantity is usually the rule of thumb when submitting samples.

7. A word of caution: Unless you’re prepared to give your work away, any samples you provide should bear a watermark or other means of identification or at the very least your name and a statement of copyright.

8. Be competitive with your pricing. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean you need to be the lowest bidder. Bidding in a world-wide marketplace makes for tough competition, but if your work is truly above average, you may find that employers are willing to pay above average prices. On the other hand, if you’re relatively new to freelancing, you may need to establish a reputation first. A little common sense will go a long way here.

9. Don’t oversell yourself. A little self-confidence is a good thing, but over-the-top claims probably won’t impress anyone. Being frank and honest about your skills will get you much farther than a lot of hype.

10. Last, but certainly not least, proofread your bid before you submit it. Is it written clearly? Are there misspellings? No matter what kind of project you’re bidding on, a poorly written proposal suggests a lack of interest and poor work habits. Neither of those is going to work in your favor.

Finally, gaining positive feedback is one way to build your reputation quickly. Most employers will be happy to provide good feedback for a service provider after a successful project, but it’s important to remember that you must be paid through Freelancer.com in order to receive feedback.

Our aim at Freelancer.com is to encourage new freelance contractors and help them to build successful businesses.

Good luck and happy freelancing!