Posted in FreelanceLocalTech Chronicles at 10:52 pm by andy

Finally!

We finally changed the look to something brighter, more appealing, and — we hope — easier to use.  We tested it a bunch, but it’s possible we missed something, so please let us know if you find anything that doesn’t look or work right.  Drop us a note to the support e-mail address listed in the Support/Help page (the link is at the bottom of every site page).

We finally added England, Scotland, and Wales (Great Britain).  We will likely add Ireland next, which brings up the question as to whether we should group Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, even though Northern Ireland is still part of the UK.  We’re thinking that we’ll list it as the country of Ireland and break out the two areas as though they were different “states” or regions.

We also changed the Technical Writer category to also include writers who write documents and articles that are not necessarily of a technical nature.  So, Welcome Writers!

During November, in anticipation of rolling out our new look and adding Great Britain, we cut our marketing and advertising budget in half.  Our traffic only dropped by about 10% and our sign-ups by about 30%, so we think our organic (free!) traffic is starting to pick up enough that we can permanently cut back on our pay-per-click ads.  Our thought is that in December, the only pay-per-click ads we’ll run will be in Great Britain and we’ll look to purchase ad space in places where it’ll reach freelancers who haven’t heard about us yet. 

If you have any ideas about where we can hunt for more freelancers, please let us know.  Also, if you’re already signed up, tell a freelancing buddy about us!  And let us know if you get a client call based on your listing here.

Posted in Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, Marketing Your Freelance Consultancy at 10:00 pm by andy

I recently got laid off from my programming job, but the company hired me back as a contractor for 15 hours per week.  I love the freedom freelancing brings me, but 15 hours isn’t enough to live on.  I’ve tried eLance and GetAFreelancer, but haven’t won a job yet — even bidding $25/hour for my efforts, which is far below what I was making when I was employed.  What do I do?

How do you jump-start a new freelance business?

1. Forget bidding against the global market.  If you live in an emerging economy, the bidding sites are perfect, because the clients from mature economies are happy to pay you double what anyone local would be able to pay you.  But if you want to build your business and live in a mature economy, forget the bidding sites and focus on developing your business with clients closer to home.

2. Create a Web Site.  Even if your marketing strategy doesn’t involve using the Internet to drive sales, you need a web site to lend your freelance business instant credibility.  I’ve seen this in many other industries: when you cold-call a customer on the phone, the first question they have if they’re at all interested in what you’re saying is “Can I take a look at your web site?” Read more…

Posted in FreelanceLocalTech Chronicles at 5:38 am by andy

My apologies for neglecting the blog the past couple of weeks.  We’ve been working on upgrades and features changes for the site as well as our day jobs at CustomBytes, which has been busier than normal.

What upgrades and feature changes?  Glad you asked.

First of all, we’re redesigning the look of the site.  The dark colors and three column layout is not optimal for what we’re trying to accomplish.  We’ve settled on a lighter pallet with more pastel colors that should feel more fresh.  And we’re changing the layout to a two-column approach.  We want the look will feel more contemporary and less cluttered.  We hope we’re right.  We’re also going to adjust the blog’s template to match the site and provide a more consistent feel between the two areas of the site. Read more…