Tag Archive for 'Online Services Marketplace'

Freelancers Have More Choice of Making Money Online

Published
by
LimeExchange
on July 23, 2009
in Freelance, LimeExchange and Service Providers
. 6 Comments

Everyone thinks of how to earn more money. And if you can do that sitting in the comfort of your home, online… what else can you ask for? The World Wide Web offers several ways to make extra money online, here are a few online earning options:make money2

Offer your services

If you have a specialized skillset which is still unexplored, you can encash it by working on freelance projects. With emergence of online services marketplaces like ours, you can easily find freelance projects from small and large companies around the globe and earn more money. You can get paid for your professional capabilities in varied categories ranging from Writing & Translation, Graphics Design, Software Programming to Audio/Video, Multimedia, Services etc.

Join referral programs

If you like building networks, then this can be a good option for you. You can be affiliate of a company and refer its product or services to your friends, relatives, colleagues, business associates, clients etc. You earn money for each referral you bring in. We offer 0.1 USD for every referral you get and more money on each activity your referral performs on the platform. For instance $5 for every featured project posted by your referral on our platform. Learn more

Capitalize on your blog or website

If you own a blog or a website you can monetize it. Write product reviews, earn through affiliate marketing, or from banner advertising. But the prerequisites for earning through the above mentioned channels are rich content and good traffic. It is recommended to add valuable content to your site and keep it fresh. Check out our banners and widgets that you can use on your blogs & website and earn by promoting us.
make money

Take online contests and surveys

If you have a little extra time after work then you can easily make extra money taking surveys and participating in online contests. There are many websites that run online surveys or contest. It helps companies to get real time feedbacks from prospects & end users of their products/services and you a chance to win attractive prizes or earn cash rewards. Stay tuned as we are soon coming up with a survey for Freelancers.

Try out these above mentioned ways to add some more cash to your wallet. Please provide us with your feedback, suggestions and views on the same.

How do I execute the project on an online services marketplace?

Published
by
LimeExchange
on June 1, 2009
in Freelance, Freelancing and Service Providers
. 0 Comments

Freelancing has emerged as a ray of hope for millions of people around the globe in the current financial storm marked by government bailouts, bankruptcies, social unrest, recession, depression etc.

Online services marketplaces have provided individual freelancers, SMBs & SMEs with concrete platforms to leverage outsourcing and incur huge dividends even in the current economic disquiet.freelance

We are glad to share with you that hundreds of projects have been successfully done on LimeExchange in a period of less than a year since its global launch. This has encouraged us to bring to you the project management tips that will help you successfully execute the projects on an online services marketplace.

The project management tips can be placed under 3 distinct phases of project execution:

Getting started

1. Bid on the project

Before you bid on any project, make sure that your profile is complete and convincing enough for the buyer to consider your bid for his project. However, the bid that you place must be biddingcompetitive and reasonable based on proper estimation of manpower/skill requirements and hours required to complete the job.

It is recommended that you include covering notes with the bid stating your past work experience and other details that would justify why buyer should shortlist your bid.

2. Create a Project Contract

To increase transparency, mutual trust, and sustained monitoring of the project at every stage, it is recommended that you set the scope of the project, milestones and corresponding payments and discuss them with the buyers through a Project Contract draft.

Clearly specified deliverables and terms & conditions of the project will give right direction to your project management approach and help you to complete the project on time, without compromising on the indispensable element of quality. Once agreed mutually on these, you are all set to move forward.

3. Initiate a Kickoff Checklist

Kickoff Checklist contains questions on project related pre-requisites. This is most often requested by a buyer, after awarding you with the project. It is particularly important in case of large projects where stakes are high. Prepare a Kickoff Cchecklisthecklist and send it to the buyer stating that you have enough information about the project to get started. Such pre-planning of the project will enable you to deliver top-grade results.

4. Split the project into smaller parts

You can make the task of project execution easier by breaking the project into small manageable parts to ensure that you have not missed out on anything important. The milestones set for each stage of project would serve as signals to you indicating the ‘distance traveled’ and the ‘remaining distance to be covered’. This will pave way for better project management and execution.

During the course of the project

1. Prepare a list of to-do items for timely results

Brainstorm considerably and come up with a well-formulated strategy of handling the project execution in the best possible manner. If you are dealing with a bulk project, you must prepare a list of important tasks to be attended. Prioritize the deliverables as this will help you to beat the time lines set for the project. Timely project delivery will win you great respect as a trusted freelancer.

2. Communicate and Collaborate effectively

In freelance business, communication is the key to success. Professional communication will enable you to build a trustworthy and warm relationship with your buyer, which will make project execution easier. collaborate

On LimeExchange, you can easily stay in touch with your buyers through project collaboration tools such as Project Message Board (PMB) and Instant Messaging (IM). With these collaboration tools, you can discuss requirements, send status report, share files and seek feedback by asking the buyer to review.

The more you communicate with buyer, the better your project execution will be. As a result, excellent deliverables will ensure you repeat business and long-term business relationships with the buyer.

3. Attend to buyer’s queries and keep him updated with project status

The immediate and fast response to buyer’s queries and requests will help you to successfully execute the project. Answer all his private messages and work out the time zone difference so that you can be online simultaneously and resolve project queries, in case if there are any.

Also, an effective project management tool on LimeExchange such as Issue Tracker helps in monitoring tasks, logging issues and defects which can be tracked to closure. A buyer as well as a service provider can create an issue/task.

Keep your buyer updated about the project progress so that your buyer is convinced about the right choice he made by hiring you for his project.

After the successful completion of the project

1. Keep in touch with the buyer

In order to succeed in freelance business, you need to stay in touch with the buyer to develop long-term business relationship with him as this follow-up may materialize into some monetary gains in the form of projects in the future. You can keep connected to him through various social networking tools available in the market such as LinkedIn, Twitter etc.

This step is often overlooked by freelancers. However, it’s essential as the feedback given by the buyer for the services rendered by you can earn you lots of new business and profits thereby.

We hope that the above mentioned project management tips will certainly help you successfully execute the project and beat the time frames set for the same.

With this project management strategy, get started now!

How to find clients in the ongoing financial crisis?

Published
by
LimeExchange
on May 20, 2009
in Business, Freelance, SMB, Service Providers and outsourcing
. 5 Comments

“Successful job seekers know that even in tough economic times, there are opportunities. You just have to dig a bit deeper.”
– Roberta Chinsky Matuson, President of Northampton, Massachusetts based Human Resource Solutions.

The current financial storm has adversely affected the economies of almost all the countries across the world. Freelancing has emerged as a good option for many, who wish to play smart in current financial crisis.

The biggest challenge that you may face in freelancing is to find new clients at this hour. As this financial disquiet will take some more time to subside, you must have a well-devised strategy for attracting new clients and orders.

We have listed here some tips that can help you find clients even in today’s economic scenario:

Use social networking tools for marketing

How you choose to market yourself will directly impact how long it will take to find a new job.” — J.T. O’Donnell, a nationally syndicated workplace columnist.

In the existent recession, marketing has to be focused and cost effective. Web gives you adequate social networking tools to market your skill set effectively. social networking You can make a good professional profile on leading social networking websites like LinkedIn, Twitter etc, and collaborate with clients from all parts of the world. This might bring you in contact with a potential client, who may be in look out for a dedicated and competent freelancer like you.

Also, you can register yourself and create an effective portfolio on any online services marketplace like ours. You can get real-time access to projects matching your skill set and get started with making great profits.

Use Word-of-Mouth business strategy

“Customers set up a hierarchy of values, wants, and needs based on empirical data, opinions, word-of-mouth references, and previous experiences with products and services. They use that information to make purchasing decisions.” — Regis McKenna, a well-known marketing guru & Chairman of the Board of the Santa Clara University Center for Science, Technology and Society.

Clients value the feedback that freelancers receive for the quality-backed services they render. Ask the clients, who you have worked with, to post their testimonials and feedback for your work on different forums so that you gain word-of-mouth publicity (a powerful public relations weapon) and gain access to new clients and orders.

The feedback given by the clients that you have already worked with would serve as an index for gaining access to new business opportunities as the work done by you will be recognized by the employers themselves.

Add credibility of your portfolio

If you wish to attract new clients towards your portfolio, you must concentrate on adding credibility to your profile by supporting it with complete description of your skill sets. We would also advise you to prove your credentials to the business community. The best way you can do it is by taking Online Skill Tests and getting a certified seal on your profile.

This strategy can help you reposition yourself in the highly competitive job environment of current times. Further, you can also strengthen your portfolio by getting your credentials verified by an authenticated investigation agency (like Justifacts on LimeExchange). This will serve as a hallmark of trust on your profile and bring you in the front of the queue of bidders.

Stretch your professional limits and competences

Companies have resorted to cost cutting and are on a serious look out for freelancers with multidimensional creative and technical abilities. Pushing your limits can really act as effective ‘gap fillers’ and improve your portfolio. If you’re a freelancer, you need to have more flexibility as compared to full-time employees. Look out for roles that you can play outside your work preferences. money online

“New skills can come from a small part of your job that you most enjoy doing.” – Diane Morgan, Director of Career Services at London Business School.

For example if you are a content writer, you can opt for less-specialized role such as that of a proofreader or an editor. This way you can price your less-specialized role too which you can’t do as a full-time employee as it would fall into your kitty as a part of your overall service.

You may take some time to stretch your professional limits. However, this is not impossible and you should always attempt to learn something new every day to broaden your comfort zone.

Keep in touch with your clients

Always make an effort to remain at the forefront in the minds of clients you’ve worked with so that in future if there comes up an opportunity, it’s your name that certainly comes in the frame instantly. You can stay in touch with your clients and contacts through different means such as emails, calls, social networking tools etc.

business networking You can even post a blog on any theme and send it to your former and future business associates. This can be an effective way to reach out to your clients and keep them interested in your portfolio. You can impress your future clients by sending them updates and latest industry events pertaining to their business domain.

You can further attract your clients by giving them some value-added suggestions regarding their products & services and also recommending them some new features integrating which their business can flourish.

We hope that the above-mentioned practices will help you strengthen your profile as a freelancer and fetch you lucrative projects even in such rough times.

How to best use LimeExchange: SMBs, SMEs get more business!

Published
by
LimeExchange
on March 26, 2009
in Business, Knowledge Networking, LimeExchange, SMB, Service Providers, Skill test, Small and Medium Business, Technology and outsourcing
. 1 Comment

As we discussed in our previous blog about how Individual freelancers can ‘Best use LimeExchange’ to get more work opportunities by completing their profiles similarly, small medium businesses (SMBs) & enterprises (SMEs) can also reap the benefits by providing detailed profile at LimeExchange.

Profile Completeness, is a must for all service providers to acquire more freelance jobs and to become an established workforce at LimeExchange. After creating an account on LimeExchange, make sure that you have filled up all the required fields as given below:

1.General Information- Provide correct details such as Company Name, complete address, the country /countries your offices are located in and the contact details. By giving accurate details, you increase your chances of attracting more buyers from your own preferred location of work. Do not forget to mention that you are a SMB or SME. SMB1

  • Profile type- If you are a SMB or SME, select for business type. Fill in all the necessary details for e.g. in which year your organization was founded and the current number of employees working in your organization. Be upfront in giving all the information as this will help you build credibility among the buyers and other communities at LimeExchange.
  • Overview- Provide short, precise and complete details about your company, this will help buyer know you better. You can also give URL of your company’s website and also have SEO keywords listed to derive benefit of the traffic and your profile to highlight your company.
  • Educational background- Provide details on academic qualification (school/ University) of your top executive management as this will enhance company’s credibility in this cut-throat freelance market.
  • Skill set – Add your employees’ expertise, services and strengths. This will help you acquire best projects at LimeExchange, To see some examples, check out some profiles on LimeExchange who have already got hold of many good projects owing to variety of skill sets of its employees.
  • Work experience- Here you can mention the work experience of your top- level management and experts, their clients and the number of years they have spent in a particular business domain.
  • Upload / link your certifications, the issuing “Institute” and the year in which it was attended/ awarded to your outstanding employee or a top-level executive. Sometimes a good certification can bring an impressive project in hand.

2. Company info- It includes all important information regarding your company, its infrastructure, about your employee strength, number of offices and its branches. If you have dedicated QA labs, mobile testing labs or other specialized services, clearly mention in infrastructure section as this will prompt buyers looking for such service stations outside their country to land up on your profile and award you the projects.

3. Portfolio – Create an effective portfolio to get maximum projects to work on LimeExchange. If you have designers/ software developers or any other professional in your organization, you can provide links of your past successful assignments or upload any non-executable file up to 10 MB. The file may contain an image, audio or video. Also, upload writing samples of writers/ bloggers with their portfolios and get awarded with more projects.

3. Connections- connect with your old trusted network with which you have worked in the past, build Company’s network to obtain better projects.

4. Limestand- If you are a company which provides graphic design category professionals, upload their work samples for e.g. Design, Illustration, Print Design, 3D Modeling/CAD, Blog Theme Design, etc. design logos, banners and creative using our Limestand feature. The community votes for the best and enhance your chances of getting great work opportunities at LimeExchange.

We encourage, all our providers to work actively on completing their profile to get more number of project(s). And continue reading our blogs as there is lot more to come in our next blog on “How to best use LimeExchange- Notifications”