oDesk indicates your reputation in a few ways.  Everyone should know how the feedback system works, and if you don’t just drop me a line or put in a comment and I’ll be happy to expand on it here.  The other aspect of your reputation is how well you rank when buyers do a search.

The basic system works pretty well, it sorts by whatever criteria you specify, and uses the number of oDesk as a weighting factor.  So if you are searching for providers with a perfect feedback rating, you’ll see all the 5.00 rated providers with the one with the most hours listed first.

I like that as someone with a very large amount of hours has demonstrated their reliability.

If you need to you can also filter providers by anything from pay rates to hours worked or even whether they’re affiliated with a provider company.   In all cases your results will show up based on your primary search criteria weighted by oDesk hours.

It’s a good system, but it does have flaws:

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.

I recently raised my rates and so I wanted to see where I was sitting among the writers working on oDesk.   I think I’m one of the better writers in the system and wanted to make sure my rates were in the same range as my peers.  So I went to the provider search, set my filters to exclude anyone with zero hours and did a search for writers based on hourly rate, highest first.

The first four pages were all programmers.

That’s right, none of the top forty providers that come up when you do a search for writers by pay rate are actually writers.

If you search by feedback it appears to get a little better, the fourth ranked candidate has writer listed in their job description.  However, this person is primarily a programmer and has not taken any writing tests or done any writing work on oDesk.  Going over their feedback you can see that the person is a very good communicator with excellent English skills, however that does not matter if someone is looking for a candidate for a writing job since this person doesn’t do those kind of jobs.

It’s not until number eight that we see anyone who has actually done writing work, and even then it’s only a fraction of their work history, which is mostly administrative support.

The next two entries in my search are people who are primarily working jobs from oDesk’s writing category.  One’s primarily a transcriptionist and the other’s doing editing work.  At least they’re on the first page.

The sad thing is that this is the best result I’ve ever seen for writers when searching the writing category.

If you search by portfolio items there is only one writer who comes up on the first page, and that’s only because the person in question spent an entire afternoon doing nothing but add items to her portfolio.  That got her 78 items, and second place.  It also gives her the distinction of being the only one on the first page with any writing samples in her portfolio.

I don’t know what the other categories are like, but from my perspective, and that of many other writers this is a serious problem.  If a buyer is searching for a writer, they should be able to find them without wading through dozens of providers in other categories.

The problem is that complaining alone doesn’t do any good, we need to find a way to fix the problem.

I think part of the problem may lie in the fact that many providers may list multiple job categories on their profile and primarily only work in one of them.   One possibility could be to get providers to list one category as their primary, and others as secondary and then provide the ability to filter providers by primary or all categories.

That way if you filter by primary category only you should be able to get providers who focus in that field, whereas if you don’t filter at all you could get the present results.

It’s a tough question, but that’s the best idea I’ve been able to come up with.

It’s not really changing the basic algorithm, which appears to work fairly well, just allowing for better filtering for relevant providers.  Having said that I have no idea how hard this would be to implement, but I think it might go a long way toward resolving this issue.

Getting a handle on a new project quickly is important. Relevant questions help, and they accomplish two goals. They frame the job as clearly as possible and they show buyers that you are a focused professional.

If you don’t ask meaningful questions and get good answers, you and your client are left without concrete milestones and objectives. We are writers; we are communicators; soliciting key information from your buyer is the first chance you have to show off your skills.

There’s one other side to consider- the buyer’s perspective. They are as much in the dark about you as you are about them. When you ask good questions they can see you are taking the project seriously. This instills confidence. It’s happened to me more than once: I asked questions on the message board to narrow down a job’s scope and landed the job before placing a formal bid. The buyer could tell I was interested and focused on the problems and specific needs of his project.

Buyers appreciate that you need some essential information to bid accurately and unless they are experienced at posting jobs on oDesk, they’ve probably left something out of the description. Here’s the top five questions I need answers to before I start work:

Who am I writing for?

I don’t mean the buyer, I mean the reader. Who is going to be reading this and why? Are they already well versed in the subject or are they lay readers? What are their interests? This is what makes a press release a different animal altogether than an ‘About Us’ page. The same basic article would be unrecognizable when written for an editor who just needs the facts, a lay reader looking for engaging narrative, or a search engine picking out key words for ranking (yes, sometimes our readers are machines).

The more I know about who I am writing for, the better. Are they educated readers who won’t put up with hype or fluff? Are they less serious readers just looking for an entertaining piece? The questions vary depending on the project, but the information I want to extract is the same: I want to know who the expected audience is.

What is my writing supposed to accomplish?

Buyers should have a clear objective in mind for their project. Sometimes you have to remind them of this and get them to think it through. You want to know if your piece is meant to sell a product, inform naive readers, push an agenda, establish authority, connect on an emotional level… the list is long and the objectives often mixed. The clearer your buyer is on the purpose of the piece, the easier it will be for you to mold it to fit. And when the time comes to submit your work, the same standards will be in play. There won’t be any mystery about whether or not your piece has the right spin.

What are the firm deadlines?

Every buyer wants it today, or maybe tomorrow morning. If you pay attention though (and especially for integrated projects where your writing is only one brick in a large wall) you will notice that while you are sweating to meet some deadline, your material doesn’t appear for weeks or even months after submission. I’ve adopted a rule many subcontractors use: Good, Fast, Cheap- pick two. The idea is to allow for rush jobs, but charge for them.

You should have two things in mind when you are talking deadlines with a buyer. The first is your own private estimate of how long the project is actually going to take you. This is your, bottom-line-do-it-as-fast-as-possible date. Keep this private.

The second is your, ‘how much time I’d like to do it in with my other jobs and the level of stress I’m comfortable with and knowing life in general will intrude’. This second estimate is what you predicate your regular bid on. Anything quicker than this is a rush job. Add at least 10% to your bid for short-deadlined work.

What are the format restrictions?

The catch-all term ‘format’ refers to the final form your work will take. Here’s some examples from recent projects I’ve completed:

• MS Word. The most common way (along with Rich Text Format) we submit our written gems.

• PDF. If you don’t have the ability to produce .pdf files, you are going to be shut out (or at least ranked lower) when a buyer expects deliverables in this, or any other specific file type.

• Email. Yes, emails have their own style. You are limited in length, tone, and maybe fonts.

• Dialog. I did a script for an animated cartoon that limited sentence and word length, couldn’t have bold or italic script, and had to meet ‘run time’ parameters.

• Graphic. Pictures, graphs and other visual add-ons mean you have to address file size, pixel density, color and readability issues for different browsers. My graph looked great on my screen, but the labeled points were impossible to make out in the final version. Graphic arts is a field all by itself for a reason.

• Word count. There are situations where word count mismatches occur between what a buyer has in mind to cover in a piece and the amount of room necessary to do it justice. Generally, buyers think they are getting more for their money when word count goes up. But at about 450 words per average website page (when font and formatting is taken into account) they can overshoot if they ask for a thousand words where only 500 will fit.

How and when will I be paid?

I suppose it’s human nature to ignore uncomfortable subjects. And for some reason, money issues can fall into the category of ‘unpleasant’. I used to avoid talking money upfront with clients because it made me uneasy. That changed when a fundamental misunderstanding about pay rate ruined an otherwise ideal job.

Freelancing is a business. Buyers are usually in business too, and they understand that ‘how much’ and ‘how soon’ impacts your ability to continue doing business. By clarifying payment amounts and methods, you demonstrate to your buyer that you are a serious business person. Don’t think that you are insulting anyone by asking money questions. They will appreciate knowing where things stand as much as you do.

The right questions help you in other ways too.

Simply by asking and evaluating the answers to these 5 questions, you will get a better appreciation for what the actual job is (as opposed to what they posted). But there’s a hidden bonus. The interaction with your client will tip you off to what it is going to be like working with them. Quick, informative answers tell you as much about their business style as a history of completed jobs on oDesk. Difficulties in communication, whether because of personality conflicts or language barriers, will become evident before you’ve taken the plunge and started work.

So ask away. It’s only going to help smooth the road and mark you as a mature professional freelancer.

]]> http://odeskinsider.com/blog/5-key-questions-to-ask-buyers/feed/ 2 http://odeskinsider.com/blog/what-can-we-do/ http://odeskinsider.com/blog/what-can-we-do/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:44:33 +0000 Dave Robinson http://www.odeskinsider.com/blog/what-can-we-do/ We’ve been doing this for a while now, and I had a thought.

Sure this blog is a great place for us to express our ideas and discuss our individual takes on freelancing, but it’s really for you. As a writer, my first concern has to be the reader. As a freelancer my first concern has to be the person who’s paying me; but I’m talking as a writer at the moment.

Since you’re my first concern, there’s an important question I’ve got to ask:

What do you, the reader, want from this blog?

We’ve done a few different kinds of posts on here, and it would be helpful to see which ones you think are most helpful so we can focus on those kinds of entries.

If you’ve got a different idea please feel free to email me here at the blog and I’ll be happy to oblige.  Otherwise you can always leave a comment and I’ll get to it as quickly as I can.

There are a lot of things we can do to help each other, and one of the best ways to do it is by fostering a sense of community here at the blog.

We’re here to help you, and one of the best ways to do that is if we all get involved in helping each other.  That’s why your feedback and input is so important.

We’re just starting the writing process now, and I very much want to know what’s on your mind.

If you’re thinking about freelancing, what’s keeping you from taking the leap?

If you’re already freelancing, what are the things you wish you were better at, or the things you wish you’d known before you started?

Share your questions, comments, and experiences with me, and I will do my best to address them either in the book or on this blog.