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Freelancing can be a great way for developers to earn a full-time income or just earn some extra pocket money to supplement their jobs. There are a number of established websites where everyday, people offer opportunities for the right candidate.

My experience as one of those people looking for the right candidate often meets with frustration as bidders fail to impress upon me that they’re the right person for the job.

Here are some of the things that turn me off a potential bid:

• The bidder offers a generic response to the project e.g. “Can do this!” or “We’re ready to start this” or “We are XYZ. We’ve done this, that and the other”. What are you ready to start? Don’t try to over-impress me with your past accomplishments; tell me what you can do for me and my project.
• The bid is at the top-end of the scale without any justification as to why. It’s difficult to choose such a bid especially if it’s made by a freelancer with no previous feedback. I want someone who knows how to get the job done. Engaging someone with a lack of experience just adds to the amout of work I have to do.
• Placing a bid, but then failing to respond to follow-up questions. Why show interest and then ignore me?
• The bidding period isn’t over, but the freelancer will continue to hound me to pick them. I have all I need from you for now. Give me time to make my decision.

Here are some of the things that sway me in the direction of choosing a particular bid:

• The freelancer has a history of good feedback on similar projects. This shows me that they’ve experience in the field that I’m interested in and have demonstrated they can work with project managers.
• The freelancer demonstrates that they’ve taken the time to understand the project requirements and offer some suggestions for improvements or points out things to watch out for. This is going the extra mile to show that you’re really interested in my project.
• A demonstration is provided before the end of the bidding period. If a freelancer can show that they’ve got what I want then it makes it very easy for me to pick them as the winning bidder.

It’s hard to escape from the relationship factor when it comes to business. Establishing a good working, business relationship can be very similar to any other relationship.

Frankly, if freelancers treated the bidding process more as a date then they’d probably be a lot more successful at winning the projects they wanted.

Technorati Tags: Freelance, Scriptlance, Elance, Rentacoder

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Perhaps the market has gotten used to seeing sales information presented in such a linear fashion. When a story is being told, as these types of product sales websites often do, it seems logical to try and keep the reader focussed on the narrative and not be distracted by something which might detract from making the sale.

When the product is a software application aimed at web developers, does this type of long sales letter approach still work?

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By now, the world and his dog are aware of Google acquiring FeedBurner and offering their previously paid services for free.

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