Creating a Bid Request

When you post a bid, be as complete and thorough as possible.

Include these phrases:

"This is an easy job for the right person."

"Please post examples of your related previous work."

"I've posted a deadline of _____ days. If you feel that is too short, please post your timeframe with your bid."

If you're posting a writing bid, it's usually best to only hire native English speaking people. You can use the location targeting feature of the site to only show the bid to the right people. If the writing is longer than an article, it's best to send an outline or table of contents so they hit all the points you want.

Do not post a maximum bid. This encourages bids at your maximum.

Here's an example: I posted a bid request with no maximum bid. The resulting bids ranged from $2000 - $12000 with most of the reasonable ones coming in at $3000-$5000. I didn't choose a coder because I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue the project. A month later, I reposted the exact same bid request with a maximum of $5001. On that request, all of my bids except one were for $5001.

I usually set a 3 day window for my bids. If I don't have enough bids in that time, I'll extend it to 5 or 7 days. I always start with 3.

After Posting the Bid Request

After posting my bid request, I go to search for coders to invite to bid on the project. I start by searching for the most specific words I can think of relating to the project. For example: "actionscript 3" instead of "flash," "indesign" or "quark" instead of "graphic design," "SEO" and "CSS" instead of "web design," "USP" and "direct response" instead of "copywriter".

Then I'll invite anyone with related or generic skills for what I'm looking for.

I usually check the bid responses every hour or so for the first 6-8 hours, then only check it twice a day. Usually by the end of 3 days, I have enough bids to choose who I want to work with. I check the bid responses to see if any of the bidders have questions and answer them directly and in the actual bid request. If bidders are asking questions, that.s actually a good sign. It means they want to understand the project better to give an accurate bid and timeframe.

Choosing Winners

When choosing a writer/coder for your project, very rarely is the cheapest bidder going to do anything at all, let alone finish the project on time.

I usually end up going with bids in the "upper-middle" range of bids. The very high bids are usually people who are very proud of their work. The very low bids are people who usually don't know what they're doing.

When you start getting responses with bid amounts, try not to pay too much attention to the actual amount of the bid, but rather to the questions the writer/coder asks. These are far more important in helping you decide who to choose. In every single one of my projects, the best writers/coders have asked the most questions during the bid stage prior to placing their bid.

Many responses will come in with a "form letter" looking list of previous work that lists a ton of sites. I used to just throw these away since the person was too lazy to thoroughly read the bid request in the first place. Now I just reply with "Wow! That's a lot of work you've done! Which one of those best matches the project description in my bid request?"

Once you have it narrowed down to the top few, then look at each writer/coder's profile for their past work and feedback from other buyers. If they don't have much experience, that's not a good sign. If they have bad feedback from other buyers, that's not a good sign either. You can find some bargains if you find someone without experience who is up-and-coming, but I'm usually too impatient to gamble on them. You'll also want to look for relevant projects to what I'm asking for. I also look at what their average winning bid is. If someone does many projects for under $100, but they're bidding $2000 for mine, it might be the biggest project they've done, so I'm more cautious.

I usually end up going with 2 writers/coders if I'm unfamiliar with any of the existing writers/coders. This gives me twice the chance of one of them completing on time and doing a good job. If I'm in a rush, I'll choose 3 for small projects. I only choose 1 winner for large projects, and then only after I have a number of conversations with who I think I want to choose.

Deadlines

I usually set the deadline as tight as possible and offer to pay a bonus if the writer/coder completes before it. I try to guess how long it should take someone working on the project for 8 hours a day 7 days a week. Then I set the deadline in the request for about 10% less than that. Once I choose the writer/coder, I will usually extend the deadline to the next Monday. It makes it look like I'm doing them a favor to give them a final weekend to make sure everything works.

During the Writing/Coding Stage
Rentacoder allows me to require weekly status reports. I like those. In addition, I usually send a message each day for the first few days to keep the writer/coder on his toes. They're short, simple messages:

Right after the bid acceptance: "Hi. I'm excited about working with you on this project. If you have any questions, please let me know right away. I'll always respond through this system, but if you need me instantly you can reach me as myAIMScreenName on AOL messenger or my sending a VERY SHORT email to mytelnumber@mycellprovider.com and I'll check my messages right away. I usually check my email every 2 hours from 6am . 11pm GMT-4 (Eastern US) and also on the weekends."

Day 2: "Hi. I'm just checking in to see if you need any help or if I wasn.t clear anywhere in the bid request."

Day 3: "Hi. I was hoping to see how far you are and if you have anything for me to see yet"

Those usually are enough to train the writer/coder to be on track at the very beginning, and he will usually keep up good communication throughout the whole process.

Once The Work Is Complete

If I want to finish a project quickly, I state in my bid request that I will pay a bonus (usually a percentage) if it is finished by my deadline. If I haven't specifically said I will pay a bonus, I still usually do. The only time I won't is if the work wasn't completed correctly. I outsource many of the same skills, so if I have a few writers/coders I can depend on, it's worth a few extra bucks to not have to find new people.

Bonus Info

Why I use RentaCoder.com instead of elance/guru/etc

My initial reason for using them is they're based by my house in Tampa, FL. Their main office is about a 20 minute drive from my house. If something goes wrong, I can drive over there and yell and scream at them. I'm sure that won't solve my problem, but it sure would make me feel better.

Another reason I choose to stick with them is they act as an escrow agent and handle payment. Their fees are taken out of the writer/coder's end. If I accept a bid for $100, I only pay $100 to Rent a Coder, and they take their fee out of the coder's money, so he'll get $88 or so. I can pay with my credit card up front, and not worry about getting ripped off. They have a mediation and arbitration process that will give me my money back if the writer/coder doesn't deliver.

Getting a Logo Designed

I always go to worth1000.com for logo designs. They run a contest for about $250 to get a logo designed. The artists that use the site are very talented. It's called one of their "corporate contests." You agree to pay the winner $100-$200 for a new logo design and give them the background of your business and any other requirements you might have. I tend to leave it very open. Then 7-10 days later you get 40-60 different logo designs to choose from. So you've not just had 40-60 artists bid on your logo, they've actually created it and you can choose the best one (or even 2). The usual 80/20 rule applies where only 20% of the logos are good, but that's still usually 8-10 good choices.

Mark Ingles

articles@markingles.com

July 20, 2007

TODO:

Sample Bid Requests