When attending an auction, there are many hours spent waiting for your item to come up for bid or standing in line either signing up for the auction or paying for your newly won item. There is also travel time to consider. Do you have to travel out of town to go bid on what you want or sit in traffic for an hour or two?
More and more auction houses today are aware of how important it is to have an online presence and appreciate that their bidders have busy schedules. They do this by offering their catalogs online so that bidders judi online can participate in their auctions just as if they were at the auction in person. This eliminates so much wasted time waiting around.
By adding pictures and complete descriptions to each item they have up for auction, you are able to preview each item without having to stand in line. You are able to bid on the items you are interested as if you were there live in person, bidding against other people interested in the same item. No more standing in line waiting to pay for your item either. Quite often auction houses will provide you safe and secure ways for you to pay for your item online or over the phone, which eliminates the worry with identity theft.
Employment for freelancers and contractors has grown steadily over the last few years as the global contracting market is now open to all via the internet. No matter what your field of employment and the corresponding contracting sector, there will be work available online via one of the many freelance work sites. There are hundreds of sites dedicated to contracting work but the top sites and those with the most established reputations are Elance, Virtual Assistants, Guru. com, Odesk and Sologig. All of these have a huge variety of jobs across most industries. As an example, Elance covers ‘Writing & Translation’, ‘Web & Programming’, ‘Design & Multimedia’, ‘Sales & Marketing’, ‘Admin Support, ‘Legal’, ‘Engineering & Mfg’, and ‘Finance & Mgt’.
For most freelancers new to these sites however the important question is how to get noticed. Unfortunately, just as the number of available online jobs is on the increase every day, so too is the number of people competing for those jobs. There are now contractors in every field and no matter how good you might be at your job, if you are to make money contracting online you need to make your bid stand out when submitting proposals.
Firstly, you need to make sure your profile is immaculately presented, well written and includes a portfolio of your very best work. This portfolio should cover the areas that you specialize in, as well as broader areas you have covered. It should include qualifications and industry accreditations as well as a mission statement about how you work. Finally, it should include a link to both your own website and references. It cannot be underestimated just how important this profile is. This is your business card, cv and portfolio all rolled into one and it is on the strength of this profile that most people will make a decision.
Secondly, the next most important thing to your profile is your reputation on the site. This is built on the feedback you get from each job. Again, how much work you get on these sites depends on the reviews people read, so you are only as good as your last few jobs. For this reason, you can never, ever let your standards slip on these sites as you cannot escape one dodgy review. Make sure, particularly when starting out and trying to get feedback, that your work goes above and beyond the call of duty. Also remember that when you are starting out you will have no feedback and the first person to hire you will be taking you on trust. For this reason it might be worth bidding low on your first few jobs, just so you can get work and start to build a reputation.
Thirdly, learn to only bid on jobs you can do, and have a good chance of winning. There are a number of reasons for this but the main one is not wasting your bids (often you pay the site for a certain amount of bid ‘credits’). Similarly, it does not look good if your profile shows you have bid on loads of jobs, across a number of fields and hardly won any.
Next, remember that when bidding you should always have a game plan or tactic that suits your style and works for you. Once you have established your tactics, stick to them. Some people, for example, like to be the first to bid, once they have found a project that they are interested in. This method suots people that have a price in their heads they will work for and who will not negotiate that price. The advantage is that your bid will be at the top, will get the most attention and of course, will be the first bid the buyer reads. With most sites the buyer can end the bidding at any point so it is important to get in early. On the other hand, some people prefer to wait until later on in the bidding. There are many buyers who are looking for a combination of good proposal and good price. The advantage of waiting is that you can put in a more competitive bid once you have seen how everyone else has bid and pitch somewhere between the highest and lowest bids. Whichever system you favor is up to you.
Finally, make sure that the proposal you submit is more appealing and more professional than your competitors. Do not use a standard form that gives the impression you have not read the job details. Make sure your proposal shows a clear understanding of the specifics of the job and give details of work you have done in the same field, pointing to examples in your portfolio and possible referees. Highlight how you will go about the job, a timeline for each step of the job and a firm deadline for completion