3 easy steps to make your freelance project fail miserably.

I'm a freelancer. I primarily do web development focused on the the behind the scenes stuff you don't actually see. Stuff like database optimization, automated back ups, load balancing, search engine optimization etc. You know, all the techno babble garbage no one cares about as long as the web site looks cool.

Anyway, I am continually amazed by jobs I see posted on freelance job boards. One type I am seeing an increasing amount of is the "Build a website that earns $X a day".. and that's pretty much the entire job description. Most don't even care what the site is about. It just needs to earn money.

First, if I as a freelancer could make a few websites and become independently wealthy in a few months, I am not likely to be looking at freelance job boards. I'm much more likely to be out on my yacht working on my tan while my all female crew flitter about in cheerleader outfits and serve me a rum & coke whenever I snap my fingers. Hey! I can dream can't I ?

To say these expectations are unrealistic is a major understatement. The people bidding on these projects are just as misguided, or I suspect offering to do the job knowing full well they can not guarantee the site will make a cent in the future.

So, the first step on the path to failure is to have unrealistic expectations.

Often, the very next job posting I run across has a headline like "Simple web project.." and the project description is incredibly vague, something like "web site needs a few touch ups, quick work for someone that knows what they are doing." And that is it, and nearly without fail, the person creating the project will accept the lowest bid.

I actually feel sorry for whoever "wins" these projects. They have no idea what they have agreed to do. Maybe it's just a naive website owner, but more often its an unscrupulous web site owner looking to bilk free work from desperate freelancers.

So step 2, be vague with your unrealistic expectations and hire whoever has the lowest bid.

Finally step 3 is easy. Simply don't do any research at all. Don't research the technology and man hours involved to make your vaguely expressed unrealistic expectation a reality and don't research the person/company you've chosen to do the project. Don't consider what language they speak, what time zone they are in. Just don't think about any of that. Just hold up a wad of money and say "make me something really cool"

If you want to hire a freelancer, please don't fall into the more money than brains category.

Do some research of what it takes to complete the job and do some research on whomever you've chosen to do the job. With freelancing becoming a more common way to make a living these days, the old adage is as true as it ever was. Buyer beware!

PS
This article, 3 easy steps to make your freelance project fail miserably. and several other articles by me unrelated to freelancing are viewable here

Carving content that works

While I like to think of myself as an "under the hood kinda guy" when it comes to web development, I'm often tasked with creating web content in my freelancing antics. So I, being the caveman that I am, try to break the tasks down to the simplest terms, primarily, what is the purpose of this content, and how can I ensure it will fulfill that purpose ...

I've scribbled on my cave wall the following mantra...

• I will write for people, not search engines.
• I will be conscious of my primary keywords and use them and their variants in my content, but I will not be swayed to the dark side of the keyword density cults.
• I will write as if I am talking to a potential customer, not a co-worker, using layman terms rather than industry specific terms.
• When I write anything about any specific topic in a natural way, my keywords and their variants naturally occur. I will not force it, but I might polish it and tweak it from time to time.

As I've said, or at least attempted to convey in numerous past posts, there is no magic number of times your keywords should appear on any given web page. There is no magic "keyword density" but, there is a threshold where search engines will consider your site "over optimized" and they will punish you for it.

Besides having an inclination to write mantras on walls, I'm also a "learn by example" kinda guy, so whatever the topic, I'd certainly be taking a look at what my competitors are doing to fulfill the purpose. Since it's a competitor, they are likely targeting some, or possibly all of the keywords you are. Depending on how entrenched they are, it might be wiser to focus on some of the low hanging fruit keywords, eg; variations on search terms that the competitors aren't targeting.

While the "low hanging fruit" keywords might not be searched on as often, dominating the search engines on a few of these "long tail" search terms can often result in just as much traffic as ranking on the the most frequently used terms.

I should stress, copying a competitors text might be tempting, but unless it is seriously revised beyond recognition, it will be seen for what it is, thievery and search engines don't like thieves, which is as it should be.