Profile Basics

Clicking on the first blue edit button will bring you to the Basic Information page. However, there’s nothing basic about this. It carries some of the most significant information you’ll be presenting. I’ll start at the top.

Display Name

This is the name you’ll be seen by on Elance. You have two options for how you want your display name to appear: your full first name and then your last name’s initial, or your entire first and last name. The choice is yours.

Tagline

The tagline is simply a marketing phrase for your business. It doesn’t have to be grammatically correct, and you have a lot of room to be serious—or play a bit.

Examples are:

Minimum Hourly Rate

This feature is optional. Maybe you don’t work on hourly projects, or you simply don’t quite know how to price your services yet (see Chapter 6 for some guidance). But setting expectations is a great habit to get into. The services you provide have value and should be treated as such. By setting a minimum standard, you begin to communicate your financial line in the sand.

When you set your hourly rate, Elance will do the math for you so you clearly see what you will make after the standard Service Fee has been subtracted.

YouTube Video

Too high tech for what you had in mind? Don’t let this intimidating thought prevent you from utilizing this great feature. Just like with uploading a photo, clients are more likely to hire someone with whom they feel like they have a connection.

A YouTube video is a great way to let the prospective client see you and/or your work setup. If you’re a team, introduce the members. If you’re flying solo, get creative and provide a snippet of your life as a freelancer, all the while aiming your presentation toward why you are the best person for the job.

Overview

The overview is one of the most important parts of the profile. The first couple of lines are visible in the contractor summaries seen when searching for contractors. And when the full profile is brought up, it’s the first block of writing on the page.

TOP TIPS

A rule of thumb in writing is the first line, then the first paragraph, and finally the first page are the most important in any book, article, or essay. It is at these points that you are able to hook the reader. That is, gain their interest so they read more. Your overview is where you do just this.

At the top of the overview, your Minimum Hourly Rate automatically appears. Below this is where you get to capture the imagination of the prospective client.

Think about your profile from the point of view of the client. What does he or she want to know about you? How many pets you have? That you recently became a yoga instructor? That you, alone, sighted a UFO in the Arizona desert? Maybe…but more likely they want to know why you’re the best person for their job.

As you consider what to say in your overview, have a look at what some of the most successful Elance freelancers have written.

The NetMen Corp, a wildly successful Elance graphic design business based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, starts with:

To the point, positive, and confident.

Khrystyne Robillard-Smith, Elance’s top individual design contractor, says this:

Both these examples answer the question, “Why me?” They directly address the client’s number one concern, who should she hire to get her job done?

In a strange twist, the overview is more about the client’s needs than it is about you. The key is to show how you are the solution they need. It doesn’t need to be long or fancy. Direct, positive, confident, and professional are the ticket.

As with all the elements of the profile, search through successful contractors and see how they’ve presented themselves. Don’t copy what they say; clients can smell ingenuousness from a cyber-mile away (as well, it’s just outright wrong to copy). But get a feel for how they show prospective clients that they’re The One.

Service Description

This is where you go into more detail about the services you provide. You can really toot your horn here. It’s your chance to explain what you do and what your background is in essay format. Where the overview is shorter and limited, the service description can include many details and facts that you want to be included.

TOP TIPS

Even though you have the ability to wax weary with your literary prose in the service description, try to keep your most relevant, positive, and/or prestigious information near the top. As worthy as your writing may be, clients are busy people and may not read all the way to the bottom.

Start with a core business description like you did with the overview but add more details. You can also include personal details, provided they’re relevant to your work on Elance. Avoid extraneous information like how big your family is or the Siamese fighting fish aquarium you recently purchased.

In the next few paragraphs you can then explain your background and who your team is, if relevant. Always keep in mind the contractor’s mantra, “Why me?” Yes, the service description is about you. But it also explains to the prospective client why you’re the best person for the job.

If you’ve had different jobs and career paths that might not be relevant to your current Elance goals, you can still include these. Just be sure to tie in why they’ll make you a better contractor. Perhaps you have more life experiences, a more diverse range of talents, or wide-ranging interests. These can all help, but it’s your job to lead the client into understanding why.

For example, raising 11 adopted children will most certainly make you an excellent time organizer. And having worked in the financial services field will have helped you understand the importance of client follow-up and satisfaction.

Payment Terms

This is yet another opportunity to set up project expectations right from the start. Here you outline how you prefer to get paid. Do you expect a deposit up front? Do you require milestones? Or is waiting until the end of the job and your client is 100 percent satisfied until you get paid one of your contractor-added values?

You can make this section as long or as short as you like. And go into detail or simply hit the basics. The choices are yours. The information will appear on the Resume/C.V. page for individuals, and on the About the Company page for contractor businesses.

Keywords

Keywords are what prospective clients use to find contractors for their jobs. A client could type in “ghostwriter,” “virtual assistant,” “logo design,” “JQuery and JAVA Script,” or any other service they’re looking for.

At the top of the Search Contractors page is the box where they enter keywords or the name of the contractor, shown in Figure 4.5.

Figure 4.5: Clients use keywords to search for contractors with specific skills and services.

The number of keywords you can be identified by depends on the type of membership plan you have. Remember, keywords are a crucial way for clients to find you and check out your services. Carefully think through which ones will be of most value. If you were looking for your services, what words would you search with?

This takes you to the bottom of the Basic Information section of the profile editing page. Click Save and you will be taken back to the main editing page.