Hi people, I have the following doubt. I'm about to launch a freelancers auction website (like rentacoder, GAF, etc), and what I'm more worried about is how to get the first users. I'm NOT talking about how to get traffic, I'm referring to how make the first users actually buy. I mean, from a user perspective, I would not trust in a website that is empty. If no projects are posted and noone has yet invested in the website, why would I? I read somewhere that I could just create fake users and projects, but I don't like that method and I think that it would go against the credibility of the website. So, I would like to know what are your suggestions to launch a website like this. How to make the first users to trust in the service, how to make the first buyers to place money in the website, etc (how did rentacoder and getafreelancer start?) Thanks in advance
Try giving a away free listings to get some people to list. Then give out discount coupons or vouchers for people to buy. You could also give out coupons for those that leave a review of your services. You may not make much at first, but once people start to trust your site and become customers, then you should be good to go. Amazon has an auction site, but it has essentially failed. Your's may not do much better. You're right about trust. That's the key. You could check out logo to verify that you're for real. Hacker Guardian, BBB logo, etc. Do you have a niche? I think that would be the best route.
I work at GAF and scriptlance, and I will not buy membership or what ever ur site offer, with ur site having no or few live projects I think, u have to attract buyers first, as if there are no projects listed at ur site, then no freelancer is gonna sign up. try starting referral programs, like GAF and scriptlance, I myself refer over hundred people to these sites in 1 month.
usasportstraining thanks for the reply It seems that I wasn't very clear. It's not a product auction site like ebay. It's a freelance service auction website like rentacoder.com, where users post jobs request and freelancers submit they price to do the work. However, the free listing could work. The seals could work too, I've been recomended hacker safe ones. And yes, I have a niche: Freelance IT developers from a specific country.
Yea, give stuff away. I am giving free ad space on my forum, it takes some time but it always seem to work. Also, think about having some kind of temporary offering. Like buy 2 posts get one free or things like you will promote his links for joining. Stuff like that. Also packages are good too. Free books and info is always great.\
Right, that's what I'm talking about. How in earth do I atract buyers to post their projects? I also was thinking in posting real job offers of my own, for other websites I'm working on. So, the user may be kind of fake but the project is real. What do you think about this last practice? Bad/good?
I think posting fake projects is not that bad, as u are not stealing any thing, u are just creating some attraction via these fake projects thats all. and the other way is that, if u work as a freelancer at other sites, then u can create projects on ur own site, and in these projects, u give work that u get from the sites where u work. but this will not help a lot, as when u win projects at freelance sites, u have to complete them in a time frame, where ur site is new, and it will take time before u have good number of members who can complete project for u
That's right. But maybe I could start outsourcing the web projects I'm already getting as web developer. Any other tip? I would like to hear the opinion of those who already are running a website like this.
the real problem is bringing buyer to a freelance site. u will get freelancers much easier then buyers. so, if u can, consider using adwords. this is one of paid ways to bring buyer to ur site u can use adwords for keywords like, outsourcing projects, outsource companies etc
That's a good one, using those keywords to attract buyers could work. A friend of mine proposed the following, I would like to have opinions on how to implement this. He suggested to launch a closed beta version of the website first, previous to the official release, and grant access to the site only to users with invitations, in order to create a small buzz about the website. Has anyone tried something like this? What do you think are the best strategies to implement this feature?
Adwords campaign Advertise on webmaster forums (from what i know create phantom projects) with phantom users etcat least to make the site active I know it costs a lot of money but that's a market very though For exemple i found GAF way back 4 years ago thrue an adsense ad So they where pating and doing campaigns The best is the word of mouth ofer something that others don't (for exemple i love GAF over anyothers becouse there you can withdraw money evry week not like RAC 2 dates fixed + gaf ofers something lled Gold Member witch is the shit + many options to withdraw that others sites don't have + lower fees) Think about all of this ...
What different features do you think would be good to implement? And what do you think about launching a beta version?