This is a review of How To Make Money on Elance, an information product for freelancers produced by Alexis Rodrigo. Sparkplugging has not been paid to write this review but did receive a free review copy of the product. There are no affiliate links in this review.

In How To Make Money on Elance, freelance writer and internet marketer Alexis Rodrigo shares what she learned from Trish Lambert (an Elance Premier Provider) about making money on Elance. It consists of an interview with Trish (in both audio and PDF format), a worksheet, and a mindmap to give you an overview of the material.

If you’re looking for solid advice to help you make the most of the time you spend on Elance, then you won’t be disappointed with this product.

It’s obvious that Trish (the interviewee) knows what she’s talking about when it comes to getting clients through Elance, and Alexis asks her just the right questions. At $27, it’s a worthwhile investment if you’re planning to spend a lot of your marketing time on Elance. There’s no “fluff” or “filler” – just solid, practical tips that you can apply immediately.

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Welcome to the fifth and final post in our “Build Your Own Freelancing Website” series! So far we’ve covered domain names, hosting, whether to feature a blog on your site, and customizing your site design.

In today’s post, we’ll cover the most important step: adding content to your website.

Step 5: Create Content That Converts Leads Into Clients

As a freelancer, you will want to have at least the following pages on your website: (1) Homepage; (2) About; (3) Services; and (4) Contact Me. You may also want to add client testimonials, samples of your work, and other information that helps demonstrate your knowledge and skills. As you draft the content for your site, keep the following tips in mind:

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Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition to your blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

This week’s directive is to “spark an idea about purging,” which in my case is kind of like asking a toddler to spark an idea about patience and self-discipline. But hey – it’s “Spark an Idea Thursday,” so I’ll give it the old college try.

The thing is, I could really benefit from some purging:

• I have a basement filled with plastic tubs, each of which contains an incredible assortment of papers, mementos, and miscellaneous items from various stages of my life. Why? Because I find it impossible to throw stuff like that out. Instead of throwing stuff out, I buy more plastic tubs so I can keep all of my crap totally organized. Ridiculous, right?
• I have a “to do” list for this week that could never be completed in a single week. Why? Because I find it impossible to admit that I’m not going to get to everything. Up until 5:55 pm on Friday, I hold out hope that I will somehow miraculously finish everything on the list. At approximately 5:56, I give up and transfer the tasks I didn’t complete to the following week’s list (and repeat this process weekly).
• I have about 10 different ideas for books I want to write. If you follow this blog you know that I really want to get a book published, but the first step is to pick one single idea – which means giving up (at least temporarily) on the other nine. You have no idea how difficult this is for me.

I know that if I could just get better at this whole “purging” thing, I would be more focused.

My life would be less cluttered. I would probably be more productive and achieve more of my goals. So why is it so hard?

As you can probably tell, I don’t have any brilliant ideas about purging, except to underscore its importance. Have any of you struggled with this issue the way I do? Have you figured out any solutions that you’d be willing to share?

I’m all ears.

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

Welcome to the fourth post in our “Build Your Own Freelancing Website” series! So far we’ve covered domain names, hosting, and whether to feature a blog on your site.

Now it’s time to talk about how to make your site look good (without spending a fortune).

Step 4: Select a theme and then customize it.

Whether you’re working with Wordpress or Squarespace (the two platforms I recommended earlier in this series), you’ll need to select a “theme” (called a “template” in Squarespace) for your website. The theme you choose will determine the basic look of your site.

Selecting a Theme in Wordpress:

If you’ve created a self-hosted Wordpress blog, you can select a theme by logging in to the admin area of your site, clicking on “Appearance,” and then clicking on “Add New Themes.” This will allow you to choose from a variety of free themes. There’s nothing wrong with using a free theme, especially if you find one you really like – just make sure you add some customization to make your website unique.

There are also premium (read: not free) themes available elsewhere on the web. There are a lot of them (do a Google search for “premium Wordpress themes” and you’ll see what I mean). The premium theme that I use on my site is Thesis, which I highly recommend. I selected Thesis (and subsequently became a Thesis affiliate) because it is exceptionally flexible, easy to use, and well-supported. If you choose a premium theme, you should follow the installation instructions from the theme designer instead of using the “Add New Themes” button.

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Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition to your blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “something you want so bad you can taste it.” The idea is to share “something from deep inside that you have a huge will to accomplish – and what you’re doing to prepare for it!”

So here goes: I want to write a book and get it published.

Wow – that’s a really scary thing to say out loud. Am I the only one who finds it scary to tell other people about personal goals and dreams?

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Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday. Each week we’ll share some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition to your blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

This week’s “Spark an Idea Thursday” theme is about “being a lifetime learner,” a topic which is very close to my heart. Keeping your heart and mind open to new things, being interested in the world around you, and learning something new every day are (at least for me) the keys to a happy life.

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, continuing to learn new things isn’t really a choice – it’s a necessity.

If you just plod along doing what you’ve always done, and fail to adapt to the changing world around you, you will fall behind your competitors. But what’s even more important is the joy and vitality that come from learning something you didn’t know before. My late grandfather, Hy Perry, taught me that by example (thanks, Grandpop).

When I was very young, he found ways to make learning fun for me. I remember him creating little handmade “awards,” with gold stars and little drawings, and giving them to me as I learned the alphabet, numbers, and (eventually) reading. I still have those little scraps of paper and treasure them more than any of the “real” awards that came later.

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A designer friend recently told me that she was stiffed on a design job and how it really rocked her core trust in online business owners. This isn’t enough to make her jump back into the corporate world but she really took this slight personally.

I shared my own story here yesterday about not being paid by a client but my friend’s story is a little bit different because the client pulled the job prior to it being completed. My friend worked a few hours on these graphics, trying to bring the client’s vision to life, but the client decided to go with another designer. Certainly, that is the client’s perogative but should the first designer get paid, even if it wasn’t what the client wanted in the job?
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I have a tendency to spoil my clients. I’m such a people pleaser that I bend over backwards making them happy and making their outsourcing experience as easy as possible. Sometimes that means I don’t look out for MY best interest, which can be detrimental.

Last summer I was doing some writing work for a client who I really liked and he asked if I had time to do a writing assignment for a friend of his. This was easy – 5 blog posts – so I said yes.

All freelancers reading this, PLEASE learn from my mistake!

Being the trusting soul that I am, I did not require payment up front nor did I even think to ask for half payment upfront. I was more focused on doing the job and getting that extra $100 into my bank account that it never crossed my mind. Afterall, I had never had issues with clients and non payment before so why would it start with this client?

Foolish attitude!
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Welcome to the third post in our “Build Your Own Freelancing Website” series! So far we’ve covered domain names and hosting. Once you’ve purchased your domain name and hosting package, you’re ready for…

Step 3: Decide whether you want to publish a blog and where it should go.

In my last post, I listed three options for setting up your site: using a hosted service (which I recommended against), creating a self-hosted site using Wordpress, or using Squarespace to create and publish your site. Whichever option you chose, you will now need to make your first big decisions about the structure of your site.

In this post, we’ll go through the first two big decisions you need to make. To learn how to implement your decisions on a technical level, I recommend that you review Getting Started With Wordpress or the Squarespace Manual (depending on which service you chose). If there’s enough interest from people in the comments, I would also be happy to run a free webinar demonstrating how to do basic setup stuff in Wordpress and/or Squarespace.

Note: If you are creating a self-hosted site with Wordpress, you’ll need to install Wordpress on your site before you do anything else. Luckily, most of the hosting providers out there (including the three I mentioned in my last post – Reliable Webs, Bluehost, and Godaddy) will install Wordpress for you. You can either go into your control panel and navigate your way to the “install Wordpress” button, or just call your hosting provider and ask them to install Wordpress.

Now on to those “big decisions” I was telling you about.

1. Will your website have a blog?

The first decision you need to make is whether you want to have a blog on your website. You don’t have to. I emphasize that because if you’re not going to have the time to update your blog regularly, you probably shouldn’t publish a blog at all. A stale blog is much worse than no blog.

At the same time, a blog is a fabulous way to establish your expertise. If you have the time and writing ability to update your blog at least weekly, go for it. Just make sure that your blog is geared towards your prospective clients, rather than other people who do what you do.

2. Will your blog be on the homepage of your website?

Your blog doesn’t necessarily have to appear on the homepage of your site. Since the primary goal of your site as a freelancer is to sell your services, you may want to create a simple homepage that quickly tells visitors (1) what you do; (2) why they should hire you; and (3) how to contact you.

On the other hand, if your blog posts are well-written and provide information that would be useful for potential clients, you may want to keep it front and center.

Not sure what to do? Start looking at your competitors’ websites. See what you like and don’t like. Take the time to figure out what format would best show off your talent and abilities.

What’s next?

Between now and the next post, think about whether you want to publish a blog on your site, and if so, whether you want it to go on the home page. Once you make that decision, you can begin setting up the basic framework of your site. Starting next week, we’ll cover (1) the other pages you must have on your website; (2) how to customize the look of your site without spending a fortune; and (3) how to write web content that helps you get more clients.

Please share your questions and/or suggestions in the comments! The more direction you give me, the more useful these posts will be.

photo credit: tj scenes