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If you’ve been considering trying one of the many freelance job boards to find a content buyer – I strongly urge you to enter these waters with extreme caution. They indeed are – shark infested. Below are some of the things I’ve learned, unfortunately, the hard way.
1. Upon accepting your project bid, the content purchaser will likely try to change your price. You may well have bid the project at $50.00, and they may well want it at $25.00. Before you ever click the button to “seal the deal” with this buyer, make sure the price is firmly agreed upon. Copy and paste the IM messages between yourself and the buyer into a Notepad file, because it is highly likely they will later dispute the price they agreed to pay.
2. Once the project leaves the IM of the job board, and contact is made directly between you and the content purchaser – it is urgently important that you exchange “real world” contact information. Do not settle for a free email service address and a screen name. You have to expose yourself fully via your profile, portfolio, and samples of your work – it’s only right that the content buyer be asked to provide the same. In the event there is a non-payment, or you need to contact the buyer – you need to know precisely whom you’re dealing with.
3. Get the agreement in the BUYERS words, you need an email, or an IM that specifically lines out the terms and conditions of the project. This needs to include the job description, the deadline, and the payment arrangements. Putting this in your words is meaningless, you must have the buyer set these terms and you agree to them.
Some content buyers have been burned as well – don’t get me wrong! They’ve hired a freelance writer based on a sample or portfolio, only to find out that 3 articles into the project, the freelancer has vanished or the content is copyrighted by someone else. Therefore these simple practices are good for the buyer as well. Make sure you have real world contact information on your writer, make sure the terms and conditions of the project are agreed upon by the writer, and make sure they are aware of their deadline and any possible repercussions for missing a deadline.
