The dog days of summer are upon us and there is no better way to spend your days than in a nice cool environment writing and increasing your freelance writing revenues! The company being reviewed this week will be likely to keep you on your toes and energized with tons of new writing jobs.
GetACoder.com is an interesting site. There is a lot to take in when you first get started and it can take a bit to get used to the place. This article should help you get started quickly and with a great deal more efficiency. Good luck and enjoy the site!
What is GetACoder.com?
GetACoder.com is primarily what is called a ‘proposal’ site. Essentially you will search for the types of jobs that you are interested in completing and submit a proposal to the client.
It should be noted that GetACoder.com is a site for freelancers of all types and not just writers. So don’t be alarmed if you initially see jobs for graphic designers and software designers. You will be able to search for the writing jobs. GetACoder.com tends to list the newest jobs first unless the client has paid additional money to be spotlighted.
GetACoder.com calls itself a “Global Services Marketplace” and they do business in more than 234 countries and regions.
Getting Started with GetACoder.com
The easiest part of GetACoder.com is getting started. You just sign up for an account. Once you verify your email address your account is open and ready for you to get to work.
This site doesn’t worry about being anything but utilitarian with no eye candy. There are few graphics; a lot of text and the navigation panels are simple. What you see is what you get with this site. The confusing part tends to be that there is so much text that you get a bit lost because there are no really good divisions to the site to break up the expanses of text. Give yourself a bit of time and you will acclimate.
What to do first
As soon as you verify your email address you are ready to get to work on the GetACoder.com site. The first thing you will want to do is search for jobs. Wait until after you set up your portfolio before doing that. Some clients will respond quickly and the first thing that they are going to do when they get your proposal is to check out your portfolio. So start by immediately opening and setting up this part of your new account.
Be sure to use your best samples and fill out the information completely. Gaps make clients wonder what you are hiding or, worse, make it look like you forgot something. Clients want writers with an attention to detail so you can see how this could harm your chances.
What this site calls a portfolio is really nothing more than an extremely basic profile. You can access it by clicking on your name or the “my Account” tab. Once you have this set up then you can start looking at your Dashboard and searching for jobs.
Your GetACoder.com Dashboard
This is an extremely basic Dashboard but given the components of the site the Dashboard works pretty well. You need to remember that this site is about as barebones as is possible. There are not extraneous links or other bells and whistles that are generally found on other sites.
The Dashboard itself has a line of links that lead you to your account, the ability to browse jobs and payment transactions. Beneath that you will find a list of job categories. The writing category, at the time of this writing, had more that 4,000 open jobs.
After you select the writing category you will leave the Dashboard and move to the writing job board.
Finding Jobs on GetACoder.com
Finding jobs is both simple and complex. The simplicity is that you click on the link to writing jobs from your Dashboard and then there is the list. The complexity comes in weeding out the poor paying jobs. You want to look for jobs that are looking for writers in western nations that are posted by clients in those same nations. You will probably want to avoid those from nations that are infamous for their poor standards and pay. I’m not going to list them because there are some fine people living and working in those countries and I wouldn’t want to insult them or their homeland. But second and third world nations are the biggest culprits.
After you have selected the writing category, you will see the most recent writing jobs offered. You also have a list of subcategories. The subcategories make searching for your specialty much simpler. Choose one and browse the open position until you find one that appeals to you.
Job Proposals on GetACoder.com
It really couldn’t be easier to send a proposal on this site. When you find a job that you are interested in you click on it and are taken to a page with full details. Then you submit your bid price with any additional information that you want to include. It can be difficult to ignore the other listed bids and proposals when you see how low some of them are but when you consider that many of the lowest ones will be completely ignored, you will feel better. Place your bid and if it’s accepted you will be notified both on the site and through email.
For some odd reason the site warns you that you may not begin work on a project before it has been assigned to you. I’m not sure what the reasoning is for this but I have yet to meet anyone who has ignored this warning.
The Affiliate Program
I’m admittedly not a fan of affiliate programs and this one is really no different. You put a link on your website or you get your friends to join and you make a commission.
Do not put a link to them on your writing website. If there is a single thing you can do to make your site look horrible it’s to have affiliate links on it. Not only does it scream to potential clients that you are not a professional but it also gives clients another place to go to find a freelance writer.
However there is one on GetACoder.com and now you are aware of it. It works like every other affiliate or link exchange program.
Completing Projects on GetACoder.com
Once you have been the successful bidder you will need to complete the project. You complete it in your own word processor and then upload it to the system. The client approves it and you are paid. It’s a pretty straightforward system.
This is important: If you have any questions about the job that you have been selected to do, send a message to the client immediately. Sometimes they add things into the acceptance. Not more work, that doesn’t happen. What they often add are criteria that they want met, possibly keywords or other technical points that you need to be aware of before you begin the assignment.
For longer projects, say a book length manuscript, you can opt to be paid in stages. These milestone payments will be paid at the agreed upon time after you reach certain points in the project.
One positive in favor of GetACoder.com is that you have the ability to communicate with the client as often as necessary. This makes completing projects far easier because you aren’t shooting into the dark. If you have questions as the project progresses you can feel free to ask.
Getting Paid on GetACoder.com
Okay, you know there is probably a Paypal option here. There is one but there are also several others. There is also a fee structure you need to be aware of from the beginning. I’ll list that at the end of this section.
In addition to Paypal, GetACoder.com is a Payoneer partner and has a Visa debit card available. You can order the card through Payoneer and then your payments are deposited directly onto your card. Payoneer is a good company and because they have partnered with so many companies like GetACoder.com, they have actually set up the ability to combine all of your accounts for deposit to a single card. This was in direct response to freelancers who had to juggle 5 or 6 cards depending on their affiliations. The card works like any other Visa debit card.
GetACoder.com also allows MoneyBookers, Wire Transfers and Pecunix. For those who don’t know, Pecunix is a currency based on gold. There are several transfer options including Western Union, wire transfer and Debit Cards. You have to have a 9 star rating from 5 sellers before you are eligible.
Payment is based on when you request it through your account. You just click on “Withdrawal” and the money is sent.
Now about those withdrawal fees that you have to pay. They are rather annoying but a part of doing business with the site. All amounts listed are in United States Dollars.
Paypal: 1.2% + $0.25 to 3.4% + $0.15
GetACoder.com Card: 1.2% + $0.30 to 3.4% + $0.15
Wire Transfer: 1.2% to 3.4% + $30
MoneyBookers: 3.2% + $0.35 to 5.9% + $0.15
Pecunix: 3.2% + $0.35 to 5.9% + $0.15
Finally, if you examine what the site says about itself, you will find that it actively encourages outsourcing from the US to other nations where “The labor costs are cheaper.” While I find this attitude distasteful, keep in mind that this site is not just for writers and it is intended to be the go-to place for businesses looking for freelancers. While certain tech jobs can be outsourced well to other nations, the clients that frequent the site looking for freelance writers fall into two groups of clients. The first group of clients being those that want writing done in English and other western languages for ridiculously low prices. The other group, the ones we are interested in getting together with, are those what are looking for native speakers of English (or other western languages). They will not hire those who are not native speakers and ignore their proposals.
Give the site a shot. It’s free and you might end up with some really great long-term clients from it.
Happy Writing!