I just found out about The big Word Project via adii. The guys behind it say they are “exploring what different words mean to different people”. Looks like the site is starting to get more and more attention. Some of the keywords I wanted to choose were already taken, but I did manage to get “freelancer”. Yeah, baby! I got a piece of the big pie.
Anyway… I have a feeling Paddy and Lee will be making some quick money. Not sure if that’s what they’re after, but I must say I admire people who have these nifty ideas and manage to turn them into little whirlwinds in the blogosphere.
I’m curious to see how much traffic can this generate for my site. Numbers are not looking great at the moment, but I didn’t really unleash my blogging and freelancing knowledge just yet. 
I just stumbled across the blog of Mubashar Iqbal, founder of Suffolk Software and creator of some beautiful websites, one every 5 weeks. He creates all these little websites on different topics that I’m sure he’s passionate about. I bet he has a lot of fun along the way.
He also runs a network of really cool aggregators. Right now, the most useful for me seem to be Most Sliced and Most Listed. The first will make a great addition to my newly created Freelancer Resources section.
Just missed this survey by a whisker. Anyway… I’m looking forward to reading the results in September.
I just installed this cool Wordpress plugin that adds syntax highlighting to source code that you put in blog posts. It’s one of those “activation only” plugins that bloggers love so much. I’ll probably add some code snippets to my posts from now on, so this plugin will come in handy. Has support for HTML, CSS, PHP and many more.
Check this out:
#wrapper {
width: 950px;
margin: 0 auto;
background: #FFFFFF;
border-left: 15px solid #0F0802;
border-right: 15px solid #0F0802;
}
Photo by ian_ransley
1. Properly introduce yourself
This is the first thing you should do when posting a bid. Let the buyer know that you are a person, and not some automated responder. If you are a freelancer, you should state your name. If you represent a company, you might want to add your position too.
2. Add relevant experience only
Don’t post all your skills with every bid. This is not a talent show. The buyer doesn’t care that you’re a Flash guru, if all he needs is a website mockup. Try to keep this short and to the point.
3. Show that you did your homework
Take the time to do a little research for the buyer’s project. Read his brief or project description and try to answer the questions he might have. Use this info to personalize your bid.
4. When in doubt, ask questions
If you feel some things are not clear enough or if you need additional info in order to formulate a bid, don’t hesitate to ask questions. This will not only prove that you read the specs, but will also ensure you and the buyer are on the level.
5. A picture is worth 1000 words
A link to your portfolio, links to previous websites or even some mockups attached to the bid can really make a difference. Let the quality of your work speak for you. This is also a very good way to rule out the buyers that are just looking for “something cheap”.
