02 July 2009 | Commentary | Guest Blogger

Microsoft’s $100 million ad spend seems to have done a great job so far in attracting interest and search queries to their new search engine, Bing.  In terms of recent market share, many search industry data sources are reporting as much as a 50% gain in market share for Bing, from about 8% of search queries to about 12%.  According to figures from Compete.com, that equates to roughly 550 million additional queries.  If we use standard web ad metrics, this equates to a cost/click of $.20 (divide $100,000,000 spend by 550,000,000 queries).  Nice job on the ad buy, Microsoft. You’ve generated buzz and also driven a very significant amount of searchers to Bing.

Can this trend hold? We think not. Microsoft’s history in online, in our opinion, is one of playing a game of catch-up, and generally playing it poorly.  When it comes to the Internet, Microsoft copies others’ efforts, and usually does quite a mediocre job of it. Bing is no different – they have copied Google’s search page almost exactly.  Even the color of the premium sponsored ads at the top of the page are shaded orange, just as

Google’s are.  But one doesn’t need to look for long to see the silliness of Microsoft to shine through.  A sponsored ad goes to three lines long and looks amateurish (screenshot at right).  The #2 organic result for the query ‘php developers’ is for the Yahoo! Developer Network, which is billed as “your source for information about using PHP with Yahoo! Web Services APIs.”  It would be a very, very small minority of searchers for this phrase that would care about this specific topic, yet it’s the second result.

We think that the buzz will die down, and Bing’s market share will trend back toward where it has been. If, in the unlikely event Bing.com were to grab and keep a large share of the search market, advertisers would be much, much worse off.  This is because pay-per-click marketing is a self-service activity.  The advertiser interface provided by the search platform is key to enabling the advertiser to use thorough PPC management techniques to achieve positive ROI on a worthwhile scale.  Google does a brilliant job at this, and yet it strives all the harder to improve its advertiser interface.  Microsoft’s AdCenter interface is laughably bad.  I considered not using “laughably” as an adjective here, but decided I had to, for truth in blogging. In addition to an overall horrible interface, AdCenter’s conversion tracking system is unable to report on revenue from e-commerce transactions.

A related question: guess who constitutes a major category of keyword advertisers? Drumroll…that’s right – e-commerce companies.

Terry Whalen is a certified Google AdWords Professional and a partner at CPC Search. Since early 2003, he has managed search and other online marketing channels that have generated millions of dollars worth of revenue for clients such as Stamps.com, CitrixOnline, Autoweb.com, SoftwareOnline.com, Taleo, and Pacific Security Capital, among others.

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01 July 2009 | Freelancing Tips, Uncategorized | James

Pricing is the outcome of a negotiation between buyers and sellers on the value of a service to the buyer, versus the value of the service to the seller. It is a dialogue between the two parties with subtle value-cues and signaling, even if they never speak. While we are all innately wired to seek value for ourselves both as buyers and sellers, negotiation theory can be a powerful intellectual back-drop and help you understand what’s really going on in the process.

One of the hottest new trends in negotiation theory is “mutual problem solving” which has - to some extent - replaced the more basic bargaining-based approach. The key to mutual problem solving is looking for hidden benefits or creative possibilities for both parties when working together. The classic example is two parties asked to split a pie 50/50.

At first, it seems only a simple act of cutting the pie directly down the middle will be feasible. But mutual problem solving theory asks the parties to look further into their real needs beyond their primary sense of fairness. What if one person enjoys crust more than the other? What if the pie were to be cut in half but with one person receiving more crust and the other more middle; suddenly a volume not only equal but also more mutually beneficial outcome springs to life from the simple act of splitting a pie.

Great pricing negotiations manage to get to this level. Perhaps one job offers a higher and more appealing pay rate, but the client has a lower volume of work to offer. Do you need maximum income or maxim income per hour. Looking deeper, do you have unique skills fit specifically to the customer? What are the creative ways you can work together for maxim value beyond just a market based ‘fair wage’ settlement? Unique fit can create unique value for both parties in unexpected ways.

BATNA is another key concept in negotiation theory. Also known as the ‘best alternative to a negotiated agreement,’ BATNA drives the willingness of both parties to participate in problem solving together. If either party feels they can immediately walk away from the table to a well understood, solidly better offer, then the negotiation is over. Knowing both parties BATNA is fundamental. Many people start negotiations from a gut sense of what they are worth–but how deeply do you know the market for your offer? It could be both radically higher or lower than you suspect. Doing BATNA research and discovery is a key to taking the emotional part out of the negotiation.

Online labor marketplaces now routinely list hourly rates, skill levels, and feedback that fuels transparency into possible alternatives. Use it to your advantage. Don’t forget what you learned about mutual problem-solving when you do your research; if a competitor has lower pricing but also a far lower number of engagements, comments, and hours worked, they might not represent an alternative to your offer. What if you pursued a more specialized market where alternatives are thinner and walking away becomes more challenging for a buyer?

ZOPA is your intended destination. ZOPA is the ‘zone of potential agreement,’ the overlap between buyers’ and sellers’ agreeable terms. ZOPA theory focuses on wide and narrow zoned approaches to negotiation. Some skill buyers, such as large companies, have very very large ZOPAs and pay their workers vastly different salaries, while others have a very narrow range. Understanding your buyers’ ZOPA can be the key to pulling out additional value.

Before you split your next pie - or price a freelance job - brush up on a contemporary negotiation tactics. Know your BATNA, excel in joint problem solving, and score customers with a wide ZOPA. It never hurts to have powerful ideas behind your plans.

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01 July 2009 | Announcements | Amit

We are pleased to announce our best providers for June 2009! We have over 250,000 providers on oDesk, but these ones stood out as the cream of the crop this month, as they performed the most hours of work with the highest feedback rating. They have been given special badges recognizing their achievement.

oDesk Buyers, you might want to get in touch with these providers soon…they just completed assignments and are available now, but probably won’t be for long. Click on their profile to check out their work and contact them for an interview!

BEST FREELANCE DESIGNERS

Top 25 Freelance Designers for June 2009 were: Ratnakar N., Alex C., Victor Novak, Kapil C., Feriani A., Erick Medina, Catherine Azzarello, Pradeep K., Sm R., Gibs T., Nguyen Cao Qui, Allison Bair, Fahmy Ferdian D, Michael M., Darwin Discaya, Sampad T., Agnes B., Ksenia Zatolocinaia, Rajkumar Khatri, Giovanni Suarez, Agnes B., Marc Smith, Eloisa L., Ankit Mahajan, Paul T.

BEST FREELANCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS

Top 25 Freelance Software Developers for June 2009 were: Kapil Sachdeva, Anton Astashov, Anton B., Victor L., Ketan S., Girish K.,Venkateswarao N., Dmitry Eroshenko, Vladimir Penkin, Pavel I., Deepak K., Yaroslav Zagorui, Ivan Terziev, Ivan M.,Yuriy E., Hire Mrspreadsheet, Parthasarathy Giridhar, Reema John Cb, Koti V., Denis B., Muhammad Atif, Rommy Sandhu, Mishra J., Dmitry T., Sunil R.

BEST FREELANCE WEB DEVELOPERS

Top 25 Freelance Web Developers for June 2009 were: Kapil Sachdeva, Anton Astashov, Anton B.,Ketan S., Venkateswarao N., Dmitry Eroshenko, Vladimir Penkin, Pavel I., Deepak K., Yaroslav Zagorui, Ivan Terziev, Ivan M., Reema John Cb, Denis B., Muhammad Atif, Rommy Sandhu, Mishra J., Dmitry T., Sunil R., Galgodage L., Alexander M., Alexey Borschenko, Shivakumar B., Sunita Puniani, Shalini M.

BEST FREELANCE WRITERS

Top 25 Freelance Writers for June 2009 were: Rachel M., Tina B., Chrissy Coleman, Ruth S., Citadel Burla, Sarah Wooten Dvm Llc, Catherine C., Tamara Bentzur, David B., Barbara G., Christine C., Holly S., Micah Abigail Lacsamana, Allison N., Ramon B., Heather G., Dhikra A Dean, Victoria L., Tamara Rice, Maria T., Amy M., Maria B., Sheri P., Sufen K., Sally R.

BEST VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

Top 25 Virtual Assistants for June 2009 were: Alex E., Anuj S., Anish Mittal, Alexander H., Tina C., Theresa D., M K., Angie O., Ahmed Adel, E.A. Pineda, Gurminder Singh, Michelle B., S. Brown, Srikanth R, Matt B., Joseph Marcuccilli, Alex E., Nanette C., Ji Q., Teri M., Jose Carlos A Pires, Kimberly M., Kristen C., Ahmed Adel, Michael Hope

These rankings will be generated each month, and stored in the oConomy under “Rankings.” July Rankings will be published on August 1. Congratulations again!

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01 July 2009 | Announcements | Amit

Congratulations to SafeTekusa.com, the winner of oDesk’s June Site of the Month contest.

SafeTek USA is the nation’s leading safety services company, providing consulting, technologies, and supplies that make workplaces safer while reducing costs. They actively promoted their contest submission, bringing in a whopping 350 votes and helping them win a $1,000 oDesk credit and an Apple iPhone 3GS.

Runners-Up:

• MyConferenceTime.com
  MyConferenceTime facilitates parent-teacher conference sign-ups. Teachers create their conference schedule online, and then parents reserve their desired time using the site. Email confirmations are sent to the teacher and to the parents.
• Moving Services
  Moving Services brings users free moving companies information. Visitors can compare movers in their area, get free moving quotes and find useful moving tips.
• The Mamasphere
  The Mamasphere was created to assist mothers in quickly accessing the information they need to navigate through their lives as women, wives, partners, co-workers, friends, sisters, daughters, and, most importantly, mamas!

All oDesk buyers who completed websites through oDesk were eligible to submit their sites to the contest. Winners were determined entirely by oDesk community voting.

We’d like to thank all of the participants in our second installment of the Site of the Month contest. We plan on running even more exciting and innovative contests in the future, such as “App of the Month” and “Blog of the Month”.   As always, we’d love your feedback so feel free to submit your suggestions within the comment section below for future consideration.

And please join us in congratulating our winners for June!  Keep up the great work!

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30 June 2009 | Freelancing Tips, Fun | Tamara

Welcome to Work From Home Tuesday. At oDesk headquarters in Menlo Park, California, every Tuesday is a WFHT. With your kids home from school, you might be questioning your sanity right now. So, here’s some advice.

The big kid swap. Trade kids with a friend.

Here’s how this one works. You figure out which of your friends has kids that get along best with yours–or maybe just which of your kids’ friends you can tolerate the best. Then you arrange a swap. Once a week you have all the kids for about 5 hours. Once a week, they have all the kids for about 5 hours. And you know what this means–5 hours of a quiet house. If your kids are old enough and play well together, the five hours all the kids are at your house might be productive as well.

Give in. Change your work schedule.

If you’re used to working during days, this might be a tough switch, but summer only comes once a year. Temporarily, work minimally during the day and seriously at night. Spend time with your kids while they’re young enough to want to be with you. After dinner, put in a great movie and you can get back to work. If your spouse has weekends off, maybe you should start working weekends. It’s not ideal, but it’s short term. Say it together: They are only young once.

Consider day camp or hired help. For their sake and yours.

If playdates, kid swaps, and working nights won’t cut it this summer, think about hiring temporary help. Get a trusted teenager who will babysit the kids right in your backyard  a few hours a day (for much less than the cost of daycare).  Or, if you can , send your kids to day camps and summer camps.  They’ll have fun and you can make money while they are gone. Sometimes you need to make a choice, and sometimes you paying for science camp is a better option than you screaming at them every 20 minutes: “Quiet! I’m on the phone!”

WFHT Recommended Reading

“Productivity vs. Balance During Summer Break” from Freelance Parent
“Planning Your Summer” from The Writer Mama
“How to Have Children and a Freelance Career “ from The Essential Site for Journalists
“One Runny Nose, Little Sticky Fingers and a PC Clinic” from Freelance UK
Ideas to keep your kids busy from Today Is Fun

Much like a divorced marriage counselor, my ability to dish out advice is not an indicator of my ability to implement it. However, having worked from home for over a decade, I’ve learned what works and what just creates more work. (Excuse me while I tell my children to be more quiet, so I can work.)

- Tamara

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