launch a clone of elance.com

I want to launch a clone of www.elance.com which is very professional and high standards. There is a twist in the concept though.
I have full backup support with my development team.
What I need is, some ideas on the payment gateways, promotion methodologies, marketing etc ..
Can anybody help and would like to put in some views..

 

Chicken & Egg problem...

No one will want to post jobs if there are no developers. No developers will hang out on the site if there are no jobs. Solve that problem first!

Marketing - SEO, PPC, Targeted Ad Buys, Affiliate Program
Payment Gateways - Authorize.net

 

Its true, but one's got to start somewhere.

 

I'll be bookmarking this thread since I'm still trying to decide whether I want to launch something like this... Hope someone will be able to give us some answers soon ^_^

 

one of the person i know online owns a freelancing site and trust me its not like other sites where you fill in content and it will earn you revenue through ads . Here you gotta answer support questions.Transaction problems etc etc.Make sure you have quite a few people working or doing this with you..

 

================
Marketing
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?SEO
?PPC Advertising - Adsense etc.
?Link Exchanges
?Affiliates

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Payment Processors
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?PayPal
?e-gold
?moneybrookers
?Cheque
?Authorize



I think its good...

 

Im also thinking of something simular, i have findwebdev.com and yer, im thinking of something simular. Would like to see how yours turns out aswell

 

Do let me know when they are out. Would love to see how it goes.
I did try out single handedly opening such a thing. Doesnt work Im sure everyone might have thought of this.But only if it was that easy

 

I wont mind joining hand with some one who is experienced in this business..

 

Ill be interested.Pm me

 

For something like this you'll need a solid escrow feature that protects buyers and coders from fraud. This in my opinion is the most important aspect of any freelance site. Matchmaking programming sites that don't handle any payments just create a breeding ground for people who scam the heck out of you.

As other people have mentioned, a venture of this type will suck a lot of your time unless you have dedicated, qualified, KNOWLEDGABLE staff... Which will suck away revenue.

So before you can hire people to do the monkey work for you, I would do all the hard work yourself. Then once you have a steady supply of buyers and coders, hire a good staff.

 

Well, I think I do have a good professional staff.
I am not sure what do you mean, when u say " once you have a steady supply of buyers and coders, hire a good staff" .. I need to have some base (site) where buyers and coders can join ?.

Where do you think, can I find targeted visitors ? What kinda monkey work are we talking about here ?

Thanks for your response.

 

Search Engines, both organically and ppc. Also, any tech site where programmers hang out.

 

The most important feature as someone else said before is escrow implementation, if you havent got this, no one will want to use your services. Affiliate codes is a must too, check other freelancer sites, all of them have affiliate programs, this is a good way to drive freelancers and webmasters to your site. Helpdesk, no one will trust you if you dont give back quick answers to users inquiers

Good luck and mantain us informed!

 

What I just meant by monkey work was approving jobs and job offers, screening for fraud, making sure the escrow is working, just maintenance. You'll need to launch quickly in order to grab people's attention or else the spirit will die down as people drift away from it.

You can also run an incentive for people to register and start posting jobs, like $5-$25 for each successful job posted (by buyer) or something percentage wise.

Escrow system again, is a HUGE must. It needs to be solid or no one will even bother registering.

Just get the ball rolling. look at rentacoder.com for inspiration but don't copy it exactly

 

Thanks for the feedback TomN.
Well, I do not want to start exact clone of existing freelancer sites. I want something new and unique.. Some new feature that might attract people..
What exactly do you mean be "incentive for successful job posted" .. Do you mean, I should give discounts, to buyer who successfully get his work done on the site, by accepting the bidder ??

I would like to have some cool innovative ideas from u guys..

thanks again for ur feedbacks..

 

Yes I do mean a discount for buyers. Possibly programmers too (if you'll charge them a fee like rentacoder)

Perhaps give this discount to only the first 100, or 1000 depending on your market reach.

OR you can run the discount for only 1 month or something.

 

Apart from maintenance and running of the site you need good buyers. If your site has work available the coders will follow. There are thousands of coders already in the market and thousands just waiting in the sideline to get in. Buyers will only come if you have a solid system(escow) to protect them from fraud.
Just another point every site breaks at some point and you have to take care of those issues immediately. Detailed Planning is very important. Just my 2 $

 

I am willing to work with you. I can offer you web hosting too!

Please PM me if interested....


Thanks

 

Without a very large budget and ideas unique to your service I don't see how people will be attracted to your site. There are hundreds of services like this, half of them lying dormant because owners expect business to come to them. Needless to say, it doesn't.