Having a solid search engine optimization strategy is very important because today’s internet search is in a constant state of change. In order to create more transparency about how their search actually works, Google regularly updates its users about algorithm and feature changes on its Inside Search Blog. SEOMoz, a leading provider of SEO software, published a great infographic showing all of the significant algorithm changes that Google has made in the past months, including a version breakdown of the controversial “Panda” update.

Please click to view full image | courtesy of SEOMoz

According to an article on fins.com (2011), the job market for freelance technologists is continuously growing. Research company Forrester Research estimates the total U.S. business and government spending on IT goods and services to grow to $876 billion in 2012, up 8.8% from 2011 and a 16.2% increase over 2010 levels. Read the full post here:

Freelancing is all about making positive connections and building relationships. The more a freelancer is viewed as someone who has comprehensive and authoritative knowledge, the easier it becomes for him or her to connect with potential customers. Question & Answer sites offer just another way to connect online and establish oneself as an expert in a certain field. Depending on the site, freelancers may get the following benefits from participating in a Q&A site:

• Branding – probably one of the biggest benefits that a Q&A site offers is that it gives freelancers the opportunity to brand themselves as experts in a particular field by creating well-written and informative answers.

• SEO – some Q&A sites are indexed by search engines and provide SEO benefits to the users.

• Traffic – well-written and informative answers can attract other users to a freelancer’s profile, which should include a link to their own freelance website.

• Connections – participating in a Q&A site gives freelancers the chance to interact and build connections with others.

If it comes to workspace, work time, global markets or salary, the job-world is changing rapidly, especially in the developed countries of the world. For example there are some people who are not having a real traditional job anymore. People are doing freelancing or are part of the so called “gig economy”. In the past you would have gotten a simple answer about the question what they are working:

“I work in manufacturing” or “I’m a teacher” etc. But nowadays you will find a lot more complex and undefined answers, they can’t label their “jobs” properly. They will give you loads of projects or things they are or are not working on right now. Exactly this progress is raising the question of Mathew Ingram: “Are defined hours of work an anachronism that’s holding us back? Or is it freedom to work whenever we want and/or is it a trap that causes us to work more, rather than less?”

Having success as a freelancer depends on many factors of which I have collected the most important ones (in my opinion) here – that does not mean that having those factors will ensure your success or that success is impossible without them, but they will definitely be more than nice to have.

The idea
A bright idea turned into a realistic business plan is the safest way to achieve success. Refrain from copying existing business plans, be original and offer something special and helpful to potential clients or customers.

Adaptability
Being adaptable is truly important, since freelancing in itself not always runs according to the original plan. First, reality does differ from the business plan, no matter how realistic and elaborated the plan is. Secondly, the surroundings will change with time – the market will change as well as your customers´ expectations. Being prepared for change is key.

Endurance
The first 3 years are said to be the most difficult. Especially the beginning is characterised by the pursuit for clients / customers and a regular or at least reliable income. Even though it gets better with time, endurance and discipline are important factors for achieving lasting success.

Learning to delegate
To delegate sounds easy, but for many people this will turn out to be a difficulty. Delegating is important, because it is so easy to get lost in small, everyday tasks or tasks one does not have the knowledge to handle. Turning to experts will save you the energy to deal with the core of your freelance business.

Commercial skills
The idea is convincing, the technical know-how exists and you do not lack enthusiasm. That is a good start, or the heart of your freelancing success. But the commercial skills are often being underestimated, even though they are the groundwork of your business. Freelancers who do not happen to have an education in business should attend a course or at least spend some time reading technical literature – even if they plan to hire an expert.

Now it´s your turn: Do you agree? Do you have any further suggestions?

When Meridith Levinson from the American CIO thinks about job searches, few positive associations come to her mind. Moreover, the words are: frustrating, discouraging, inexorably.
Over and over again, she meets people looking for a job who tell her about their frustrating moments during their search. The most commonly named moments she has listed up for the German CIO.

Due to the fact that the application process is more or less for freelancers, we would like to show you that you are not alone with your frustration: Here are the top ten dangers for your motivation during the project search.

Project providers listen up: We urgently recommend to avoid these!

1. No answer to an application: Applicants are not expecting a rapid response, because they know that their application was probably not the only one. However, not receiving any answer might be very frustrating.

2. No further contact after an interview: It is even more disappointing when there has been a personal meeting and there is no further contact.

3. Unreal and expired projects: Experience shows that the same projects are sometimes advertised repeatedly. Applications to those projects lead to nothing. Misgivings that those projects do not even exist are justifiable. This was even confirmed by the employees of some companies. But why? Concerned applicants would think that those projects were only advertised because the company wants to look solid to their competitors.

4. Very specific requirements: The market becomes more and more demanding and in order to be the perfect fit, you have to fulfill a lot of requirements. However, those many requirements also have positive aspects: You save time, because you won´t apply for a job for which you do not have all the qualifications, yet.

This tip of the week is aimed at the project providers because they need the period of publication for the deadline for applications:

The period of publication shows in which period you want your project to be public.

projektwerk has set a default of four weeks, always starting at the current date. This period is concurrent with the application period, that is to say the time that freelancers can send you their applications.

Therefore we kindly ask you to change this default if the application period differs from the default. This might save you a lot of time and effort, for example if the application period only lasts for two weeks, but a freelancer sends you an application after four weeks.

Of course you can also set a period of publication for a freelancer profile, but you don’t have to.
After this period, your project / profile is automatically saved as a draft in your account.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact our service-team.

The general projektwerk newsletter is sent out to all projektwerk members once a month. Additionally, you will receive a newsletter that is customized especially for your branch once a month. The projektwerk newsletter keeps you informed of the latest news from the freelancer world: Read everything about upcoming business events, tips for successfully working with projektwerk or recent trends.

Do you want to receive the projektwerk newsletter? Here is a short explanation on how to always be up to date:

For new members: Just register on one of the projektwerk branch platforms and activate the checkbox for the newsletter during registration.

For existing members: After the log in on your branch platform, you open the tab “Home” in your menu-board via mouseover. Afterwards, you click on settings à account settings. Activate the checkbox for the newsletter and save your changes.

Have fun reading!

For many projektwerk members, a quarterly, semi-annual or annual billing period is a commitment that is too long and inflexible for the flexible freelance working world. Therefore, we now offer the 1-month membership on all projektwerk platforms

Before going online with the new billing period, we tested the 1-month membership on projektwerk creative. Due to the high demand, we decided to implement the shorter period on all projektwerk platforms.

The same conditions as those of the longer billing periods apply to the 1-month membership. Only the cancellation period differs from the other billing periods: Here, you can cancel your premium membership up to two weeks before the extension date.

Here you can find more information on the projektwerk membership:
https://it.projektwerk.com/en/users/membership

The last projektwerk release makes it possible to choose your preferred language directly on every site of projektwerk. Before the release, the language was chosen by your browser settings and could not be changed that quickly and easily.

At the moment, you can choose between English and German. You will find the selection right on top of every projektwerk site. This is another important step in the course of the internationalisation of projektwerk.

Good luck and success with the acquisition of projects on projektwerk.