Writing With Purpose

Elance is one of the major freelance writing resources on the Web. Writers from around the world can bid on projects that have been posted by buyers wanting to outsource many types of freelance work, including writing.

Elance has a system of bidding called connects. If you want to use the free services, to see if Elance is the right resource for you, the total connects have been raised from 3 free connects to 10. In addition, the minimum connects, if you pay by the month is going to rise from 20-25.

However, the best change to me is the rollover policy. In the past, I have lost so much money to Elance. Some months, I have used all of my monthly connects bidding on jobs. Then, I actually purchase more before the end of the billing cycle. Thus, I use every one and then more. But, more often than not, I win enough bids to keep me busy, or I have clients from other sources, and I never use my connects for that month. Ouch! I basically give Elance money just to keep my account open.

Explaining other changes, here is the email notification that I have received this week:

One of the most requested features here on Elance is the addition of “rollover” Connects. As of yesterday, if you have a paid provider membership, your unused Connects will now rollover to the next month up to the number of Connects in your base membership plan.

That’s not all – we’ve also added a number of additional benefits to our membership plans.

First, Free memberships will enjoy a jump from 3 to 10 Connects per month, while our Individual Professional membership moves from 20 to 25 per month. Secondly, if you’re invited to a private job posting on Elance by an employer, it will no longer require Connects to submit a proposal. Finally, we’ve made the Teams feature accessible for free for both Small Business and Large Business members.

As part of this change, starting January 14, 2010, jobs with budgets greater than $1,000 require between two and four more Connects. Please review the updated Connects Help page for more information. Also at that time we’ll be rounding the membership fees to a flat $10, $20, and $40 per month from $9.95, $19.95, and $39.95, respectively.

For an in-depth look at our new Rollover Connects or our additional new features, head over to the Elance Blog for more information. Questions? Feel free to leave us a comment there as well.

If you are just starting out as a freelance writer, Elance is a good place to begin. For more information and freelance writing help, feel free to contact me.

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