Please NOTE:
I will not consider "canned" bids.  They will be deleted/ignored.  I do not need to know how many programmers you employ, or how many websites you have built.  What I need to know is 3 very simple things:

1) have you read the entire project?
2) can you do it, partially and/or in it's entirety?
3) how much will it cost me?

If you post a canned bid on this project, you are guaranteeing yourself that you will NOT be considered.  Fair warning :)



Thank you for taking the time to read this project description.  Please read it in it's entirety.  I have made every effort to be as EXACT as possible in describing the features that I want.  There are a handful of features that I must have, and there are some that I would like to have ...and there are some that I may not have thought about yet.  Please bear this in mind when bidding on this project!

What I want is a combination of all the existing freelance sites, to some degree.  My favorites are RentACoder and GetaFreelancer, so I will predominately focus on those, since I am most familiar with them.  My site will be cheaper, easier to use, and more fun for both clients and providers.  The site will mainly be focused on coding (like the above sites) but I will choose to call the service providers "providers", as that is what they are.  If you are a voice talent actor, and found a job on RentACoder, I don't think you'd want to be constantly referred to as a "coder".  However, the actor, the coder, the designer ...they're all providers.



First of all, the ground rules...

1) I personally don't care if you use an existing script, or you code this 110% by hand.  As long as it is a) legal and b) quality, that's what I care about!  Whatever you use, it must be flexible enough to be modified down the line as I see fit, whether by you, or another php programmer.  In other words, no isolated, "no-one's-ever-seen-any-code-like-this" kind of stuff :)

2) you make your development boundaries clear from the beginning.  If you can do enough coding to build the site, but can't tweak it to my specs or requirements, then tell me.  I will pay you for the work you do, and we can part company on good terms.  I would rather pay 3 people to complete 3 major mini-projects, then to overpay one person for work they thought they could do, then end up in arbitration, etc.  Nobody wins.  If you bid on this project, and can only do (for example) the e-mail piece that I'm asking for, tell me.  I will still consider you, and you might actually save me some money!

3) be 110% honest with me, at all times - if you can't do it, you can't do it.  I'm a coder, too! :)

4) you communicate with me ...a LOT!  The last project I ran on RAC, I had to e-mail the coder 15-20 times in a 14-day period with no responses, AFTER they told me the project would be completed in 30 minutes!  So...you must be willing to work back and forth with me, either via RAC or Yahoo IM, or e-mail, to bring my "vision" to reality.  If you go more than 48 hours without communicating with me through one of the above methods, I *WILL* cancel the project and give it to another bidder.  Can you tell how important this is to me?

5) I like to be involved at every step of the project.  I won't interfere, but I need to know your progress.  Ideally, I would like to give you access to the site (non-used, existing domain, so no worries about screwing anything up) and be able to go to that site at any time and see how things are coming along.

6) you must do quality work.  I'm a novice/intermediate php coder and can find my way around a SQL database.  In other words,  I know you may specialize in one particular field.  Be the best at it!  I expect nothing less.

7) I will provide you all the information you need to develop this site for me.  You will be given a temporary, but dedicated, FTP login that will give you access to what you need.  I will provide all the DB connection info for you as well.  If you need to make a "host change", however, I will need to know what that change is, why you need it, and then I will log in to my hosting account and make the change for you.  Everything else, you will have access to do.

8) When bidding, bid as low as you are willing to go.  I will consider the following (in order) when choosing my coder:
a) bid price
b) feedback (yes, I will read them)
c) previous projects (yes, I will check them)
d) your ability to communicate properly

To point 'D' above ....if you are not a native-English speaker, that is fine.  Please at least have moderately understandable broken English.  I can deal with that.  If I have to spend all my time deciphering what the hell you just e-mailed me, we're going to have problems.

9) I will set a reasonable time frame for this project.  I do not HAVE to launch on any date...I just want to get this done, as I'm very excited about it!

10) If you do an exemplary job and/or finish the project WAAAYYYYY ahead of schedule, I *will* give you a bonus.  I believe that great coders deserve great bonuses, and I'm all about showing appreciation for hard work and dedication!

11) Lastly, if you have an existing (similar) project that you have done, or can show me a demo of this type of site, you will move towards the top of my list.  I don't want to see your pretty portfolio.  Show me something relevant.  When I need a photo gallery site, I'll look for one.  This is a freelancer site.  I need someone who is 100% dedicated to making this project STELLAR!

I assure you that, if the project goes as planned, I have the marketing savvy, knowledge and connections to make this site BIG!  If you impress me (hard to do, by the way), I will even consider giving you either a permanent paid membership as a provider (no fees, ever!) or perhaps a permanent "Designed by...." link on every page.  Again, I reward those who do a good job!



Now, onto the good stuff!  Here's some of the features I like about existing freelance sites, and would like to see integrated into my new freelance site:

Here is an e-mail that GetAFreelancer sends me throughout the day... for the most part, I really like this format for new project notifications.



Note that the new projects are:
1) specific to the coders "expertise" settings
2) very clean, easy to read
3) include a direct link to go to the project page

I want this style of notification, with a few VERY minor changes.

Instead of:
Slick website design (WP platform) - (Budget: $300-1500, Posted by vobla73 at 08/15/2007 at 8:19 EDT, Jobs: Web
Design, Website Design

I would like to see a better formatted e-mail notification, as shown below:

for HTML e-mail users:
Project: Slick, website design (WP platform)  (the URL should not be displayed, but embedded into the project name)
Budget: $300-1500
Posted by: vobla73
Posted at: 08/15/2007, 8:19 EDT
Jobs: Web Design, Website Design

for text-only e-mail users:
Project: Slick, website design (WP platform)
Budget: $300-1500
Posted by: vobla73
Posted at: 08/15/2007, 8:19 EDT
Jobs: Web Design, Website Design
http://www.myfreelancesite/projects/projectpage.html

If you'd rather contact me directly, please e-mail me here and we'll talk.