How to be a successful Leapforce Agent

That’s great, you’ve been given a 6 month contract to begin working as a Leapforce Agent, now what happens?   After all your online “paperwork” is completed you can start working and earning money.

Much of the work you will do will be just like the applied part of the qualification exam.  Occasionally when there isn’t much work available, you will see some odd tasks in your Evaluation platform.  These tasks will have their own instructions to follow.  If the task is not very complicated the instructions will appear above the task itself.  If it is a complex task there will be a link to a pdf document that you can read to learn how to complete the task.  I recommend leaving the pdf open on your computer while you do the task, that way you can quickly refer to it when needed.

How to get good review scores

Leapforce reviews its agents’ performance monthly.  Most novice agents worry about getting good reviews.  There is a good chance that your first reviews won’t be very good.  Leapforce is aware of this and they will give you time to improve, but they do expect to see improvement in the first few months.  Leapforce will provide detailed explanations of their reviews of your evaluations.  When you get your review read the explanations carefully and learn from them.  There are also simulations on your rater home page that you can do to improve your skills.

You may occasionally disagree with the reviewer on how they interpreted the intent of the query, but you can’t argue about it so just learn from it and move on.  To be successful you have to learn how to think the way Leapforce thinks.  In order to get consistent ratings from all their workers they need us to all be thinking the same way, they aren’t looking for individuality.

How to monitor your speed

Another issue of concern to new workers is how to be sure that you are working fast enough.  Leapforce will have you change the time on your invoice if you work slower than their average time estimate.  But they don’t measure the time spent on each task individually, rather it is an average of all the tasks you’ve done in a month divided by the estimated time that should have been spent on all of those tasks.  So if you go too slow on some tasks it will even out as long as you work fast on others. 

It is difficult to keep track of your time while also trying to research and rate the webpages in your task. So it is best to not try to keep track of your time, but just be sure you are working efficiently. 

Some tips for working efficiently

•   Have everything you need nearby before you login to start work
•  Minimize distractions, turn off the phone, make sure everyone else in the house knows you are not to be disturbed when you are working
• If you find a fascinating website or video that you must spend more time on – bookmark it and come back later when you are not working
•  If something happens and you have to stop working for more than a few minutes, log out and log back in later
• If a particular type of task takes you consistently longer to do than their estimate, don’t do that type of task unless there is no other choice, or at least don’t do those very often

What to do if there isn’t enough work for you on Leapforce

Leapforce does have slow periods when there isn’t much work available.  We agents have no control over that, but there are things you can do to maximize the amount of work you are offered.

• Keep your review scores above average
•  Always try to qualify for any new project they announce.  Leapforce will often give agents the opportunity to qualify for new projects.  Qualifying means learning new instructions and guidelines and doing some tasks that are evaluated to see if you can follow the guidelines.  Although this can result in time spent reading the guidelines without pay, if you qualify you will have more work available to you than if you didn’t try to qualify.  The more tasks you are qualified to do, the more work will be offered to you.
•  Have a back-up plan like Mechanical Turk, Clickworker or freelancing to supplement your income when Leapforce work is not available.

Keeping in mind that I can’t discuss the specifics of how to complete particular tasks, is there anything that you would like me to discuss on the blog?

Thanks for reading Leaving Low Wages!

Passive Income!

What are Niche Sites?

There are people making money online through (relatively) passive income websites. These sites are often called Niche Sites because they focus on a narrow market and have a focused customer base.  They do it by setting up a website that is primarily focused on selling a product or specific product type; the site earns money when people buy the product.  Affiliate marketing is another way to sell a product by linking to a commercial site where the customer buys the product.  An affiliate marketer will have advertising and product information on the page with links to the product page of the seller.  When the user clicks on the link on the affiliate site and buys the product on the seller’s site, the affiliate earns a commission. Until the affiliate site begins showing up on the first or second page of search engine results it probably won’t make much money, so most of the work early on is getting traffic to the site.  Once the site is getting a good share of traffic it will earn income without a lot of additional work.

What is required to start an affiliate marketing or commercial site?

Website and Domain name

Although you could build an affiliate or commercial site from a free blog there are restrictions on how you can organize and monetize that blog site which will limit your ability to compete with other commercial sites.  A free blog format limits how you can organize the site; the blog format may not be appropriate or as user friendly as you want if you are selling products.

When choosing a domain name you want to include the main keywords that will direct people in the market you are targeting to your site.  Having the keywords in the domain name will also help your site show up on the first page of search engine results.  It is important to have your site on the first page of search results because as you probably know users rarely search past the first page and almost never go past the second page.

Keyword Research

The choice of keywords is important in getting users to your site.  You ideally want keywords that are searched fairly often, but you also don’t want keywords that have a lot of high-ranking competing sites.  A beginner shouldn’t start out trying to compete for keywords like “quick weight loss” or “cheap Viagra” there is just too much competition.  So you need to research your keywords to find just the right balance between a highly searched topic and low competition from other sites.

Content

Once you have chosen your topic and keywords you have to be able to write (or have someone else write) a substantial amount of content for your site.  This content should include useful information, product reviews, comparisons, product options, how to choose the best product, etc.  If your site is too thin on content it will eventually be downgraded by Google and other search engines and will show up lower on search engine results.

Creating Backlinks

Backlinks are links to your site from other related websites.  Backlinks are needed to provide users with another way to find your site, and backlinks are used by Google to determine the quality of your site.  Google uses both the number and of the backlinks to rate the quality of your site.  The higher the quality of your site, the higher Google will place it in the list of search results.

On-site SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Not as important, but also not to be ignored, is the process of optimizing your titles, headings, tags and content for the keywords you want to focus on to bring people to your site.

On-Site Ads and Affiliate Links

Google Adsense provides ads that are geared to the searcher and the site.  It is easy to sign up and get started https://www.google.com/adsense/signup.

Amazon has an affiliate program that allows you to link to any product sold on Amazon.com, and they sell almost anything.  You can get more information or sign up for the Amazon affiliates program here:  https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

Commission Junction also lists other commercial sites that have affiliate programs or that want to place banner ads on appropriate websites.  For more information go to: http://www.cj.com/

Niche Site Duel

I haven’t started a niche site yet, I’m still studying and learning the process, but one blogger that I follow, Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome.com, has started what he calls the Niche Site Duel.  He has challenged his readers to follow along with him as he starts a niche site and goes through the process step-by-step.  I’ve committed to joining in the Duel.  I don’t know what niche I’m going to target yet, I’m still in the keyword research process.  As I get deeper into the process I’ll be posting on each step in more detail.

Leapforce Qualification Exam Advice

Recently several people have asked me about the Leapforce qualification exam so I thought I’d write a short post to address this kind of question.  I can tell from what people are asking that the exam is very different now from the one I took 2 years ago, so my experience taking the exam probably won’t help any of you taking it now.  When I took the exam I was tested on only one type of evaluation task, and I don’t think they even use that task anymore, at least I haven’t seen it in over a year.  So the best I can do is give you general advice.

What Leapforce is testing is how well you can follow instructions, and how well you can understand and apply the guidelines when evaluating a landing page or website.  Therefore, the best advice I can give is to study the guidelines, go over the examples they provide until you understand what they want.  Do not try to apply your own criteria when making an evaluation—Leapforce wants everyone evaluating the same way so everyone must use the guidelines and not their own opinions.

It may seem like a lot of studying that you aren’t being paid for, but if you enjoy doing this type of work it will pay off in the end.  Leapforce pays the best of the work-at-home opportunities I’ve researched.  It’s good to have a back-up source of income when Leapforce doesn’t have enough work to keep you busy, but I still rely on my Leapforce income a lot.

To everyone taking the qualification exam:  Study hard and good luck!

Updated Information Available!  Read the most current information here: Explaining the Leapforce Qualification Exam

See my initial post on Leapforce and my 2nd year Leapforce Update

Freelancing From Home

If you have skills as a designer, writer, programmer, translator, or other business related tasks you can market your services, find work, submit your work and get paid online.  The internet has opened up the world for online workers.   This presents a challenge for American workers where our cost of living is high and we have to compete with workers in countries where the cost of living is very low.  However, when understanding and using correct English is essential, an employer may opt to pay more for a native English speaker.

I’ve been investigating the two most popular sites for finding freelance work, Elance and oDesk.  Both work in very similar ways, and there are differences and pros and cons of each. 

What does it cost to use Elance & oDesk?

Elance memberships have four levels; the lowest level is free but limits the number of skills you can show on your profile page and the number of proposals for jobs you can make per month.  oDesk is free to join, but there is a limit to the number of proposals a new member can make, that limit will be lifted after the member has taken a number of skills tests.

Even though oDesk is free to join, you will pay a commission on what you earn on the site.  oDesk takes 10% of your earnings.  Elance takes their cut as well, their commission is 8.75%.

Getting Started—Setting up your Profile

When you join one of these sites you first set up a profile where you list relevant data about yourself, your skills and experiences; it's like an online resume.  You can also post examples of your work for potential clients to see.  One difference between the 2 sites is that Elance has a limit on the number of skills you can display on your profile page based on your membership level.  

Both sites offer numerous skills tests that you can take and post the results on your profile page.  Both sites probably have the same number of skills tests but Elance has the edge in this area because their tests are neatly organized by category, making it easier to find the tests you want to take.

Searching for a job

You can search for jobs by category, keyword or skill on either site.  Job postings give a description of the job, the pay range either as an hourly rate or fixed price, when the job was posted, and some additional information about the client.  Again Elance has a better feature on their job postings; the posting includes how many proposals were already made and what the bid prices were.  This information allows you to decide whether to make your own proposal and at what price.

Applying for a job

On both sites there will be a link to submit a proposal for each job.  The proposal should include your ideas for the project, how your skills and experience match those needed to complete the job and what you propose to charge for your services.

After receiving your proposal the client may ask for an interview either by phone, skype or online.  Details about the project, pay and timelines for completing the work can be hammered out at that time.

Doing the work

Each site has their own method of tracking the work that contractors do.  Elance uses “milestones” where the worker records & uploads each phase of the project for the client to review.  oDesk has an online work tracker that the contractor must download to their computer.  This software takes screenshots while the worker is logged in and working on the job, it also allows the worker to record work at different phases.  Some workers see this as intrusive, but it does allow the client to be assured that the contractor is working during the time being billed.  Thus the work tracker is required for jobs that are paid hourly, but is optional for fixed fee jobs.

Getting Paid

Once the worker submits the final job the client is allowed a certain number of days to review the work and approve it.  If approved  the money is added to your account, which you can withdraw according to each company’s policies.

Elance has an escrow system that helps ensure that freelancers are paid for fixed price jobs.  The client puts the money in the escrow account and the contractor does not start work until the money is deposited there.  Once the job is approved, the money is released to the contractor.  oDesk does not have any guarantee that a contractor will be paid on fixed price jobs. Both Elance and oDesk guarantee payment when you use their work tracking systems.

Both Elance and oDesk provide dispute resolution services, they want the work to go smoothly to the benefit of all parties.

Feedback System

Both sites have feedback systems where clients can review the work of their contractors and vice versa.  This helps contractors know who are the best clients to work for and clients have more information to help them choose the right contractor for the job.  It is always a problem for a new client or contractor to break into the system with no feedback so a new contractor may have to agree to work for a low rate and do a terrific job in order to build up some good feedback.

Conclusion

There are pro’s and con’s to each site.  From looking through some of the jobs available it seems that there are more high quality jobs on Elance, but that may not be true for every category of work.  Some people (me included) might not feel comfortable with screenshots being taken every 6 minutes like the oDesk work tracker does.  As a writer, I spend time thinking and researching the topic before I begin writing, nothing will show in a screen shot of that, yet I’m still working.  But from a client’s perspective, they might like the security of knowing that they are getting the work they pay for.

The best jobs are going to go to the contractors that have been working on these sites for a while and have built up a good track record of work, so a new worker will be at a disadvantage.  An American worker will also be at a disadvantage because our cost of living is so much higher than workers in other countries, who can bid much lower for jobs.  I think this is less of a problem for writers because foreign workers usually do not have the English communication skills that an American or UK writer will, but for web design or programming the language won’t matter as long as the client and contractor can communicate effectively.

I haven't joined either site yet so I don't have any actual experience working for them.  It would be great to hear from readers who have experience with either Elance, oDesk or a similar site.  Please leave a comment if you'd like to share your experiences.