Here's some good advice for you with some DO’s and DON’Ts.

    A bid request is like an interview.  Tell the buyer why you think you can do this job.  Don’t tell them why you can do any job. You aren’t bidding on any job. You’re bidding on THIS job. 

    As a Coder on RAC, you take different roles during the process:

•  During the bid request, you aren’t a coder.  You’re a salesman.  Think like a salesman.  You are trying to successfully sell your services to a buyer.  Respect their time.  Buyers with high “non-action” ratio’s are serious about their bid requests.  You too, should be serious about your bid.  Don’t post a long, canned comment about who you are.  Buyers don’t care who you are.  That’s what your profile is for.  This is the Internet.  They can’t verify most of that stuff anyway.  They want to know that you can do the job.  Share with them some of your best projects.  If there is an example of it on the web, give them URL’s to go and view.  Get them excited in your work and they’ll get excited about you.  More often than not, I see coders leave a long canned comment with no bid or they leave a more personal comment without a bid or they will leave a comment and put their bid amount in the text of the comment.  Think about this… how many comments do you post on bid requests and the buyer never contacts you to ask you to post a bid?  This means you weren’t even considered for the project.  Wow!  You’re a coder.  You’re supposed to be a very intellectual being.  Let’s get logical.  Comments are for asking questions about the bid request that you aren’t sure of.  I, as a buyer, answer every one of those.  If you want to be considered every time you post on Rent a Coder, post a bid instead of a non-question comment.  This alone will make your sales soar.  I notice that the coders that are ranked in the top post bids where most of the new guys post comments.  Learn from the coders who are successful.  Reproduce what they are doing to be successful and you too will be successful.
   
• Once your bid has been accepted, you are now a coder, but also a customer service representative.  Think happy thoughts ;)  You want to complete the job as well as keep the buyer informed along the way.  You have agreed to do a job within a time frame and you are bound by that time frame, but if you think you are going to be a little past the deadline, if you have kept the buyer informed along the way and you let them know in advance that you think you might be late, they will probably understand and be okay with it.  They placed the bid request and hired you because they needed the project.  They just want it complete.  Of course, if you want that 10 rating, and I am sure that you do, you want to do everything that you can to meet that date.  Don’t procrastinate.  Start on their project immediately.  There is an old saying in sales… “Under promise and over deliver”.  This means make an effort to deliver before the due date.  How impressed do you think the buyer will be if you deliver before the due date?  If they have more projects after this one, you can expect that they will offer it to you on a “one on one project” bid type which saves you money.
   
• After the project is finished, you once again aren’t a coder.  You are now a PR person (public relations) and a subtle salesman.  Make a special effort to thank the buyer for giving you the opportunity for doing their project and tell them that you enjoyed working for them.  Let them know that you are available if they ever need you again.  Don’t beg for future projects.  Once a month, send the buyer an email telling them “hello” and tell them that you hope that they are doing well and that you don’t want to intrude and pester them, but you just wanted to check in and let them know that you are available if they need you.  If you have done any other projects for other buyers that are publicly viewable on Rent a Coder, let them know that you want to keep them informed of new projects that you have done so that they can continue to know your skill set.  Do this in one or two short sentences.  You should ask for the buyer’s permission on any projects that aren’t publicly viewable on Rent a Coder.  This entire email should be no more than just a few short sentences.  Buyers don’t have time to look at long emails and your goal is to get them to notice you and not pester them at the same time.

     On a final note, your honesty, ethics and honor should be of the utmost importance to you.  My father used to tell me over and over when I was a child, “A man’s word is his bond”.  Be honest to the buyers.  They will respect you.  Don’t lie or bend the truth about things like where you are with the project, if you borrowed code from somewhere like Planet Source Code or anything else.  Don’t ask a buyer on future projects to hire you outside of Rent a Coder.  You gave your word when you clicked that “I agree” button.  The buyer would have never found you had you not met on Rent a Coder.  They have taken the time and resources to create an infrastructure to allow you to find jobs that you can profit from.  They deserve the small portion that they make.  They also protect you because they take payment from the buyer in advance and then pay you upon completion of the project.  As long as you do everything that you have agreed to do, you can always feel comfortable that you will get paid.  Sure, there’s always that difficult buyer that you might struggle with, but be positive and look forward to the next one.  And think about this… if you weren’t honest enough to live up to your word and you’ve asked a buyer you’ve worked with before to work outside of Rent a Coder and they’ve agreed to, how long do you think that will work?  Two dishonest people typically part ways at some point and one or both ends up being screwed.  If Rent a Coder finds you out, you have no home to come back to.

     I wrote this because I am serious about my projects.  I have paid thousands of dollars over the past few months for projects on Rent a Coder and built many good relationships with coders.  I would prefer to do business with coders that I trust and have successfully worked with before. 

     Here is a last little bit of advice on bid amounts.  It is amazing to post a bid request and get 30 bids within one day ranging from $50 to $1500.  I won’t lie to you.  Price is one of the most important things I take into consideration when selecting a coder.  Most importantly is their past work examples (i.e.: URL’s).  I also look to see how many jobs they have done and check out their ratings and the URL’s to the rated projects in their profile.  I am going to choose the least expensive coder with the best capabilities and the best rating.  If you are new to Rent a Coder, you might have to do a few jobs for a lower bid to establish a rating.  As the quantity of jobs you get increases, you should be able to begin bidding higher.  If most of the jobs you have done are for $50, it will be harder for you to get a $500 job right away, but as you do more jobs, you’re ranking will increase and so will the demand for your work.  Always let demand determine your pricing.  If you aren’t getting any jobs, maybe you are bidding too high.  You will have to decide if you are in this to make money or if you are just playing the lottery hoping that your big job will come in.

     This advice was made available to you for free.  It may very well be worth what it cost you.  Hopefully, it will help make you a success on Rent a Coder and make Rent a Coder a better place for us buyers at the same time.  I wish you success.

Sincerely,
Matthew Griffith