For some time, I have seen a very bad attitude towards Twitter, which is that "If you don't follow me, I'm not going to follow you". I guess these people didn't get the memo that Twitter isn't Facebook. There is no guarantee or even requirement for reciprocal following. That's not where Twitter's strength lies.
Recently, I came across this blog post, sadly retweeted by Social Media promoter Alexandra Samuel (see the tweet), that lists the top ten websites that let you unfollow those who don't follow you back. How this benefits anyone, I have no idea.
What people should be focusing on are two things with their Twitter presence:
1. Find quality people to follow. Really when it comes down to it, the average user stands to gain much more from those they follow versus what they will be sending out or from those who follow them. Rather than unfollowing people who don't follow you, concentrate on following people who provide you with great information you can use. On the same note, if you find people you follow who aren't posting information useful to you, unfollow them. The more tidy your follower list is, the more you will get out of your Twitter account.
2. Send out a quality feed. There are many blog posts and websites that discuss this. The main point is, if you want someone to follow you, you need to give something back -- and simply following them isn't enough. Twitter isn't a popularity contest.
Have fun with Twitter, use it to promote yourself and gain valuable information, but don't make it about followers. If that's your goal, close your Twitter account and head back to the safety of Facebook.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Monday, April 04, 2011
Where Are All The Perl Jobs?
My current job search has been an interesting one, especially when it comes to jobs in one of my more familiar programming languages, Perl. Four years ago when I was scanning the job boards, Perl jobs were more common and I got hired specifically for that skill.
During the past four years, I went on a number of tangents, so when returning to the job market, I went back to my Perl roots. Surprise! I can hardly find a single one. Everyone's posting for PHP developers. Even the "P" in LAMP has become PHP.
I customized a chart to pull the job postings I'm most interested in, for Perl, Javascript, and PHP developers.
My guess is that Perl is still there, as are the jobs, but they are either so drowned in other postings that they are hard to find, or more likely, developers are found without the need for postings by looking within an organization or by the means of networking.
Looks like I'll be adding PHP to my skills set though, and soon.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Elance: Starting Out
Earlier this year, I decided to give freelancing a try, and chose Elance.com as my source for finding jobs. Signing up was simple, and with only a few hoops to jump, I was browsing jobs, ready to bid on exciting projects.
My hypothesis was that I would be able to pick up a steady stream of jobs, from serious customers ready to launch their projects quickly. I found out otherwise, but in the end, I did manage to break through the newbie phase. Here's how it happened.
To be sure, there are tons of projects to bid on. From small to large, covering every aspect of software development (the area I'm interested in -- there are many other categories of jobs), and all with their own budget and project description.
The description is probably the most problematic part of the equation. Often they are vague (high level, no details), unrealistic ("I need an app just like Angry Birds. Budget $500"), or just don't make any sense. After a while, you get to realize within 10 seconds of reading whether there's some meat to the project or whether it's time to move on to the next one.
The customers you'll run into are as varied and unpredictable as the project descriptions. It pays to check their profile when considering a proposal. Find out how many projects they've actually followed through with, and what kind of feedback and rating they have -- it works both ways. Another good indication of seriousness is whether or not they have a verified method of payment. Considering how simple PayPal is, not having this most basic step should send at least a small warning flag.
As a new member on freelance sites, you have no rating, no feedback, and are up against bidders who have tons of feedback and display five or six figure incomes from jobs on the site. Winning your first bid can seem difficult, and likely will be. Here's some suggestions that might help.
The objective is simply to win a bid, complete a project, and get positive feedback. Look for jobs that are simple and clearly stated. Jobs with lots of bids reduce your chances, so while you can bid on these, don't make it your focus. Also, try to watch for local business. You may gain a slight bit of trustworthiness if you live anywhere near the customer. It is highly important to be professional, and keep good contact during the bidding process (good advice at all times, really). Once you make a positive connection with a client, getting the first job will be easier.
In the end, with a bit of luck perhaps, you'll get the first job. It's a struggle, but once you have it, you're off the ground.
After many bids, and a few successful projects, I had a pretty good idea of where things were going with freelancing. Full marks for fun and enjoyable work. Low marks for making a good income from it.
Looking at my bid history, you wouldn't think this to be the case. I bid on enough work to keep me busy full time, even if I only won some of the jobs. Besides just not winning bids, I found that many customers simply didn't select a bidder. Others take weeks to decide, and you may or may not get the job. Still others simply cancel the job for various reasons.
I think freelancing via Elance and other websites is possible if you do things right and can put the time and effort into it. You certainly need to be bidding constantly and probably for bigger jobs a lot of the time. Consistency is a big factor too, as the longer you're around, the more you'll be trusted, and the more likely you'll be to get repeat business.
Freelancing has been a great experience and one that I want to continue. It won't be my full time income anytime soon, but over time I could see it becoming a bigger part of what I do, or just a really great source of revenue on the side.
The next step: Building the client base, and refining the process of making bids to be more successful.
My hypothesis was that I would be able to pick up a steady stream of jobs, from serious customers ready to launch their projects quickly. I found out otherwise, but in the end, I did manage to break through the newbie phase. Here's how it happened.
Projects
To be sure, there are tons of projects to bid on. From small to large, covering every aspect of software development (the area I'm interested in -- there are many other categories of jobs), and all with their own budget and project description.
The description is probably the most problematic part of the equation. Often they are vague (high level, no details), unrealistic ("I need an app just like Angry Birds. Budget $500"), or just don't make any sense. After a while, you get to realize within 10 seconds of reading whether there's some meat to the project or whether it's time to move on to the next one.
Customers
The customers you'll run into are as varied and unpredictable as the project descriptions. It pays to check their profile when considering a proposal. Find out how many projects they've actually followed through with, and what kind of feedback and rating they have -- it works both ways. Another good indication of seriousness is whether or not they have a verified method of payment. Considering how simple PayPal is, not having this most basic step should send at least a small warning flag.
Getting the first project
As a new member on freelance sites, you have no rating, no feedback, and are up against bidders who have tons of feedback and display five or six figure incomes from jobs on the site. Winning your first bid can seem difficult, and likely will be. Here's some suggestions that might help.
The objective is simply to win a bid, complete a project, and get positive feedback. Look for jobs that are simple and clearly stated. Jobs with lots of bids reduce your chances, so while you can bid on these, don't make it your focus. Also, try to watch for local business. You may gain a slight bit of trustworthiness if you live anywhere near the customer. It is highly important to be professional, and keep good contact during the bidding process (good advice at all times, really). Once you make a positive connection with a client, getting the first job will be easier.
In the end, with a bit of luck perhaps, you'll get the first job. It's a struggle, but once you have it, you're off the ground.
A full time income?
After many bids, and a few successful projects, I had a pretty good idea of where things were going with freelancing. Full marks for fun and enjoyable work. Low marks for making a good income from it.
Looking at my bid history, you wouldn't think this to be the case. I bid on enough work to keep me busy full time, even if I only won some of the jobs. Besides just not winning bids, I found that many customers simply didn't select a bidder. Others take weeks to decide, and you may or may not get the job. Still others simply cancel the job for various reasons.
I think freelancing via Elance and other websites is possible if you do things right and can put the time and effort into it. You certainly need to be bidding constantly and probably for bigger jobs a lot of the time. Consistency is a big factor too, as the longer you're around, the more you'll be trusted, and the more likely you'll be to get repeat business.
The next step
Freelancing has been a great experience and one that I want to continue. It won't be my full time income anytime soon, but over time I could see it becoming a bigger part of what I do, or just a really great source of revenue on the side.
The next step: Building the client base, and refining the process of making bids to be more successful.
Monday, March 21, 2011
How Much Is Your App Worth?
App pricing is not a new topic, but after reading this article on Cannonade.net, I decided to share my experience with app price testing. The article I'm referring to discusses the creation of relatively simple apps which still take many hours to develop and tweak. After all the work a developer puts into an app of this type, they turn around and ask themselves, "how much will people pay for this app?"
My first app, iCarc, fell into the same category. After many lunchtime and evening hours, I was ready to submit to the App Store, and launched it at the $1.99 price point. I got one review (read it here), which clearly stated that $0.99 would be a better value. They did have some grounds for their comments and since then I have improved the app considerably, but the point is that anything over a dollar and users begin to get edgy. I believe I actually dropped the price for a while after that too.
Coming from an internet marketing background, I knew that price testing is important, so I decided to find out exactly what users were willing to pay. The process was simple. Starting on a Monday, I set the price of the app to $4.99 and left it that way until the following Monday, at which point I dropped it by a dollar. Five weeks went by and I was back down to $0.99.
The results told me exactly what I needed to know:
1. I actually made sales at the $4.99 level, and indeed at every level below, so the revenue was about the same, just less buyers.
2. $1.99 and $0.99 sold the same number of copies.
iCarc is geared towards a fairly niche market, so I decided that having more buyers was better than having a few at a high price. Also, since $1.99 and $0.99 picked up the same number of sales, I realized that it wasn't the price that was the factor, only the interest in the product.
Ever since, I've been confident in the $1.99 price point. Maybe that's what it comes down to for developers -- having the confidence in their products, knowing what they are worth, and sticking to their prices. If you have a quality app that people want, don't be afraid to charge a little more for it.
My first app, iCarc, fell into the same category. After many lunchtime and evening hours, I was ready to submit to the App Store, and launched it at the $1.99 price point. I got one review (read it here), which clearly stated that $0.99 would be a better value. They did have some grounds for their comments and since then I have improved the app considerably, but the point is that anything over a dollar and users begin to get edgy. I believe I actually dropped the price for a while after that too.
Coming from an internet marketing background, I knew that price testing is important, so I decided to find out exactly what users were willing to pay. The process was simple. Starting on a Monday, I set the price of the app to $4.99 and left it that way until the following Monday, at which point I dropped it by a dollar. Five weeks went by and I was back down to $0.99.
The results told me exactly what I needed to know:
1. I actually made sales at the $4.99 level, and indeed at every level below, so the revenue was about the same, just less buyers.
2. $1.99 and $0.99 sold the same number of copies.
iCarc is geared towards a fairly niche market, so I decided that having more buyers was better than having a few at a high price. Also, since $1.99 and $0.99 picked up the same number of sales, I realized that it wasn't the price that was the factor, only the interest in the product.
Ever since, I've been confident in the $1.99 price point. Maybe that's what it comes down to for developers -- having the confidence in their products, knowing what they are worth, and sticking to their prices. If you have a quality app that people want, don't be afraid to charge a little more for it.
Hello, World!
This is the first post to andrewhoyer.blogspot.com for testing purposes. If successful, please see all of the blog posts that follow!
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