Friday, August 26, 2011

Review of Freelancer.com & SEO Services

We needed Search Engine Optimization (SEO) at JAT to improve our organic search. So, being a start-up, we couldn't to hire a full-fledge internet marketing company that charges over $1,000 monthly fees. Hence, the cheapo me used Freelancer.com to search for quality and cost-efficient SEO services from experts as far as where-else but India.

It is a pretty easy process to post your project, taking less than 10 minutes of your time. Start by making a user registration. Following that, you can post a project for all freelancers to view and start bidding. Once your project is approved by Freelancer.com, you will start receiving notifications and bids from bidders. Try to be as specific as possible in your project description in order to get an accurate quote.

After 1001 bids (ok, I'm exaggerating, maybe 101 bids) over a 7 days period, you will find yourself confused with every bidder's pitch & description. I finally chose one with the most reasonable price bid (not necessarily the lowest), prowling of bidder's company profile & websites, Skype conservations.

After you've chosen your freelancer, you will have to assign the successful bidder as the winner of your project. There is a 3USD fee charged by Freelancer.com Following that, you can make a milestone payment to your successful bidder according to your agreement with the successful bidder. This milestone payment will be kept in the system, and only to be released when the bidder has achieved the milestone achievement. This helps to ensure protection for both parties.

After 1 week, I must say, this guy does the job. Our unique visitors and enquires have definitely doubled. Its definitely getting more exciting!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Furry Friends

I've been having an immense compassion for furry animal friends as of late. It all started when I caught a documentary 'Good Morning Kalimantan' on a Garuda flight from Bali back to Singapore. The documentary features Chanee, French zoo-keeper who left his country to help in the conservation of Gibbons and other primate animals in the island of Kalimantan, Bornero, Indonesia. From then on, this stayed at the back of my mind.

Until recently, I'm evoked of compassion for our furry friends with the movie 'Planet of the Apes'. It may be a Hollywood movie, with all the specil effects and what maybe, yet you cannot help but feel the strong connection between a primate and the human. The earlier wouild very likely be the closest animal you get to a human being. This reminded me of Chanee and I've been paying close attention to his blog and the Kalaweit program. For 20 years, he's been fighting for the conservation efforts of all animals and mainly gibbons on Kalimantan, through a radio channel. What an ingenious idea!

Today, I chanced upon another Non-profit organization as reported in Jakarta Globe: Bali Adoption & Rehabilitation Centre (BARC) for dogs aka I Love Bali Dogs. This is set up by Linda Buller, an Australian artist living in Bali who is fighting for the animal rights of furry friends in Bali. Often, these furry friends are stolen for sale, traded as dog FOOD, killed as ceremonial sacrifice, dumped in rubbish dump, run over by vehicles. I remember seeing so many stray dogs in Bali, fighting with other dogs to guard their territory, or just roaming the streets looking for food. There was a white mutt sitting at our dining table, he/she was wheezing throughout, and he/she looked like he/she had a bad front hind leg. It was painful to see the sadness in his/her eyes. BARC offers sponsorship and virtual adoption programs for anyone willing to help these furry friends from Bali.

Having said all this, if you are reading this post, please do check out the attached organizations and websites. Help with a donation, purchase an item, spread the word, LIKE them on facebook or simply send words of encouragement to the relentless volunteer workers who are fighting the daily battles for what they believe in.

Last but not least, just to share with you one of my favorite videos from Kalaweit/Chanee:


The orangutan rescue / Le sauvetage de... by kalaweitprogram