Workpost Help and FAQ Page

  1. Why Free?
  2. Posting Work, How?
  3. Why Are My Work Posts Disappearing?
  4. Can I change my username?
  5. User Accounts
  6. Signing up and Messaging
  7. Site Layout
  8. Browsing
  9. Searching
  10. Sample Code For Directory Listings

Why Free Services?

People often ask how we can offer free services. Why would we want to do this? How can Workpost make money? The short answer is that there are many ways to generate revenue and create value for a brand. While advertising is one option, it is not the only way to make money.

For now, we're giving away as much as we can for free. The more people who are posting, searching and using Workpost, the more services we will be able to add in the future - for free. If we add pay services, they will be useful services that are expensive for us to provide. We intend to keep Workpost's basic services 100% free.

Posting Work

You can post work you want to have done by category and location once you've created a user account and are logged into the site. It's easy and we don't ask site users for much information. Either create a user account first and then create a post or create a post first and then create a user account at the end of the posting process. The choice is yours and you can choose when you sign up but you need to sign up for a user or pro account before you can post work.

A single post can appear in up to 5 different locations simultaneously by selecting locations with either your Shift (to select groups) and Ctrl keys (to select individual locations not next to each other). We included this feature because it's useful to be able to post in multiple locations and because many classified systems do not offer the ability to do this (for free, anyway). It does present some technical challenges on the back-end of the site but hopefully as the site grows we will be able to keep (and possibly expand) this feature.


Why Are My Work Posts Disappearing?

If you've posted SPAM or offensive content, don't be surprised if your posts are flagged and removed. Posts may also be flagged and removed if they are miscategorized.

Workpost.com has two sides. There's the posting system and the directory. In the (blue) posting system, people with work to be done can post work / jobs and get responses from people interested in doing the work.

In the (green) Workpost Directory, work seekers and pros can list "services offered" and business information and choose whether or not to have have this information published in the Workpost Directory.

We created the directory last July when we realized that many (if not, most) of the people visiting the site in early 2008 were pros looking for work. The directory system is designed to connect potential clients, employers to regular people who need work done. The review system build on top of the directory is designed to give potential clients and employers a sense of pros' skills, reputations and accomplishments.

That a business is willing to be reviewed and voluntarily listed in the directory says something about a business. Beyond this, based on user positive reviews, the best, most skilled and most qualified pros with the most postive reviews should rise to the top of the Workpost Directory listings. As we get more reviews and feedback, we'll revise the system to be as useful as possible.

Our posting system will provide pros in the directory with a steady flow of leads and work that people want to have done.

Unfortunately, it's confusing when pros post "services offered" in the work posting system. The posting system we have online (as of 01/30/09) is meant to only list WORK that needs to be done and work opportunities posted by employers and potential clients; not pros and service providers who are looking for work. Pros and businesses belong in the Workpost Directory.

We realize that some pros like (and even prefer) to post quick promotional ads but until we can create a good post filtering mechanism or find some other way to sort workposts from "services offered" posts, we need to only allow workposts on Workpost.com

Pros. Do you really want to keep posting "services offered" day after day like on most classified sites? Posting over and over again, trying to stay at the top of the list? Maybe you do but there must be more efficient ways to get noticed. With a Workpost Directory listing, you can post once and you're done.

So if you've got work to be done, go here to post work.

And if you're a work seeker looking for leads and new jobs, go here, create a pro account and include yourself in the Workpost Directory.


User and Pro Accounts

You can change just about any bit of information included in your user or pro account. It drives us nuts when we can't change basic things like the email address associated with online accounts so we made sure it was possible to do that with Workpost. The only bit of information that is difficult to change and that user accounts cannot change is the "Username" associated with an account. We need at least one bit of information that stays consistent.

The "Username" is also important because it determines the base URL for pro directory listings. For example, if the username for an account is "workpost" then the default web address for the pro directory listing will look like this:

http://www.workpost.com/?directory=workpost

Each "Username" is unique and no two site users can have the same username or URL in the Workpost Directory. As we add features to site and develop the web application that powers Workpost, we're probably going to give users the ability to customize their URLs. Until then, the "Username" will likely continue to function as a "base" location for pro account listings.


Signing up and Messaging

Always check the spam folders for any email account you use with Workpost. If you are having a problem signing up and do no receive a confirmation message or find that you cannot receive messages from other site users, it's likely that a spam filter caught the message. While we've taken steps to properly identify the mail and messages originating from this site (so that they will not be marked as spam), they still occasionally end up in spam folders. Spam and spam filters are a huge problem these days, so much so that we will probably add an internal messaging system to future versions of Workpost.


Site Layout

The Workpost site is generally designed to give users multiple ways to do the same thing. From searching to posting, we use a "locations" model where hitting search buttons will give different results depending on your location. For example, if you search from "USA" you get the first page of posts listed in the order they were posted from every state included in the system.


Browsing

You may determine your search location at any time by referring to the links in the upper right hand corner of the site or the title area above the central "content" area of the site (that most frequently changes).

Hit the search button to get results for your location. For example, if the title says "Welcome to Workpost Massachusetts" and "Massachusetts / USA" is displayed in the upper right corner and you hit search, you will bring up results from all areas of the state of Massachusetts. Currently, it is possible to search all "USA" locations at once though you may not find the results to be particularly useful.


Searching

At every point where users can browse, they can also search. As with browsing, you can select multiple locations to search at the same time using the Shift and Ctrl keys. Searching allows you to filter results and do more specific kinds of searches faster. For example, you can currently filter search results by whether or not contractors are licensed.


Can I change my username?

Yes but you can't do this via your account settings. Username changes are not something we'd like site users to be doing often but it is possible for us to change them for you. Please DO NOT just sign up with a second, nearly identical Workpost account. If you are interested in changing your username, please contact us first.


Sample Code for Directory Listings

This section will include sample code pros can use to customize and improve their directory listings...


Questions? Suggestions? Please contact us.