- Why Free?
- Posting Work, How?
- Why Are My Work Posts Disappearing?
- Can I change my username?
- User Accounts
- Signing up and Messaging
- Site Layout
- Browsing
- Searching
- Sample Code For Directory Listings
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This section will include sample code pros can use to customize and improve their directory listings...
Questions? Suggestions? Please contact us.