Originally Posted by Immersion

Talkfreelance needs something novel. Sites like dribbble and forrst are doing well as they combine discussion and more importantly excellent examples of coding/design. There is a sense of competition which TFL lacks, there is no reward for having 5 thousand posts. I'm not even talking about monetary reward, just something as simple as badges, new privileges or advertising. The bar needs to be raised for entry, and this may mean that lots of activity is again cut (not that it could get much worse) to prevent all the useless spam and get professionals on. The sites mentioned earlier such as Forrst were/are invite only and would only accept the best talent.

Some random ideas:
- More focus on badges for rewards (everyone likes to level up )
- Community blogs, have an editorial team that write and accept community articles. This could even just be suggestions for articles, things users won't to know about.
- Personal advertising, many people will come onto a forum and want to get their name out about their business. Find some way to link posting rewards with advertising privileges. (guest blog posts etc)
- Job board (but lets not make it free, if you want quality then you can't accept everything)
- Utilize social networking more. Competition where by tweeting a link will enter you into a draw to win some prize. But make it a good prize. For professionals winning $50 is hardly worth it, for me cash prizes are best to be avoided. Subscriptions and products are quite appealing (you may even get sponsors).
- Goodbye marketplace.