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TF development in 2006

Thread title: TF development in 2006
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01-23-2006, 07:59 PM
#11
DateinaDash is offline DateinaDash
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If you want my opinion where I see Talkfreelance.

> The best marketplace hands down out of ANY webdesign/development community, this is done by enforcing a few new policies, including not having threads bumped to the top upon replies, stricter advertisement limits (e.g one per every 14 days). Some additional services such as thread highlighting and I really like the idea of the "sold" feature. I also had the idea of combining a system like www.scriptlance.com has, instead of simply listing work and recieving offers, people would "bid" on it.

> Skin, I would hire the same designer who did Talkfreelance but I wouldn't change the "style/colours", I would make it 100% wide and include a better brand identity, more like an enhanced version with 728x90 sitewide ads and the like.

> Article system, like sitepoints, that's the site I have always tried to emulate, it works.

> Blogging, very popular, you could also have some feaured blogs on the index page or something.

> Freelancers directory, with premium sticky listings and what not.

I have alot more ideas, but that's what I see TF version 3 doing (in my eyes) a portal like site with alot more functionality, a better community and a much better marketplace!

01-23-2006, 08:12 PM
#12
Salathe is offline Salathe
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Originally Posted by jared
So basically you are suggestion little/no change? I think that is part of the whole reason Robson passed on the site was to grow and develop the site further, into more than just a simple forum.

I think web design is a big part of Freelancing don't you?

I'm confused as to what TalkFreelance should be in your eyes. Would you to elaborate? I am just curious of your view
Jared, of course I'll take a little time to elaborate on my points.

Little changes, baby steps if you will, would be preferable in my eyes than sweeping reform. If Robson/Zee prefer to change TalkFreelance's direction to something other than a "web design & webmaster" forum then some of the suggestions here might be a good start. Personally, I'd rather stick with the forum being the focal point of the community. Actually, not just a focal point but the only point to the community. I have banded a certain word around twice in as many sentences: Community. This is how I see TalkFreelance. We are a community of freelancers coming together to talk about our related interests. We are not all designers, not all programmers, not all marketers, consultants, copy writers, etc but we are all united under the freelance umbrella. This is why I take issue with the "web design & webmaster" labelling (I understand the labelling was purely for SEO).

Regarding your comment about web design being "a big part of Freelancing". Well, on this forum it is fact that most of our members are web designers (whether freelancers or otherwise). However that does not mean web design is a big part of freelancing 'out there' in the real world. Web design is just another slice of the pie that is being a contractor for a living (freelancing). I don't have facts and figures, but common sense judgement would hopefully make it clear that of all the industries out there to work in, web design is just another tiny fish in a very, very big sea. Does TalkFreelance want to concentrate on just web design (and webmastering) or do we want to invite other fish to our party?

Hopefully by now you've got at least an idea of my view concerning what TalkFreelance is (and should be). Every member here is entitled to their own view point, which in all probability is likely to differ from my own.

Thanks for reading,
Salathe

01-23-2006, 08:18 PM
#13
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Originally Posted by Salathe
Give up the silly notion of only being a "web design & webmaster" forum. Remember, we're TalkFreelance not TalkWebDesignAndWebmastering.
  • Blogs, no.
  • Articles, not a dedicated section: keep what we have in the forums.
  • Webmaster tools, no. Freelancer tools, maybe.
  • New skin, no.
  • [SOLD] feature for sales, yes.
  • vBulletin upgrade, yes - if only for improved security (and a bit more bloat).

My suggestion, KISS. I'm sure you know what that means.

Cheerio,
Salathe
If you know about SEO, you should know that getting the keyword your target audience search for in the title and description is absolutely key to people actually finding you in the search engines. So you need to target both A). What freelancers search for and B) What freelance customer search for.

That way you create an internet space where freelancers can meet potential customers. People do not search just for "freelance" they search for "freelance web designers", "freelance developers" etc etc. Therefore it is essential to have those keywords in your title and description to actually get found on the search engines - it pretty competitive out there and we need to take every opportunity we can get.

I would have thought that "Freelance" tools are very similar to "webmaster tools" ?? Freelancers develop websites, webmasters run them - both relate directly for tools relating to websites. EG if a freelancer is asked to do SEO for a customer, then would some tools to help with SEO not be an advantage?

01-23-2006, 08:26 PM
#14
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Webmaster tools could easily include such things as SEO tools, (inter)network tools, etc.
Freelance tools (IMO) would cater more for things like contracts, per-hour payment calculations, invoice tools, etc.

They're both very, very brief lists of what might be available but hopefully it gets my point across. Sure, a webmaster and a freelancer (whatever their career line) might use some of the same tools but there is a larger difference between the two than it seems you see. You even outline a key difference: "Freelancers develop websites, webmasters run them." That's actually a very big difference (to me).

With regards to your SEO statements. So you're going to include "web hosting" or "programming & databases", "advertising", "marketing", "legal help" in the page title's keyword list for topics/pages in the appropriate category?

01-23-2006, 08:36 PM
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As much as I would love to see a new skin for Talkfreelance, im not sure that it would be a change for the better, if you use the same designer and he can pull off the same look and feel then I would say yes. A portal type thing would be good, but as long as the forum home stays as the index, for example like youngcoders.com - An itegrated portal type thing.

As for things I would like to see - Well, I suppose I could really only think of one thing, being upgrade to the latest VB. I would have to agree with Salathe though, don't add blogs or anything like that, that's what blogging sites such as wordpress.com are for. When I see a forum that is over-modded with hacks with things such as blogs I think it looks a bit cheap, thus I usually don't join. However, I would like to see some form of 'featured' content go up on the forum main, like sitepoint has. For example "Featured article: How to bla...".

$0.02

01-23-2006, 08:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Salathe
Webmaster tools could easily include such things as SEO tools, (inter)network tools, etc.
Freelance tools (IMO) would cater more for things like contracts, per-hour payment calculations, invoice tools, etc.

They're both very, very brief lists of what might be available but hopefully it gets my point across. Sure, a webmaster and a freelancer (whatever their career line) might use some of the same tools but there is a larger difference between the two than it seems you see. You even outline a key difference: "Freelancers develop websites, webmasters run them." That's actually a very big difference (to me).

With regards to your SEO statements. So you're going to include "web hosting" or "programming & databases", "advertising", "marketing", "legal help" in the page title's keyword list for topics/pages in the appropriate category?
Yes, your idea for the above is a good idea - although you are obviously a bit limited with the title for number of words.

01-23-2006, 09:03 PM
#17
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Hi again,

The page title is obviously limiting, as you quite rightly point out, but having "TalkFreelance - Programming & Databases" would include the keywords for the P&D category topics. Nothing more (IMO) is needed. No need for "web design & webmaster" at all in that category, which is currently the case for all forum pages. Also, arguably, page content is more important to the SEs than just the page title anyway so placing keyword traps (headings tags, for example) with appropriate keywords would be better than stuffing the page title with lots of keywords. I don't see any heading elements in the source code.

Regards,
Salathe

01-23-2006, 09:05 PM
#18
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Upgrade vB version to 3.5.3
Blogs sound pretty good to me... but maybe you should make them so it's a portfolio instead of a blog, so we can show off our latest projects etc.

01-23-2006, 10:43 PM
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I wouldn't use a blog to be honest, so I could careless if TF got blogs for members.

01-23-2006, 10:43 PM
#20
derek lapp is offline derek lapp
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Originally Posted by Salathe
Give up the silly notion of only being a "web design & webmaster" forum. Remember, we're TalkFreelance not TalkWebDesignAndWebmastering.
  • Blogs, no.
  • Articles, not a dedicated section: keep what we have in the forums.
  • Webmaster tools, no. Freelancer tools, maybe.
  • New skin, no.
  • [SOLD] feature for sales, yes.
  • vBulletin upgrade, yes - if only for improved security (and a bit more bloat).

My suggestion, KISS. I'm sure you know what that means.

Cheerio,
Salathe
kudos.

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