Outsoursing Design Activities

[billbenson]

I want to outsource some activities for my website. Its a 2000 plus item ecommerce site. I'll do all of the coding for now. Here are some of the things I would like to find someone to help me with:

Images: I'm missing a lot of images. In some cases there aren't any. I'd like to have someone go to the manufacturers web site and look for images (even if they are buried in a PDF), resize them and save them. No other image manipulation is required. Even just finding and saving the images is fine. I'll do the resizing. Its on the up and up; the manufacturer encourages using their images.

Database descriptions: The descriptions I have are from the manufacturer for the most part. I've modified about 30% of them. I'd like to give someone an excel sheet with the descriptions and have someone clean them up. For example some products come in sizes. Extra Large might be spelled out, XL etc. I want them all to be the same so search functions work better. A lot of cryptic terms should be spelled out to avoid confusion.

Intra site links. I'd like to put a link on each page for pdf's and other support material. I'd add the link to the actual page, but I'd like to know what page should be linked to on each page.

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I don't have a big budget for this. I just want some help on some of the simpler stuff. Will I be able to find someone for this? What will they charge and where should I look?

[vangogh]

I think it will depend on how much you're willing to pay as to whether or not you'll find someone. What you're describing is busy work so I wouldn't expect you to have to pay much, but you probably need to pay in the $10/hr range.

You should be able to find someone at that price. Seems like a good job for college students or Craig's List. I bet if you put an ad on Craig's List you'll have the job filled in a few days.

Will you need this ongoing? Or is it more a one time project? If it's a one time project you may want to estimate how long you think it will take and price the whole thing.

[billbenson]

Craigs List is the first thing I thought of. I think it would be an ongoing project as the manufacturer is always changing things. I could keep feeding work rather than try to get it all done at once so it would be ongoing.

Do you use contractors for your "busywork" VG?

[vangogh]

I don't quite have the same kind of busywork. Occasionally I do and I have a friend who can usually help, but most of the time my work isn't what I would outsource. Some days it's more busy work than others, but the kind of busy work just anyone could do. It's stuff I'd need to train someone to do and there's not enough to make it worthwhile.

I'm not opposed to the idea though, and I have some ideas that could help generate the kind of work I could outsource to someone else while making a little for finding the work.

Sent you a PM about this by the way.

[KristineS]

It is sort of busy work, and something that anyone with an eye for detail and the ability to pay attention could do easily. It would be a great summer job for a high school kid, or a great part time job for someone looking to pick up a little extra money.

I would advertise on Craigslist or in the local paper. Maybe contact the local college (if there is one in your area) and advertise there as well. You might even be able to find a college student intern who would be willing to do the work for credit. You never know until you try.