SEO & Writing competition to win a share of US$15,000!!

Public Clarification Board

• 

  coolhandluk3

  • 8 years ago

  The text on the winning site is appalling and something my four year-old son could write. Freelancer, you should be embarrassed. Granting a win to such a shoddy piece of work is nothing short of abysmal..... Hang your heads in shame

  • 8 years ago
• 

  JoaoCorreia1977

  • 9 years ago

  How could number 1 be number 1 with at least 3 grammar mistakes in 5/6 lines and poor sentence structuring?! I didn't even participate, but was curious to check the winning submission. This is just a good example of how to glorify of mediocrity. GAAAAAAH!

  • 9 years ago
• 

  chinnapd007

  • 9 years ago

  All of my contents deleted by freelancer.com, Very very sad, I worked very hard for them, Wrong decision by freelancer.com.I made some contents with 100% Original, Unique and Better than freelancercare.com.

  • 9 years ago
  View 1 more message
  1. 

     InvestRelease

     • 9 years ago

     I agree @joannamc there were many wrong decisions by Freelancer in this contest, but disqualifying chinnapd007 wasn't one of them. Chinna if you paid for some of your entries then those freelancers gave you copywritten content.

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     brainstormforce

     • 9 years ago

     :|

     • 9 years ago
• 

  junebug042

  • 9 years ago

  A lot of people would be able to do better than Freelancercare.com.

  • 9 years ago
• 

  Coriakin

  • 9 years ago

  I'm very disappointed with what happened, particularly with the overall quality of the top placer. I wasn't really expecting to win, but I'm disturbed that my entry apparently wasn't even checked by the contest organizers. If Freelancer.com is indeed from Australia, then no one from there even visited my site. I just checked my stats, and since putting up the site I've had zero visitors from Australia.
  Which leads me to conclude a couple of things: new freelancers or those with free membership were generally ignored in this contest, or those with low site rankings were all ignored.
  Even though, congratulations to the 2nd & 3rd placers, as well as the honorable mentions. I'm not disheartened though, and will consider this as a bump in the road...but a bump with a very large "WTF" signpost on it.

  • 9 years ago
  1. 

     mercymathews

     • 9 years ago

     @Coriakin- we hear you brother, but there's not much we can do about this bump. There are no answers coming our way. Freelancer did say they could change the rules at any time and it's quite obvious that they did. We'll just have to put this rather sour episode behind us and move on.
     
     I just hope they'll listen to all this feedback and be more careful when wording, handling and judging their contests in the future. Somehow, I don't think they'll want their registered users to try other freelance sites.
     
     @Freelancer.com - if you're listening - I've been with you guys since 2006 and I'm in your Top 10 list, so this is said with the best of intentions- we're not upset that we didn't win. We're not sore losers. We just wish the judging was based on the stated rules with all 4 parameters given equal importance. Hopefully our collective feedback will reach you and make a difference for future contests that you open.

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     monica99

     • 9 years ago

     @ Coriakin - I totally agree with you!

     • 9 years ago
• 

  chinnapd007

  • 9 years ago

  there?

  • 9 years ago
• 

  ronshea

  • 9 years ago

  life is good wheres the money

  • 9 years ago
• 

  daniel1024

  • 9 years ago

  Congratulations to Eunus Hosen and the second and third prize winners.
  
  Though I must admit that I am also disappointed with the results, well what can I do?
  It is what it is.
  
  I'd like to thank the positive participants for the nice conversations. Matt Barrie, for this opportunity.
  Chris Brogan and ProBlogger Darren Rowse, for at least replying to my inquiry about guest posting.
  
  All my real friends and supporters on Google plus and facebook.
  
  Contest is over so I can now say this: Please pray for my grandfather Rafael Sr.,
  he has Cancer.
  
  Our family can take care of it from the financial end, we just need your prayers.

  • 9 years ago
  View 5 more messages
  1. 

     riana22

     • 9 years ago

     I'll keep him in my prayers.

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     daniel1024

     • 9 years ago

     Thanks Riana22

     • 9 years ago
• 

  zabatoto

  • 9 years ago

  Freelancer is the best possibility to win good money :) go forward :) you are the best

  • 9 years ago
  1. 

     junebug042

     • 9 years ago

     Thanks Zabatoto, we all appreciate your statement.

     • 9 years ago
• 

  skyn3t

  • 9 years ago

  I was not part of the contest as I was late but now am happy for not taking part as you picked the winners based on pure SEO. The first prize winner freelancercare.com was registered on 23th May 2011 and hence it got the top rankings as its dedicated to freelance.
  
  As @xgaming2012 pointed below the competition was for one article and not for the full website. Those honorable mentions deserved the first 3 prizes and you should have given $100 each to all those dedicated sites.
  
  Also, i bet most of the dedicated sites wont be there for long, so you will lose all those backlinks in future as they were created only for competitions while those honorable mentions are authority sites.

  • 9 years ago
  View 3 more messages
  1. 

     maheshone

     • 9 years ago

     That's what I have said...

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     junebug042

     • 9 years ago

     Yeah . . . more like fairy and squarey! They should have written their description clearer to show that it was a SEO writing contest, not a SEO and writing contest, thereby implying that they both carried equal weight.

     • 9 years ago
• 

  junebug042

  • 9 years ago

  Parts were misleading. Permit me to bullet the following:
  
  - ". . .great content writer OR expert at SEO . . ."
  Implies that if you don't have the SEO super skills and decades of experience of
  the computer programming majors and internet gurus in the contest, you have a chance.
  
  - ". . . publish on site/blog OR create new site . . ."
  Most were satellite websites, not blog websites. If this affects your ratings, clarify.
  
  - ". . . judged on the following: Content . . ."
  If SEO has highest priority, state as such. If not, writing and other criteria should weigh the same.
  
  - ". . provide in PSD format"
  It took me 45 wretched minutes to upload my file until I changed to JPG!
  
  Very disheartening.

  • 9 years ago
• 

  mercymathews

  • 9 years ago

  Freelancer.com- although I respect your decisions, it's strange that a 'writing' contest grand prize winner would have phrases such as 'Hay Guys', 'want to fire you boss?' and 'Let your expectations a life', in it :). Maybe next time, you should leave the 'writing' bit out if it's only a SEO contest.

  • 9 years ago
  View 16 more messages
  1. 

     InvestRelease

     • 9 years ago

     @Atomic Yeah I got it. It has to clear 2 weeks. My daughters bday.

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     mercymathews

     • 9 years ago

     @IR- my twins will be eight on July 20th :) I hope your daughter has a great b'day!

     • 9 years ago
• 

  maheshone

  • 9 years ago

  Got the $100 today for honorable mention.... when I tried currency converter its says... (1 USD = 51.498889 INR) when the current exchange rate is 54+. WTH?

  • 9 years ago
• 

  alexx82

  • 9 years ago

  "Rules
  Your content must be original, unique and of high quality."
  
  http://copyscape.com/view.php?o=47796&u=http%3A%2F%2Fhome-incomebd.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F06%2Ffreelancer.html&t=1341342303&s=http%3A%2F%2Ffreelancercare.com%2F&w=140&i=1&r=2
  
  Nice job Freelancer.com!!!

  • 9 years ago
  View 5 more messages
  1. 

     InvestRelease

     • 9 years ago

     @s0mebody Correct, but that wasn't the original content of DevTeam's submission. They changed it in the middle of judging because Matthew and others pointed out errors. They are even posted in this message board saying that they changed it 2 days before judging.

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     AtomicApps

     • 9 years ago

     Wow. So FreelancerCare was using copied content? Although I'm really grateful that I ranked in the contest, I think something has to be done about this. Plagiarism is illegal, guys.

     • 9 years ago
• 

  junebug042

  • 9 years ago

  Parts were misleading.
  
  Permit me to bullet the following:
  
  - ". . .great content writer OR expert at SEO . . ."
  
  Implies that if you don't have the SEO super skills and decades of experience of
  the computer programming majors and internet gurus in the contest, you have a chance.
  
  - ". . . publish on site/blog OR create new site . . ."
  
  Most were satellite websites, not blog websites. If this affects your ratings, clarify.
  
  - ". . . judged on the following: Content . . ."
  
  If SEO has highest priority, state as such. If not, writing and other criteria should weigh the same.
  
  - ". . provide in PSD format"
  
  It took me 45 wretched minutes to upload my file until I changed to JPG!
  
  Very disheartening.

  • 9 years ago
• 

  joannamc

  • 9 years ago

  I think that Freelancer.com have just made a career move and given themselves a change of identity. I am sure that it will bring them a steady income but their reputation will be tarnished in the eyes of any quality English/US writers. If I was looking to hire a writer as a freelancer and I saw the article which, in Freelancer.com's opinion, was the best that they have to offer, I would certainly have a look somewhere else. I understand that this was also an SEO competition, but, I personally don't want to be associated with a marketplace with such low standards when it comes to the end product. I shall move on to somewhere more professional with better quality control and standards and leave Freelancer.com in the world of "cheap" to continue to drag down the quality of the world wide web.
  My congratulations to second and third place... you should have been first and second!

  • 9 years ago
  View 13 more messages
  1. 

     CRReferrals

     • 9 years ago

     @Joan - You should have been winning with your entry. They got 2nd and 3rd place right, but this is a disgrace. I suggest you do what we did and move over to Elance. Turns out that the grand prize winner was also using copied work as another user uncovered above.... Sorry for the slap in the face to you and so many others who actually took the rules of the "contest" to heart.

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     joannamc

     • 9 years ago

     funny you should mention Elance! I have been registered with them for a while but never actually taken any work through them - but strangely enough I went back there this morning and bid on something - just to see how it pans out! See you there!

     • 9 years ago
• 

  monica99

  • 9 years ago

  And Freelancer.com is the one who is talking about sticking to unique content?? Come on.... SHAME!

  • 9 years ago
• 

  alexx82

  • 9 years ago

  how about this?
  it is unique content on http://freelancercare.com/???
  check this:
  http://copyscape.com/view.php?o=47796&u=http%3A%2F%2Fhome-incomebd.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F06%2Ffreelancer.html&t=1341342303&s=http%3A%2F%2Ffreelancercare.com%2F&w=140&i=1&r=2

  • 9 years ago
• 

  sankalp

  • 9 years ago

  How many of you can feel that freelancer.com has bid to BUY freelancercare.com for $10000 ?
  
  A good domain name. Gives a feeling of "some sort of support" site.
  The site's SEO is almost done.
  The site ranks well, even for poor articles. Let the high quality flow in and see..
  The links to the support are now missing from freelancer.com since last 2-3 days and.... read point 1.
  
  Sorry !! if i am crossing my limits...!!

  • 9 years ago
  1. 

     InvestRelease

     • 9 years ago

     I think it would makes sense if they did buy it, but I think it is still ranking high because of the domain age and the author in Google circles. But if they change it to a support site it would lose some of its ranking.

     • 9 years ago
• 

  xgaming2012

  • 9 years ago

  this contest was all a scam. The winner website was created 1 year ago, and was already optimized for seo contests. Why would the winner make a freelancer comercial 1 year ago? proof:
  
  Results for freelancercare.com :
  Domain Created on:
  May 23 2011
  
  Domain age (approximately):
  1 Years, 1 Months, 16 days.
  
  We can all remove the work that was done in vain. Thanks for scamming.. I'm personally dissapointed.. The contest was for 1 page...and not 25 pages or something like that ..

  • 9 years ago
  View 3 more messages
  1. 

     InvestRelease

     • 9 years ago

     I'm playing "Devils Advocate" here but I'm going to suggest that the domain name and freelancer commercial may have been used by DevsTeam possibly for the other freelancer video or logo expose contest from a year ago?

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     SingleTree

     • 9 years ago

     I agree joannamc. Kudos to 2nd & 3rd. They had unique ideas and did them well. 1st place should not have gone to a page with such glaring grammatical errors. That is not high quality and does not make the community look good.

     • 9 years ago
• 

  jonesjohn

  • 9 years ago

  i create new wordpress site so i lose?

  • 9 years ago
• 

  jonesjohn

  • 9 years ago

  1st winner content so simple

  • 9 years ago
• 

  Muzammil196

  • 9 years ago

  I'll never participate in any competition next time. They have hurt writer community. The contest winners were preplanned I think!

  • 9 years ago
• 

  BCProgramming

  • 9 years ago

  Well I feel very silly for being worried that I used semicolons incorrectly in a few passages. I still come out a winner because I got a MS MVP award for C# on Sunday, though :P
  
  Anyway: toward the winners, I say congratulations to you all!
  
  I still feel SEO should mean what it stands for (Optimization) as opposed to the things you see like parking sites. In fact when it was first suggested I join/try freelancer I did quite a few googles to research on them and there were several sites that were evidently SEO optimized to be at the top of the list but which featured very little useful content, and if it wasn't for a personal recommendation by a friend I would have dismissed it as a likely scam as a result. Again not saying that is the case here! Just that having a lot of high-ranking sites doesn't automatically mean a positive net result.

  • 9 years ago
• 
  Contest Holder

  • 9 years ago

  The Grand Prize of US$10,000 goes to http://freelancercare.com/
  Second prize of US$3,000 goes to http://www.makemoneyatfreelancer.com/
  Third prize winner for $2,000 goes to http://outsourcenow.com.au/
  
  
  Honourable mentions go to the following, who we will each give $100:
  
  http://www.buildbusinessusingfreelancer.in/
  http://investrelease.com/how-to-effectively-hire-freelancers-using-freelancer/
  http://www.howtobuildabusinessusingfreelancers.com/
  http://www.minterest.com/make-money-as-freelancer-or-outsourcer/
  http://www.howtomakemoneyfreelancing.com/
  http://wpandbacon.com/7-freelancing-tips/
  http://www.crazyleafdesign.com/blog/how-to-build-a-business-using-freelancers/
  http://greatest-blog.com/blogs/how-to-build-a-business-using-freelancers/
  http://iphoneappcreator.net/how-to-effectively-outsource-app-developers-on-freelancer/
  http://hiringfreelancers.com/

  • 9 years ago
  View 3 more messages
  1. 

     maheshone

     • 9 years ago

     Thanks for the honourable mention (http://www.minterest.com/make-money-as-freelancer-or-outsourcer/) and congrats to the winners... I thought you consider the quality of the content (something unique)... Never thought that you give more importance to dedicates sites which brings traffic to you otherwise I would have created a dedicated blog and then grab the prize for sure. :)

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     enlightentechno1

     • 9 years ago

     Thank you once again Freelancer.com. This website will remain for the future. I have great ideas in mind to implement on this site.

     • 9 years ago
• 

  DevsTeam

  • 9 years ago

  Thank you Freelancer.Com....thank you very much!!!
  
  Congrates to "enlightentechno1" and "AtomicApps".
  
  Thank you everybody who have supported us, who criticized us and who always strives to let us down too. :)

  • 9 years ago
  View 2 more messages
  1. 

     enlightentechno1

     • 9 years ago

     Congratulations to You "DevsTeam" and "AtomicApps" :)

     • 9 years ago
  2. 

     AtomicApps

     • 9 years ago

     Congratz to you too, ET.

     • 9 years ago
• 

  s0mebody

  • 9 years ago

  Thank you for the honorable mention. Congrats to everyone!

  • 9 years ago
• 

  DuaZahra

  • 9 years ago

  These are all personal websites and all could get closed after 1 year if they don't pay hosting fee... But the authentic and high authority websites like www.customerthink.com/blog/an_outsourcing_case_study will never be going down... You must be clear that you should create your personal website for this contest and your posting on any other website won't be considered!! I have not participated in this contest, but I was curious to know the results and sorry to say the results have disappointed me..

  • 9 years ago

Show more comments