You may know that Camtasia, what I use to create tutorials, does have a quiz feature. It is pretty good for self tests and for companies that have Learning Management software such as Moodle. It will send the scores right to those programs. It is also great for end of course surveys. But it is not good when it comes to sending scores out in order to get certification.  If used inside a corporation it will open up whatever hosted e-mail the company is using and send the scores but it doesn’t work for Web based e-mail like gmail or hotmail.

I spent about 30 minutes researching on-line, hosted testing.  There were quite a few to choose from but I narrowed it down to the one I thought would work best. http://www.exambuilder.com It seems to be economical and not too complicated to set up Exambuilder, is less than $13 a student and I remember using this service when I worked at IBM. I couldn’t figure out if they actually send a certification e-mail based on the results of the test or if it had to be done manually. 

It seems like it boils down to him needing 3 things to get this project going.

1. A Website hosted monthly- Hostgator at $8.95/month- he should be able to update your pages yourself with some coaching.

2. A shopping cart – At worst this should cost you only $59/month through Practice Pay Solutions  if paid for separately. The cart does not need maintenance. It just needs updating when you come out with new product or change your prices.

3. A hosted on-line testing system with a database to track all scores.  This also does not need maintenance- just updating if questions change or new tests need to be added.

All these items should be set up one time and I told him that a Virtual Assistant can do this for him. Then, the VA could give him some training as to how to update everything himself and he’ll never have to hire someone again unless he needs to do something rather complex with his site.

Maybe all you need is a little help from a VA to get your training site going then she can give you some coaching on how to do the updates and fixes yourself.

Best,

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The offer

I was asked to take on the creation of a database that was an add-on to an existing Website. Because I had been a Project Manager of database projects in my former life I had no problem saying yes, even though I knew I would need to outsource it- as I have no database programming skills myself. The money would be good and I would only need to oversee the work of the programmer and the database consultant. I decided to use Rent-a-coder as I had used them quite successfully in the past for short (4 week or less) custom Website projects and was always quite satisfied. Rent-a-coder is fabulous as long as the project is well define, of short duration and you won’t need any follow-up after the project is over.

The Reality

I picked the wrong coder. I had many bids but none of them were in my price range except one. The bid was really low. The coder had just one rating it but it was good one. I figured I would give him a chance. I asked my husband if I should go with someone who had a super low price and just one rating and as a business owner he told me flat out “no” because the project was too large and could potentially drag on forever if the guy was not experienced. Did I listen to him? Of course not. I hired the guy.

The Conclusion

The project was supposed to be done back in early December. It is now late February and he is still working on it. The client is getting irritable. I’m losing money and have learned some valuable lessons.

1. Never choose the cheapest person unless time is of absolutely no importance. They are probably cheap because they have little experience and will be learning on the job.
2. If you have a big job don’t use someone who has only one testimonial or only one reference. If the job is large go with someone who can prove their experience by providing you with at least 4 or 5 people who can vouch for them.
3. If you don’t have any idea of how to do the work yourself, go with someone who can communicate pretty well in English so there will be no misunderstandings about scope or deadlines.

So, as the project drags on and I continue to dread the never ending list of bugs that keep popping up I am thankful that I have now met some great local VAs to outsource to that are providing me with the best of service (i.e- David Burch with VirtuallyYours.com)

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There are many ways to increase your traffic ranking.

1. Establish links between your website and similar websites that have high rankings.
2. Visit related websites or blogs and leave a comment with your internet address included.
3. Optimize your website with effective keywords.
4. Make sure your website is listed with the major search engines (Alexa, Ask.com, Google, Live Search, Yahoo, etc.)
5. Market your website with articles that are posted online.

Writing and marketing with articles may be a new concept to you. The goal is to create an engaging, informative article relating to your website that is then posted online in as many locations as possible. The article links back to your website drawing reader’s interest. Readers find the article, become interested in your ideas, and access your website via the article links. This is an extremely effective way to market your site, providing you follow a few steps.

First, your articles must always be enjoyable. If you bore your readers, they will abandon the article and never give your work a second glance. In essence, you must relate to your target market. Avoid generic writing packed with facts and little personable material. Articles should be full of stories to which many can relate. Getting your reader to empathize–”Hey, I know exactly what you are talking about!”–is the key to success.

Articles must contain excellent grammar and no misspelled words. Everyone makes mistakes, but if you are touting yourself as an expert and your article is packed with spelling errors, you will lose impact. Have a friend or family member check articles for errors. In addition, many freelancers offer inexpensive editing services. It might cost you a few dollars, but having a clean, error-free article will be extremely worthwhile in the long run.

At the end of your article, place a brief bio about yourself and/or your website. Include contact information and a link to the web page. Always check that links work. One misplaced symbol or a typo can turn a website link into a useless entity. If readers cannot get a website to work when clicking on it, very few will stop and verify that the link was written correctly.

Writing clear, catchy articles will increase your web traffic. Think of a well-written article as a business advertisement. Your website will be promoted, readers will flock to your site seeking more information, and best of all you can get these articles out on the world wide web for free! It’s comparable to taking out an ad in the newspaper, but you don’t have to pay a cent!

If you want to learn how you can write your own articles for profit and exposure, visit Melissa Ingold for easy, step-by-step guidance that will have you writing like a pro!

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3 minute Demo

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