You may not be familiar with crowdsourcing yet, but you should be. Crowdsourcing is a great way for businesses to save time and money by utilizing the power of an online workforce. It also allows online workers to find clients and earn a living. Crowdsourcing isn’t anything to be afraid of. When you use the power of many you can really get things done. It is good to give out, tasks that you know that you are not very much perfect in doing them. Most people’s mistakes is that, they tends to try doing something they don’t have any knowledge about with the impression of saving more money. Why doing this when you have others that can help you perform the task with a very little cash?
If you are about doing SEO for your blog, you don’t need to do it all alone if you know that you can’t do it, though, it is good to know how to do most of these things but, you can hire an expert in the niche to help you in making things work out for you than to keep spending hours, months on the same thing without a clear sign of good end-result.
Let’s look at seven companies that embrace and utilize the crowd sourcing model every day.
PickyDomains.com
With the influx of business and personal websites it can be difficult to find a unique and appropriate domain name for your business or website. Luckily you don’t have to do it alone. With PickyDomains all you have to do is deposit $50 and set some parameters for your desired domain name like keywords, length or extension and the more than 44,000 name spinners in PickyDomains online workforce will get to work. They will send you name suggestions and when you find the perfect one for your business a portion of the fee (40-60%) is given to the person that came up with the idea. If none of the names suit your fancy, your money is returned to you and you pay nothing. PickyDomains is also happy to help you create a business name or slogan.
99Designs.Com
Digital art is expensive, but if you need cheap design you do have an option- 99Designs. Their 40,000 designers are ready and able to affordably handle all of your design needs from logos to website design. Projects start at about $150. When you choose 99Designs you win an expensive digital artists and their hourly fees makes it easy for you to work with.
iStockPhoto.com
If you work with media frequently, you may want to look into iStockPhoto. This website focuses on stock photographs and audio and video clips. While this site might not be needed by the typical website owner, it is a useful crowdsourcing resource for those that need it. The only downside to this site is their unusual payment system requires the purchase of credits.
Microworkers.com
Microworkers specializes in microjobs. Since microjobs might be an unfamiliar term, here’s a quick explanation. Let’s say that you post a video to YouTube and you want to increase the number of votes it receives. You can use Microworkers to provide you with individuals ready to help you out. You simply pay a small fee for each vote and let Microworkers handle the rest. Of course, you have to determine if paying for voting, comments and Facebook friends is within your personal ethical code, but if it is, this is a great solution.
RedesignMe.com
Do you need a little help modifying your current project? The virtual helpers at RedesignMe are ready to help. They will help you deconstruct your idea and perfect it. They also offer a variety of services including market research, knowledge management and consulting. This site realizes that the best ideas sometimes come from outside sources and provides the input you need to create something great. RedesignMe is basically a virtual sounding board.
Poptent.Net
Are you looking for ad agency quality advertising without the hefty price tag? Turn to Poptent and make use of their vast social network of commercial animators, videographers, actors and directors. With a small investment of $5,000- $10,000 they can help you create a professional advertisement ready to woo new customers.
LiveOps.com
When you think of a call center you probably imagine 500 people sitting in tiny cubicles answering calls. LiveOps is basically a call center, except that instead of frustrated workers in cubicles you get work at home individuals happy to make and take calls for your business. LiveOps utilizes a screening process for each worker and provides them with flexibility and competitive rates. As a business owner you can use this service to better serve your clients since calls are handled professionally and efficiently.
Recommended Books on CrowdSourcing
9 Rules for Successful Crowdsourcing – Barry Libert
A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing: Advice From Leading Experts -Paul Sloane
Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business – Jeff Howe
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Crowdsourcing – Aliza Sherman
Thanks for reading and I hope this article has impacted your thinking about crowd sourcing? I want to know what you think.
