Workpost.org | The Workpost LLC Blog

Let’s face it. Building a startup with your own money and time is hard. There’s been about million issues to deal with since the last post in 2009 and the blog has not been priority #1 for my brother and I. We’ve upgraded the site code mutiple times but large portions of the back-end functionality we’ve wanted to include isn’t happening yet and we don’t know when it will happen so… the blog is back.

We’ve moved the blog to WordPress (I’ll change the theme later). Dotnetblogengine is great, a project with enormous potential and the #1 ASP.NET blogging platform (know of anything better?) but… WordPress may be the best and easiest to use blog software in existence. Constantly updated and supported by thousands of developers, given the choice, I’m happier and more comfortable with WordPress.

So what’s going on with Workpost? Well, we’ve had a few thousand people sign up with the site since mid 2009. But to get this project going, we need more people participating in the directory and posting work they want to have done online. MANY more people. That’s something we need work on…

There are now two negative reviews in the Workpost Directory. So I’d like to take a moment to talk about what we’re trying to do here…

We want as many companies as possible to join the directory but we are also trying to create a system that promote those who do good work and discourage those who don’t from wanting to stick around. The Workpost Directory should be a place where homeowners and other potential employers can go to find quality help fast. If someone has chosen to list themselves in the directory, the reviews are good and there aren’t a lot of negative reviews, that should say something about the pro and the quality of the work.

We take these reviews extremely seriously and if anyone is going to write a negative review, we suggest you include as many details about the work that was done (or not done) as possible. If you’re unhappy, companies need to know why you’re unhappy and what they can do about it. If you’re making complaints for no good reason and can’t back-up statements with at least some substantive information, the negative review will likely get flagged and removed.

We think working professionals will want to belong to a service that gives them control over their own directory listings and the ability to respond to reviews. Apparently, more than 500 professionals agree and are willing to put themselves “out there” for public review.

Obviously, once people start writing more reviews and evaluating businesses, Workpost is going to have to take another look at how our review system works. We have a good idea of what we want it to accomplish (get contractors leads and employers, clients and homeowners the ability to find reliable, quality help quickly) but we know building a useful, unbiased review system is a goal even large companies cannot seem to accomplish. It’s tough..

Thanks again to everyone who is giving Workpost a chance.

You can configure your Workpost account to have messages sent directly to your cell phone or mobile device using carrier-provided email to SMS gateways. This functionality was included in the first version of the posting system we launched in Febuary, 2008.

All you need to do is change the email address listed in your “business email” field to the approprate email to SMS gateway listed here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateway

So if you’re a verizon user, your email to SMS address would be yournumber@vtext.com. Each provider has their own address etc. Include that as your business address and messages sent to you from Workpost will go straight to your phone.

Since all the standard phone plan charges will apply to messages sent from email to SMS, please make sure you have a good phone plan that can handle the messages. Not everyone has “unlimted text” plans and the costs for sending text messages can add up very quickly.

If you need any help figuring out the right mobile address to send messages to your phone, please contact us. Thanks.

Workpost.com has two sides. There’s the posting system and the directory. In the (blue) posting system, people with work to be done can post work / jobs and get responses from people interested in doing the work.

In the (green) Workpost Directory, work seekers and pros can list “services offered” and business information and choose whether or not to have have this information published in the Workpost Directory.

We created the directory last July when we realized that many (if not, most) of the people visiting the site in early 2008 were pros looking for work. The directory system is designed to connect potential clients, employers to regular people who need work done. The review system build on top of the directory is designed to give potential clients and employers a sense of pros’ skills, reputations and accomplishments.

That a business is willing to be reviewed and voluntarily listed in the directory says something about a business. Beyond this, based on user positive reviews, the best, most skilled and most qualified pros with the most postive reviews should rise to the top of the Workpost Directory listings. As we get more reviews and feedback, we’ll revise the system to be as useful as possible.

Our posting system will provide pros in the directory with a steady flow of leads and work that people want to have done.

Unfortunately, it’s confusing when pros post “services offered” in the work posting system. The posting system we have online (as of 01/30/09) is meant to only list WORK that needs to be done and work opportunities posted by employers and potential clients; not pros and service providers who are looking for work. Pros and businesses belong in the Workpost Directory.

We realize that some pros like (and even prefer) to post quick promotional ads but until we can create a good post filtering mechanism or find some other way to sort the work posts from the “services offered” posts, we need to only allow work posts on Workpost.com

Pros. Do you really want to keep posting “services offered” day after day like on most classified sites? Posting over and over again, trying to stay at the top of the list? Maybe you do but there must be more efficient ways to get noticed. With a Workpost Directory listing, you post once and you’re done.

So if you’ve got work to be done, go here to post work.

And if you’re a work seeker looking for leads and new jobs, go here, create a pro account and include yourself in the Workpost Directory.

The Workpost Directory has grown to over 200 professionals. While this number isn’t particularly large, it’s accomplishment for Workpost. It’s hard to create a directory in which members must voluntarily register and choose to be listed. The biggest online directories are often put together like phone books with 2nd-hand data gathered from multiple sources and lists. We don’t want to do that, we want pros to be involved in the process and to create a service that is more personal and useful.

Workpost will never have the biggest directory on the Internet but hopefully will have listings with quality professionals you can trust.

You may have noticed that workpost.org has been down.

Our webhost had a big problem at the end of December, 2008. We experienced frequent down time and, finally, the loss of data. We’ve moved workpost.org to a new host now.

Workpost.com is fine and experienced no problems since it runs on an entirely different server.

For those who are new to Workpost, we put the first version of the Workpost.com site online in February, 2008. Since then, we’ve made many changes, including the addition of the Workpost Directory in July, 2008.

Workpost is a place to post and find work and to connect with quality professionals. We’re developing an online system that will pass along leads quickly and efficiently, for as little cost as possible (FREE).

We welcome comments and suggestions for how to improve Workpost.