Sometimes I am my own worst enemy when I should really ask for help instead of struggling through on my own. One of these examples is web design.   WordPress is all very well but you get stuck at certain points and you do not know the full scope of a particular template unless it is shown or explained to you.

PeopleperHour is a service that puts people in touch with those who may be able to help them – for a fee of course. They cover design, web development, logos, WordPress – anything technical.  The problem is that in spite of all my very careful delineation of a project, very few people will take the trouble to read it and they  fire bullets into the darkness hoping that someone will pick up on them. If anyone is in this category ,my advice is to actually read what the buyer or potential buyer wants and write a response as if they had read it i.e. refer to the content.

Any job will attract attention from India or Pakistan. These are technical countries and the young people are very keen on such work because it is comparatively well paid by their standards. The cost of living is about a third of what it is in the West so a charge of £20 an hour doesn’t sound much to us but it is quite a substantial amount to the inhabitants of those countries.

The problem with people from this part of the world is that although they can speak technical English, they do not think English and do not understand the subtleties and conventions of the English language. A sentence that they write can be technically perfect but actually sound dead because it lacks the bounce and the flow that someone who understands the assumptions behind the words would appreciate.

Basically, with PPH you don’t pay until you are satisfied with the product. The problem comes that you have to be hard when someone has done some work which obviously is not up to scratch and you have to tell them. The way around this is to get to know the people first, establish rapport, and you’re more likely to get a better job.

I’ve had some very good experiences on PPH but also some very poor ones where I’ve lost a couple of hundred pounds here and there but overall I’m quite glad to be a member and over the years it has been very useful.

Nothing is without risk so it is buyer beware and be realistic in your expectations. You could give someone a small job and if they do well that give them a bigger job.