Only members can post in this forum | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Advantages of ProZ.com full professional membership - feedback needed Thread poster: Bernhard Sulzer
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Hi everybody.
I am currently a partial (community) member at Proz.com. I used to be a full member but didn't get out of it what I had expected.
I wanted to find out from full members what the advantages have been, say, over the last year, that can clearly be attributed to their/your full membership at Proz.com since I am considering rejoining in order to get more business. My objective is foremost to secure jobs that pay a fair amount of money for quality work.
T... See more Hi everybody.
I am currently a partial (community) member at Proz.com. I used to be a full member but didn't get out of it what I had expected.
I wanted to find out from full members what the advantages have been, say, over the last year, that can clearly be attributed to their/your full membership at Proz.com since I am considering rejoining in order to get more business. My objective is foremost to secure jobs that pay a fair amount of money for quality work.
Thank you for your input.
Bernhard
[Edited at 2013-05-24 15:40 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Was able to rule out a couple of outsources that contacted me | May 24, 2013 |
after checking their BlueBoard rating. some risks are not worth taking...
And I generally get 2-4 contacts each month that in at least some cases (when we agree to rates and terms) lead to jobs. So the membership pays for itself.
[Edited at 2013-05-24 20:35 GMT]
| | | | Anders Dalström
Sweden
Local time: 20:41
Member (2008)
English to Swedish
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| Best €100 ever spent | May 25, 2013 |
Proz has been and still is invaluable for me. The €100 corresponds to 1 afternoon of work. Easily worth it, if you ask me.
| | | | | One year, not a single job through ProZ.com | May 25, 2013 |
With my first ProZ.com membership year expiring soon, I have yet to receive a single job through this particular channel. Still, at this point I find it worthwhile as part of the overall marketing strategy. This may change, but I plan to renew in 2013 at least.
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Russell Jones 
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:41
Italian to English
| Observations | May 25, 2013 |
Hi Bernard
I note that you were a full member for 6 years, so I am a little surprised that you haven't drawn your own conclusions about the usefulness of membership.
From my own point of view, every single job I have been awarded over the past 10 years has come directly or indirectly as a result of my participation in this site. I accept that different locations, language pairs and speciality subjects could well produce different experiences.
Site staff te... See more Hi Bernard
I note that you were a full member for 6 years, so I am a little surprised that you haven't drawn your own conclusions about the usefulness of membership.
From my own point of view, every single job I have been awarded over the past 10 years has come directly or indirectly as a result of my participation in this site. I accept that different locations, language pairs and speciality subjects could well produce different experiences.
Site staff tell us that the vast majority of jobs obtained via the site are the result of clients searching for an appropriately qualified translator in the directories.
At present, if I search for an EN > DE translator based in the U.S. but without specifying a subject, you appear as a partial member on page 8 - as good as invisible!. As a full member, with your KudoZ points, you would be in the top half of page 1.
While I can understand your wish to evaluate membership from a return on investment point of view, I personally regard my annual subscription as a contribution to maintaining the site as a highly valued resource, from a terminology and community standpoint amongst many others. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 19:41
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Benefits for me | May 25, 2013 |
- Most of my work comes directly or indirectly through ProZ.com.
- It's fairly unusual for me to quote for a posted job as they are generally far from being the best jobs, but I have landed decent jobs that way. I doubt that any of them would have come my way had my quote waited in the queue behind those of paying members; indeed, it's probable that many were only available to paying members.
- Most often, I'm contacted by outsourcers and direct clients through my prof... See more - Most of my work comes directly or indirectly through ProZ.com.
- It's fairly unusual for me to quote for a posted job as they are generally far from being the best jobs, but I have landed decent jobs that way. I doubt that any of them would have come my way had my quote waited in the queue behind those of paying members; indeed, it's probable that many were only available to paying members.
- Most often, I'm contacted by outsourcers and direct clients through my profile, thanks to my good position in the directory.
- The "PRO" tag, only available to paying members, gives some confidence to potential clients.
- Unlimited access to the Blue Board has proved valuable on more than one occasion.
- A surprising amount of work has come from others who are active on the site: smaller outsourcers and translators who refer clients to me for jobs they can't do for any reason (different pair, different specialisation, holiday relief, etc.).
I suppose some of my clients might have found their way to me anyway, but I know that I personally see it as a mark of a committed professional. I'm not saying that there aren't those amongst the ranks of registered users, far from it, but there must be relatively few possibly-hopeless hobby translators who've paid 100€ for membership.
But the bottom line is that when there are potential clients around, I want to deliver the right message, and I think that paying membership provides that. I couldn't afford to fork out for all the freelance and/or translation sites, but I see ProZ.com as the most relevant site for me. ▲ Collapse
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My membership paid for itself after the first day. This site has many aspects that make it really worth while for me, like the blueboard, which has saved me more than a few dollars over the years.
I renew my membership in July.
| | | | Melanie Nassar
United States
Local time: 21:41
German to English
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| Definitely worth it | May 25, 2013 |
I was a non-paying member for nearly 10 years before I finally joined. I landed a few jobs during that time but after I became a full member, the job offers exploded and I had over $2000 of new projects in the first month. I also recently signed a contract for what has to be the dream job for any medical translator so I have to say that the return on my investment has been worth it financially and in terms of work satisfaction.
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Hmmm, looks like I'm just having bad luck on ProZ, unless the En-Ru pair coupled with my specialization areas are that different
| | | | Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 14:41
English to German
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TOPIC STARTER | membership options | May 25, 2013 |
Russell Jones wrote:
Hi Bernard
I note that you were a full member for 6 years, so I am a little surprised that you haven't drawn your own conclusions about the usefulness of membership. ...
... At present, if I search for an EN > DE translator based in the U.S. but without specifying a subject, you appear as a partial member on page 8 - as good as invisible!. As a full member, with your KudoZ points, you would be in the top half of page 1. ...
Hello Russell,
Thanks for your input. Yes, I used to be on page 1. And maybe I should be there again. I had hardly any direct contacts from clients then. But I was always interested in being listed there. When I gave up my full membership, I was looking for a way not to pay for the job board access. But being listed with a P is only possible with full membership, including access to the job board.
As a partial member, I do get access to the blueboard.
Yet, as I said, at present, I am weighing my options.
Bernhard
| | | | | It took me 11 months | May 25, 2013 |
but in December last year, an agency located in the US contacted me and, since then, I have translated well over 100,000 words for them.
[Edited at 2013-05-25 22:21 GMT]
| | | | Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 14:41
English to German
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TOPIC STARTER
Helena Chavarria wrote:
but in December last year, an agency located in the US contacted me and, since then, I have translated well over 100,000 words for them.
[Edited at 2013-05-25 22:21 GMT]
Glad for you, Helena! Are you okay with their rate? Were you able to negotiate towards the rate you were looking for?
Bernhard
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Sarah McDowell
Canada
Local time: 13:41
Member (2012)
Russian to English
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Artem Vakhitov wrote:
With my first ProZ.com membership year expiring soon, I have yet to receive a single job through this particular channel. Still, at this point I find it worthwhile as part of the overall marketing strategy. This may change, but I plan to renew in 2013 at least.
Artem, I find it hard to believe that you haven't received a single job through Proz.com. Do you mean that you haven't received any of the posted jobs that you bid on? Surely you must have a lot of clients contacting you through your profile directly. After all, how do you have 4 WWA entries if you haven't had any jobs through Proz.com?
Your profile is filled out completely and your website looks great. So I would think that you would be receiving a lot of offers.
By the way, most of the inquiries that I receive come from clients contacting me directly through my profile. I also have had some success applying for jobs posted on the Proz.com website. I hear back from about 50% of the ones that I apply for.
Sarah
| | | | | Worth every penny | May 26, 2013 |
After many years of dozing along with just a couple of regular clients, I had to scout for new customers last year. My ProZ membership and purchase of Trados paid for themselves easily within a few weeks and I still get lots and lots of inquiries through ProZ on a regular basis. Go for it!
Steve K.
| | | | Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 14:41
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Steve Kerry wrote:
After many years of dozing along with just a couple of regular clients, I had to scout for new customers last year. My ProZ membership and purchase of Trados paid for themselves easily within a few weeks and I still get lots and lots of inquiries through ProZ on a regular basis. Go for it!
Steve K.
Thanks, Steve for your encouraging comment.
Bernhard
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