Employers FAQs

ESalesGuru offers a FREE outsourcing platform for posting an unlimited number of Internet Marketing projects and receiving competitively priced bids from the experts. Through our innovative and user-friendly outsourcing solution, you can recruit Internet Marketing professionals from around the globe to meet the unique needs of your business. With the exponential increase in the ecommerce and web services industry, the ability to hire qualified "in house" staff to accomplish your evolving Internet Marketing functions has becoming increasingly difficult. ESalesGuru offers a unique platform for connecting your business with a targeted resource base of Internet Marketing Professionals across a variety of skill-specific categories:


	Affiliate Marketing Management & Consulting
	Search Engine Marketing & Optimization
	Landing Page / Website Design
	Interactive Advertising Design (logos, banners, rich media, HTML)
	Copywriting for ebusinesses
	Online Lead Generation
	Business Blogging and Social Media Services
	Online Media Planning/Buying
	RSS / Email Marketing Services
	Internet Market Planning, Analysis, and Consulting
	Viral (buzz) Marketing
	Podcasting / Mobile Marketing
	Online Business Planning / Internet Start up Consulting

Leverage the potential of your e-business with this simple, cost-effective, one-stop solution for fulfilling ALL your Internet Marketing goals.

How does ESalesGuru differ from other Outsourcing Marketplaces?

ESalesGuru is presently the ONLY outsourcing and consulting marketplace on the Net solely dedicated to Internet Marketing and related projects. We are distinct from other outsourcing solutions in our determined commitment to address the evolving Internet Marketing needs in today's market. Other Service Marketplaces are broader in focus and encompass many different industry categories. ESalesGuru is simply the best place to access a variety of Internet Marketing and ebusiness services on the Net!

What does this service cost for Employers?

ESalesGuru Employers can post an unlimited number of projects and receive competitively priced bids absolutely FREE. Once an Employer awards a project in our marketplace, there is a small admin fee of $15. If the Employer pays the fee within a 5 day period, the charge is automatically reduced to $10. We advise all Employers to factor this admin fee into your intial project budget.

How can ESalesGuru benefit my business?

Here are 7 key reasons why ESalesGuru will become a permanent fixture in your e-business arsenal:


	Post an unlimited number of Internet Marketing Projects and receive competitively priced bids from niche specialists and consultants....Absolutely Free.

	Simplifies your Internet Marketing needs! In a matter of minutes, you can post a project to the ESalesGuru marketplace and begin to watch competitively priced bids pour in from talented Internet marketing professionals around the world!

	Innovative One-Stop Solution for accessing the full range of Internet Marketing Services from Affiliate Marketing Management and SEO to Blogging, Podcasting and Social Media Optimization.

	Unmatched cost-effectiveness over traditional means of recruiting and hiring Internet Marketing Professionals.

	Improves the time-efficiency of your Internet Marketing projects.

	Access to a pool of Elite Professionals already pre-qualified by ESalesGuru recruitment specialists. Click Here to learn more about the Elite Pre-screening Process.

	Easily fill urgent skill and service gaps for your ebusiness and Internet Marketing firm.

ESalesGuru offers the ONLY outsourcing solution on the Net solely dedicated to addressing your evolving Internet Marketing and Sales needs!

How does ESalesGuru actually save my business time and money?

ESalesGuru provides a very cost-effective alternative to the more conventional means of employing expensive recruitment agencies or posting job descriptions across many online and offline channels. Take advantage of ESalesGuru's virtual workforce and see significant savings on such things as employee office expenses, training costs, benefit packages, travel expenses and many other costs incurred by 'in house" staff.

In addition, since ESalesGuru professionals from around the world are competing for your project, you can be certain you are receiving the most competitive prices possible! Plus, you will be able recruit professionals with the skills you need when you need it, thus saving time, money and energy in training your own "in house" employees.

Outsourcing your projects through ESalesGuru will alleviate the headaches and time spent on recruiting and interviewing employees. In a matter of minutes you can post your project and begin to receive bids/proposals from qualified Internet Marketing Professionals around the globe.

In addition, you will meet project deadlines much quicker through ESalesGuru since many of our Professionals work flexible hours around the clock to complete your project in a timely manner. You can further speed up the process by submitting multiple projects at the same time. For example; you might need a search platform and affiliate marketing program developed simultaneously, so ESalesGuru provides the perfect avenue for multi-tasking your urgent projects.

At ESalesGuru, we operate in "Digital Time" - Everything gets done a little faster through our outsourcing solution over traditional avenues!

Are Adult-Theme projects permitted on ESalesGuru?

ESalesGuru does not allow any pornographic or adult-related project postings, bid proposals or message board correspondence in our outsourcing portal. If you any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact our HelpDesk.

What is included in my Membership?

With your FREE membership you gain access to ESalesGuru's easy to use web solution for:


	Posting an unlimited number of projects across a variety of Internet Marketing and ebusiness categories.

	Recruiting skilled and pre-screened Internet Marketing Specialists through the ESalesGuru Professional Profile Directory.

	Accessing Fast Track Services - A targeted database of pre-packaged services from skilled Professionals across a variety of skill areas.

	Interacting with Internet Marketing Professionals through your own personal message board. Your message board will track the history of all communications and attachments received from Professionals.

	Receiving competitively priced quotes for your specific projects.

	Tracking your project activity and overall expenses.

Essentially, ESalesGuru will function as your complete Project Manager for all your Internet Marketing projects.

Click here to learn more about all the features included in the Membership Account

Does ESalesGuru actually pre-screen Professionals for Employers? How does that work?

ESalesGuru offers a FREE value-added service of pre-screening our Elite and Elite Plus Membership Candidates prior to acceptance into our program. We are committed to providing the highest quality Internet Marketing Professionals on the Net and have gone to great lengths to implement an effective pre-qualifying process for the Elite and Elite Plus Membership programs. This pre-screening system helps you to eliminate some of the time and legwork required in adequately qualifying professionals for your important projects.

There is no need to pay for expensive recruitment agencies, when you can take advantage of our pre-screening service free of charge. When you select an Internet Marketing Professional from our Elite Program, you can rest in the assurance that they have passed by the exhaustive scrutiny of our Evaluation Team. The ESalesGuru Evaluation Team screens our Elite Applicants based on the following criteria:


	Years of Accumulated Experience
	Quality and Professionalism of Application and Professional Profile
	Review of Related Work Experience and References
	Established Web Presence and Proven Client Base
	Fulfillment of Particular Skill Set Requirements

Our value-added pre-screening process will save you considerable time and money in securing the best Internet Marketing Professionals to complete your important projects!

How does ESalesGuru protect my privacy and confidential info?

ESalesGuru will not reveal your contact information to Professionals at any time. The Professionals will only be able to view your ESalesGuru Username as well as any information you have chosen to include in your Company Profile. You are under no obligation to include contact information in your profile. Upon submitting a project, your Username, Project Title, Project Overview and Feedback Ranking/Reviews will be shown to Professionals in the Marketplace. Once you receive project bids, you can decide whom you want to connect with through your Personal Message Board.

If you have concerns regarding including confidential project information, we advise that you leave that information out in your initial post. You may want to ask your selected Professional to sign off on a Non-Disclosure Agreement prior to revealing those pertinent project details. If you do not have your own NDA, then you can access our agreements in the "Download Legal Agreements" section in your members account.

Project Management

Does ESalesGuru just focus on Internet Marketing and related projects?

Yes, the primary focus of our Outsourcing platform is based on Internet Marketing and related projects. At ESalesGuru, we define Internet Marketing as any service or strategy that is employed to effectively enhance the overall promotion and performance of a web product or e-business. Given our holistic perspective on Internet Marketing, here are the current skill categories in our marketplace


	Affiliate Marketing Management & Consulting
	Search Engine Marketing & Optimization
	Landing Page/Website Design
	Interactive Advertising Design (logos, banners, rich media, HTML)
	Copywriting for ebusinesses
	Online Lead Generation
	Business Blogging & Social Media Services
	Online Media Planning/Buying
	RSS / Email Marketing Services
	Internet Marketing Planning, Analysis, and Consulting
	Viral (Buzz) Marketing
	Podcasting / Mobile Marketing
	Online Business Planning / Internet Start-up Consulting

With the rapid evolution and technological innovation of the Internet Marketing Industry, we will continue to expand the scope of our skill categories in order to effectively address the current Internet Marketing needs of e-businesses worldwide.

How can I start posting projects?

Here a few simple steps for posting projects in the ESalesGuru Marketplace:


	Sign up for FREE Employer account. Employers can post an unlimited number of projects and receive competitively priced quotes from skilled and pre-screened Professionals worldwide....Absolutely Free! Please Note: a $15 Project Fee will be incurred for every awarded project in the ESalesGuru Marketplace. If you promptly pay the project fee within a 5 day period, the fee will automatically be reduced to $10. If you accept more than one bid for your project, you will still only be billed one project fee. We recommend all Employers simply factor the project fee into their overall budget for the given project.

	Login into Members Account and post project in your category of choice. On the members homepage, there is a menu of skill categories to choose from. You can select from any of the 13+ skill categories and 60+ sub skill categories in the marketplace, which covers the full gamet of Internet Marketing and related projects areas.

	Use Project Posting tool to assist in building an effective project posting. The Project Posting Tool provides helpful tips and samples to ensure you are creating the most complete project posting.

Once you submit your project posting, it is immediately posted to the ESalesGuru Marketplace to be viewed by prospective professionals.

Do you have any tips for posting a project?

Here are a few tips to consider when posting a project:


	Make your project description and specific and complete as possible. If you project posting is clear and thorough to Professionals, then you will likely see higher quality and more accurate bids come in for your project. It is essential to clearly outline your project expectations, requirements and tasks. You might also want to mention your payment terms so the bidders have a clear idea of how the payment structure will work.

	Provide Sufficient Time for Professionals to review and bid on your projects. It is good to provide at least 1 week for the professionals to review your project and submit quality bids. Your project may be urgent, but if you set the time period to short, then this may reduce the quality and quantity of bids received. If you project is urgent, we recommend including that in your project posting, so that bidders know you are looking to have the project completed ASAP.

	Outline a realistic budget to attract accurate and quality bids. At the top of each skill category, we provide some pricing format information. Each of the categories will vary in their pricing format. For example; Web Design Projects might be based on a flat fee, whereas Affiliate Marketing Management Projects might include a monthly fee plus commissions. If you are not certain exactly of your budget or pricing format, then just leave it blank and see what comes in from bidders.

	Review your bids frequently and use your Personal Message Board to clarify bids from Professionals. It is important to keep a close eye on the different bids being posted for your project. If you need clarification on the bid or have more questions for the professional, then you can connect with them using your Personal Message Board.

What are the different areas I can submit projects for?

The ESalesGuru Marketplace targets Internet Marketing and related projects. Given the rapidly evolving nature of the Internet Marketing Industry, we will continue to add relevant categories to address industry changes. Currently, here are the categories you are can submit projects for:


	Affiliate Marketing Management & Consulting
	Search Engine Marketing & Optimization
	Landing Page / Website Design
	Interactive Advertising Design (logos, banners, rich media, HTML)
	Copywriting for ebusinesses
	Online Lead Generation
	Business Blogging and Social Media Services
	Online Media Planning/Buying
	RSS / Email Marketing Services
	Internet Market Planning, Analysis, and Consulting
	Viral (Buzz) Marketing
	Podcasting / Mobile Marketing
	Online Busines Planning / Internet Start-up Consulting

How do I view all the bids received from my given project?

Within the ESalesGuru Members Account, you are able to view all bids for your given project within the Bid Manager Folder. This tool maintains a real-time record of all bids submitted for your respective projects.

Am I required to choose one of the Professionals who submit bids for my projects?

In the ESalesGuru marketplace, you have complete freedom to select an appropriate bid or choose not to select any of the project bids. You might have found that the current bids are missing the mark of what you are expecting, so you can either extend the post to see if more appropriate bids come in or you can re-post the project providing some more specific project details and expectations. You might also evaluate your recommended project budget to ensure that it fits with the industry standard for this type of work. If you have found a Professional to complete your project outside of ESalesGuru, we just ask that you delete the project and remove it from the Marketplace.

What is the difference between open and closed project bids?

It is important to consider the different advantages and benefits between an Open and Closed project status. An "Open" status allows all professionals including Premium, Elite and Elite Plus members, to bid on a given project. A "Closed" status restricts the bidding to just Elite and Elite Plus Professionals. Here are the key benefits for each status:

Open Status


	Competitively priced bids, since professionals are able to view each other bids.

	Project will be viewed by a larger pool of professionals likely resulting in more bids.

Closed Status


	Receive project bids from Elite and Elite Plus members, who have undergone a complete pre-screening process by the ESalesGuru Evaluation Team prior to acceptance.

	These members are top-quality professionals that have received the stamp of approval from our team of recruitment specialists.

	Employers will likely receive a higher quality base of comprehensive bids from Elite and Elite Plus professionals.

If you are undecided as to what status to choose, we recommend testing both in order to evaluate the type of bids you receive under each status.

Does ESalesGuru provide legal service agreements I can use in my dealings with Professionals?

In your Members Account, there is a feature called "Download Legal Documents" where you can access Non-Disclosure Agreements and Service Agreements. We highly recommend establishing a mutually agreeable service agreement with a Professional prior to the commencement of the project. The agreement should clearly outline project expectations, pricing and billing timelines. We also recommend that you upload the signed agreement to your Personal Message Board so you can keep a web-based paper trail of all your project contracts.

How do I extend or change my project post?

In order to extend your project bidding period, simply click on the Project Activity tab in your Project Manager folder in your members account. From there, click on the "Extend Project" link where you will then be prompted to select the time extension you require for your given project posting.

Employer/Professional Relations

Can I contact ESalesGuru Professionals directly? How do I correspond with them?

There are a couple different avenues for connecting with Professionals in the ESalesGuru Marketplace. First of all, you can search a comprehensive Professional Profile Directory across a variety of Internet Marketing and related skill areas and select "Invite Bid" for those that you like to bid on your given project. In addition, you can select "Open Communication" preferences during your project post which enables Professionals to contact you directly (via your Personal Message Board) to further discuss your project expectations and ask any clarifying questions.

Once you accept a Professional's bid, a new thread in your Personal Message Board will be activated to track all your project communications with the respective Professional.

How does the ESalesGuru Feedback System work?

The ESalesGuru Feedback System is integral to ensuring high accountability between Employers and Professionals and a top notch Outsourcing Marketplace. Once your selected Professional has completed a particular milestone, contract or project, then you can go to "Manage Feedback" in your Members account and select the project you would like to provide feedback for. It is essential that you provide honest and appropriate feedback for all Professionals you contract with in our marketplace.

Our Feedback is based on the following 5 point criteria:

Professional Conduct
Quality of Work
Commitment to Contract (Time/Cost adherence)
Diligence/Reliability
Knowledge in Skill Area

For more information on our Feedback Policy, please visit Section 14 in our Terms and Conditions.

Can Feedback be changed or removed at anytime?

Under most circumstances, Feedback submiitted in the ESalesGuru Marketplace is final. ESalesGuru reserves the right to remove Feedback under the following circumstances:

Where both the Employer and the Professional send an email requesting the Feedback record be removed.
Where a court ruling or settlement dispute agreement (provided by a recognized dispute resolution service) has deemed that the disputed feedback is slanderous, defamatory or otherwise illegal.

What happens if disputes arise with the Professionals I am working with? How I am protected?

If a dispute arises between yourself and a Professional, it is essential to first exhaust all efforts to find resolution independently. If you are still not able to come to an agreement, then you can access the ESalesGuru Mediation Service and present your dispute by emailing our Help Desk. Please include the subject line, "Mediation Service Request". We are committed to helping you resolve the dispute to the best of our abilities in a timely and appropriate manner. Click here to learn more about our Mediation Process

What is involved in the ESalesGuru Mediation Service?

The ESalesGuru Mediation Service is available for those members who have a particular dispute or disagreement with another member and have not been able to resolve the issues independently. Our in-house mediation team is committed to helping bring resolution where possible to any disputes occurring between ESalesGuru Employers and Professionals. Click Here to learn more about the Mediation Process.

Billing / Payment Process

How do I make payments to Professionals for my projects?

Once your project has been completed or certain project benchmarks have been achieved, you will receive an invoice from the Professional through the ESalesGuru billing system. The invoice will contain the project milestones completed, payment amount as well as the preferred method of payment by the Professional. We recommend corresponding with the Professional regarding an agreed upon Payment mode prior to commencing with the project. We might suggest that you also cite the agreed upon payment method in your legal service agreement as well, so there is no confusion.

Project payments will be made directly to the Professional. We highly recommend that you to agree upon a payment method that will ensure the security of your transaction. Upon completion of the project payment, we advise you to save and upload the payment receipt from the transaction provider to your Personal Message Board in order to maintain proper documentation in the ESalesGuru Marketplace.

Click here to review recommended Payment options

How do I pay for the ESalesGuru Project Fees?

Employers will receive a project invoice once they click “Award Bid” for their given project. The Project fee is a flat rate of $15, but is reduced to $10 if paid within 5 days of receiving the invoice.

You can process your project fees via our secure payment gateway by logging into your Members account and clicking the “Pay Invoice” link in the “Finance Manager” folder and selecting the appropriate invoice. Your Project Fees can be paid via Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Card).

How does a Professional bill me for the given project?

The ESalesGuru Billing System enables Professionals to submit invoices directly to Employers for certain milestones achieved or projects completed. You will receive an email alert as well as a project alert in your Personal Message Board notifying you of the receiving invoice.