As a graphic designer, Carol Thomson had never encountered a design problem she couldn’t solve, whether in print or online. That is, until an office workstation system manufacturer presented her with a web redesign project that included database migration. This meant not only giving the client a fresh, vibrant look for the site, but also transferring the product catalog.
“I couldn’t get my head around exporting the products from the old site and importing them to the new one,” says this youthful work-from-home mom of three kids and the woman behind 1984 Design Studio (www.1984designstudio.com.au). “I needed help from a database expert.”
The site, www.bevisco.com.au, was using a content management system built on the .Net framework and, upon Carol’s recommendation, would be migrated to Adobe Business Catalyst, the all-in-one business website and online marketing platform. “It is much more user-friendly for the client to maintain,” Carol says. To complete the transfer, she needed someone who could extract the information and translate the data into an Excel spreadsheet that would be compatible with the Adobe Business Catalyst e-commerce platform.
“I had no idea how to do it quickly myself,” she admits, “so I found someone who specialized in my particular type of content management system on Freelancer.com.” It would have taken her two to three weeks to complete the task given her limited knowledge and availability. The freelancer she hired did it in five days, giving her time to concentrate on the site design itself.
She heard about Freelancer.com from a friend who had used it for similar tasks. This strong recommendation carried weight in her decision to join the community. “I didn’t look at other competitor sites because Freelancer.com sounded and appeared to be the solution I was after.” She was so satisfied with the services the site offers that she never even bothered to look into more traditional offline places for help. “The website worked well and it was easy to follow.”
Even finding the right freelancer for the job was a cinch for her. “I really like the instant chat feature,” she says. “I chatted with the bidding freelancers about my project. By their answers I was able to gauge how proactive, knowledgeable and helpful they were. I also got an idea on how responsive they were.”
Since it went live in April this year, the Bevisco site has had 1,688 unique visitors and Carol has gone on to post several new projects on Freelancer.com. “I know I will be able to take on more website clients with confidence from now on,” she attests, “because I know there’s always a knowledgeable and helpful freelancer available on Freelancer.com if ever I get stuck.”
