In Step 1, a new user of GETaFREELANCER is required to choose a username ( 1 ), provide a valid email address ( 2 ), and to choose from a dropdown list the type of email that the user prefers to receive ( 3 ); the options are: Text or HTML.

These fields that the user is asked to fill are required fields, meaning that the registration process will not continue until each field contains valid data.

Please take attention to the username field; this should contain your business name and not a nickname - your success on GETaFREELANCER could suffer because of an inappropriate username. Please, read How To Choose A Successful Freelancer Nickname article.

Another important aspect of Step1 of the registration is to enter a valid email address. Again, GETaFREELANCER urges you to only provide a valid email address, as this email address will be used to confirm your registration, as you will see in Step 2 of this tutorial. Failure to provide a valid email address will lead to failure in retrieving the registration code from your email address, which in turn will lead to the unsuccessful end of the registration process.

GETaFREELANCER only checks the consistency of the username and email address fields, meaning that as long as you enter a few characters for the username, and a valid email form, the registration process will go on to Step 2 with the unwanted information entered in one or both fields.

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Next, the terms and conditions of service are provided for every new user to read, under the “Terms and Conditions of Service” section ( 1 ). GETaFREELANCER urges every new user to carefully read this section before continuing the registration. Also, a summary of “Terms and Conditions of Service” can be viewed be clicking on the link just below the title “Terms and Conditions of Service” ( 2 ). This will open a new browser window that contains this summary.

After carefully reading the “Terms and Condition of Service” section, or the summary, the user is required to click the checkbox that assures GETaFREELANCER that the terms and conditions were read, and that the user fully understands and agrees to these terms and conditions. The checkbox is located under the “Terms and Conditions of Service” section ( 3 ).

Additionally, the user can choose to become a Gold Member, by clicking the appropriate checkbox show in the screenshot above. Further more, GETaFREELANCER provides further information about the Gold Member option, available by clicking on the link contained in the explanatory text of the checkbox ( 4 ).

Step 1 ends by clicking on the “Next” button ( 5 ).

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Please make sure that you provide valid information and that you fill/check every required field; the registration process will not continue until every field is valid. If you click the “Next” button before entering all the required information, or if this is not valid, instead of going forward to Step 2, you will be redirected back to Step 1, where you will be asked to make the necessary changes ( 1 ).

Step 3 of the registration process is divided in 4 sections. The first section, present in the image below, is the “Account details” section:

This section requires a new user of GETaFREELANCER to provide it’s personal details, such as full name ( 1 ) and name/company ( 2 ).

Further more the user is asked to introduce a password in the appropriate field ( 3 ).

For security reasons, GETaFREELANCER requires the same password to be introduced again, in the “Password Retype” field ( 4 ), assuring through this that the password introduced the first time is the password you desire. In case the password introduced in the first field differs from the password introduced in the second field, the registration process will not go forward. Instead, the user will be redirected back to Step 3, where he will be asked to make the appropriate changes.

All four fields contained by this section are required fields, meaning that the registration process will not continue until all the fields contain valid data.

GETaFREELANCER urges every user to only provide valid information, as this information will be used for communication between GETaFREELANCER and the user.

Continuing the registration process, the user is required to provide his full address details. As you can plainly see from the screenshot below, most of the fields contained by this section are marked as required fields, meaning that in order for the registration process to go forward, all of these required fields should contain valid data.

The list of required fields consists: Address ( 1 ), City ( 2 ), State ( 3 ), Country( 4 ) , Postal code ( 5 ) and Phone ( 6 ).

For legal reasons and in order to avoid fraud, GETaFREELANCER requires you to enter full and valid address details; the only field that you are not required to enter is the Fax field ( 7 ).

As for every personal related information requested in this registration process, GETaFREELANCER urges every user to only provide valid information. Providing invalid data will not only affect the
registration process, but your future activity on GETaFREELANCER as well.

In the next paragraphs I will walk you through the process of entering your personal address details.

First you have to type your personal address in the Address field ( 1 ); this only refers to the street address.

Next you are required to enter your City name, in the City field ( 2 ).

For the name of your state you are required to choose from a dropdown list ( 3 ). The default value for this field is “Non US”, meaning that you are not from the United States. If you are leaving in the United States, then, by click on this dropdown list, you will be able to choose the name of your state from a list of all states in the United States.

Next you are required to enter the name of your country in the appropriate field ( 4 ). To do this, you just have to click the dropdown list ( 4 ). This field does not have a default value, thus, leaving this field empty will resolve in failing to continue the registration process. For an easier way to choose your country
from the dropdown list, click on the list and then use the keyboard to go straight to your option. For example, if your country is Taiwan, by pressing the “T” key on your keyboard you will go straight to Taiwan; for other countries that start with the letter “T” you will need to press the “T” key several times. Also, a combination of using the keyboard to go to the countries that start with a specific letter and then using the mouse to choose the exact one is possible.

After finishing with the country field, you are required to enter your valid postal code in the Postal code field ( 5 ).

Next you are required to enter your phone number using the appropriate field ( 6 ).

Last, the “Address Details” section asks, but does not require you to enter your Fax number ( 7 ). Although this is not a required field, GETaFREELANCER encourages every user that possesses a fax number to enter it in the appropriate field.

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The third section of Step 3 of the registration process is “Notifications” section ( 1 ). This section consists of two options.

The first option refers to your actions on GETaFREELANCER. By choosing this option, you will be announced by email when a project gets posted that is relevant to you or when a bid is posted on one of your projects. This option is very important to the efficiency of the work process, making it much faster. To choose this option just click on the checkbox located before the explanatory text.

The second option refers to the announcements and news that appear constantly on GETaFREELANCER. This option is extremely important because it keeps you in touch with everything that is going on GETaFREELANCER. To choose this option, just use the same method as for the first checkbox.

The final section Step 3 and of the entire registration process is represented by the “Service Provider profile”. Although none of the fields contained in this section are marked as required, GETaFREELANCER encourages every user to take the time to enter the information that this section asks for; doing this will affect your activity on GETaFREELANCER in the best way possible.

First of all, as you can see in the screenshot above, the “Service Provider profile” begins by asking the user to choose his areas of expertise ( 2 ). To do this, just click on the checkbox associated to each option; please keep in mind the fact that you can make multiple selections by clicking on multiple checkboxes.

Next you are asked (again, not required) to enter your skills as a provider. For this, you have at your disposal 4 text fields, as you can see in the image below ( 1 ):

The next step you can choose to do is to enter a short description of your vision, in the Vision textbox ( 2 ), and to describe your business with a minimum of 5 keywords, in the Keywords textbox ( 3 ). Please keep in mind that “the vision” refers to your professional vision, maybe related to GETaFREELANCER.

The “Average hourly rate” field ( 4 ) that is located just under the Vision textbox in not a fixed value. You will be able to set an hourly rate for each project; this value is just to get a rough estimate of the cost of your work.

Although optional, the picture or company logo field ( 5 ) could play an important role in your future development as a service provider on GETaFREELANCER. It is
statistically proven that users which upload and display their picture or company logo are significantly more successful that users which choose not to use a picture or logo. To upload a picture or logo, just click on the Browse button ( 5 ); a windows type window will appear and you will have to navigate through the directory system and choose the desired picture. Please be careful about the size of the picture file; GETaFREELANCER only accepts files less than 500000 bytes. If your picture files is bigger than this value, please use a photo resizing tool for your picture, before uploading it.

The last optional step that you can choose to take before ending the registration process is to fill the “Your Profile” field ( 6 ) with your personal information (studies, diplomas, etc). Please keep in mind that this information will be available on the site, so you are forbidden to enter in this field any contact information.

Step 3 and the registration process end with Signup button ( 7 ) located at the bottom of the page. Clicking the Signup button will finalize the 3 step registration
process, making you a service provider on GETaFREELANCER, effective immediately.