Hi All,
Ok...please login to the writer's side of the new site, http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/home
Your usernames and passwords are your entire email address (as was used on the old site) and your password from the old site.
If anyone has problems with their account info, email me.
After successfully logging in, click the 'My Letters' link in the left menu. On that page you should see 'Just' your letters. Let me know if it's not correct.
Hold off editing your letters. A fresh data update before we go live might wipe out that work. You can, of course, review your letters and write summaries and excerpts separately to be uploaded as soon as the new site is released.
Ok...fixing free letters is next...bear with us.
Rob
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Questions from a writer
Hi All,
A LetterRep.com writer posted the questions below. I answered his questions and thought you may be interested. His text should appear with the '>' sign preceding his text.
Rob
>Hi Rob,
[text removed]
> On the Client-side Homepage we find a chat window and a left side menu.
>
Jose,
Chat is used by the customer simply as 'another' means to find a letter.
As a LetterRep, you can search on the writer's side to find a letter
that may suit the customer's need. Using the writers-side search
feature, if you look through the site's letter inventory and cannot find
a letter that will work, at that point you can submit the link to your
'Hire this writer to compose a fully custom-written letter for you'
page, in suggesting the customer come to you to have one written in your
chat converation.
If, however, you search through the available list of letters and
recommend a letter belonging to another writer, if the customer goes on
to purchase the letter you suggest, you, the referring LetterRep, gets
$2.50, as long as the customer buys. The incentive here is that you may
be able to turn $2.50 several times an hour enabling you to earn more by
recommending existing letters belonging to others, than by writing a
fully custom-written letter.
We will be raising the prices of the fully-custom written letter service
soon. At first, LetterRep.com will keep the balance in order to pay some
bills; then, we will increase the payment to writers for composing
fully-custom letters, in order to keep that part of the site healthy.
>
> I understand this if for the customer to open an account if he wishes
> and then for him to log in.
>
Jose,
With this new version of the site, customers can only create an account
but that only gives them links in the left menu that lead to empty pages
- until the make a purchase. Upon making a purchase of an existing
custom letter, an existing custom letter and its further customization,
or a fully custom-written letter, these pages will populate with more
information.
>
> I would also understand that this page is where the customer may find
> a list of letter categories to choose from and once a letter-category
> is chosen the customer clicks on links to List of Custom Letters, List
> all our letters page, More about this letter and Visit the writer page.
>
Jose,
In regards to the left menu on the customer-side, it's purpose is for
the customer who reaches the site when no LetterRep is available or
online to chat, or for the customer who wishes to ignore chat and find a
letter on their own to browse the letters on the site. All unnecessary
pages have been removed from the path between customers and letters, and
the letters are organized in ways that are now intuitive to web users.
>
> Then once a particular letter is chosen, the customer gets to chat
> with the corresponding writer.
>
>> Question: If the writer is not online for chat, does it mean he loses
>> the sale? Suggestion: Encourage the customer to leave an off-line
>> message to furnish a return email ad for the writer to respond at a
>> later time. This is only at the option of the customer unless he
>> wants to chat with other writers instead. However, make it possible
>> for writers to link with the customer through LetterRep only. I don’t
>> know if there is such a way. Nonetheless, please find a way for us
>> writers to have adequate opportunity to interact with clients as the
>> bottomline is to make a sale.
>>
Jose,
*This is a misconception.*
The only opportunity that any LetterRep has to chat with a customer is
during the initial entry of the customer to the homepage. If you, as the
LetterRep, wish to suggest to the customer a letter of your own or
yourself for performing a writing service for them, during that initial
chat you must tell the customer to include their contact information in
any request they submit.
Your point, however, hints toward the future of LetterRep.com. In time,
LetterRep.com will completely surrender the 'More About This Letter' and
'Visit the Writer' pages over to you, the Writers. You will be able to
feature these pages with anything you want...to include Chat, so you can
chat with any visitors who come to your page. We're about 6 months away.
> I have no doubt that writers of LetterRep are all talented and
> professional. I hate to see the day that we writers will outdo each
> other (or perhaps push one another for a sale, pardon my expression,
> or for a customer's favor). Please make it a point to leave everything
> to the exclusive choice of the customer of selecting a letter
> notwithstanding who the writer is.
>
Jose,
As mentioned, the customer who does not wish for assistance from a
LetterRep must only endure the requests to chat from the writers on the
LetterRep.com homepage. If the customer does not wish for assistance,
they can simply ignore the requests for assistance. The path though the
site is intuitive enough so that even without a LetterRep's assistance
the customer can easily find their way around.
>
>
>
> Question: There may be customers who cannot speak or write in English
> or simply they cannot communicate their thoughts on a letter they
> need. In the old LetterRep site there were several Prepay requests
> that were quite vague(lacking data) or difficult to understand that I
> found impossible to respond. How can we resolve this issue?
> Suggestion: Can it be possible for the New Letterrep to have a
> translator link similar to Yahoo’s Babel fish?
>
Jose,
I will definitely check into this. I am speaking with the site designers
on how we may change chat. That might be one of the feature we add. Thanks.
>
>
>
> Having the opportunity to chat with customers, can we not just do away
> with the 3 purchase options and just convince the client to avail of a
> fully custom-written letter for $29.99?
>
Jose,
Not possible under this business model.
>
>
>
> I agree that the Visit the Writer page is good and has a lot of
> potential. Also the writer’s chat console is beautiful.
>
>
>
> One last item I would like LetterRep to ponder. I know this could be
> done away with in the new LetterRep. There might be customers who have
> purchased a letter, say, an appeal letter or a letter of
> reconsideration. In the old LetterRep site, they have 30 days to
> decide. Supposing within the 30-day period they have used the letter
> for the intended purpose but despite said letter they were still
> denied their appeal or reconsideration. So they come back to LetterRep
> and ask for a refund. I haven’t heard this had happened before but how
> will this issue be resolved?
>
Jose,
Check out the Terms of Use on the customer-side. It is explained that
LetterRep.com is in no way responsible for any outcome occurring as part
of the letter. The customer cannot hold LetterRep.com, or its writers,
responsible.
It has happened where customers ask for refunds, but mostly it rare.
Probably less than 1%. Most often, someone wants a custom letter,
purchases it for $14.99, then immediately asks for a refund. As of now,
the guarantee point on these letters if 30 days. With the new site, I'm
lowering it to 10 days. For custom work, once the customer clicks the
'Accept' this letter, a popup will appear stating that they understand
the terms and accept the letter.
A LetterRep.com writer posted the questions below. I answered his questions and thought you may be interested. His text should appear with the '>' sign preceding his text.
Rob
>Hi Rob,
[text removed]
> On the Client-side Homepage we find a chat window and a left side menu.
>
Jose,
Chat is used by the customer simply as 'another' means to find a letter.
As a LetterRep, you can search on the writer's side to find a letter
that may suit the customer's need. Using the writers-side search
feature, if you look through the site's letter inventory and cannot find
a letter that will work, at that point you can submit the link to your
'Hire this writer to compose a fully custom-written letter for you'
page, in suggesting the customer come to you to have one written in your
chat converation.
If, however, you search through the available list of letters and
recommend a letter belonging to another writer, if the customer goes on
to purchase the letter you suggest, you, the referring LetterRep, gets
$2.50, as long as the customer buys. The incentive here is that you may
be able to turn $2.50 several times an hour enabling you to earn more by
recommending existing letters belonging to others, than by writing a
fully custom-written letter.
We will be raising the prices of the fully-custom written letter service
soon. At first, LetterRep.com will keep the balance in order to pay some
bills; then, we will increase the payment to writers for composing
fully-custom letters, in order to keep that part of the site healthy.
>
> I understand this if for the customer to open an account if he wishes
> and then for him to log in.
>
Jose,
With this new version of the site, customers can only create an account
but that only gives them links in the left menu that lead to empty pages
- until the make a purchase. Upon making a purchase of an existing
custom letter, an existing custom letter and its further customization,
or a fully custom-written letter, these pages will populate with more
information.
>
> I would also understand that this page is where the customer may find
> a list of letter categories to choose from and once a letter-category
> is chosen the customer clicks on links to List of Custom Letters, List
> all our letters page, More about this letter and Visit the writer page.
>
Jose,
In regards to the left menu on the customer-side, it's purpose is for
the customer who reaches the site when no LetterRep is available or
online to chat, or for the customer who wishes to ignore chat and find a
letter on their own to browse the letters on the site. All unnecessary
pages have been removed from the path between customers and letters, and
the letters are organized in ways that are now intuitive to web users.
>
> Then once a particular letter is chosen, the customer gets to chat
> with the corresponding writer.
>
>> Question: If the writer is not online for chat, does it mean he loses
>> the sale? Suggestion: Encourage the customer to leave an off-line
>> message to furnish a return email ad for the writer to respond at a
>> later time. This is only at the option of the customer unless he
>> wants to chat with other writers instead. However, make it possible
>> for writers to link with the customer through LetterRep only. I don’t
>> know if there is such a way. Nonetheless, please find a way for us
>> writers to have adequate opportunity to interact with clients as the
>> bottomline is to make a sale.
>>
Jose,
*This is a misconception.*
The only opportunity that any LetterRep has to chat with a customer is
during the initial entry of the customer to the homepage. If you, as the
LetterRep, wish to suggest to the customer a letter of your own or
yourself for performing a writing service for them, during that initial
chat you must tell the customer to include their contact information in
any request they submit.
Your point, however, hints toward the future of LetterRep.com. In time,
LetterRep.com will completely surrender the 'More About This Letter' and
'Visit the Writer' pages over to you, the Writers. You will be able to
feature these pages with anything you want...to include Chat, so you can
chat with any visitors who come to your page. We're about 6 months away.
> I have no doubt that writers of LetterRep are all talented and
> professional. I hate to see the day that we writers will outdo each
> other (or perhaps push one another for a sale, pardon my expression,
> or for a customer's favor). Please make it a point to leave everything
> to the exclusive choice of the customer of selecting a letter
> notwithstanding who the writer is.
>
Jose,
As mentioned, the customer who does not wish for assistance from a
LetterRep must only endure the requests to chat from the writers on the
LetterRep.com homepage. If the customer does not wish for assistance,
they can simply ignore the requests for assistance. The path though the
site is intuitive enough so that even without a LetterRep's assistance
the customer can easily find their way around.
>
>
>
> Question: There may be customers who cannot speak or write in English
> or simply they cannot communicate their thoughts on a letter they
> need. In the old LetterRep site there were several Prepay requests
> that were quite vague(lacking data) or difficult to understand that I
> found impossible to respond. How can we resolve this issue?
> Suggestion: Can it be possible for the New Letterrep to have a
> translator link similar to Yahoo’s Babel fish?
>
Jose,
I will definitely check into this. I am speaking with the site designers
on how we may change chat. That might be one of the feature we add. Thanks.
>
>
>
> Having the opportunity to chat with customers, can we not just do away
> with the 3 purchase options and just convince the client to avail of a
> fully custom-written letter for $29.99?
>
Jose,
Not possible under this business model.
>
>
>
> I agree that the Visit the Writer page is good and has a lot of
> potential. Also the writer’s chat console is beautiful.
>
>
>
> One last item I would like LetterRep to ponder. I know this could be
> done away with in the new LetterRep. There might be customers who have
> purchased a letter, say, an appeal letter or a letter of
> reconsideration. In the old LetterRep site, they have 30 days to
> decide. Supposing within the 30-day period they have used the letter
> for the intended purpose but despite said letter they were still
> denied their appeal or reconsideration. So they come back to LetterRep
> and ask for a refund. I haven’t heard this had happened before but how
> will this issue be resolved?
>
Jose,
Check out the Terms of Use on the customer-side. It is explained that
LetterRep.com is in no way responsible for any outcome occurring as part
of the letter. The customer cannot hold LetterRep.com, or its writers,
responsible.
It has happened where customers ask for refunds, but mostly it rare.
Probably less than 1%. Most often, someone wants a custom letter,
purchases it for $14.99, then immediately asks for a refund. As of now,
the guarantee point on these letters if 30 days. With the new site, I'm
lowering it to 10 days. For custom work, once the customer clicks the
'Accept' this letter, a popup will appear stating that they understand
the terms and accept the letter.
LetterRep.com - Status Update
Hi All,
Not much to update, I'm sorry to say.
As one writer put it, we are embroiled in a 'database nightmare.'
It could be worse...maybe.
None the less there is so much data that must be considered and the construction of the old database was so specific to that site that rearranging the data for how business will be conducted on the new LetterRep.com site requires some very detailed programming.
If anyone is interested in the history of the old site, let me know and I'll be glad to tell you...probably not. We just all want it to work soon. I hear you.
Ensuring that letters are assigned to the correct writers, then ensuring the letters customers purchased are correctly assigned to their accounts are the two most critical points of our desired outcome. 'Un-knotting' the letters, and their associated assignments, from the live database is the biggest problem.
On other subjects, go ahead and answer requests on the existing live site. There is no reason we shouldn't continue posting there. If necessary, we will conduct a final import once the code is completed.
Rob
Not much to update, I'm sorry to say.
As one writer put it, we are embroiled in a 'database nightmare.'
It could be worse...maybe.
None the less there is so much data that must be considered and the construction of the old database was so specific to that site that rearranging the data for how business will be conducted on the new LetterRep.com site requires some very detailed programming.
If anyone is interested in the history of the old site, let me know and I'll be glad to tell you...probably not. We just all want it to work soon. I hear you.
Ensuring that letters are assigned to the correct writers, then ensuring the letters customers purchased are correctly assigned to their accounts are the two most critical points of our desired outcome. 'Un-knotting' the letters, and their associated assignments, from the live database is the biggest problem.
On other subjects, go ahead and answer requests on the existing live site. There is no reason we shouldn't continue posting there. If necessary, we will conduct a final import once the code is completed.
Rob
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Writer accounts imported
Writers...your accounts have been imported.
Please confirm your login to the new LetterRep.com site with your username and password from the existing live site.
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/home
Rob
Please confirm your login to the new LetterRep.com site with your username and password from the existing live site.
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/home
Rob
Status Button
Hello Everyone,
Part of the most recent delay has been in the addition of a 'Status' button. I've posted a pic of the page below.
The 'Status' button allows you as the writer to turn on or turn off the 'Buy this letter and hire the writer to further compose it' and 'Hire this writer to compose a fully custom-written letter for you' buttons on your More About This Letter and Visit the Writer pages.
This button has been added so that you as a writer can turn off these buttons on your pages so you can go on vacation, take a break, or halt any new letter requests until you get caught up. Additionally, this feature prevents any writers who may have created an account, uploaded a letter and then for some reason changed email addresses used by LetterRep.com to announce new writing jobs, from getting hired for a writing job and the request just sitting.
Upon logging into the site your first time, you will be required to change your status from off to on in order to start receiving requests for writing jobs.
Rob
Part of the most recent delay has been in the addition of a 'Status' button. I've posted a pic of the page below.
The 'Status' button allows you as the writer to turn on or turn off the 'Buy this letter and hire the writer to further compose it' and 'Hire this writer to compose a fully custom-written letter for you' buttons on your More About This Letter and Visit the Writer pages.
This button has been added so that you as a writer can turn off these buttons on your pages so you can go on vacation, take a break, or halt any new letter requests until you get caught up. Additionally, this feature prevents any writers who may have created an account, uploaded a letter and then for some reason changed email addresses used by LetterRep.com to announce new writing jobs, from getting hired for a writing job and the request just sitting.
Upon logging into the site your first time, you will be required to change your status from off to on in order to start receiving requests for writing jobs.
Rob
Monday, September 15, 2008
LetterRep.com's Products - 1) Prewritten Letters; 2) Writing Jobs
Hi again. Rob here.
With this post I'm hoping to explain a little about the products we're offering on the new letterrep site.
The first purchase item on LetterRep.com is a single pre-written, custom letter. These are any of the letters that you, or me, or any writer composed in the past and posted to the site. They exist on the site as templates for customers to come and purchase. These letters are purchased outright by customers and carry with them no obligation for you as the writer to further edit them. Customers can click the 'Buy It! $14.99' or 'Buy This Letter $14.99' links appearing on the following customer-side pages:
List Custom Letters page
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/customletters/show/page1
This page is reached clicking the 'List Custom Letters' link in the left menu of the customer-side.
List All Our Letters page
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/all_letters/show/page1
Reached by clicking the 'List All Our Letters' link in the left menu.
Category Links
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/categories/show_category/custom/27/page1
Reach this page by scrolling down on the customer-side homepage and clicking any of the category links.
(Text and links appearing on this page are likely to change.)
More About This Letter page
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/customletters/show/page1
The 'Buy This Letter - $14.99' link always appears on the 'More About This Letter' pages. Keep in mind, these are the pages you will be pushing to customers.
Visit the Writer pages
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/members/writers/358
And, the final page where the 'Buy This Letter - $14.99' link appears is on this page.
The next product customers can purchase is one of the two Editing links. The first link is,
Buy This Letter and Hire the Writer to Further Compose It - $29.99 link.
This link appears on the exclusively on the 'More About This Letter' page:
The purpose of this link is just as it sounds: Customers review your letter details, decide it 'mostly' meets their needs and then hires you, the letter's original writer, to further compose it for them.
The next and final writing option link, 'Hire this writer to compose a fully custom-written letter - $29.99,' also appears on this page. Likewise, this link also appears on the 'Visit the Writer' page. The URL is above.
As suspected, this link allows the customer, unable to find a letter to suit their needs, hires the writer to compose a fully custom-written letter for them.
**NOTE**
For the time-being, only the More About This Letter pages belonging to the testers (You) will display the two links above. Additionally, on the Visit the Writer pages belonging to the letters of the testers will display the 'Hire the writer' link on it.
All non-testers will not have these links until we can confirm they are active writers on the site. The reason is because we do not want you pushing a More About This Letter page of a writer who is no longer active for any reason. The customer's request will likely sit indefinitely and you will not get paid for the referral.
Ok...let me know what questions you have.
Rob
With this post I'm hoping to explain a little about the products we're offering on the new letterrep site.
The first purchase item on LetterRep.com is a single pre-written, custom letter. These are any of the letters that you, or me, or any writer composed in the past and posted to the site. They exist on the site as templates for customers to come and purchase. These letters are purchased outright by customers and carry with them no obligation for you as the writer to further edit them. Customers can click the 'Buy It! $14.99' or 'Buy This Letter $14.99' links appearing on the following customer-side pages:
List Custom Letters page
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/customletters/show/page1
This page is reached clicking the 'List Custom Letters' link in the left menu of the customer-side.
List All Our Letters page
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/all_letters/show/page1
Reached by clicking the 'List All Our Letters' link in the left menu.
Category Links
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/categories/show_category/custom/27/page1
Reach this page by scrolling down on the customer-side homepage and clicking any of the category links.
(Text and links appearing on this page are likely to change.)
More About This Letter page
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/customletters/show/page1
The 'Buy This Letter - $14.99' link always appears on the 'More About This Letter' pages. Keep in mind, these are the pages you will be pushing to customers.
Visit the Writer pages
http://site5803-2.websiteforge.com/index.php/members/writers/358
And, the final page where the 'Buy This Letter - $14.99' link appears is on this page.
The next product customers can purchase is one of the two Editing links. The first link is,
Buy This Letter and Hire the Writer to Further Compose It - $29.99 link.
This link appears on the exclusively on the 'More About This Letter' page:
The purpose of this link is just as it sounds: Customers review your letter details, decide it 'mostly' meets their needs and then hires you, the letter's original writer, to further compose it for them.
The next and final writing option link, 'Hire this writer to compose a fully custom-written letter - $29.99,' also appears on this page. Likewise, this link also appears on the 'Visit the Writer' page. The URL is above.
As suspected, this link allows the customer, unable to find a letter to suit their needs, hires the writer to compose a fully custom-written letter for them.
**NOTE**
For the time-being, only the More About This Letter pages belonging to the testers (You) will display the two links above. Additionally, on the Visit the Writer pages belonging to the letters of the testers will display the 'Hire the writer' link on it.
All non-testers will not have these links until we can confirm they are active writers on the site. The reason is because we do not want you pushing a More About This Letter page of a writer who is no longer active for any reason. The customer's request will likely sit indefinitely and you will not get paid for the referral.
Ok...let me know what questions you have.
Rob
Adding or editing the 'Writer's Summary or Excerpt field'
Hi All,
To answer Jo's question about updating the Writer's Summary or Excerpt field, about the only real hassle is having to edit, like in Jo's case, 188 letters.
On the old LetterRep.com site, the site automatically grabbed the first 125 characters of every uploaded letter to display on the letter purchase page, as the only part of the letter customers get to see in order to determine if the letter meets their needs before purchasing. As default, these 125 characters remain on the new site.
In my opinion, the limited amount of information about each letter was a major cause of customers failing to purchase, so it really might be worth your time, rather than going with the default 125 characters.
Here's the submit a letter page:
No big surprises here. This page, the 'Submit a Letter' page, is exactly like the 'Edit a Letter' page.
For letters already existing in your account, the first 125 characters of your letter will appear in this box.
Thanks Jo for the question. Sorry if it created a lot more work for you.
Rob
To answer Jo's question about updating the Writer's Summary or Excerpt field, about the only real hassle is having to edit, like in Jo's case, 188 letters.
On the old LetterRep.com site, the site automatically grabbed the first 125 characters of every uploaded letter to display on the letter purchase page, as the only part of the letter customers get to see in order to determine if the letter meets their needs before purchasing. As default, these 125 characters remain on the new site.
In my opinion, the limited amount of information about each letter was a major cause of customers failing to purchase, so it really might be worth your time, rather than going with the default 125 characters.
Here's the submit a letter page:
No big surprises here. This page, the 'Submit a Letter' page, is exactly like the 'Edit a Letter' page.For letters already existing in your account, the first 125 characters of your letter will appear in this box.
Thanks Jo for the question. Sorry if it created a lot more work for you.
Rob
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