Frequently Asked Questions for Experts

Why would I want to become an expert?

If you have expertise that you can share, then it's time for you to get paid for what you can do. The possibilities in this website are endless. You can create courses, offer live or offline advice at your spare time at the convenience of your own home or anywhere else that has internet connection.

Perhaps, you like playing football and you want to share your know-how in striking a goal but you can't be bothered to set-up a course. No problem at all, just register under "Sports" and "Football" and then make yourself available online so that people can ask questions live. Alternatively, go to "My Questions" under "Questions I Receive" to choose questions about your football expertise that you want to answer and get paid for answering them.

Perhaps you are a tax and legal consultant with specific expertise about offshore trusts. You can register as an expert under the "Legal Expertise", "Offshore" and "Tax Law"categories. You can then set-up a course about "Setting up Offshore Trust for Wealth Preservation" and make yourself available online so that any member can contact you right away when they have a question. As an expert, you will also be notified when a member asks about "Legal", "Offshore" or "Tax Law" problems. You can choose questions from our members that you want to answer and get paid for answering them.

Perhaps, you are a native Chinese speaker and you would like to offer a live conversation to people who wish to chat casually in Chinese on your spare time. Easy, just register under "Home, Shopping, Hobby", "Languages", and make yourself available online.

Of course, one person can be an expert in many different fields and you are free to indicate your expertise in as many categories as you wish. You can choose a wide range of expertise categories, so be sure to browse all of them.

How do I become an expert?

Just register via Apply as an Expert link: answer a few questions and describe your expertise.

What can I do after I become an expert? How do I offer my services?

You can provide free or for-pay advice. When you provide free advice, this website will not charge you for using our facilities.

Live consultation

When your application as an expert has been approved, you can simply go to your Workspace / Profile, and mark yourself available to indicate that you are now available for live consultation. When your client contacts you, you will receive a ring from this page, so don't close this browser window. You may also want to turn on the speaker to hear the ringing tone.

turns to

when someone (in this example, user1) is calling. You will also hear a ringing tone.

Offline consultation

Alternatively, in My Workspace, under "My Questions" >> "Questions I Received" in your Workspace, see if you can answer some of the posted questions and then provide the solution under "Questions to respond" tab.

Create courses

Alternatively, you can create a course. Creating a course gives you visibility and strengthens your position as an expert.
To create a course, from the main page, select the category in which you want your course and then click the "Add a new course" button. More information below.

Forums

Otherwise, go to our forum and browse issues that you can answer or delve into other experts' opinion.

Where is My Workspace?

From the front page's main menu (on the left side of the front page), click "My Workspace".

Which tools will be available for me?

Live consultation

• For live consultation, you will have a virtual room that consists of:
  • Voice over IP connection to allow audio conversation
  • Webcam to see the person whom you talk
  • Whiteboard: the equivalent of a whiteboard and MS Powerpoint, capable of viewing and annotating JPEG/GIF/PNG pictures. How do I add my own presentation files?
    
  • File upload and download while chatting with the client. This way you can analyze your client's documents on-the-go.
• Go to My Workspace and mark yourself online if you are ready to offer your live consultation service.

Offline consultation

• Go to My Workspace and click "My Questions" tab.
• Under "Questions I Receive", have a look at the questions from the members that suit your specific expertise and deadline. If you believe that you can answer the question satisfactorily, set the price and enter any comment that you wish to say to that member. Enter $0 if you want to answer the question for no charge.
• Under "Questions To Respond", browse the questions that you must answer. You have been approved to answer these questions by the askers and you must provide the answers before the deadline. Click on a question, type in your answer or upload files. You can save your answer and return to it later. When you are finished, submit your answer and get paid.
• You can view your past answers under "Questions I answered"
• You will also receive a notification email if a user posts an offline consultation or when he approves your consultation service. To disable this notification, under your personal profile, set your email to be inactive (Menu >> My Workspace >> Edit Profile >> Email activated).

Courses

You can also create a classroom environment by creating a course. Here you can create course materials, homeworks, quizzes, groups to manage, and many other things.

What does the virtual room look like?

Please look at the demo under Using this Website & Demo category from the main page.

How do I add my presentation files to my virtual room?

In your Workspace / Profile tab under "File Manager" >> "My Links", upload the pictures into the main directory. Files and links under the main directory will appear in your virtual room.

To use slides created by MS PowerPoint, save the file as JPEG, GIF or PNG pictures. In MS Powerpoint, select File >> Save As and under "Save as type" choose either JPEG, GIF or PNG.

Do I need special software or hardware? (Minimum Requirements)

No, only some basic requirements: broadband Internet connection (cable, DSL with speed above 500kbps), a sound card, speakers and microphone, and a web browser. The web browser must accept cookies and run javascript and is equipped with Adobe Flash 9 or better --- a standard web browser.
You can use this website on a Macintosh, Linux or Windows computer.

How many hours do I need to spend?

It's really up to you. You can use your spare time, a few hours per week or alternatively, full time. However, if you have confirmed that you will answer an offline question, you must make sure that you spend enough time to answer the question well and submit the answer before the deadline.

Do I need to pay to register or to advertise myself as an expert?

No, you can register and post your expertise profile free. There are no membership fees or monthly fees.

What are the costs involved?

Members do not pay us for using this website.

For experts, the principle is simple: if you do not earn any money, this website will not charge you anything. It's free to register and post your profile. It's also free if you give free courses or free live / offline consultations. There are no membership fees or monthly fees.

However, if you charge the customer for using your service, you will also need to pay us fees for using this website. Basically, for courses and offline consultations, the fee is a small percentage of the amount you charge to the customer. For online consultation, the fee is fixed on a per-minute basis. The complete description is in our fees section.

How will prices for each session, course, etc. be set?

You have the freedom to set and change your own prices anytime. The higher your rating (based on your clients' feedbacks), the higher bargaining power you have and the higher premium you can charge. For a start, have a look at other experts offering a similar package.

How do I pay my expert fees?

Your expert fees are deducted automatically from the amount that you will receive for your services. So, you do not need to do anything here.

What is the easiest and fastest way to get my payment?

To ensure security, expediency and ease when sending or receiving online payments, experts must use PayPal. You can withdraw your payment anytime you want. Just go to "My Money" in your Workspace and click "Withdraw money".

How will people select an expert?

Members can select an expert by searching your description or your courses using some criteria or keywords. Then he/she can select suitable experts by sorting the expert's rating, description, fees and other information.

An expert has a public feedback rating made up of comments and ratings left by his/her previous clients. These comments and ratings are available in the public profile of the expert. An expert with higher rating will appear higher on the search result.

The more hours you spend and the higher the quality of consultation and courses that you provide will impact positively on your rating and will allow you to have a higher chance of being chosen to provide your services.

People may also go to our forums to look for experts, so be sure that you are visible and give credible advice in the forums too.

Can I check a member's profile before I offer them my service?

You are encouraged to look at the member's profile before offering them your service. Click on that member's link to go to his/her profile page. Especially check the Transaction Rating. The higher the rating and the longer that person has been a member, the safer it is to offer them your service.

When you are called for live consultation, the rating and the number of experts that the caller have is shown to you. In the example picture on the left, user1 has 4 stars and 10 experts with whom she has consulted. Click on the 'user1' link to get more details.

Will my past consultation -- like my answers, virtual room transcripts -- be available to the public?

No. The access to your offline and online consultation, answers or transcripts will only be available to you and your client. Your rating, however, will be available to the public.

All activities in our forums are available to the public.

How do I create a course?

Go to the category that you want your course appear under and click the "Add a new course" button.

To create a free course, go to your course and then click "Settings". In the Settings page, set the "Enrolment Plugins" to "Internal Enrolment".
To create a payable course, follow the same route, but set the "Enrolment Plugins" to "Paypal". Then save the changes, and then go back to this Settings page again. Under "Availability", enter the cost in US dollars.

To edit the course, go to your course and click the "Turn editing on" button (top right). To change the number of headings, go to the Settings page again, and change the "Number of topics".

Can I be an expert if I do not have my own material?

Definitely. You can be an online expert or you can answer any questions offline. Just go to your Workspace and make yourself available online or go to "My Questions" tab on your Workspace and answer questions.

Who owns the Intellectual Property if I post my material?

You. You are free to use your own material in other websites as well as ours. However, if you post materials to our website, you automatically grant us a license to your material so that we can promote, distribute or use your material within this website.

Where do I find the forums? Why do I want to post to forums?

On the bottom of the every page, you can click "Forum".

Posting to forums gives you visibility and credibility. If you have higher visibility and credibility, people will be more likely to select you as their expert.

Where do I find more information? Demo?

Under the "Using this Website & Demo" category (on the left side of the front page).

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