If you have $500 dollars or more to invest on oDesk ..

I would keep the money and do the work myself.

Why on oDesk?

Just from my experience: The only thing I've found on oDesk are headaches.

The majority percentage of the workers are foreign and have some of the most jumbled up English.
A lot of people who speak poor English have companies or "Agents" that e-mail applications for them so you're speaking with someone who has perfect grammar during the interview.
Most of the workers I hired would disappear for days on end without a word.
Apparently in some foreign countries there's something called "load shedding"? Their power/internet infrastructure has to be cycled because of how crap it is and how overcrowded they are.
The quality of the work was.. well.. questionable.

I probably spent $2,000 on oDesk (Might be a little less) and had to re-write most of the content that was given to me to even be worth $1.00 per 100 words. This was a year ago granted, but that place is a horrible horrible place!

$500 is far more profitable investing into PPC or investing into some niche blogs.

I promised myself never to use oDesk again. There are nothing bunch of crappy outsources who work as middle men never complete the work. I wasted my 1+ g on my site.

Maybe it was just my bad experience. Mine was set for hourly rate which was a blunder from my site. I wish there was a way that you pay only when the work is completely done and you are 100% satisfied.

I would suggest you decide what you want done first -- then decide where to outsource the projects.

Rose

Get a massage, a hair cut, some new shoes, some jewelry, food for breakfast lunch and dinner, pay bills... then use the remaining $50-$100 to invest into PPC testing.

Depends on what your goals are? What type of business do you want to create? Software? Outsourcing? Blogging? It really depends, but I have had pretty good luck with Odesk.

Dave

I insist on cam to cam so I can keep an eye on my temporary employees. I would then oversee my topless logo design team online while they work their magic. I never knew logos could be so expensive.

This is a nothing topic, really.

What do you need done that you need to invest on odesk?

That's the real question. Wherever you outsource, do so very wisely. There are many things worth outsourcing, even on odesk, as time is money.

I've had mixed success with that site, and you get a lot of people not qualified applying for your jobs, but you can usually find one or two who will do the job well. I've found good outsourcers there, before. Just make sure it's not anything too complicated.

If you don't know what you want, there's nothing we can help you with.

Out of the blue - you might buy a premium designed wp template, and then resell it on ThemeForest as your own, and generate passive income . That's just a random thought, and needs more development