Those Freelancer Sites – My Top 12 Tips
January 28, 2010 11:46 am How to Work Better, Virtual Assistant InfoHow many of you use sites like People Per Hour (PPH), Elance and Guru etc? Yes, I thought so! And how many of you have been successful in obtaining work through them? Me neither! I’ve been contacted a couple of times after placing a bid, but I’ve never been successful in contracting work through them.
But still I persist. Mainly because they are free to sign on to! I also use them when I’m recruiting for clients.
I have some tips that you may want to consider using, either as a provider or as a buyer. You may think, “What does she know if she’s not been successful,” but you never know and these may help you land a job.
As a Service Provider
- Be specific in responding to the ad placed. Two lines on how great you are doesn’t cut the mustard.
- Set your bid at a reasonable level and consider justifying your bid.
- Respond to individual points in detail.
- Send (when possible) links to previous work you’ve undertaken or add files to your profile.
- Be quick! If there’s been 87 bids for a typing job, do you really want to be #88?
- Sign up for email alerts on new jobs posted; it’ll save you time looking through each site individually.
As a Buyer
- Think clearly about what or who you want to hire.
- If the website doesn’t give you the catergories you need to be able to pigeon hole your requirements, list them in the job information section.
- Be reasonable in setting your fee. Either an hourly rate or by project and consider who is going to be reading your ad. If you use PPH, for example, it’s UK based so the response is going to be mainly from UK based service providers. They are not going to bid £1/hr for transcription work and you’ll be disappointed when no-one bids or you get a shoddy transcript.
- Close your job after you receive 10-15 bids. Are you really going to go through all 57 bids..?
- Do choose your supplier carefully. Ask for previous work and/or testimonials.
- Shortlisting candidates makes it easier to finally select the right one and contacting them directly helps to get a feel for their skills and experience. Do follow through, though and keep them up to date on what’s happening with the project.
Useful? If you’ve got a thought on using these kind of sites, do get in touch.
About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, a off-site business support service. Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money. Find out more
Andria :
Date: February 22, 2010 @ 4:17 pm
Ahhhhh Emma – the famed freelancers bid. I bid on a job recently and was informed that my bid was higher than what was normally paid. The thing is – without stigmatizing because I’m not, this is simply a very real and valid point – I don’t live in a country whereby being paid cents an hour is going to allow me to eat.
I can’t afford to write for others for a couple of euros an hour. I’d end up on the streets. And neither will I write 5 x 800 word pieces for $5. That plain sucks.
Freelancing has got to be one of the most exploited forms of work. And have you tried oDesk?
Top post by the way – some good info :)
admin :
Date: February 22, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
Andria, I need to look at oDesk as that’s one I’ve not used.
There will always be companies and individuals that try and batter our hourly rate down to pennies! That’s their perogative, but I’d rather work with someone who valued my contributions rather than someone who was constantly trying to get me to shave off €€€’s here and there.
You know as well as I do that Portugal’s not the most expensive place to live, but one has to be able to afford one’s Pastel de Nata every once in a while, não?!
Andria :
Date: February 22, 2010 @ 6:53 pm
Ohhhh exactemente (said in that long, drawnout and dramatic way of the Portuguese) Emma.
Portugal isn’t the most expensive place to live but you know … things cost a little more than they do on other continents …
And if you need help with oDesk give us a shout. It’s a fair bit of work just getting set up there but it can be done :)