20 Websites You Can’t Miss If You Want To Make
Money As A Freelancer
Being a freelancer has a lot of benefits – you
can work from anywhere you like, you make up your own rules, you don’t have to
concern yourself with trivial office politics, there is less stress involved
and you get to spend a lot more time with your friends and family. However, not
having a stable job means that you will be living a nomad’s life, moving from
project to project, constantly on the lookout for a new employer. Kind of like
an online ronin, a masterless samurai roaming the virtual wastes. Well, there
are places you can go to look for great freelance opportunities, so do not
despair. Here are 20 great freelance websites you should definitely check out.
1. Upwork
Upwork is one of the best websites to look
for freelance work of all types. Programmers, designers, writers, IT
professionals, translators, attorneys, financial advisers – everyone is welcome
and there is plenty of work to go around. You can set up a profile fairly
quickly and charge an hourly rate or have a set price for each individual
project and you get rated depending on how well you do.
2. Freelancer
It’s been around since 2004 and it has a large
following. It’s a place where services are outsourced to freelancers in a
number of fields including: web design, writing, marketing and data entry among
other things.
3. Guru
Guru.com is
a fairly large network that connects companies and freelancers. As stated on
the website they are interested in work on “technical, creative or business
projects”, so there is plenty of opportunity for all types of freelancers from
programmers and game developers to translators, engineers and attorneys.
4. iFreelance
iFreelance is a very wide freelance network
with categories that include photography, videography, marketing, traditional
art, writing, translation, architecture, engineering, graphic design,
accounting and administrative support. It’s easy to set up an account and start
looking for a project you can contribute to.
5. People per Hour
Create an appealing profile, look for jobs,
send proposals and make a short video promoting your services. It’s all very
straightforward with PeoplePerHour.com – you find
a client, provide a quality service and get rated.
6. Tuts Plus Jobs
This is a great job board for programmers,
designers and developers, as well as copywriters and editors. It has a user
friendly interface and allows you to quickly find and apply for jobs best
suited to your particular skill set.
7. ProBlogger
An excellent job board for talented writers,
ProBlogger makes finding the right writing opportunities incredibly simple.
Just click on the job listings you want and follow the instructions.
8. Freelance Writing Gigs
This is another great website for all the
writers out there. Posting an ad will cost you around $10, but it will give you
a chance to showcase your writing skills and provide content to those willing
to pay for your efforts. You can also contribute to their blog and get some
additional exposure by linking to your blog/website and social media accounts.
9. SmashingJobs
This is a designer’s and programmer’s heaven,
offering plenty of full-time and freelance job opportunities. The website has a
very clean and crisp design which allows for quick browsing and some efficient
job hunting.
10. Odesk
Set up an account and choose from 75 different
job categories and plenty of offers within each category. The thing with oDesk
is that there is no invoicing involved – your work is tracked automatically and
you receive payments on a weekly basis depending on how much time you spent on
various projects. Some of the main categories include writing and translation,
software development, web development, marketing and design.
11. Fiverr
Sell your services starting at $5, that’s the
tagline and it is quite accurate. You can offer basically anything you can
think of – write and perform a poem, create DIY projects or promotional videos,
etc. Some basic categories are writing and translation, online marketing, video
and animation, music, programing and graphic design.
12. Freelanced
This is a freelance social network where a
large number of people with different kinds of talents and skills can come
together, share their portfolios and look for some online work. There are a
huge number of job categories ranging from creative writers, sculptors and
music composers to accountants and programmers.
13.
Freelance-Writing-Jobs-Online
A variety of fields to write about, ranging
from mathematics and physics to biology and medicine. To sign up you need to
fill out a form and wait for a confirmation email. Upon receiving the email you
may take a competency test and be on your way to earning some money.
14. Pitch me
A freelancer with some experience in journalism
will feel right at home on this website. Ideas are pitched on various topics –
fashion, science, culture, etc – and you can pitch as many ideas as you like.
If someone likes what you have to offer, they can than pay you to write it,
it’s as simple as that.
15. Text Broker
This website provides talented writers with a
very effective way of getting paid for doing what they do best. You start by
creating a free account and completing a competency test after which you will
be rated. Then, if all goes well, you can complete your author profile and
start looking for writing assignments that suit you.
16. Art Wanted
Artwanted is the perfect place for artists and
photographers to create an online portfolio, get feedback and sell their
artwork online. Registration is free, but there is a $5 per month premium
membership option that grants you access to some good bonus features.
17. 99designs
This is a website where over 281,579 designers
from 192 different countries can connect to potential clients and showcase
their work. A client gives information about his business and a rough idea of
the type of logo he wants. Then the designers send in their work and the client
can pick out the one he likes best. You look for design contests, enter the
ones you like and do your best to win. As you win more contests your status
will improve and you will get more opportunities.
18. Simply Hired
This is a big and broad job hunting website
with tons of options, but it is a great way to look for some freelance work,
particularly if you are a writer, graphic designer or web designer. It’s very
easy to navigate and you can quickly search through a large number of recent
job offerings in your field.
19. Tutor
As the name suggests you can become an online
tutor for families with home-schooled children, children in military families
and even schools. There are a number of subjects and different grade levels to
choose from, so if you have a deeper understanding of a subject such as math,
English or science, than you can go through a few simple steps. You have to
fill out an application form, pass a subject exam and deliver a writing sample,
perform a mock session to test your teaching skills and go through a background
check before you can start working.
20. Authentic Jobs
A well-designed and straightforward job board, AuthenticJobs.com allows
you to filter out categories you are not interested in and apply for freelance
jobs in different fields. The main focus is on web development, web design,
application development, project management and UI design.
I hope you find this information useful and
that you succeed in your freelance career. Just remember to be patient and to
keep looking. It takes time to see some serious results, but freelancing can be
a fulfilling career once you get pass the initial stages.
How To
Earn More Money Freelancing (Even If You’re A Total Beginner)
Since I
began freelancing just over a year ago, I’ve had the opportunity to work with
nearly a dozen high-growth startups and world-class experts. And I’ve never had
to negotiate for the premium prices I charge for my content marketing services,
which is why I’d like to share some tips with you on how to start freelancing
and how to make money doing so, even if you’re a complete beginner.
Because I’ve done such an effective job of
defining my value propositions, branding myself as an expert within my field,
and getting my freelance writing content in front of new target audiences, I
now have a 3–6 month waiting list for new freelance clients and freelance jobs.
However, that certainly didn’t happen
overnight. My rapid success in the world of freelancing is the result of a LOT
of strategic positioning, hours of hard work, and good timing.
If you’re ready to get serious about
freelancing and multiplying your self-employed income, here are my top twelve
tips for earning more during your first year doing freelance jobs.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
2.
GET CLEAR ON YOUR SERVICE OFFERINGS
3.
DEFINE WHAT YOUR IDEAL CLIENT LOOKS LIKE
4.
CREATE A HIGH QUALITY PORTFOLIO SITE
5.
START FREELANCING BEFORE YOUR QUIT YOUR DAY JOB
9.
LEVERAGE YOUR NETWORK FOR INTRODUCTIONS
11.
BLOG FREQUENTLY
12.
GUEST POST ON RELEVANT INDUSTRY BLOGS & PUBLICATIONS
1. Choose a Niche
If your goal is to start freelancing, you might
feel ready to take ANY paid work on Fiverr or Upwork you can get your hands on.
But as you get deeper into your freelancing career, you’ll need to start being
more strategic about the types of work you do and the clients you take on.
You might be thinking: How can getting
picky about the freelance work I do help me make MORE money?
When you specialize in a skillset, you become
an expert in a specific field, and experts can charge more for their
specialized services (there are expert and pro categories on Upwork and Fiverr
too).
In my opinion, the age-old debate of whether
you should be a specialist or a generalist when starting your freelance career
isn’t even worth thinking twice about.
If you were a prospective client and you needed
someone to fix your email marketing so people actually sign up, write ads that
convince people to buy, or just update your outdated website, would you rather
hire someone who’s a jack of all trades, or a person who’s a pro at doing one
thing and doing it well? I’ll choose the specialist every time.
When it comes to my own experience, choosing to
specialize as a content marketing consultant — as opposed to being a general
digital marketer for hire — has been the single best decision I’ve made with my
freelance business.
Because I’ve built my reputation with clients
as a talented content marketer over the past few years and frequently engage
with content marketing content on various social media channels, I’ve been able
to rise to the top of my niche in a relatively short period of time. Aside from
my blog and existing client referrals, the next most consistent source of new
clients has been from business owners seeking out specific expert help through
both Google and social searches.
To expand this example to other fields, imagine
you are just starting out as a web developer — you can get into a niche like
migrating blogs to WordPress. That means when someone searches for “help with
migrating a blog to WordPress,” they can find you. This works for graphic designers as well: you can do
graphic design specifically for WordPress.
If you choose the right niche, deciding to
specialize and putting some effort into branding yourself as an expert within
your niche can really pay off for years to come.
2. Get Clear on Your Service
Offerings
One major decision you need to make early on in
your freelance career is what you do and what you don’t do.
The more specific you can be
about
what services you offer, the better. Not only will it help you brand yourself,
it’ll allow you to control how prospective clients perceive you and give you
the opportunity to continue building your portfolio in the direction you want
to move in.
If you want to focus on becoming a sought
after, highly paid Ruby on Rails developer, you shouldn’t even consider
contract offers for customizing WordPress themes or designing the user
experience for an upcoming app.
While the short-term benefits of steady work
are tempting (and sometimes necessary), taking on projects that aren’t getting
you closer to your ultimate goal of becoming the best in your field, will only
distract and delay you from making meaningful progress.
3. Define What Your Ideal
Client Looks Like
Before you can go out and start looking for
clients, you’ll need to develop a clear picture of who you’re going to work
best with. Do you want to build websites for small business owners, make a name
for yourself blogging as a professional blogger, work as a copywriter, pitch in
on new feature development for high growth technology startups, or take on
longer-term contracts with enterprise-sized companies? Or maybe you want to
work specifically for brands and clients with values that align with yours,
etc.
Making these clear distinctions between who and
what type of business you’re targeting will be essential to effectively
pitching your services.
To define exactly who your ideal freelance
clients should be (and how to start finding them), ask yourself these
questions:
- What type
of business has the problems I’m solving with my services?
- Can the
business I want to work with afford to hire me?
- What
demographic trends can I identify about the decision makers in the types
of businesses I’m targeting? Think: age, gender, geographic location,
websites they frequent, and their personal interests.
Because I know that I’ll be more engaged and
work most effectively with smaller startup teams who are working on projects I
can personally relate to, I’ve proactively chosen to make my scope of potential
clients narrow. By working with similar startup teams, new potential clients I
target within my niche are able to instantly relate with me, and have
confidence that I’ll be able to replicate my results for their business, too.
4. Create a High Quality
Portfolio Site
It goes without saying that one of the best
ways to demonstrate your technical skills is by having an amazing portfolio site of your own. If you want to be
taken seriously as a new freelancer, you’re going to need a website that:
- Showcases
your expertise.
- Highlights
relevant past experiences.
- Shows who
you are.
- Includes
your contact information so that potential clients can easily find you.
A stellar portfolio can really help you out if you
don’t have a lot of job experience or
testimonials to prove that you know your stuff. (Read more about that here: 11 High-Paying Jobs In Tech—No Experience Required.)
The purpose of your portfolio is to educate,
spark interest, and convince potential clients that they’ll want to choose you
for their technical needs. That’s why it’s worth investing time into deciding
what to feature on your portfolio and how it’s being displayed — before you start looking for new projects.
Once your portfolio site is up, start including
a link to the site within your email signature and on your social profiles.
5. Start Freelancing Before
Your Quit Your Day Job
I’m a huge fan of starting a freelance business
while you keep your day job (or work part-time), as opposed to immediately
pursuing self-employment.
In addition to the fact that creating a high-quality
portfolio website, building your personal brand, and adding to your portfolio
naturally takes a good amount of time, it’s a good idea to have a few steady
freelance clients on your roster before axing your sole source of income.
I recommend growing your side income to at
least 50–75% of your total current income before leaving your full-time job,
depending on your risk tolerance.
Managing a tight schedule, heavy workload
(including demanding freelance projects), and being responsible for client deliverables
with limited time resources will teach you quickly what it’s like to run your
own business.
The other awesome benefit of picking up
freelance clients while you’re still working full-time is that you can be
selective. You likely don’t absolutely need the money.
This puts you in a position to turn down work that either doesn’t pay enough to
justify your time investment, or that you’re not genuinely interested in.
These are two points you’ll need to be a stickler about if you want to be happy once you’re freelancing full-time.
6. Level Up Your Skills
The best way to justify higher hourly rates?
Make sure you have impressive skills that are in high demand.
Practice using your new skills by building the
types of projects that you want to eventually be paid to work on. Whether
that’s WordPress websites, mobile apps, or something else entirely, such as
graphic design, copywriting, etc, the more you can differentiate yourself among
a sea of competition with cool side projects and examples that’ll attract
potential customers, the better.
And remember that while highly trained
freelancers can get paid much more for their work, you don’t have to head back to school for a BS in computer
science to get on the train. Taking online classes like a Skillcrush Front End Development course can get
you on the right track and put you in charge of your education.
📌 PS – If you want to start or move into a
career in tech, Skillcrush can help you get there! Our Break Into Tech course is a comprehensive program
designed to help total beginners in tech start a new and fulfilling career.
7. Build
Your Credibility
There are many ways to build your credibility
within your industry.
Aside from creating high quality blog content
and collaborating with notable influencers in your industry, you can write an
ebook, create an online course, and line up speaking engagements to start
increasing your visibility within your niche.
You can also build up your portfolio on
freelance platforms and freelance gig websites by working for a slightly lower
hourly rate to start, and increasing it as you gain more experience.
These credibility-boosters can help you add to
your list of accomplishments that you can highlight on your portfolio and
simultaneously demonstrate your knowledge for more potential clients to see.
The wider you can broadcast your message, the more influence you’ll build
within your niche.
8. Determine Your Pricing
While deciding how much to charge for your
freelance services is a major step toward determining your perceived value, you
need to make sure you’re charging enough to make a sustainable, comfortable
living.
Most clients won’t hesitate to pay higher rates
for a freelancer that gives them an incredible first impression and sells them
on the ability to deliver high quality results.
As long as I continue to deliver consistent
value to my clients (beyond their expectations), I have no trouble setting and
maintaining high prices for the services I’m providing.
Before setting your prices at the bare minimum
you need to charge in order to hit your financial needs, consider the actual
value you’d be creating for your potential clients and make sure you’re not
leaving money on the table.
You can always increase your rates in the
future and hope your client stays on board, but if you start at a price point
you’re already excited about, you’ll be that much more likely to over-deliver
and continue increasing your value moving forward.
9. Leverage Your Network for
Introductions
One of the most effective ways to land higher
quality and better paying freelance work is through leveraging your existing
networks. Whether it’s pitching your actual friends and former co-workers on
freelance help, or using their connections to make warm introductions to
companies you do want to work with, this is a great alternative to cold
contacting potential clients.
Whenever I discover a freelance opportunity I
want to pursue on Angel.co, CloudPeeps, or elsewhere, I give myself 10–15
minutes to research the company, find my ideal point of contact, and do a
little homework on if I have a mutual connection on LinkedIn, Twitter, or
Facebook before reaching out with a cold email.
If I do have a mutual contact, I’ll reach out
to my friend (only if I’m actually friends with them) and ask if they’d mind
sending an email introduction on my behalf.
This approach, where my first impression is
being endorsed by a recommendation from someone my potential client already
knows, has consistently netted me higher response and close rates.
10. Perfect Your Pitching
There’s an art and science to pitching your
freelance services to new clients.
Landing new clients isn’t just a matter of
crafting an awesome freelance proposal. Your success depends on how you’re
selecting new jobs, how you position your value propositions, and how much
research you do ahead of time.
I’ve won new gigs simply because I clearly put
in more time and effort into researching the company, determining their needs,
and providing immense up front value in the form of insightful recommendations
before I even discuss payment. In the world of freelancing, much of your
success (and ability to make money online) will depend upon the strength of
your client relationships, and how well you’re able to forge meaningful
partnerships.
11. Blog Frequently
The goal of having a website showcasing your
skills is to attract and convert new clients. What better way to increase the
number of potential new clients coming across your website than by creating
high-quality blog content that positions you as a stand out expert within your
field?
At the beginning, aim for creating one or two
in-depth blog posts per month, geared toward providing truly helpful solutions
that your potential clients may be searching for. Note: That means you’ll be
writing for an audience of your clients, not other people in
your field.
Once they discover your content and get some
free value from you, you’ll naturally be top-of-mind if they’re ready to hire
out for more in-depth help.
I initiated the majority of the freelance
contracts I’ve landed over the last year by mentioning a company in a
successful blog post on my website. After publishing my in-depth post
chronicling all of the best side business ideas, I spent a lot of time reaching out to a
carefully chosen person at each brand or online tool I mentioned, asking if I
cited them correctly within the post.
The majority of them wrote back either confirming
or offering a suggestion, which then gave me an opportunity to either pitch a
guest post, ask them to share my content with their audience on social media,
or open the door to a potential marketing contract.
My blog has been by far my highest return marketing
channel for my freelance business.
12. Guest Post on Relevant
Industry Blogs & Publications
Once you have a website that highlights your abilities
and clearly communicates that you offer freelance services, one of the most
effective ways to increase your online visibility is by getting content
published on the blogs and publications where your potential customers spend
the most time.
Marketing guru and consultant Neil Patel
frequently shares about the huge contracts he lands for his business by publishing over 100 guest posts per year.
While you’ll be starting on a much smaller
scale, don’t underestimate the immediate benefit of getting your content
featured on blogs and publications that can drive hundreds or even thousands of
new visitors to your website.
In the span of less than one year, I’ve been
able to get my posts published on Entrepreneur, Inc, Business Insider, HubSpot,
and dozens more publications by creating extremely high quality content and
leveraging my pitching abilities. This increased visibility has had a direct,
positive impact on my business.