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A few hours later, you feel like you've been on a 100-km marathon with nothing to show for your efforts but tiredness and a handful of freelance job sites.
Now, despite your tiredness, these sites actually look interesting and appealing to you. That's because you can see that thousands of jobs have been posted there by thousands of employers who could become your prospective clients.
So you give it a go; after all here is the opportunity you've always wanted. The ability to earn a good income doing exactly what you love, and all from the comfort of your own space (or home, traditionally). Yes, that's right, the opportunity to call the shots and be your own boss.
So you got down to work, registered as a freelancer on the job portal and applied for a couple of the jobs that perfectly fit your "ideal job" vision.
A couple of days went by, and then weeks and months. And still nothing. Actually, you had thought that by now you would have had a couple of paid clients under your belt.
So you decide to check on the clients just "one more time" and you log in to the freelance portal, and check your inbox. You also click to check the status of the jobs that you applied for, and unhappily, this time around, you see the dreaded "Awarded to another" notice.
You may now be wondering what you did wrong, and why your fantasy of perfect online freelancing doesn't seem to want to become a reality.
Well, wait just a minute.
Before you wander into job-induced depression, here is some advice from a seasoned online freelancer:
It's. Not. Personal. It's. Just. Business.
Taking specific steps that have been proven successful in landing good jobs on freelance portals will have you making your own success in no time at all.
So I will be sharing with you in this post the absolute basic steps that will take you from being a bumbling beginner to a literal expert in the world of freelance job sites. When done right, these steps will ensure that you are able to utilize such websites successfully in achieving your goal of earning an income online.
I would recommend that you read through all the steps below and then re-read and implement every one that applies to you.
I will be accompanying the instructions with snapshots and examples from Elance.com, one of the most popular online freelance job portals and one in which I have landed several lucrative jobs.
Register on the Freelance Job Site
The first thing that you would need to do would be to register with the portal, in this case, Elance.com. Now, when doing this, make sure that you are as detailed as possible as it will help you later when applying for jobs.
The page you will be re-directed to requires you to fill in basic information like your name, username, email address, password, location, and other preferences. Here you will also be asked whether you intend to use Elance as an individual or as a company.
The basic differences between these two options is that registering as a company allows you to have a team of other freelancers who can share and access your account with you. An individual account, however, can only be used by you.
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| Registering is pretty straightforward. Just be as detailed and accurate as possible when filling in the form! |
Complete Your Profile
After registering, it's time to create a profile that shines.
On Elance, the steps to completing your profile are pretty self-explanatory. There is also a helpful score tab which lets you know how complete your profile is. It looks like this:
The new freelancer registration I did for this tutorial had a profile that was 20% percent complete at the time. So some of the things I needed to do to make it more complete would be to verify my email address, enter my basic profile information and upload my picture.
Clicking on each of those links would then give me more details on carrying out the instructions.
I would recommend getting it to 100% complete as it is one important aspect that lends credibility on the site. Doing something as simple as uploading a profile picture is known to increase the number of jobs that get awarded to you.
Display Your Freelance Skills
Another important part of completing your profile is setting your self apart from thousands of others by clearly stating what freelance skills you will be offering.
The predictive text input function of this aspect helps you narrow down your skills into very specific niches.
After this step, you will be asked to choose your membership plan. From the image, you can see that I had the option of either the Basic (free) plan or the Individual (premium) plan at $10/mo. This was because I had earlier chosen to register as an individual, rather than a company.
The company plan also offers a basic and a premium plan.
Apparently the premium plan offers these extras:
- 20 more Connects to apply for jobs with than the free plan
- Access to more than one job category at a time
- Higher placements in search results for freelancers on the portal
- Greater visibility to clients
My opinion is that the premium membership at $10 per month is really worth it if you know that you are going to be making a lot of applications each month. It's also worth it to be found before other people when a client is searching for someone with your particular skills.
Choosing your membership plan now is not something you should sweat over now, as you can always change it later at any time.
Also, you should know that not all jobs require one Connect to apply. Connects simply work like Elance currency, used solely by freelancers, to apply for jobs.
The amount of Connects that you need to apply for a job posting depends on two things. Firstly, if you applied for the job yourself or you were invited by the client to apply. If you were invited by a client to apply for his/her job, then you do not need to use any Connect for the application.
Secondly, the price range of the job's payment determines the amount of Connects needed to apply. Typically, I've found that jobs with payment below $500 require one, while those up to $1000 require two, and above that requires three.
Take Skill Tests
Elance (as well as many other freelance job sites) offer skill tests that you can take to display your skill proficiency. You can then choose to display the results from the tests on your profile. This is one tip that has always been said to give an upper hand over the freelancers who never bother to take them.
I personally took the skill tests that were relevant to me almost immediately after registering on Elance, together with verifying my identity, completing my profile, and updating my freelance portfolio.
Anything that you can do to increase your credibility before clients who come to hire on the site, such as taking the skill tests, is one that I would highly advise that you do. It, furthermore, shows that you are serious about your participation on the portal.
Create A Solid Freelancer Portfolio
Whether you would like to write, design, develop, market, sell, or do any other thing for paying clients on freelance portals, displaying your portfolio is always a good idea.
It serves as a tool to convince clients who have never worked with you before on the great job you will be able to do for them once they hire you.
So do not neglect to present a solid portfolio.
Search for Jobs
You can start searching and applying for work by simply looking for the Jobs, Work, or Projects tab.
On Elance, simply click on the Find Work tab in the upper navigation bar. Look at the left sidebar, and you will find that the jobs are grouped into categories. This is great because, personally, I find that it saves me time from sorting through jobs that I have no interest in.
Typically, I head straight to the Writing & Translation category or the Website design sub-category on Elance, without wasting any precious brain fuel sorting through unlikely jobs. The categories are also each divided into specific job sub-categories.
Use the Filters to Find Relevant Freelance Jobs
Another method that I've found to be very useful and time-saving when searching jobs is to use the filters. Elance.com has a filter function that allows you to search jobs that fit different criteria such as price, duration, type (hourly or fixed-price), by keyword, and several other criteria.So for example, when I head over to the Website Design sub-category on Elance, I filter the results I get by searching for jobs with "Wordpress" as a keyword and fixed-price payment.
Just experiment with these filters to find which combination consistently helps you find the most relevant jobs. rather than wasting hours staring at meaningless postings through your computer screen.
Another tip is that you can receive daily emails containing jobs that match your criteria using the <Saved Search> function.
Apply for Jobs
On the <Find Work> page, you will see that all the jobs that have been posted are listed with the most recently-posted first. You can choose the specific category and/or sub-category you want to search in using the links on the left tab.
You can also change how you want the jobs to be listed; whether by Post Date (which is the default), or by Job Name, Budget, Rate, Time Left, or Proposal Count.
When you have the jobs listed just the way that you want (I prefer the default since it helps me apply for the latest jobs, with the added benefit of little or no prior competition from other freelancers), you will see them listed in the form of headlines and short excerpts.
Some of the most important about the job will be visible in its listing, including the client name (as a link to their profile), job rate and payment time, the time it was posted, and how many job proposals have already been submitted.
(I really find this last info useful, as it saves my time and Connects from applying for jobs that tens of other qualified freelancers have already applied to.)
A small part of the job description is also included in the list view. To view the entire job and apply to it, simply click on its title. This will take you to a page where you read the entire job posting, view any attached files, and submit your own proposal.
If you do not want to apply for a particular job (or even if you do), but still want to keep an eye out for it, clicking on the star icon beside its title will add it to your Watch-List.
Tips for Making A Successful Job Proposal
Let me share a few tips on making a successful proposal on freelance job portals.- Be professional, yet not too formal in tone when writing your proposal
- State points that show how you will directly meet the client's requirements
- Show examples of the sort of result your work will produce for them
- Submit your best work samples that are relevant to the client's job
- Make a competitive price bid
Link Your Payment Withdrawal Method
Elance offers a number of ways for you to withdraw your payments; whether by check, bank transfer, Paypal, Skrill, Payoneer, and others.
Make sure to set your withdrawal method early on as it will take some time before it goes into effect.
Is there anything left out of this guide? Do you have experiences and tip you want to share with others. Please share in the comments below. Thanks.
Make sure to set your withdrawal method early on as it will take some time before it goes into effect.
Share Your Thoughts:
Is there anything left out of this guide? Do you have experiences and tip you want to share with others. Please share in the comments below. Thanks.
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