Monday, July 11, 2011

Five Freelance Sites You Should Know

Freelancing is a great way to work from home. Freelancers do anything from writing to graphic design to computer programming. They are often hired by businesses (small and large) for a particular project. It’s a win- win situation. The small business owner gets his website up and running, or his press release written without having to create a new position in his company to get the job done.

The Freelancer gets to do what he or she loves to do from home. The big question is how do the business owner and freelancer find each other? They do it through one of the freelance sites below.

On all five of these sites projects are posted and freelancers bid on how much they would charge for the work. It is up to the company / person posting the job to choose which freelancer they would like to work with.

1) Guru.com

Guru is the largest freelance site out there. According to their site they connect over 520,000 freelancers with over 30,000 businesses and employers. Guru is organized into several categories and subcategories from Web and Graphic Design to Programming to Business Consulting.

2) Elance.com

Elance is the other big player when it comes to freelance sites that cover a wide variety of freelance work. Like Guru.com you can find projects from creative work like graphics and writing to computer programming.

3) Rentacoder.com

This freelance site caters primarily to programmers, coders, software engineers and IT professionals in general. You will find projects ranging from simple html pages to programming jobs that could last for several months.

4) Allfreelancework.com

In addition to finding freelance projects posted on a variety of subjects, you will also find an extensive library of articles of interest to freelancers as well services and products, a forum and a newsletter.

5) Programmingbids.com

As the name suggest this site focuses mostly on freelance work for programmers. You will find projects from web and graphic design to flash to software development. They even have a new section that will allow you to sell scripts you have written.

Freelancing is a great way, maybe the best way, to get started working from home. You can easily take on a few small projects while keeping your day job. You can start gaining experience, add to your résumé and build a client base. This will make the transition to working from home exclusively much smoother. It is also a great way to test the water and see if you would like to work on projects from home in the long run.


Learn how to GET these jobs Here>>>

Monday, October 18, 2010

Freelance Success: The Secret Is Knowing Where To Look


Want to break out of unemployment's vicious cycle or a regular j.o.b. (just about broke) and start freelancing? You've got the skills, but not quite sure where to start looking for work, or how to deal with the business side of freelance work? Freelancing websites specialize in bringing together clients looking to outsource projects and skilled professionals looking for freelance jobs. If you have web design or development, graphic design, programming, writing or translation skills then you will find opportunities waiting for you, if you know where to look.

There are so many benefits to freelancing - you have a high degree of independence, choosing when and where to work, and even for whom to work, once you are established. You aren't tied to a fixed schedule and you are directly paid the full rate for your work, not just a portion of it like an employee is. There's an abundance of work out there, but you have to learn how to find it and build your network. This is where freelancing sites can help, especially when you are just starting out. These sites offer a wide range of projects to bid on and give you the chance to learn about the freelance marketplace.

Once you get going as a freelancer, you need to think about more than just developing your skills. You are a business now, and have to build relationships with clients and sell yourself. This can seem daunting at first but is made easier by freelance marketplace websites that bring together outsourced projects with freelance contractors. These sites all include feedback and rating systems for both clients and contractors, meaning that as your experience builds, your record of quality work will be visible to all the other members of the site, giving you more credibility. You will also find that as you gain more experience and contacts, people might approach you directly for work. In the end you might even have to turn away work - alternatively you can start sub-contracting it out yourself through the freelancing sites, giving you the best of both worlds.

Your success is all up to you - if you are professional and polite, always deliver good quality work on time, employers will come back. When setting your rates, don't be solely concerned with being the cheapest. Instead look at the budget of the project you are bidding on, then look at what you need to earn for it to be worth your time, a huge mistake many beginners make. Work out a rate that meets both the client's budget. The lowest bids are often rejected in favor of the bids that offer the most professional package. Small businesses looking to outsource some work will often pay a little more to someone who will offer a more professional service. Your goal, as a freelancer, IS to be that someone. 

Don't let the challenges and risk put you off - freelancing is a very rewarding way to earn a living and make the most of your marketable skills, and with freelance marketplace sites to help, it isn't as difficult as it used to be.


Learn how to get the jobs Here>>>

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Blogging Tips for Freelancers

Blogging is one of the primary ways to create a professional Freelancing career considering it is so effortless to perform. However, that does not mean that it's child's play to make cold hard cash from your blog. Don’t kick-off a blog and foresee money rolling in today or tomorrow. Blogging is an undertaking that will take time to mature to an earning a living level. It’s a worthy thing to kick-off while you plan on numerous Freelancing opportunities to let it mount to profitability. With time and interest, your blog ( or blogs ) will mature into a career building brochure.

When you are blogging for employment, you’ll need to pay intimate attention to how you express yourself in your blog. There are literally hundreds of thousands of blogs out there, and there may be several hundred blogs that are related to your subject. If your readers can’t understand your blog or have some exasperation reading and navigating it, they’ll simply move on to the next one.

The subsequent tips can make your blog more user - friendly and aid you in obtaining a continuous readership.

First off, pay close heed to the composition of your blog. Readers want to determine how your blog works right from the onset. Most blogging platforms have similar formats, with links and tags on the left or right margin, and the most new post on opening page. Be specific to use your links wisely. Only put links up for blogs or content that is truly complementary to your blog’s topic. The whole idea is to give your readers additional knowledge on your professional services. Keep the list short and sweet. There is no necessity to overwhelm them with links to unrelated sites.

Furthermore, use thoughtful consideration when picking your blog’s background and font color. Although there are a lot of color choices that blogging programs offer, its best to stick with a light background and dark text. Studies have shown that the human brain can process this type of format better than light text on a dark background. Think about this before you commit to a black background and white text. It might look picturesque, but readers might not desire staying there for long. Also, use a solid background color instead of trying to use a overly frenetic pattern or design.

Proofread your entries before you post them to your blog. There is nothing that reduces your authority in the perception of your readers more than horrendous spelling and grammar. The online world is a world of text, so take some time to learn commonly misspelled words and grammatical errors.

Keep your blog unique and interesting by posting at least once per day. With so much information available on the Internet, your readers may go elsewhere if you aren’t supplying daily content. If you aren’t sure what to write about, try posting a poll, a link to another blog, comment on a news story or post of list of helpful tips. Not every post has to be long and elaborate, but you do want to post something everyday.

These tips will help keep your blog stay fascinating and engrossing to your visitors. The more visitors you get, the more your blog will grow in profitability and importance. Just make sure to present yourself in a professional manner and keep your readers coming back for more new content each day. In no time, you’ll have a profitable freelance career blog.

Get the shortcut to success guide and avoid the mistakes I made when I started out >>>

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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Becoming A Freelancer

A common way of earning income is becoming a freelancer. Literally thousands of people every day choose to become their own boss, supplement their low paying jobs or put an end to their unemployment by working as a freelancer. If you have a skill or talent, your services are highly needed in the internet industry and it is absolutely possible for you to make excellent money by doing what you know and love. Many business owners choose to use a freelancer for a variety of reasons, some reasons could include:

•    Not enough time to do the work themselves
•    They do not have the knowledge to perform the tasks
•    Freelancers are often cheaper than hiring a full time employee
•    Freelancers generally work faster
•    They are too busy with other projects
•    And the list goes on.....

These are just a few of the reasons that most business owners opt for a freelancer instead of a large company or full time employee. Typically a freelancer is cheaper than that of a larger company for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that a freelancer has little or no overhead costs, generally they work out of their own home and do not have any employees they have to pay. Additionally, by working out of their own home they do not have the type of running expenses that a larger business will have, this means that they can offer clients a more competitive and cheaper price for their services.

Another excellent aspect of being a freelancer is the ability to offer high quality and personalized service to your clients. This alone can be more appealing to a client than the prices you charge. Many large businesses have so many things going on at once, that they cannot always give the personal attention that a client often wants. Additionally, they do not generally work as fast as the client would like them to. A freelancer typically only works one project at a time allowing them to quickly finish their projects in a high quality and timely fashion.

There are freelancers in a large variety of areas and if you possess specific qualities and experience the client wants you will have no troubles in finding work.
There are many websites available all over the internet that are dedicated to helping freelancers find work.


Learn how to get the jobs Here>>>

Friday, October 15, 2010

Freelance Jobs ~ The Future Of Employment

Why freelance jobs are the employment opportunities of the future?

More and more employers are turning to freelancers as the global marketplace changes, as unemployment rises without any end and the overhead associated with having 40 hours/week employees rises as well.

The average worker is in bad shape when a low-paying, no-benefits job is considered a good job. This situation isn't likely to get any better soon; and economists predict it will be years, not months, before employees regain any bargaining power. That's because this recession's unusual ferocity has accelerated trends — including offshoring, automation, the decline of labor unions' influence, new management techniques, and regulatory changes — that already had been eroding workers' economic standing.

The forecast for the next five to 10 years: more of the same, with zero pay gains, worsening working conditions, and little or NO job security. Right on up to the executive level, more jobs will be freelance and temporary, and even seemingly permanent positions have been at greater risk. "When I hear people talk about temp vs. permanent jobs, I laugh," says Barry Asin, chief analyst at the Los Altos (Calif.) labor-analysis firm Staffing Industry Analysts. "The idea that any job is permanent has been well proven not to be true." As Kelly Services, CEO Carl Camden puts it: "We're all temps now."

The market for freelancers is growing in leaps and bounds. The future markets are projected to continue to grow at the same rapid rate. This means more fantastic freelance opportunities and greater potential income, if you're properly prepared and equipped for the new job market .    

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