Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Freelance work at home

Actually, there are many people who are doing online work at freelancing sites as a full time job. This means that they are earning some good money on the internet while staying at home.When we talk about online jobs, then freelancing sites are the best place where we can get these jobs. In case you don’t know about freelancing business, then I will quickly explain what freelancing sites are.

Companies all around the world need employees who can do their work, so they hire people and they pay them for the work they do. But there are many problems that company owners face.Like after gaining a little experience, people start to demand more pay. Or, they just go to some other company that offers them high salary.

Nowadays many company owners are using online freelance websites to hire people online. That’s right; they are hiring people on the internet.It’s not that easy to get work at freelance websites. You need some guidance first, you need to know the basics; you need to know many things about these sites.

If you apply for one project, then there are many other people (may be 2 other people, maybe 22) who will apply for the same project. So you need to learn, how you will get a project even with other people fighting to get the same project.

Few definitions:

Buyers: Are people who outsource jobs at freelance sites. They are the people who give jobs to freelancers.

Service providers: These are the people who seek jobs at freelance sites. Like you and me. Service providers or SPs, do work for buyers and buyers pay them after the work is completed.

Projects: At freelance sites, projects and jobs means the same. If I say “bid on a project”, then it will mean something like “apply for a job”.

After buyer post projects, job seekers like me and you, place bids on these projects. One person may offer to do the project for $100, where other may say $95. May be some other SP will offer to do the work for $90.

Now it’s up to the creator of the project to choose a winner among all job seekers.

Let’s assume that you managed to win a project worth $50. The work is simple data entry job where you have to type content from scanned pages to word documents.

You completed this work in 3 hours and then you delivered the completed work to the buyer. After delivering the work, you waited for the buyer to verify the work.

After the verification, the buyer will pay you $50. Sometimes, buyers also pay bonuses [if they are pleased with your work].

You will get this money [$50], in your freelance account. There are few payment options available at freelance sites via which you can transfer this money from freelance account to your bank account. Details about these options are explained later in this article.

I have mentioned that working at freelance site is free and that you will never spend any money from your pocket to get jobs at freelance sites.

But when you get money, from buyers, in your freelance account, then there will be a small fee deducted from that money [the money you just earned at the freelance site].

All freelance sites charges a small fee on the money you make from freelance projects. You do not pay this fee from your pocket. This fee will be deducted only when you will complete a job for a buyer and that the buyer pays you the money for the completed work.

The fee which freelance sites charges varies from site to site. This fee can be 5%, 10% etc: it depends on the freelance site where you are working.

The reason for telling you the whole story is to prove that this system is %100 SCAM free. You will never have to pay anything to anyone ever, from your own pocket.

The most amazing thing about freelance sites is that, it’s totally free to join them. You will never be asked to pay any money from your pocket at any point of your freelance career.

So then: Is there any SCAM involved here?

Well, there is not; right?

Freelancing sites offer 100% legitimate jobs. I personally love Copywriting jobs as they pay much better than many other jobs. You can earn a lot of money via doing copywriting work at these websites.

Unfortunately, not everybody can make money with copywriting jobs as to do this work, one need to write content in proper English. Proper English means, to write content in English with no spelling and grammatical mistakes.

There is no need to worry is your English writing skills are weak as you can still make money at freelance sites via doing data entry jobs. You can find hundreds of data entry jobs at freelance sites every day.

There is no need to think about any SCAM here, what I am telling you is %100 scam free. You only need to worry about scams when you are paying money from your pocket. But in this case, you are paying nothing.

If you still worry about scams, then after you earn $30 at a freelance site, you may stop doing more work. First request a withdrawal.

This means that you will request the freelance site to send you your money. Once you receive the money [$30] from freelance site, I guess then you will not worry about SCAM anymore.

I said to first make $30. This is because the minimum amount that you can withdraw at most freelance sites is $30. You cannot withdraw $20 or $22 or any amount of money which is less than $30.

Is it free to join freelance sites?

Well yes, its 100% free to join freelance websites.

To get work at freelance sites you need to invest some time. If you want to make living on the internet via doing freelancing, then you will have to spend 8 or more hours at freelance sites to make a decent living.

On the other hand, if you want to make some extra money on the internet via doing part time jobs, then you can do work whenever you have spare time. You can work for few hours on the weekends or you can hour for an hour or so: after your full time day job is over.

In the beginning of your freelance career, your goal will be to win your first freelance project.

Let’s talk about a freelance site [which is GAF].

The very first thing to do: Get register at GAF. Registration process is very simple. Within few minutes, you will get your account at GAF.

REMEMBER to enter professional looking information in all fields of your profile; people [most of them] will see your profile, before they will give you any work. So make a decent looking profile.

After you create your profile, open GAF home page. Now scroll down, until you see a heading called “The 50 Newest projects”.

[At freelance sites, jobs and projects means the same. Getting a job and winning a project means the same].

Here you will see a list of newest opened projects that you can win. I highly recommend that, if you are not a programmer or expert in any language or field, you should then do data entry and copywriting jobs.Look for jobs under the “The 50 Newest projects” section. Open the project which you think you are capable of doing.

After you open the project description page, click on “Place a Bid” and then enter the lowest amount of available money in your bid.

WHAT, the lowest price? Why?

Well, what do you expect :) ?You are new at the freelance site. So you have to do work for the lowest price. How can you get a project for higher rates, when there are many other people applying for the same project, who have high ratings?

Importance Of Ratings/Feedbacks

All freelance sites have a rating/feedback system. When a person completes a job, he/she then gets a rating/feedback. The more jobs a person do, the more ratings/feedbacks he/she will get.The more ratings/feedbacks you have, the more money you will make at freelance sites. Ratings/feedbacks are part of freelancer’s reputation at a particular freelance site. New freelancers don’t have any ratings. So, go for the lowest price.

Importance of Communication With Buyers

Communication with buyers is the most important part of freelancing. You have to send private message to buyers as soon as you place your bid. Without communication with buyers, your chances of winning a project are almost zero.

After you place a bid, go back to the project description page and look for a small icon called PM (Private Message). Sending PM is the key factor in wining a project.

Now click on the small PM icon, and send a message to the creator of the project and tell him that you are new but you can do an excellent job and that you will do it for the lowest price that he wants to pay for that project.

ALWAYS, remember to send a PM to the creator of the project, after you place a bid. Sending PM is very important.

[People who create projects at freelance sites or the people who outsource jobs at freelance sites, are called buyers]

After you send the PM, wait for the reply. If you get a reply, then there is a good chance of winning that project. Your freelance career will start when you will win your first project.

Open the PM to see what the buyer replied and act accordingly.

Few things to Remember:

NEVER send your contact information to buyers via PM. Contact information includes email, phone number etc. In case you will send any contact information in PM then your online freelance career will be over for sure. GAF and all other freelance sites will terminate/suspend your account if they find any contact info in PM.

At GAF, don’t click on “Message Board” to communicate with buyers. You have to find “PM” icon, look for it below or in-front of buyer's username.

Don’t open any other page at GAF (other than the home page) to see the latest data entry, copywriting etc projects. This is because; it’s really hard to get old projects and on the home page, you will only see new projects.

Keep the home page opened and scroll down to the “The 50 Newest Projects” heading section and keep refreshing at this position to become the first one to catch the newly posted projects.

The only hope for new comers to win projects is to catch the newly opened projects. If you are the first one to place a bid on the project, then your chances of winning that project increases significantly.

HOW TO GET JOBS

Its really hard to get your first project. But you have to wait and give as much time to these sites as you can. Always send PM to buyers, and always bid for the lowest amount in order to win your first project. I suggest you write something like this in PM

"What is the minimum amount that you are willing to pay for this project? What ever it is, I am willing to do the whole project for that amount and I will do an excellent work".

Always look for the newewst opened projects, and when you see one, bid at once.
If possible, send few samples of your previous work.

Some freelance sites are

scriptlance

limexchange

odesk

elance

There are more but i suggest you start with these. post your questions in the comment section and i will personally answer them. also check the archive section on your right for more work at home job information

Credits to A1newspapers


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