If you were going to pick a freelancing site to start selling your services on, which would you pick out of oDesk and Freelancer?
If you looking to sell a service, freelancer seems to be more rewarding. I used both sites to hire freelancers before ( and I tend to go with odesk due to the lower cost ). It is not necessary true on the long term, but i realized on freelancer, people tend to ask for more.
I'm purchased from both. Why not sell on both? In my experience, the buyers on Freelancer tend to want a lot. I think it's mostly because they see other jobs asking for ridiculous things, and people respond to them. But all the respondents basically say is "you can't get what you want for X". Other posters don't know that, and expect a lot.
I would list your services on both. I have hired recently on odesk to had over 160 people apply for the job in 2 hours. Was a royal pain to find someone for the job. Most of the responses are copied from other jobs they applied for. Word of advice. Offer to speak via phone or Skype to discuss the job. Give a personal quote to the job not a copy/paste you have saved. Also, try fiverr. Start at $5 gig and once you sell you can offer gig extras and charge your normal rate.
short answer: both, and elance too. long answer: If you are a freelancer, you have probably come to an understanding that there are people in this world who can do a job better and for cheaper than you can. With that said, as long as you can work on a few jobs underpaid in order to get reviews, you should be alright. As a rule of thumb, my company does not hire freelancers with under 15 jobs and under a 4.8 star rating. How could we? We would put our clients in danger. Remember that it is going to take some time to develop a reputation in an already huge and overcrowded market. A couple tips (if I were becoming a freelancer anytime soon) assuming im becoming a programmer, you can extrapolate for your own skill set. 1) I would form a partnership with another programmer. WHY? It doubles the portfolio size that we upload to the site. 2) I would start building apps like crazy, in specific customer areas, like games, messaging, photo, BlueTooth, etc. WHY? Its easier to tell a client, oh I built one of those and here it is, instead of, oh I think I could build one of these. 3) Get the client to add you on skype! WHY? Because these clients are entreprenuerial addicts, (trust me, Im one of them) and we are always thinking of new projects. If you add them on skype, you are free to msg them (dont spam me) once in a while to keep them updated on what you are building, and that you can be of service! (Beating out the other freakin 7 million guys on freelancer trying to take your lunch money) 4) Demand to work only through the portal. WHY? Because of the escrow method! The money is sitting there in escrow just waiting for you to finish the job so it can be warm in your wallet. The money is not guaranteed by some dude overseas who says he will pay you through paypal. Good luck, if you are good, and kind and do great work, you will be successful. -twothirdsreturn
I would suggest using all three biggest freelance sites: Elance, oDesk and Freelancer. Sequence reflects my preferences - Elance is the best. Freelancer has a bad habit of taking their part (~10%) as soon as you get job. Yes, not when you get paid but when job starts. If at that moment you have nothing at your Freelancer balance then you will get negative balance and will start receiving threatening emails from Freelancer. This simple and intuitive utility - eJobsTracker (http://ejobstracker.com) helps looking for relevant freelance jobs on the biggest freelance sites: Elance, oDesk and Freelancer, keeping track of any new additions. It is just convenient job feeds aggregator that allows to set your own filters and informs you when relevant jobs appear. Unlike other aggregators eJobsTracker allows to set filters that apply to job description and precisely reflect your skills. Every job description contains a link to the source freelance site, taking you directly to the job page to place your bid.
I prefer ODesk as I'm a freelancer myself. It's hard to find work on freelancing sites when you're new, all we have to do is to take some relative tests, make a sweet profile and be regular. ODesk is user-friendly and the site's design is simply magnificent so yeah, I'd go with ODesk.
I'd have to agree with the others, but I'd stretch even further. Use the three big ones, but why would you ignore forums like Digital Point and the other big webmaster/internet marketing forums? Most of them have sections where people advertise work they want done, and give you a chance to list your own ads. Also, why, oh why...Don't you have a signature in your posts that points to a page offering your services??? Marketing 101...
Yeah , in my opinion freelancer is first hand to go because here you can get freelancer at very cheap price
I prefer Freelancer, I consider it much more powerful. But I've got friends on oDesk, they keep telling wonderful things about it.
ODesk would be my pick. I had been working there for quite so long. I easily find jobs there that matches my skills. It's quite tough to get a job of your own though because of the competition there.
I've been using oDesk for over 2 years now... i definitely think it's cheaper to use than the others. Most jobs i post, i usually get around 60 applicants and the contractors seem to price their services cheaper than on freelancer/elance.
Unfortunately, the rates on these sites was a race to the bottom that ended years ago. They're ok for beginners, but if you want to make decent money you should look for a freelance gig, like you would any job: job boards, LinkedIn, etc.
I am doing service in these two sites. The amount in odesk for a work is more than the freelance.com. The chance of getting job by bidding in the freelance depends on your quote and the experience you mentioned on bidding. But odesk is time measurement for a work and it should be completed within the time you committed. It is better than freelance.com. Freelance.com is having laks of workers whereas the odesk is some what difficult to enter into for a job. If we have got atleast one job and done successfully, we would get more jobs. Try to enter in both and do well. Then come to a decision. Chance of getting more jobs for minimum to maximum price according to your ability is good at freelancer.com.
I was working in odesk.com since year of 2008. This site give me opportunity to showcase your talent. But don't expect all of your clients is good people, as we work on freelancer, we know the risk, like payment is delayed and worst is you can't get paid. Also I suggest when you work with odesk.com Always use Time tracking if possible because you can get paid here, as long your work is related with your client.