What Freelance Job Sites Are the Best?

I do use Odesk and got a writing job there for $15 per article from a US citizen. I think Odesk is good enough to be quoted in this thread.

But aside from that, I get clients from here who usually pays $5 per article on bulk orders.

The point is, it depends on where you can get better clients with high-paying prices. But I also agree with the others that having a website which advertises your skills can help you in finding better clients.

Thanks for starting this thread. It's helpful!

 

I've definitely learned some new things in this thread, especially about oDesk. I've always reserved myself from freelance sites, and I'm starting to realize that there are some good reasons to keep it that way. I have to agree with jhmattern, as she makes some strong points. Most jobs aren't advertised for writers nor anyone else. You've got to get yourself noticed, and get out there...then the money will start flowing!

 

They pay hourly and that's the best way for them to make sure you're not slacking.

What's so hard to understand?

If it was on a per project basis, it would've been a different case.

 

Hi Bluemoon!

It was by acident too that I came across this site! As you will notice, I am brand new here as well, but the information and guidance I received on Digital Point is priceless!

 

Gabrielle, If one consider the current economic climate the world over it just makes sense to get paid the highest price per article possible.

From my personal perspective, I like to think about rather having 20 articles per week at $5 and $400 at the end of the month from one client than having 10 articles per month at $15 each for the month.

More in general to all -

I would like to dare to make the comment to say that we as writers easily complain about rates. However, we need to remember if we make it difficult for buyers to obtain high quality content at reasonable cost, we as writers will suffer first.

Finances is a problem all over the world, not only to large corporations and small enterprises. Everybody needs to tighten their budgets and the same for buyers. Therefore, it is important to keep sustainability in mind, especially if writing for the web is your full time career!

 

It's not legal for US clients to monitor and control freelancers in ways they might if the writers were employees instead. There are legal lines between hiring contractors (whom you cannot exercise as much control over) and employees (whom you can). If a client wants that kind of environment, then they become an employer and are required to pay taxes on the income paid to the writer (instead of the writer eating that entire cost). They would also be responsible for various insurance or other financial and administrative requirements if they choose to treat the writer like an employee. If they want to take advantage of the cost savings in hiring freelancers instead, then that comes with risks and a lack of control. That's basic business for you. There's no differentiation based on whether the pay is hourly or per project when legally determining if someone is a client or an employer (and therefore held to different legal and financial standards). But apparently that's too hard for some people to understand. If you don't like not being able to watch over someone's shoulder, then be smart enough not to pay hourly.

 

hello have you tried Rentacoder thats also a good site for freelancers.

 

Did I miss something on the FREELANCE part of the job?

If you hire a plumber or an electrician (which by the way here in SA charge most of the times by the hour) do you tell him when to work and how much to work in an hour? I doubt it!

So irrespective of how legal it is or not, I freelance because I DO NOT WANT to be EMPLOYED by a single EMPLOYER.

I work as an independent contractor! I work on an ASSIGNMENT basis.

We discuss the assignment, we agree on a price and designate a time line, I do the job, you pay me. That is it!

If I want to, I work with you again and we follow the same process all over again. If you want to work with me again, we do the same.

If you want to pay hourly, it is as simple as asking how long it will take me to do the job! I say 3 hours, you pay $1 per hour! Good! $3 it will be!

BUT if you want to check on me and make sure I work 3 hours JUST FOR YOU - You are going to pay me a whole day's wages or you are going to hire me for a week or month and make me work as much as you can in 8 hours a day, 5 days per week!

Come on, let us get real here! Some clients see "hourly pay" as an convenient way NOT to put up with the cost of permanent employees! It comes down to cheap convenient labour!

Bottom line - JHMattern - You are right all the way and there is nothing wrong with your comprehension. If there is, well then there are hundreds and thousands of us who FREELANCE who battle with the same problem as you do then...

 

Check out scriptlance.com
YOU HAVE THE OPPOTUNITY TO BID FREE, ALSO HIDE YOUR BIDS FROM THE PUBLIC SO THAT YOU GET HONEST BIDS FROM PROVIDERS.

 

I used to get projects from GAF and oDesk, but the rates are becoming lower each day as more providers are coming in. Most of my clients now are from DP. I also met a couple of clients through a writing job lead.

 

Hi, I would like to make my contribution to this questions.

Elance is Very Professional. I have had 2 years of experience there and I recommend it over all others. Their Support is Great and the payment system is excellent.

Guru: An Old Player but Too Much Competition.

GetAfreelancer: Good, but the team that owns it arent that serious. Payment system is a mess. You will find projects that were posted back in 05 there. They are improving though!

Hope this helps.
Megan.

 

Ah - we're both from South Africa!

I'm also starting to look into content writing - I used to back in the day but now want to continue. Goodluck and I hope you find a few good places to find jobs.

I have gotten a few clients I'm going to start working for soon, so if you're persistent: you'll strike lucky!

 

How do you expect people to pay you hourly while you Twitter and go on MySpace?

If a plumber came to my house to fix a broken toilet, I have every rights to see what he's doing at any given time because first of all, I'm paying him, second of all, I want to make sure that he doesn't do something that he's not supposed to do, like fixing the wrong toilet, smoking cigarettes in my house, etc

All you guys that think it's "unethical" for somebody that pays you HOURLY to monitor your work are probably slackers anyway..? Come on. It's not like you're on webcam for the whole hour(can get ackward, lol). They're just monitoring your work PC.

 

You need to understand that not everybody works like you do. For example on Odesk, if I want to hire a full time designer that works 8 hours a day, I want him to be available 8 hours a day, and there's no way for me to know if he's available unless, well , I monitor/supervise him.

He never gave me a completion date, or how many hours he would need because, the assignments are given in real time as they come up.

So yeah, there's a different POV to this.

 

Hey Buddy,

Go to Get a Freelancer its the best.

 

Hi All!

Please let us keep to the topic? This thread is about the best Freelance job sites.

I have opened a thread for HOURLY vs. FIXED RATES.

Can we please continue on this there please?

 

lol I suggest you do a bit of research into the people you're talking about before accusing us of being slackers. (And in the future, do not insult or make professional accusations against the professional reputations of other members here. Discussion threads are not the place for it, and in the future, you'll receive an infraction for doing so.)

You don't pay hourly by babysitting unless you're willing to be an employer and not a client. That's all there is to it. If you want that right, then you subject yourself to the legal implications -- taxes, insurance, etc. When the writer takes on all of the risks and costs on that front, they have other legal rights that employees do not, which includes clients not being able to exercise much control over where, when, or how the work is done as long as it's completed by the agreed upon deadline. In quite a few cases, hourly rates are not based on the physical time spent. They're based on estimates. As the contractor improves and can complete a task faster, they don't charge or earn less -- they earn more. Mechanics are the perfect example of this. You don't pay labor costs based on the actual hours spent. You pay based on standards. If a new guy works on your car, it will probably take him longer (you wouldn't be forced to pay more just because the guy's slow because he's new). But if you get a more experienced mechanic who can do the job faster, you also don't pay less. You still pay the standard. Their ability to do the job more quickly over time is their version of a raise -- it's the primary way they get to earn more money (doesn't work like it does in a typical corporate environment with yearly or bi-annual raises). What you can choose to do is ask the contractor to keep a log of time spent. That isn't an issue, as it's just a record (and appropriate for the billing type without violating their rights as an independent contractor). That's a fact of life in contracting and working with contractors. If you don't like the fact that contractors have different rights because they take on far more risk than employees, then stick to hiring employees.

SA - the issue isn't about hourly vs fixed rates. It's about the practices of one particular freelance site, and how they encourage inappropriate behavior from clients in at least one country, violating the rights of the contractors. I'm going to leave that conversation here instead of merging the posts elsewhere, because it speaks to the validity or lack thereof of one of the freelance sites being touted as a supposed good bet for freelancers.

 

I personally feel elance and DP are best sites for freelancing writing

 

Elance is really good.

 

I did article writing once but quit that because I was not making much money from it. My rate was only $2.50 for 500 work article which is ridiculous in my opinion and when I put my rate higher no work came.

It not about finding clients.

More about finding a good spot where there are no low rates out.