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Freelancing online is one of the best ways that I know to earn a side income. You can even do it as a full-time job. The idea, though, is that if you want to earn extra money (or you’re broke), consider online freelancing.
If you’ve decided to give freelancing online a go, here are some tips to succeed.
1) Find an online freelancing site
Find a good freelance site to get started. Here are some of my recommendations.
Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the most popular online freelancing sites. The idea with this site is to offer a particular job for $5 or multiples of $5. There are people on the freelancing site killing earning thousands of dollars per month. So don’t be mislead by the name.
It’s a great site to start your freelancing business. I have two sons doing their freelancing business from Fiverr. It also has many courses that you can do to improve the skills that you can offer.
You can offer as many gigs as you want, so don’t be shy about setting up gigs.
Upwork
Upwork is another one of the more popular online freelancing sites. I’ve made a full-time living on this site in the past. On Upwork, you find jobs that you’re interested in and send out proposals to the buyer.
After you’ve registered, you’ll need connects to be able to send out proposals. Each connect costs 15 cents. Each job needs, at least, two connects to make a proposal.
On Upwork, you have two kinds of membership plans. You have the Basic plan which is free and the Plus plan, which is currently $14.99 per month.
You’ll need to set up a profile before you get started. They also give you the option of having specialized profiles, if you’re offering more than one type of skill.
Guru
Guru is similar to Upwork, in that you have to submit proposals to suitable jobs. However, you do get 10 free bids per month. After that additional bids will have to be purchased.
Basic membership on Guru is free, but other types of membership have to paid for on a monthly or yearly basis.
Other Freelancing Sites
Other notable online freelancing sites include:
- People per hour: I’ve done a few jobs on this site.
- Freelancer
- Toptal
- Flexjobs
2) Set up a good profile
A good profile is a selling point for successful freelancing online. It’s what sells you online as a good freelancer. It will showcase your skills and accomplishments. Make sure to use keyword-rich words in your profile to grab the potential client’s attention.
3) Get Good Reviews
Getting good reviews is the key to successful freelancing online. Clients tend to look for freelancers with good reviews on their profiles. Reviews can make or break your online freelancing career.
One of the keys to getting good reviews is to under-promise and over-deliver. If a client asks for the work in three days, give that person in two days.
4) Avoid Potential Scammers
Many people who are used to working off-line see online work as a scam. While, in general, that’s not true, they do have individuals who scam unsuspecting people online.
Sites like Upwork will give you some protection against scammers. To be safe, look for jobs where the client has a verified billing method. Upwork also offers hourly and fixed-job protection for jobs that satisfy certain criteria. Also, look out for clients who have good reviews. If a client is new, however, they may not have any reviews, so a verified billing method will suffice in that case.
On Fiverr, the buyer has to buy the gig for work to start. Don’t start work before the gig has officially started. I know somebody who did that and they had to message the client to get paid.
Earning money in online freelancing takes time. It can happen in less than a month or longer, so jump online right now and get started.