How to Get Work on Online Freelancing Platforms

If you work as a freelancer in any online platform then I am sure you are aware of how difficult it is to get work on these platforms. And if you are new to the field of online freelancing or want to become a freelance writer, you will find it even more difficult to get your first contract. 

Here are some of the freelance tips that will help you not only to get freelance work but also establish yourself successfully on online freelancing platforms.

The freelancing platforms like Upwork and Fiverr provide several opportunities to the writers, graphic designers, programmers, SEO experts, translators etcetera to get freelance work. However, success on these platforms depends on your ability to attract right clients, and skills to complete projects efficiently. 

Freelance tips to get work on online freelance sites

1. know your core skills and strengths

Firstly, it is important that you should know about your core strengths and skills that can help you establish on these platforms. You can join freelancing sites as a writer, programmer, and graphic designer or as a virtual assistant. There are various other categories of jobs that you can do on these platforms.

However, the most important question is to identify the most appropriate area of work that you can do efficiently, effectively and effortlessly. Matching your core skills and interest with the job can help you considerably to identify the right field in which you can get success. In other words, aligning your capabilities with the requirement of the job will help you get sure shot success. 

2. Create an impressive profile 

Once you have identified the category of work that you can do efficiently you will be required to create a profile. You profile showcases your experience, skills, past work and your capabilities. 

    An impressive profile helps attract potential clients and shows that you are serious about your work. Always make sure that your profile is free of grammatical mistakes, typos and has adequate samples and links to display your experience and skills. 

    If you are new in this field you must create some samples that you can display in your profile. Clients mostly look for providers who have adequate experience in their field of work and are capable of completing the job within the deadlines.

    3. Write an impressive job proposal 

    Always remember job proposal showcases your approach towards a job and provides you the opportunity to get noticed by the client. Make sure that your job proposal addresses the job requirements effectively and is good enough to attract the attention of the potential client. 

 Job proposal is one of the most important tools of getting success in online freelancing platforms. It helps you win clients on online freelancing sites. You must customize your proposal and write in friendly yet professional tone. 

4. Find the right client

Finding a right client on a freelancing platform is the most difficult part of freelancing. However, if you have the right attitude and skills sooner or later you will come across several clients who can provide you with continuous work. 

    The tip here is to have some patience and keep looking for clients with good job history. Always go through the feedbacks that the client has received from freelancers and the amount the client has paid to the freelancers. This will help you get an idea about the client. 

    Moreover, it is also important that you should not ignore new clients as they can also provide you with work that you are looking for. But at the same time ensure that the client is genuine and needs your help in getting something done. 

    5. Never give out free samples

    Some of the clients on online freelancing platforms often ask for free samples to judge your skills and capabilities. You must not give free samples as the client might be in need of that sample only. Always ask for money in exchange for the sample and make sure to display free samples in your portfolio.

    6. Do not ignore small contracts 

    most of the new freelancers make the mistake of ignoring short-term job contracts or low worth contracts. Here I am not asking you to bid low on the online platform but you must not ignore short-term contracts where the money involved is not high. These kinds of contracts can help you establish yourself on online platforms as the job will be displayed in your work history and good feedback from the client can significantly improve chances of getting work from potential clients.

7. Give your 100 percent

    Getting success on online freelancing platform is not a cakewalk. It requires you to put your best foot forward. From applying for a job that matches your skills and interest to successfully carrying out the job requires hard work, focus, and enthusiasm. Keep your motivation high and you will be able to overcome all the hurdles that you face during the course of the work. Keep your client happy and build a strong professional relationship with good clients. 

Image source

8. Learn from your past mistakes

Last but not the least, don’t get disappointed by failures. Learn from your past mistakes and try to avoid them in future. Always remember failure is the first step towards success and you cannot avoid failure if you really want to get success. 

Therefore, learn from your failures and keep working hard. Keep improvising your profile, proposal, experience, skills, knowledge, and capabilities.

Do you have any other freelance tips to get success as a freelancer? If you like this article, please feel free to share with others.
  

    You might like to read:

•     How to write an engaging article
•     How to win confidence of clients

How to Survive in the Business of Blogging

If you are increasingly finding it difficult to generate income from your blog despite your best possible efforts, it is high time you must create a contingency plan to keep you dream of becoming a successful blogger alive. 

Successful bloggers have to work out ways to enhance the visibility of their blog to beat the competition and identify unique methods of creating quality content to increase traffic, and at the same time to ensure that they get a high return on investment.

However, as I said in my earlier post, blogging is something that does not create income in a short span of time, especially if you are new in the business of blogging. Therefore, it is important to generate income from other sources to maintain and support your blog.

To create quality content and to promote your blog you require investment not only in terms of time but also money and efforts. 

Moreover, to create a successful blog, one needs the skill to create quality content, online marketing skills, and knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO).

However, research studies show that despite best possible efforts, a majority of bloggers have not been able to generate enough income from their blog and are increasingly finding it difficult to meet their monthly expenses. 

To survive in the business of blogging, you must share your secret of success with your readers. Always remember, "the secret of becoming a successful blogger is to let others know your secret of success". To survive in today’s highly competitive blogging business, you must identify ways to generate alternate income. 

This article will mainly focus on methods to earn money from alternate sources so that you can support and maintain your blog until the time you generate enough income from your own blog. 

I have listed some of the methods of earning money online from various sources other than blogging:

Methods to survive in the business of blogging

1.      Online freelancing: it is one of the most popular methods of making money online to meet monthly expenses. Online freelancing sites provide the opportunity to the freelancer to sell their expertise. You can work on these sites as a freelance writer, online marketer, graphic designer, programmer, data entry operator, virtual assistant or translator to earn regular income. 

To know how and where you can earn income from online freelancing work please read my post Skills that can help you earn money online. The money that you make on online freelance sites can be used to learn new skills to make your blog more effective.

2.      Online Surveys: though you cannot depend on surveys to earn a regular income, it can help you earn money in the long run. You can register on various survey sites to receive online surveys so that you can create more money. To know how to make money through surveys please read my article Are online surveys genuine or a scam. The money that you make from online surveys can be used to promote your blog. 

3.      Sell online: there are several popular sites that provide you a platform to sell your services or products online. Here you can sell you eBooks, old mobile phone, and various other items that you find are no longer useful for you. The money that you make selling your old stuff can be used to buy a custom domain name or registering in paid blogging platforms. It will not only help you to reach out to targeted audience but also help you improve the layout or design of your website.

4.      Other methods: there are various other methods that can be employed to make money online such as writing  paid reviews for other websites, products or services, affiliate marketing and writing Guest posts. However, it is extremely important that you should choose the platform and client carefully to ensure prompt payment and regular work.

 Do you think it is important to have an alternate source of income to survive as a blogger? If you liked this article, please share it with others and share your opinion with us.

Related Articles:

•     How to create a successful blog using Timmons Framework 
•    4 things that will make you a successful blogger

Are Online Surveys Genuine or a Scam

Online money making is generally perceived as a scam. Online surveys are generally notorious for the scams, but there are many survey sites that provide you genuine opportunity to earn money online. 

However, these methods cannot make you rich. Or, you cannot depend on survey sites to make your living. You can treat these sites as a saving account and withdraw the money once you hit the mandatory limit to redeem money.

For example, Onepoll is a London based online quantitative survey company where you can earn £2.5 as soon as you join them. You can also earn additional £4 for referring your friends or family members. How you can do this:

Open ‘Onepoll’ in your browser and sign up for the site. It hardly takes 2 minutes to register for the website. That’s all! The amount will reflect in your ‘Onepoll’ account once you log into your account. Your account will look something like this:

However, you will only be able to withdraw the amount once you reach the mark of £40 in your account that means you will have to regularly check your mailbox or log into your account for new surveys so that you can make more money.

It may take 6 months or even a year to earn enough points to make 40 pounds. The survey usually takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete and the company pays you 10p to £1 for each successfully completed survey.

One person can hold only one account, and it is important that you must furnish correct information. Most importantly, it is neither mandatory on your part to participate in all the surveys nor it is obligatory on the part of the company to send you surveys on a regular basis. It is a platform where you receive the survey once in a while. However, reviews of most of the leading online survey companies show that majority of the people have managed to earn more than $40 within six months.

Points to remember when registering for online surveys:

• Choose the survey sites very carefully. Most of these sites do not allow users from the third world country or developing countries to sign up. Make sure to read the reviews of the registered users when registering for the site.

• Never pay for signing up.

• Never share you primary mail address. Use secondary email to keep track of the surveys and don’t forget to log in regularly to check new surveys.

• Withdraw the money as soon as you reach the limit to redeem money as it will protect you from future risks like shutting down of the website.

• If you don’t get paid even after complaining to their support team, you must try their social media channels to complain about your grievances.

It may be possible that users living in third world country may not receive as many surveys as the users in Europe and USA. I have summarized the answers of some of the questions that the users might like to know.

Why online survey site pay you?

Survey companies pay you for sharing your opinion about a product or service.

How can you withdraw the amount?

You can use your Paypal account or your bank account to withdraw the money.

How long does it take to withdraw the money?

It may take two to four weeks to receive the amount in your account. It entirely depends on the money transfer policy of survey companies.  It is always a good idea to sign up on several reliable survey websites as it will help you earn money on regular basis.

Name the top online survey companies that pay the most?

Ipsos i-say, Swagbucks, Crowdology, Onepoll, Mysurvey, Pureprofile, Toluna, YouGov, Vivatic and Opinion outpost

Do you think you can make money with online surveys? lease feel free to share your opinion with us. If you liked this article, please share it with others.

You might like to read:

How to start your own online business

Skills that can help you earn money online

5 Advantages of Online Freelancing over Blogging

Blogging is something that does not generate results in the short run. To reap the benefits of blogging one has to show a high level of patience, determination and courage to write unique and original content consistently. Sometimes bloggers are left with no option other than slowing down or completely refraining from writing their blog for a long period of time.

If blogging is your hobby and you are not directly dependent on it for your monthly expenses, you can easily cope with this phase. However, there are hundreds and thousands of bloggers who are directly dependent on their blog to meet their expenses. Many of them are working out ways to earn money from their blog. In such a situation, one has to look for other sources of income to meet one's monthly expenses.

There are many online freelancing jobs where you can reap the fruits of your efforts instantly provided that you have the right skills, experience, and attitude to carry out the job. If you are finding it extremely difficult to generate enough income from your blog and looking for an alternate source of income to meet out your daily expenses or support your blog you can sign up for online freelancing sites to earn money online. Some of the advantages of online freelancing jobs over blogging are:

Advantages of Online Freelancing Over Blogging

Regular Source of Income

Unlike blogging, online freelancing sites provide you the opportunity to earn income on a regular basis. You get paid for helping out clients in establishing their own websites or running their business. If you have some experience in the field of blogging and have relevant skills to establish and market a website you can earn a lot of money on the online freelancing websites. Clients are increasingly looking for people with relevant skills in online marketing, blog writing, logo designing, content writing, programming and SEO techniques.

• Read: how to get work on online freelancing platforms

Significant Improvement in Skills

A good client on an online freelancing site not only pays you for your services but also helps you learn new skills. Different clients have different requirements and their expectations from the service providers are very high, therefore, they keep on suggesting how to do the work differently. It not only forces providers to come up with new ideas but also help them acquire new skills.

Online Freelancing Helps You Create a Successful Blog

Most of the successful bloggers have learned the tricks of the blogging trade on online freelancing platforms. Online freelancing sites provide you the opportunity to share your problems, ideas and opinion on their forums. These forums enable you to discuss your problems and issues that you face in your field of work. You get the opportunity to meet successful professionals who have been doing extremely well in their field of work. You can capitalize on their experience, expertise, and knowledge to establish yourself as a successful blogger.

• Read: Four things that will make you a successful blogger

Online freelancing is not a hobby it’s a profession

Unlike blogging, online freelancing is a profession where you get paid for your expertise. Most of the clients pay you on a weekly basis and provides you with enough work to keep you busy throughout the year. Building your reputation on these sites is a sure shot way of getting more contracts and establishing links with high worth clients. On the contrary, a blog takes a significant amount of time to generate income. 

You don't need multiple skills to establish yourself on online freelancing platforms

Blogging requires not only expertise in writing skills but also the ability to market and present your content effectively. Inability to use right layout, SEO techniques, templates and online marketing techniques can put your blog in a difficult situation. 

On the other hand, online freelancing sites pay you for your expertise in any field; it can be content writing, search engine optimization, online marketing, programming or designing. 

If you liked this article, please post your comments and share it with others. 

You might like to read:

• Four reasons why freelance is the future of work
• How to become a freelance writer

How to Start Your Online Business

The concept of owning an online business has gained unprecedented importance in recent years. The reasons for the growing popularity of online business are many including low investment, high return on investment, flexibility, equal opportunities and minimal legal formalities. The good thing about starting an online business is that anyone can own it including, housewives, students, retired personnel, employed as well as unemployed people.

I am sure most of you are aware of various methods of making money online but the key to run a successful online business lies in your ability to understand the nitty-gritty of the online business. Blogging, online freelancing, e-commerce, selling on e-commerce sites, sponsorship advertising, affiliate marketing and online consulting are some of the popular methods of earning money online.

Also read: Skills that can help you earn money online

Categories of Online Businesses

Blogging is one of the most popular methods of earning money online; however, success in this field depends on your ability to write consistently original and useful content that can help you reach out to a larger audience. 

Blogging allows you to write on a wide range of topics that interest you most. To write an original content, you must have in-depth knowledge of the field you want to write about. There is no harm in gathering important information from online sources that you want to pass on to your readers. 

However, at the same time, it is important that you should focus on what you have learned from your own experience rather than re-writing the content from other websites. 

Some of the most popular blog hosting sites are Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, and Posterous. You can join these blog hosting sites to own a blog and write on topics that you find interesting and informative. 

Once you have successfully set up your blog you can earn money from various sources such as affiliate marketing, Google Adsense or sponsorships advertising.

Sell Online

Sellers are increasingly using on-line e-commerce platforms to sell their products on-line. E-commerce sites enable the users to sell their products online from the convenience of their home. Some of the leading places on the net where you can sell you stuff are Amazon, e-bay, Swappa, Craiglist, 99 Designs, Quikr and unsurprisingly Facebook. 

Sponsorship Marketing

Sponsorship advertising has gained immense popularity in past couple of years. In this method of money making you use your network to advertise or market the product of your advertiser. You can write your reviews about the product to reach out to the targeted audience. IZEA and SocialToaster are great places for social sponsorship. 

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a process of promoting your clients’ products or services to the targeted audience. The company pays you a certain percentage of the profit on every sale that you successfully make. Interestingly, affiliated marketing is the main sources of income for the majority of successful bloggers.

Online Freelancing

Last but not the least; freelance writing is increasingly becoming popular owing to huge demand for unique and original articles, effective sales promotional letters, email marketing, and content writing. 

Blogging business has also boosted the demand for freelance writers consequently a number of new freelancing platforms have emerged to fill the gap between demand and supply. You can work as a freelance writer on several platforms to sell your services to the clients across the world. One of the advantages of online freelancing jobs over blogging is that unlike blogging you don't have to wait too long to earn money on these sites. 

You might like to read:

• How to become a freelance writer online
• How to get work on online freelancing sites