Earning Money Online with Freelancing (Part 3) – Getting Jobs at Odesk

Freelance Earning Series
Part 1 – Getting Started; Part 2 – Completing Profile; Part 3 – Getting Jobs(you are here)

As I said in the earlier posts that freelancing is a fantastic way for earning money online. I am a freelance web designer and I make a good amount of money every month just by taking projects. It helps me get in touch with new people, make connections and learn so many new things. It also helps me challenge myself and reach new heights. In the past 2 articles I wrote how to setup your freelancer profile at odesk. In this final installment I shall guide you on how to apply and get the jobs at odesk or any other marketplace.

So many people join these freelancing marketplaces every day but fail to get a job. The majority of these people bid on jobs without knowing and they bid with less and less hourly rates. This way the marketplace gets saturated and the buyers find it hard to get a good worker. New people get discouraged as there are so many people bid on the same job.

But you don’t have to worry about all that if you have what it takes to become a super freelancer. Go ahead and read my article to find out how.

In order to get the job in odesk you have to think like a winner, a solution provider. Only bid on jobs that you think you can do.

Just put your keyword on the job search and you shall find a range of jobs posted by the buyer. For an example if you are a C# programmer you can type the word C# to find these jobs. Read the job title, opening lines, payment type and some details. This will give you enough info about the job.

Job titleJob type: Hourly or fixed priceWhen the job was postedThe job short description and read more linkPayment method verified and how much the client has spentClient’s feedback from the contractorsSkills required

Then click on the job to read the details,

Once you are in the details page you have to read the job description carefully. What this buyer wants and how it should be done. If you are a pro in the field of C# (or your chosen field) you should know what this person is talking about and what to expect.

You should also check if you meet their requirements and proceed. Sometimes you won’t meet all their requirements. Maybe they want a provider from USA but you are in Asia. Only apply if you are 100% confident that you are an exception and you can do better than your competition.

You shall also see other people who have been invited/applied for the jobs. The average hourly rate will be shown in the job. If the client has started to review the applicants you shall see the average hourly rate. This will give you an idea how much the client is willing to pay for this job.

Once you have read the job description carefully, it is time for you to apply.

When you have decided to take on this job, the next part is to hit apply and write a cover letter. Here you have to be creative and show to the buyer that you are really up for this.

Most bidders would copy paste cover letters and write mediocre applications. Some would copy paste the profile description and stuff. A buyer who is around odesk for some time gets a lot of these and they ignore these types of applications. In order to get noticed and get contacted you should write what they want to read.

It is as simple as that. You should not write a lengthy cover letter, your buyer has no time to read it. Start by writing a bit about you, what you do and how long you are doing this.

I am a web designer and when people say that they are building a website for a construction company, I put a few live links to sites that I have done which are related to construction.

The buyer has no time to check out your profile and see what you have done, so always place links that show examples of your work/testimonial and feedback. It is much easier for the client to look at and check them out.

Then you should mention about some industry lingo. This means every industry has some words and terms unique to that industry. A person who is in search optimization will know about the words SEO, SMM, PPC, Penguin, Panda etc. My point is when you mention these things, the buyer will know that you know what you are doing and you are not just another guy wasting their time.

Mention how many hours/days it will take for you to complete and how much money it will cost. Be definite or at least close to it. Better if you can provide a deadline.

Then finally tell them you can be contacted through email and skype. Buyers love getting in touch with skype and email. So the tip is, setup a skype ID and get yourself a good headset and webcam for chatting with your buyer. The more open you become with the buyer for contact, the more chances you will have to get the job.

End the cover letter by writing a few words like,

“I am looking forward to working with you”

or

“Will be waiting for your response”

or

“Let’s setup an online meeting to discuss the project”

The tip is to get them moving and they will feel that they found the right person.

Now that you are done, it’s time to bid on that job. Just put your hourly/fixed price rate, agree with the terms and submit. Wait for the buyer to respond, follow up and then get hired.

Now it is up to you, go ahead bid on a few more projects. You are allowed to bid on a number of jobs per week. Once you get a job complete it and do it again and keep earning money.

Bonus tip: Create your online portfolio using Behance

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Earning Money Online Through Buying & Selling Goods

Right now we have the internet and a vast opportunity for earning money online. You can simply make a good profit by buying and selling items. In the western world this is a popular way for online earning however in our region buying and selling goods is not a preferred way to earn money.

In America, Canada, UK or other western countries there are pawn shops, thrift shops and people who specially deal with buying and selling items in order to make a profit. They simply purchase old items, sometimes repair them and sell it for a high price.

In my place, Bangladesh –not everyone has this selling mentality and buying/selling stuff for earning a living is compared to the scrap dealers. I assume in India, Pakistan and other neighbor countries, the situation is the same. But we need to upgrade our mentality because selling something doesn’t means that I am poor or I am a hustler. I see this is a way to transfer my property to a new owner who needs it. Let me show you how exactly you can do this. 

I have to share this, buying and selling is a great way for earning money online. You don’t have to go to scrap dealer to sell some item. There are online marketplaces like ebay, flipkart, olx, bikroy, clickbd or cellbazaar for doing this on the internet.

When I was young I started buying cheap computer parts from scrap dealers and then fix them and sold these items for 3-5 times profit. I remember buying a laptop hard disk for just TK100 and selling it for TK1,900. Once I bought an old computer for TK10,000 and sold it for Tk13,000. Now see how much profit I made just by doing this. And I am proud of it because I was earning money when my other friends were just spending money.

There are literally thousand ways of earning money online if you put your brains on it. I bet there are things on your household that you are going to throw away anyway. Post these items on a marketplace like olx, flipkart, quickr or ebay. See other related items to get an idea how much people are willing to pay for it, then sell it. Then add more items for sale, if you have friends who want to do the same, put their ads too.

Ebay, olx, clickbd or bikroy.com are sites for earning money online for free. This is simply because most of these sites allow you to post your ad for free. Just think about it, thousands of buyers visit those pages daily and you are allowed to get in-front of them for free.

There are garage sales or yard sales in America. Mainly they put together all the things they don’t want to keep and have a sale. This way they can get rid of these items + earn some extra money to buy new things. Think of the online buying selling marketplace as your internet yard sale. You can also buy items from your friends for cheap, maybe fix them and sell them online for more.

Some people are collectors of antique items. Once you have made some connection with these people by selling them good stuff, you can sell them more. This is because antique collectors usually are rich and always looking for more things to add in their collection.

Quite frankly buying and selling stuff is a profitable way for earning money online from home. Just keep looking for deals and you will earn a lot of money online.

When dealing with strangers, stay alert and always do these deals/meeting with a friend of yours in a public place. When you post some private info on the internet, it becomes public so be sure what to share and what not. Some of these sites will let you post your phone number for the buyer to call you so I suggest you get an extra SIM card just for these calls. Also it is wise to just put your first name and not the last name for added privacy. Hope things go well, all the best in earning money online!

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Online Money Earning with PTC (Paid To Click) Sites – Some Thoughts

Over the course of years I came across so many online money earning sites. One type of website that is coming again and again with new names is a PTC site. PTC is a Paid-To-Click earning opportunity. Basically you have to sign up for these websites and view other websites for 30 seconds. For each view you will earn around $0.01 (one cent) or even low in some sites.

This type of websites has gained popularity among mass internet newbies simply because it’s a no brainer, you are earning for clicking. But the hard fact of the PTC game is you are going to waste hours for pennies.

I came across the PTC game with the site called Bux.to a few years ago. That time there were dozens of online money earning sites like Bux.to. Well this was a genuine site however other sites like this was scamming people. When you join these PTC sites you are going to have access to just 10-20 clicks per day. So this means you are going to earn just 10-20 cents per day. To earn even more money you have to sign up for more PTC sites.

These sites that you will sign up in hope to click on more ads, are owned by the same company. You will end up earning money slowly and the payment level is as high as $50 which will take forever to reach.

Now what is the catch?

These sites will allow you to buy downlines. This means other people who click on ads will go under your name like an MLM system and you will earn a % of what they earn. Mainly these PTC sites make money by selling your downlines.

After a while these sites vanish without paying and after few months they will setup a new website with a new name.

PTC sites claim that they are free online money earning sites, but in reality they are not. They feed upon the users and earn money with paid subscriptions. A new set of paid to click website claims to pay $10 per click, which is bogus talk. When you sign up and start clicking you will see that you have generated thousands within days but they will never pay you money.

Most recently in my country Bangladesh there were many PTC online money earning scams. Sites like DoLancer and SkyLancers setup offices in rural (and even city) area. They had charged TK8,000 per account sign up and supply ads to click. The user had to log in from 2AM in the night till 2PM in the noon to click on ads. Many of the wannabe online workers had bought multiple accounts and even bought downlines.

These users believed what they are doing are real online money earning jobs. After months SkyLancer and DoLancer left the scene with the investments of thousands of people.

People still believe that paid to click P.T.C. works. Giving a search on the internet for “Online Earning” I found many sites that recommend PTC as a way for online money earning.

Most of these sites are scams and are a big time waster. I highly recommend you should not go after these sites and quick money, and instead sign up for real online earning sites.

Yes there are sites that are genuine PTC vendors, one of them is NeoBux, but it is up to you to decide if you want to waste time for pennies or would like to invest your time for high paying sites?

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The Pitfalls of Online Earning Sites

You may have seen a lot of online earning sites on the internet and I also shared a bunch of them here, but what no one seems to share are the deadly pitfalls of these earning websites. If you ask me then earning money online is the coolest thing on the world. You get to work from your laptop from anywhere you want then you can work whenever you want, day or night. But there are some traps in this lucrative opportunity and I am going to explain them to you so that will help you to avoid them.

Google adsense pays only when you have reached $100. It seems like adsense is the easiest way to earn some money online, the payment check is far from the reality. For each click you receive in adsense you will earn hardly a few cents. It will take a lot of time to reach that payout if you are just getting started on the internet. Adsense also bans account for no reason and all the money you have earned will be gone forever. So if you are new I highly suggest you look for other free online earning sites.

Majority of the online earning websites pay the users through PayPal. If you are living in a country where there is no PayPal, then good luck with that. You can earn money but to withdraw your funds you will need a PP account. Countries like Bangladesh & Pakistan doesn’t have PayPal. There is PayPal in India but someone told me that it causes problem every now and then. I had opened an account once from Bangladesh and they banned my PayPal account with $200 in it. Yes that sucks! So when you sign up for an online earning site first check out how they pay.

If you are getting started with any freelancing marketplaces like odesk, elance or freelancer –you know how hard is to get a job at these marketplaces. Some buyers like to take advantage of this situation and hire struggling people for free. This is called a spec work. You get the work done for free and I will decide to hire you if I like it. Don’t do this! You don’t have to do free or cheap work just to get real paying work. If you have talent and skills you will get the high paying jobs in these marketplaces. There are many trusted online earning sites that actually promote spec work. 99designs is one of them where you have to do the work before getting paid.

PTC may seem like a free money earning site but it is nothing but a scam. Even the sites that are legit and are around for a few years pay just a few cents per click. As an intelligent individual, wasting your time for these paid to click offers is not an ideal thing to do. I have described all about PTC sites here –you can check out. Most of these PTC sites are scams and they want you to buy upgrades and downlines so that you can earn a few pennies more. Mark my words and stay completely out of these sites.

In Dhaka I have seen countless banners, billboards & posters that claim to teach you how to earn $10-$20 per day with adsense. They teach people how to setup some free blogs and copy paste article and earn money. These people are earning that money by selling courses to newbie people. These are scam and I am seeing them for many years. Now that freelancing is popular they are teaching people how to work as a freelancer and earn a few cents. Don’t fall for these online earning opportunities. If you want to learn, then google it, watch some videos on YouTube and you will learn some real tips and advice.

Hopefully after reading this article you will be well aware of the online earning scene and can approach to it strategically. If I leave out a few of these pitfall the internet is a paradise for making a living, so go ahead and start earning!

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Earning Money Online with Freelancing (Part 2) – Your Odesk Profile

Hello friends, in the first part of this article I shared a few basics of earning money online with freelancing. I talked about odesk and how to sign up and complete your profile. In this part I will share in a bit detail on how to complete the rest of your odesk profile and how to apply for jobs.

Odesk is a freelance marketplace and it lets you search online jobs and then get hired. You will have the freedom of working from home. This is a platform you can both learn and earn. I personally learned a lot of thing about business, marketing & personal branding.

If you are a complete newbie in odesk then things will be a bit confusing at the beginning and you will find that bidding and finding a job is hard. But fear not because if you follow my tips, you will do good.

Let’s continue!

Did you know that clients can look for you and hire you directly? When you have completed your odesk profile and it is optimized you will have more chance of appearing in search and getting hired. And getting hired means you can earn money faster. This is where you have to be creative and professional. Start by writing your odesk title. You are allowed to write just a few words in there so make it count.

For an example I wrote this:

You can include your skills and what you are good at. People usually add keywords like: photoshop, CSS, HTML, MS Word, Adobe Premiere Pro –software and tools work better in reaching new clients through search. I am a wordpress designer so I added “WordPress” in my title.

Then here comes the description section. In this part you have to be creative and write a brief description of your skills and what you can do. It can work like an introduction. It is better to add the things you can do in bullet points. You can also paste links here. I have posted my portfolio link and video testimonial links from youtube.

This has really increased the number of searched that bring in my profile. So try to write a good and informative description, try to sell your services. Give them a reason to contact and hire you. Do not copy-paste descriptions/bios from other people.

Your hourly rate is important. It should not be too low or too high. People, who join freelance marketplaces like odesk or elance, make a big mistake by charging less money per hour. When you set rates like $2-3 –the client looks at you and feels you don’t have the skills or confident enough to take this jobs. Not everyone at odesk looks for cheap labor. There are quality clients out there who will hire quality prices. So set your prices competitive enough.

For an example you are a logo designer. Search for logo designers and look how much these top designers have set the rates. Now they usually set more than what they get paid. So click on one of them and look at the works they done. How much they got paid? If their hired rate is $12, then set your rate to $8-10. Or even a slightly less dollar. You are newbie here so set less than what they are going.

The number of hours you have worked on odesk and the feedback you receive determines how much work you will receive and how much income you can generate. As a beginner you have no control over this one so you better start bidding on jobs and get some hours recorded. Aim to get at least 1 hour, then 10 and then 100 hours as your ultimate goal. It will take time but try to do it. In odesk quality beats quantity. You don’t have to record 1,000 work hours. Just work less and charge more.

For an example I have just a low number of hours in odesk, I am a member since 2009. But my hourly rate is $25 so I earn more money with fewer hours. When you work on client sites, be a good provider and you will get 5 star ratings. In order to get 5 star ratings in odesk, you just have to be a good communicator. Be fast in responding emails & messages; be available on skype. Improve your English speaking skills.

Now that you know how to complete your professional profile at odesk, in the next article I will share how you can write cover letters and get the actual job. I will also share some advanced tips on online earning through freelancing. Thanks!

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Earning Money Online with Freelancing (Part 1) – Odesk, Elance & Freelancer

In my own humble opinion the best ways of earning money online is through freelancing sites. When I started online I was earning money with my blog using paid reviews and selling banner ads. I was earning a lot of money on the internet and that was really great. When I started working on a freelance marketplace (odesk) I started to earn even more money. In fact on 2010 I earned more than 10,000 dollars in a year just with freelancing opportunities, just from one single marketplace, odesk. That means I earned more than 8,00,000 taka (about 5,80,000 rupees in India) –not just that I even reached the milestone of earning 50,000 Bangladeshi taka per month working from home online.

If you ask me then yes that really feels great. I am sitting in my table in front of my computer. No boss, no office no time table, I eliminated the 9-5 job lifestyle. Freelancing does works and one who has some skills can earn serious money on the internet. In this article I am going to outline a simple to follow guide on earning money online with freelancing. There are many freelancing marketplaces that you can join like odesk, freelancer or elance but I will focus on odesk in this article. So go ahead and start reading this in depth guide.

The first thing you must do in any freelance marketplace is to sign up for their service. Go ahead and sign up for odesk/elance/freelancer (focus on one site to start) don’t go and stress yourself trying to be on every marketplace you can. Online earning is real and these sites that I have mentioned are not scams. Sites like elance, odesk & freelancer pays you money.

Freelance workers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana, Nepal, Sri Lanka and many others work in odesk. Mainly buyers from USA, Canada, UK & Australia participate in these sites.

Students can join and make some extra money online. Graduates who are looking for a job can also join these websites and make a full time income. Teenagers can also join these sites to make money by working as a freelance provider.

Sign up with a professional business email, an email that you will use regularly. I suggest you sign up for a free gmail account and use it on odesk. Now the next step is to upload a professional headshot in your profile. Don’t use your passport size photo, it’s oldish. Instead try a professional looking headshot (they call it mugshot). Cut that photo in square and upload it. A best profile photo is the one where you are smiling. This is very important. When a client looks at your photo they should see you happy and confident.

Use your full and real name on this freelance marketplace. It gives a trust. Odesk is a professional site; it’s not facebook where you can hide behind a fake name. It is going to replace your boring 9-5 job and it will give you freedom of earning money online. This is why you should post your real name, picture & some background info.

In the education and work area, put your degrees and qualifications. Put your past work experience. If you were held in a job then mention it in this area.

Add certification if you have any. Here you can mention different certificates, awards, medals & honors. You can put other work experience in it. Say you have interest in sports, you can mention it. You don’t know sometimes a client will look for a provider who is interested in sport, and may hire you for that extra info.

Every time you complete a part of this odesk profile you will complete a % of it. The aim is to make the odesk profile 100% complete. You may not be able to make it hundred percent but 80-90% is acceptable.

There is an odesk test, called the readiness test, it is mandatory before being able to apply for real jobs. It is a multiple choice question-answer test with 11 questions. These questions will be all about odesk terms and services. So you have to read first and understand the terms of odesk correctly. To pass this test you have to answer all the questions correctly.

There are many more tests in many different categories that you can take to improve your profile. These tests have 40 questions. Taking tests and passing them will improve the chance of getting jobs. Passing a test like US spelling test shows your potential client that you know English very well.

Now the next important part of your odesk profile is the portfolio section. This really determines the chance of earning money online through freelancing. The client is going to look at your portfolio, so you need to have some work listed there. If you are a web/logo designer and have a few projects done then put the pictures and live URL’s (if any) –if you are a writer then add some writing examples as well as the article links over there. If you are a photographer, then upload your best shots.

If you have many portfolio items then consider keeping just 10-20 of your best work there because your client doesn’t have a lot of time to check them out. If you don’t have any, maybe you are starting out at online earning sites, then do some free spec work for your friends. And then put these work at your portfolio. Portfolio items are important in seeking online jobs.

That’s it for this article. In the next part I will discuss about writing your bio and professional title. I will also share how to set the perfect hourly rate and how to apply for jobs. Thanks and stay tuned!

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Guide to Start an Ebay Business in 2013 to Boost your Income

Ebay is one of the greatest platform for all those who wants to sell to get extra income in the pocket or to run a business. What you have to pay is to just the fees for each sale. It just needs good marketing of the product. On ebay there is no limit for your earning one can make 500 dollars a month or even can earn 50,000 dollars per month. You can read lots of business success stories. The success of your ebay business depends on the time and your dedication that you give to your business. To be a successful businessman with ebay you have to be updated with the changing rules and policies and follow them.

Following tips will help you in running your business with ebay.

First of all search a niche in which you will run a business, give priority in the area of your interest because you will have great information about that niche and will be better able to run your business. About the competitors, prices, market demand and supply. The best time is to sell the product at the proper time. For example if you want to sell uniform the peak time to get good sale is June to August, so it will get a better return if you offer it in April or May it will not get any buyer.

Know from them what technique they usually used, what is their daily, weekly or monthly sale. What prices they are charging and what is their profit margin, either they are using auction or bin option. What kind of information they are providing to their clients, what is their starting price. What kind of photos they are using, are they charging shipping fees or adding in the product price. What areas they are covering. Such information will helps you a lot in competing with your competitors.

If you have a professional look for your business people will buy from you, you can get a cheap template for the business. Most of the inexpensive templates range from $3 onward. The template seller will guide you about the use of the template so, you will better able to add your products.

Photos plays an important role in getting success to your ebay business. In online business you are dealing virtually with the customers from all over the world. So, when you are dealing with them you just have an option to show them the photo of the product so, always take a clear and good photo so, they will better view and see the object and can make a purchase. Always choose a black background so, everyone can have a clear view of it.

One of the best ways to decide the mode of selling for your product is to go to the top of the page and write the name enter a search, so, at the bottom of the page you will get the list of similar products. It will be helpful for you to tell about your sale and whether to sell through auction or bin.

Get at least an Idea of the items that you’re planning to share! As Bob from ChristianPf.com says in his article:

Do yourself a favor and know at least a little bit about what you are planning on selling.

Let me know what you thing about it, if you’ve started an ebay business already, please share your experience and suggestions with us in the comment box below!

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