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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