Does anyone make a living writing for Elance or Guru?

[greatness008]

If so, which one is better to work for? I know both is better, but I want to know what is the best place for making a living freelance writing online? Looking forward to hearing from my fellow Warriors. Thx.

[ashwinsatyanarayana]

Elance is where I am now and I do make a healthy sum of money from there.

Guru is good too and the best thing about it is that there are much less number of people out there for any project up for grabs.

For someone enthusiastic, dedicated, committed and focused enough, both should work wonders provided you just do what is required of you -- deliver more than clients' expectations and do your best.

Price wise, they are still the same. 10 USD per month turns out to be 120 a year and that is just about 20 USD less than Guru's annual membership fee. A small price to pay for a funnel of leads and plenty of projects.

All the best.

[jitendraag]

I think you might find more number of projects on scriptlance and getafreelancer. Both elance and guru have put so many restrictions that you think twice before investing money there. For specific niche, sites like maglance might make much more sense.

[greatness008]

Originally Posted by jitendraag

I think you might find more number of projects on scriptlance and getafreelancer. Both elance and guru have put so many restrictions that you think twice before investing money there. For specific niche, sites like maglance might make much more sense.

What restrictions are you talking about? I would like to know. So Guru and Elance are not worth it? Plz advise. Thx.

[BIG Mike]

Depending on your abilities, you might be able to earn a very good fee for your writing here in the Warrior Forum. Spend some time here, get to know people and perhaps do a few free writing assignments over time.

You can always arrange to have work paid for through Rent A Coder or similar services once you get going.

Tip: If you're a great writer, then price your services to reflect that. Otherwise you'll get caught up in that $2 per article circus.

[greatness008]

Originally Posted by BIG Mike

Depending on your abilities, you might be able to earn a very good fee for your writing here in the Warrior Forum. Spend some time here, get to know people and perhaps do a few free writing assignments over time.

You can always arrange to have work paid for through Rent A Coder or similar services once you get going.

Tip: If you're a great writer, then price your services to reflect that. Otherwise you'll get caught up in that $2 per article circus.

I actually do some writing over at DigitalPoint. The pay is OK for the hard work I put in. I, however, am thinking about putting together a WSO as I hear that's where the money is really at, if you are a writer. I have extensive knowledge in various subjects and I believe that I'll excel if I challenge myself. Maybe, I can write an ebook and see where it goes...

[BrainDance]

I'm not a writer, but I am a very busy elancer. according to my writing friends over there, it is difficult to land well paying jobs, being people don't want to spend for quality work.
I recommend what others have, offer services here, I also recommend contacting graphic designers (like me) introduce yourself, tell them what you do, your rates,etc.
I am often asked to write ebooks and website content, and that is totally not my forte, so I'd be happy to have a list of writers to refer to.
elance can be expensive and over the past few months has become more complex to use, getting bloated if you ask me, but elance has always been good to me. Money wise..you pay a monthly fee PLUS a commission on every project you win. lb6364.elance.com
Linda

[MisterEThoughts]

I think both can do wonders if you are consistent.

[Cherilyn Woodhouse]

I think the entire matter also depends on your idea of "a living". eLance can provide you with a great living if $10/day is enough to live on in your area, otherwise you may find all freelance sites a bit lacking. It is a good place to start, however, if you don't have any work yet - just don't be too compromising on price. Often the clients who aren't willing to pay for quality work aren't willing to accomodate a quality writer's needs.

- Cherilyn

[UnityinAustralia]

You need to have a better sales letter in your profile and quotes than the rest of them. On any given job, you have to beat out between 3 and 50 other providers - on average let's call it 15.

if you know your skills as a salesperson in your copywriting are good enough to beat out 15 other copywriters (and in reality, it's not that hard, given the kind of crap sales pitches I receive when i post jobs through those sites), you can get the job and make money.

Can you make enough to live on? Or get affluent? Even wealthy?

No.

Those sites are based around under-cutting your value to get the cheapest price possible. i would only use them to get started, perfect your sales pitch by applying to as many jobs as possible and tweaking your offer as you get feedback, and then branch out into targeting businesses directly who are not looking for the cheapest solution possible.

[ifwexpert]

I would suggest guru.com from my limited experience

[Amidala]

None of them will get you far.

I also offer my writing services at DP and I get a lot of good business from there but unfortunately DP´s marketplace is starting to attract too many clients who are not ready to accommodate a professional writer’s needs. I am also trying to broaden my horizons and introduce my team of writers around here.

I think the Warrior members are much more understanding on how much great content is worth and are not just eager to get the $2 articles for filler space on adsense-ridden sites.

Try to build a reputation here, you might do much better than on most freelance sites.


Good luck

[cd928]

I can't say anything as far as making a living goes from either sites. I haven't tried guru and have only been at eLance for 2 or so months and have rarely logged in there to bid for projects.

But expect to face stiff competition at eLance. In my experience, it's normal to have around 15-25 providers bidding for the same project.

[ElectricEye]

Guru is good..........you can also use Elance, Getacoder etc......I have also a profile at DP......but in these days DP has become a goddamn place.........the mods should be changed there.....cause they are becoming partial and started to take care of friend service providers.......

If you follow DP.....you could see in last 4 months they banned so many people for nothing.....but the mods friends didn't get ban ever.....So forget DP.

[cd928]

Hi ElectricEye. I'm a member at DP too. Anyway, as for mods being partial, I haven't proof of it - at least in the copywriting forum. In fact, I even saw active and helpful members get banned there.

But yeah, I also noticed a lot of people getting banned there lately. Not sure why, though.

[dbarnum]

Elance is the best freelance board I've used, both as a service provider and buyer.

With others places, I've run into issues where projects can be cancelled by service providers after they accepted the project, leaving buyers out in the cold with no notice and no way to even give poor feedback or anything at all. Buyers are even out funds in these cases and have nothing to show at all for their money and no customer service help or anything.

Escrow can get strange, too, so be careful with those as a buyer or provider. In most cases, it’s best not to have them. Either send partial payment down or ask for partial payment or whatever. Leave escrow for mortgage loans and financial institutions

So just be careful where you do go. Not all places have support or at least good support.

Elance has good support and systems in place. As a provider, just make sure to add Elance fees into your project and don’t be afraid to let buyers know that in your proposal. Sell them on not just you, but on why they should hire you via Elance.

And don't be afraid to seek referrals, repeat projects & upsell with backend copy - -i.e. sell them a package, not just what they "think" they want. Suggest an autoresponder series, report and more to go with their project. Market yourself and your stuff

[MarketingMama]

I've always been a pretty competent writer and enjoy learning and writing, so I'm doing some research on how to use my skills to write articles, blogs, etc. for others.

I am grateful for the feedback provided on this thread thus far, but I'm wondering, does anyone know of any other resources - training, ebooks, etc. - that are good for getting to know the internet freelance writing industry? I'm going to do some keyword research but if anyone here knows of anything in particular, I would appreciate hearing about it!

Particularly, I'm trying to figure out if I might be able to make $3k a month doing this kind of work (after making a name for myself, of course). From the posts I've read in this thread, that seems pretty unlikely though...

[Victor.L]

Sites who understand the value of good writing :

Elance
Guru
Rentacoder
odesk

Sites who don't:
DP
GAF

Seriously, many whom i knew reported they have earned a living but it has NEVER been from sites like GAF. They are just so much competition with low cheap rates but the quality suffers a lot and the project creators aren't willing to pay top dollars anymore. DP and GAF are basically dying marketplaces for writers.

[ecoverartist]

I am in the top .5 (half a percent) of the coders at Rent a Coder. So yes, you can do quite well on many of the freelancing sites. I particularly find a lot of people needing help repairing what we would consider "simple" things on their blog. It's a great way to build up feedback quickly.

[cartkris]

I have been an Elance provider for over 10 years and I still consider Elance one of my favorite places to make money - why? Because the Elance system works and it works well (once you learn how to work it). I personally have completed over 800+ projects on Elance and find that the income I make there, really helps me beef up my residual income from my IM efforts. I would love to only rely on my IM efforts and one day I will but for now, Elance is my Ace in the whole. I highly recommend it to both newbies and experienced providers as a great way to market their talents online. : )

Kristi
kpcwriting on Elance

[vivekg]

I would suggest you enroll on both of them, and there are several other websites from where you can get freelance work as well. It will take some time, to build on some reviews but once you have some reviews you can quote your price.
Best wishes.

[k0zm0zs0ul]

Originally Posted by MarketingMama

I've always been a pretty competent writer and enjoy learning and writing, so I'm doing some research on how to use my skills to write articles, blogs, etc. for others.

I am grateful for the feedback provided on this thread thus far, but I'm wondering, does anyone know of any other resources - training, ebooks, etc. - that are good for getting to know the internet freelance writing industry? I'm going to do some keyword research but if anyone here knows of anything in particular, I would appreciate hearing about it!

Particularly, I'm trying to figure out if I might be able to make $3k a month doing this kind of work (after making a name for myself, of course). From the posts I've read in this thread, that seems pretty unlikely though...

Most definitely this is an attainable goal! Don't give up if that is the dream you hope to achieve. While sites like Elance and Guru tend to undercut as far as pricing goes, it 'can' be a good place to get your feet wet and build a client base and testimonials. You can also do that exceptionally well here on the WF, which is how I started out. Consider running a WSO when you are ready to launch your service. If your rates aren't too high you can likely land a few new clients from it to get the momentum going and build out from there.

Jenn Dize also has a ghostwriting course that can teach you how to get up and running and getting clients, she is actually how I initially got started, before she ever even offered such a course! lol PM if you are interested in using my affiliate link, it's always greatly appreciated. Otherwise you can view the sales page here- www.powerghostwriting.com (And she used to be a teacher, so she's great at well... teaching!)

$3,000 per month is definitely achievable if you focus on the non-fiction niches and are comfortable writing for businesses and the like. You can also check out www.fundsforwriters.org for some great paying markets in the magazine world that pay very well, especially when compared to sites like Elance and Guru.

Hope that helps, again... don't give up if writing is something you love to do and want to make a living at it... it's infinitely doable!

Warm regards,
Cori

[rconejr]

I think it's perspective. I've tried eLance and I really don't like it. I've been a print journalist forever, I'm also a real estate broker and have owned a legal document business. Now I own a public relations business. Someone wanted a writer with experience in real estate and law to write a monthly newsletter. I could be wrong but that's a pretty narrow niche, and I didn't get the job because they "chose a different writing style" I have a feeling I was simply underbid.

That's happened with many of the projects I've bid on and I tend to charge lower rates than most anyway, so I think people really must be throwing out low-ball rates. I do have a client from eLance that I work with quite a bit and they work me to death wanting revisions on the tiniest details and taking weeks to get back with me on changes. Those assignments (press releases) end up dragging out to about 10 hours of work and I get paid $30. It's not worth it.

If you are good stick to your guns and find clients that value your worth. You'll need fewer of them in order to make a living.

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by rconejr

Someone wanted a writer with experience in real estate and law to write a monthly newsletter. I could be wrong but that's a pretty narrow niche, and I didn't get the job because they "chose a different writing style" I have a feeling I was simply underbid.

I don't think it's that narrow a niche. The US, at least, is currently FULL of real estate agents and investors who can't make a living in real estate at the moment... and a LOT of paralegals and legal assistants move into real estate, because their familiarity with contract law is a positive boon there, and you can make a whole hell of a lot more money.

But with your credentials, it seems like you should be getting better paying gigs than what anyone is putting on eLance. I get these emails from various contracting sites that list the highest-paying job postings, and I frequently just roll my eyes at the rates and what the job involves.

[tdpubs]

I get work from elance.com every month but I pick and choose what I bid for. I also work for local businesses so I have my plate full regularly. If you have your systems down to make article writing profitable it's an easy way to make a living.
Dennis Francis
DID publishing

[IWebGirl]

I did hire someone on elance to do the first sales letter of our product so I guess it is possible