oDesk and Elance

It's a tough market out there. Both of the sites you mention pay pennies for projects.

You would be better off, in my opinion, running an ad on this site for $20 under Warriors with services for hire.

The pay will also be pretty low because of the competition from designers living in countries where people who make $5 a week can live rather well.

Wish I had more for you.

FTR, oDesk is more expensive for the workers.

we use both.

1) oDesk for fulltime partimers.
2) Elance for the once off jobs or to hunt for good workers.

Both are good, but I do prefer elance most of the time. The site is easy to use too.

There are a bunch of meta search engines accessible through Google. Start here: https://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=...h+engine&pws=0

We have used Elance, Freelancer and Odesk.

Elance and Freelancer are good for cheapo projects and Seo tasks.

We have hired some very good full-time guys from Odesk. The quality guys with experience get around $27.50/hr ($25 after fees).

As an employer on odesk, I like to look at previous projects/feedback they done. I also like to look at the "tests" they have taken and the time they take to complete it. Good Scores and fast completion times of tests has significantly increased the chances that we are hiring a good programmer.

I've tried ODesk and had very mixed results. At the end of the day, the jobs got done, but some of them I had to chase up etc. Just do your homework before you hire anyone and make sure you have a clear outline and deadline for them to follow.

I prefer Elance as they are better. Odesk is very cheap

Guru.com is another site that I don't believe has been mentioned. Be prepared to work fairly cheap at first until you can put together a portfolio and a testimonial list. There aren't too many people who are willing to pay decent money from someone without the social proof. There are too many competitors out there.

Freelancer and Elance are both good You Can Bid for Plenty of Projects..

The problem with getting started in outsourcing from what I see, is that you have to work quite cheaply and build your portfolio first.

However, word should quickly get out about you if you ensure that your work is excellent, and you deliver on time. Then you can start to slowly increase your rates. As for which site to advertise your work on, I would suggest that you advertise on Elance, and Odesk to give yourself the best chance of getting some work.

Hope you find this helpful.

Rob.

I've spent a fortune on oDesk and would never use another service.. really love it.. I'm always posting jobs just to see if I can find talent and a good price.

vworker is the best as you don't have to pay to ask questions. I have done around 60 jobs form that site.

I use Odesk and Elance. Both are very good. Leverage my work for articles and submission. Last time I met this guy from Nigeria with excellent English and charge $2.00 for 500-600words article.

Now he's one of my permanent article writer. Good stuff.

I suggest trying Guru as well, otherwise Elance isn't too bad (just make sure to take skill tests because that's something employers look at)

I'm using ODESK from 5 months...never tried ELANCE..I've a good experience with ODESK!

I've been using ODESK for a long time now. Does the job, so never tried ELANCE or other outsourcing sites. But since you're looking for gigs, I see no harm in trying them all.

I like to work with Elance. It is great for small projects needed to be done fast.

Elance in my opinion is the #1 choice. I have made my living on Elance and I work from home while choosing my hours. Although you battle with contractors charging next to nothing for their services just like the other similar sites, a large number of Elance clients understand that you get what you pay for and are willing to pay a fair amount for better service and results.

Really, each site has it's own pros and cons. Also, I think there will be some variance from one site to another depending on what service you provide. For example, Guru.com may pay a better rate than others for a good content writer, while Elance.com may pay better for programmers then Odesk.com, etc.

I don't do website design, so I'm not qualified to answer which one would be the best for your services. However, one generality that you can expect is that you should be prepared to charge a low price at the beginning. There aren't many people that will pay you top-dollar without seeing some sort of a track record. However, once you do establish a reputation and have good feedback, your rates can increase along with the demand for your work.

The last fact is a good reason why you may want to skim several sites, notice which ones pay the best for a skilled worker in your field, and then just focus on that site. It will build up your credentials faster than if you do a few jobs over several outsourcing sites. If you need the work, then by all means, take whatever jobs you can. Just try to focus on the better paying site when at all possible, since establishing credibility on that one will probably reward your efforts better.

I hope this helps you out. Let us know which one you find to be the best.