Are any freelance sites other than elance and odesk worth using?

Yeah, I've checked it out.

I don't know what it's like for programmers or designers, but the writing section there is pretty much the worst on any freelance site by far. They tell people to post article writing jobs in the "copywriting" section, so you end up having to sort through a billion SEO article jobs to find anything decent there.

Actually, it seems like pretty much all the writing jobs there, in every category, are for article writing. I even checked the academic writing section there and it seems like 90% of the jobs posted there are looking for SEO fodder. Heck, even the "press release" section is like 40% article writing jobs. Who the hell is running that site?!?

Looks like a great resource, thanks for sharing.

It's kind of funny, but in spite of the tone of this thread, I actually think elance and odesk are pretty much the best things since sliced bread.

It's just that all the other ones seem to be such complete, unmitigated garbage :p

There is plenty of competition on freelance sites, but I've found most of the competitors aren't really "competitive". I've been quite successful on eLance, currently a "Level 10" provider, with lifetime earnings of about $90,000 (I signed up on eLance in August 2009). So, that's an average of $30,000/year I've pulled in off that site... directly. Indirectly, it's far higher. I do far more business outside of eLance for people that were referred to me by clients I originally connected with on eLance, and those referrals have sent me more referrals... and so on.

If you're looking for a site with fewer competitors... there are plenty to be found, but then of course you're also working a site with fewer potential clients. eLance definitely isn't the only game in town, there are others, and some of them from what I understand are pretty good. But, if you're looking for an opportunity to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, remember... there's less room for clients in that pond, and there's also nothing stopping them from also posting their projects on all those other sites... so you're still competing with people on eLance.

Switching isn't the answer to finding success as a freelancer. Standing out from the crowd, and having a good bidding strategy is what's going to make you successful. The first thing you have to understand is that timing is important. You want to be one of the first 3 people to make contact with the buyer. If you find a project that already has 50 bidders... walk away, unless it's a project that's just too desirable and you can't not give it a shot. But, it's important to be one of the first.

There is a lot of back and forth that goes on between buyer and prospective bidders... asking questions, defining project scope, and so on. Once someone has exchanged a few messages with a prospective client, invested a little bit of time, and offered some helpful suggestions... there is now a relationship between that bidder and the buyer. The bidder is considered a valuable resource, and it's his project to lose. The buyer almost feels obligated to award the project to that person... so to win the project for yourself, you have to overcome that and develop a more important relationship with the buyer after the fact. It's far easier to just be that person who develops the relationship first.

So, how do you develop the relationship? It definitely takes a lot more than being the first to tender a bid or submit a proposal. In fact, I very rarely do that on my first contact. Instead, I focus on establishing a dialogue and building up a relationship... and I start out by offering up some value, presenting myself as someone who is a knowledgable resource... not someone who's just looking to get hired. The first thing you want to do is read the project description. It's usually light on detail, because it's someone who isn't necessarily proficient in what they're looking to hire someone to do... if they were, then more often than not... they'd do it themselves, or they'd write a very clear project specification as opposed to something along the lines of "I need a website that does this and kinda looks like that". They're usually written a bit better than that, but you get my point. Rephrase their proposal to show them that you actually understand what they're saying, and then think about different ways to tackle it, present a couple of options... list the pros and cons for each, and ask them which approach they would prefer to take. That will get a response 99% of the time, and bang... you're having a conversation. The next step is to re-write the project description into a project specification, and you want to do this in a series of messages, each time offering up suggestions on how to either add functionality that you think might be desirable or how to reduce cost and development time. Once you have a COMPLETE SPECIFICATION and the prospective client is excited about it... you then tender a bid (and along the way, you've been giving ballpark figures for various components of the project so there's no surprise when you type in the grand total). Your proposal will simply say "as discussed in private message board". Now, what you've accomplished is this... you're no longer one of many bidders competing for the same job... you are the ONLY bidder on a job that YOU have basically defined. There IS no competition at this point. I have used this technique to win projects posted with budgets of $500 to $1,000 for well over $5,000... on numerous occasions. And, people are okay with paying more than they've budgeted for because they know they're getting more than they'd originally thought they were going to be getting. If you exceed what they're willing to spend... no problem... you've gotten them excited about a lot of extra features and functionalities... but they didn't initially want these things and weren't necessarily aware they could be done... revert to something closer to what they initially posted and redefine the scope of the project and remove non-essential items to get the price down. If they still want them, they can re-hire you to add them at a later date.

There's no need to fear the competition, or the offshore low-bidders. People seldom make their decision on whom to hire based on price alone. Quality at a justifiable price always wins in the end (I've been hired to do projects I originally didn't win when the low-bidder didn't complete, or didn't provide satisfactory work). If you can't redefine the project, and eliminate the competition by using the technique I described above... which is sometimes the case... sometimes people do have a really good idea of what they want, then all is not lost... you've still developed a relationship and that person now wants to hire you... if the price is right. So, what's the right price? What's the strategy for bidding? Well, on eLance the bids are sealed... but you CAN see what the low bid, high bid, and average bids are. People don't typically really know what the work is worth, so they automatically throw out the low and high bids and focus on bid amounts that are around the average. They already like you, you've already shown them that you're knowledgable and capable. It's your job to lose at this point, so take the average bid and add a few percentage points to that amount in consideration of the fact that you've already demonstrated your worth. Being on the high side of average is a good thing. It tells the client that you value your time and your skill, which is reassuring to them, and it's difficult for them to value those things if you don't value them yourself. They also want to reward you for helping them to define the project, and having already put in some time and effort to do that. But, being close to the average shows them you're not trying to gouge them either... your price is reasonable and justifiable given the relationship you now have.

That's how to bid... now, what to bid on... Bidding on eLance costs money. You get a certain number of points each month based on your account level, and each time you initiate contact or submit a proposal... it costs you points, and to keep bidding you have to buy more, or wait until the beginning of the following month. It also takes time to prepare and submit your proposals, and time is money... so you need to be very selective in terms of which projects you choose to bid on. I avoid buyers who have a low rate of awarding projects... sometimes there's a legitimate reason to not award a project, but if that rate falls below about 70% then walk away... they're just shopping you. The only exception to that rule is if it is a NEW buyer with no track record. Definitely go for those buyers because they're new to the site, possibly new to contracting out, and they don't have any preconceived notions of how things actually work... you're the expert there, and that's important leverage to have when you can have it. Also avoid people who say things like "this is a simple job", "it shouldn't take long", "it shouldn't cost much" in their project descriptions (they WILL go with the lowest bidder). People who are EXCESSIVELY vague (too much hand-holding is going to be required).

Then of course you have to select jobs that you actually stand a chance of getting. On your first attempt, with no feedback, no history, no track record... someone is FAR more likely to take a chance on you for a $500 job than a $5,000 job. Go for the smaller jobs first (note... this is NOT the same thing as doing a big job for a small price... you do have to make money), and use the technique of establishing dialogue and building a relationship... that will overcome your lack of feedback, and on those first few jobs... that lack of feedback can actually become an asset and help you win the job. People do want to negotiate on price, so make your feedback a part of the negotiation. Be honest, and be shameless. If you're quoting $500 on your first job, and the buyer wants to pay $400... say okay, I've been doing this for a while and I know my stuff... but I'm new here on eLance. If you help me establish myself here, I'll work with you on the price. I'll do it for $400, but I'm going to earn 100% positive feedback and do the job as if I was being paid full price... I want that 100% positive feedback when we're done. They'll say fine, and you've got your first job... and great feedback to show off when you bid on your second.

If you speak fluent English, can write reasonably well, and you know your stuff... you will get noticed... regardless of whether you have feedback or any kind of track record on the site you're using. You needn't fear the "canned bids" for any reason other than by the time someone has received 50 of them, they probably stop paying attention and may not even read or bother to respond to your opening question... which is another reason to be in the first 3 to make contact when a project is posted.

That's my strategy... and it works... for me. I'm sure other freelancers have their own strategies that work for them, but all the successful freelancers do one thing the same... they do things differently than the competition in a way that makes them stand out, and get noticed. Coming across as someone who is knowledgable, wants to be helpful, takes pride in doing things right... those things get noticed, and when competing against the canned bid that reads like "We're a big company in ______ with over 100 programmers and 20 graphic artists, with over 5,000 happy clients and we can do this job for you"... actually taking the time to build a relationship, and personalize things definitely makes a big difference... in whatever way you approach it.

Yeah, vWorker looks promising, I get invitations to interview for jobs there sometimes. However, I'm just sort of put off by how ratty looking their site is. The interface is really hard to use, I still haven't figured out how to reply to an invitation.

I used Fiverr for a while, but I'm charging like $30 an hour now so it would just be too much of a step backward earnings-wise.

With the current market getting more and more competitive, it's not really a time to stick to a single website, rather it's the time

when we start looking for what and whatever is coming new. Because the newer business are having lesser internal competition.

I would suggest giving Bench Over :: Home a try. It's relatively new in the market, but it provides way more options to help your

business, rather than simple freelancing. It also allows people to sell products and also helps businesses to advertise themselves

apart from the freelancing stuff. So it's not all only about freelancing, of course freelancing is also one of it's business. And the best

part is that it doesn't charge any commission at all for the work you do. Payments can be done outside the site.

Do share your views about how you find this site.

I've done about 30 project on Freelancer, and find them very professional.

And the talent on there is good, if you know how to weed out the duds

Have you ever heard about SeoClerks, listingdock and Codeclerks.