Anatomy of the Freelance Marketplace

Hello! Thank you for visiting our website. This post is the first two chapters to one of our introductory books, Anatomy of the Onlne Freelance Marketplace, please enjoy.

When posting a job on any freelance website, one must fill in forms. These forms change every now and then as the individual websites get smarter. This book outlines the standard options and user interfaces available through Upwork.com, Guru.com and Freelancer.com, each one similar to the others. Since this book’s initial writing, user interfaces have changed; while we strive to keep our information up-to-date, there are some things we can’t.

Gradually, these websites get smarter in their abilities to anticipate the needs of the employer and gather information to make things easier for the freelancer. These websites understand that different requirements are needed for different job categories and technologies. What once were simple web forms have now become sophisticated wizards for capturing detailed job requirements.

Gradually, these websites get smarter in their abilities to anticipate the needs of the employer and gather information to make things easier for the freelancer. These websites understand that different requirements are needed for different job categories and technologies. What once were simple web forms have now become sophisticated wizards for capturing detailed job requirements.

Introduction

What is a Freelance Marketplace?

It is a website where freelance service providers advertise their services through their profiles. It is a place where buyers of outsourcing services create profiles, so they can advertise their projects, so freelancers can bid on them. Freelancers look through the posted projects for jobs they are interested in working. If they find something they can do, and the client’s budget is worthwhile, they write and send a response, place a bid, and wait to see if the client contacts them for an interview.

Since the beginning of the century, freelance websites started appearing on the Internet. People from all over the world started getting involved. Some websites became very large and had thousands of freelancers and clients doing work in many different categories. As these websites grew larger, they started to merge into even larger marketplaces of millions of people, and many millions of dollars were changing hands every month.

Now, there are many well-established sites with excellent reputations and huge freelancer and client communities. The quality of the work available has improved with the changes in technology, and these types of marketplaces are enormously responsible for the growth of the internet and both small and large businesses worldwide.

What Does This Mean to You?

Well, let’s start by introducing three of the most established freelance marketplaces in the world – Upwork, Guru and Freelancer.com. Hopefully you will begin to see for yourself exactly what this can mean for you.

Chapter 1 | Freelance 101

Freelance work is defined as providing services on a contract basis for different clients and companies. Freelancers are self-employed people who are free to choose who to work for and what projects to work on.

Freelance work is usually related to these categories:

The modern way of life comes with tight schedules and a lot of pressure to get things done. In order to successfully finish every task, one needs help from someone on the “outside.” Outsourcing services has become the standard manner of conducting business.

Freelancing is beneficial to both clients and freelancers. Clients get the service they pay for in the time frame they agree upon with the freelancer, and freelancers have the ability to earn money. With the rise of the Internet, a number of freelance websites have developed. Freelance websites offer services for both employers and freelancers. Companies and other clients are able to publish job posts and hire the most suitable freelancers for a certain project.

The Benefits of Hiring Freelancers

There are two types of jobs you can create on freelance websites: fixed-price and hourly jobs.

How to Determine the Type of Job While Creating the Job Post

Deciding what type of job, you are offering is not a complex process. If you have a specific project and you have already defined the rules, regulations, and process of the work that has to be done, you should choose a fixed-price job. When the contract starts, you will be able to assign milestones to freelancers and give the time frame of the milestones’ duration. When they are done, you choose whether to approve and pay or to return the work if there are any mistakes.

However, if you only know what project you want to offer but are not sure how to conduct it or if you cannot specifically define the progress of the job, you should choose the hourly job type. You will have the chance to discuss everything with the freelancer you choose, and you can determine the amount of money to pay per hour.

Throughout this book, a variety of freelance websites will be introduced and you, as a buyer of outsourced services, will be able to determine where to look for good freelancers and how to successfully finish every project that includes hiring a freelancer’s service.

These websites are:

NOTE: All work that is done on the above websites is paid in US dollars. Therefore, if you’re not from the United States, make sure you know the value of the dollar in relation to your currency in order to pay freelancers correctly.

The anatomy of the freelance marketplace will be discussed, and you will be shown why hiring outsource services can be good for one’s business.

As a client, or buyer of the outsourced service, you are entitled to be fully informed about the operation and procedure of the place where you look for people who can handle your projects...

Read Chapter 2 and more when you download the book from our free members level.