The Legitimacy of Freelance Bidding Sites
Day in and day out, I receive emails from aspiring writers who want to find all of their work via freelance bidding sites such as GetAFreelancer, Elance, etc. While this is a good place to start your search for work, it should not be the end all. The fact of the matter is that high paying, high quality clients do not usually hire freelance writers via bidding sites. Sure, some of them do, but there are not many. I can count on one hand how many quality clients I have found through these sites.
Are bidding sites legitimate? The short answer to this question is yes. These sites are not a scam; you can secure work through them if you know what you are doing. But that being said, there is a lot of competition, and as noted above, it can be difficult to find clients that you are going to want to work with on a long term basis. In my experience, especially as of late, more and more buyers on these sites are looking for the freelance writer offering the lowest rate; even if they do not have good writing skills.
If you are going to use a bidding site to find work and new clients, make sure that this is not the only technique within your marketing strategy. There is nothing wrong with bidding for jobs, but if this is your sole means of finding work it can be a major problem. Instead, mix cold calling and sending query letters in with bidding on jobs. This way, if things begin to run dry in one area you can always rely on finding work in other ways.
The earlier in your career that you begin to stray away from relying solely on freelance bidding sites the better off you are going to be. Yes, there are some jobs that are worth winning and some buyers that are of high quality and integrity. But at the same time, it is important to remember that bidding sites should not be used as your only way of finding work. It should simply be one part of your marketing plan.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 am
Chris- You’re exactly right about the bidding sites, the potential clients, etc. Many want the world yet want to pay pennies for it! I’ve gotten a couple REALLY good projects off of guru but then I’m picky and these projects were in my field of expertise. So I think it was my enthusiastic bid (as well as background) that really sold my services even when I was by far not the lowest bidder. But I definitely don’t rely on the site. And in fact, am weaning myself off it (unless I see an ultra cool project I just MUST bid on) because the fees are a bummer. Especially when the client pays thru the SafePay system AND uses a credit card…UGLY, UGLY fees.
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
[...] The Legitimacy of Freelance Bidding Sites [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Definitely don’t rely on the bidding sites as your sole source of marketing. There’s an ebb and flow there, which sometimes coincides with rule and fee changes.
As a buyer, when I first started using one of the bidding sites, I’d get dozens of bids on my projects. Many times, it was difficult to choose a provider, because there were so many qualified people, plus some with great credentials doing work for extremely reasonable rates.
Then there came a flood of low-ballers to the site. I think some writers used the system as a loss-leader; they’d be willing to lose money on a project in the hopes of snagging clients for the long-haul. Others just went in and decided to undercut the other bidders in the hopes of securing a project.
Eventually, it got to the point where most of the bids you’d get on projects weren’t worthwhile at all. Many of them clearly didn’t even read your project description, and likely just “blanket bid” on a bunch of projects. On top of that would be all the overseas bidders who, while they may have understood English, certainly didn’t have the local familiarity (idioms, expressions and so on) down.
On later projects, it was difficult to choose a provider because there were so few decent providers bidding. While I certainly look for a reasonable price, I don’t just go with the cheapest bid. I want the highest quality at the lowest price, not just the lowest price. I typically ended up with providers at the mid-range of prices. Too cheap, and you just know the quality isn’t going to be there (or they will plagiarize, which is another concern and something not just practiced by low-bidders!) and too high and, well, you just can’t afford them.
But then, with a glut of low-ball bidders with low quality, the buyers start to go elsewhere. Then, those low-ballers have to find other sources of income. Then, when the buyers start coming back, many of the low quality providers have been weeded out by attrition, so you can get good bids again. Then, the cycle repeats…
Currently, all the freelancers I work with on a regular basis I first found on the bidding sites. They have since dropped out of those sites, and I just work with them directly. But, it is a good way to find potential long-term clients. As a buyer, it’s certainly easier to find a freelancer (varying with the ebb and flow of quality bidding on the sites) through a bidding site than to jump around the Internet and try to find them. And, as a buyer, you can also get an estimate of what a project will cost just by looking at bids on comparable projects on the site. And, it’s easy to get a price on your own project; you just write up the description and post it for bids. That’s much easier than hunting down freelancers on Google, eMailing them and asking for a price.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:32 am
Bidding itself is one terrible project. But like dcr says, these sites are good platforms to find each other.
My policy has been to eye projects where the pay is already fixed. They usually have the clearest idea of what they want. The bids boil down to the best cover letter.
July 4th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Hi Chris,
I would be great if you could post some info on how a buyer could find great high quality freelance writers.
July 4th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I forgot to add in my comment, and knowledgeable in your niche if at all possible.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Hmmmmm….. well I agree - sites like Guru should not be the entirety of a freelancer’s business. But from my experience, and lots writers I’ve worked with, you can’t beat it for getting started.
I don’t know too much about the other sites mentioned, because I only worked on them a bit before finding Guru. But what I love there is that the bids are sealed - so there’s not this sense of trying to win by being the lowest bidder. Yes, many of the clients are smaller internet marketers and physical businesses - but I’ve found several big fish there, too.
At this point, it works for me like a machine: pull the lever, get work. Could be my ranking, but to be honest, I’m sure I’m not the best writer on the board. However I’ve been very consistent in bidding, and have built my business using Guru for a nice percentage of my client base over the past two years.
What’s been most effective for you in building your business?