Freelancing is perhaps biggest job revolution after the industrial period. That is of course for a good reason. The advances in technology, communication and the boom of the information superhighway made job hunting just a click of a mouse away.
Hundreds, if not thousands of freelance sites have sprouted. Some are good, others are not but there are sites which stands out to provide stellar service, not only for service providers but also for its service buyers. And oDesk, surely is at par to many preferred freelance sites. Here are five of the most notable reasons why a freelancer like you should choose to find work on oDesk.
1. Secure and quick payment
With the prevalence of scam sites and scammers, oDesk gives a sense of security to its members by ensuring that you get paid for what you have worked for in a timely manner. For the past 6months, I have not had any payment issues, disputes, delays or whatsoever. The payment have always been on time, all the time thru my Paypal account.
2. Free Membership
When you are looking for work, the worst thing that you can encounter is a freelance site that would require you to pay before you can apply. With oDesk, you won’t have any problem on that because you only get charged once you have working and is basically already earning. The 10% fee is automatically included to the rate you charge your employer. Best of all you don’t need to worry about paying a monthly due.
3. Generous Affiliate Incentives
I have a few freelance sites where I am also an affiliate member. But oDesk affiliate program is perhaps the best affiliate available right now among the other freelance sites. Consider these figures:
* You get $50 for each new business that signs up & verifies a credit card.
* You also get $0.50 for each freelancer that signs up and applies for a job.
You can also check other details of the updated affiliate program here.
4. Great work tools
Screensnap, oDesk Iphone App, team collaboration, instant messaging, work reporting tools well that’s more than enough to get you up on your toes working anywhere you go. The good thing, it’s not only good for you but more importantly, to your client.
5. Buyer and Provider friendly
There are certain websites that are bluntly said, employer biased. And that is understandable, because we know that there are more providers than buyers/employers. They would want to keep the few clients they have, even if they are actually being unfair to their freelancers. That’s what sets oDesk apart. I can remember at one point when the typhoon Ondoy was actually ravaging and among the many freelance sites that I am a member of, it was only oDesk who cared to send an email to its buyers and providers regarding the current situation in the country. I’m not being emotional but that is a very heartwarming sign that oDesk cares for its freelancers and clients.
I don’t know what your experiences with oDesk or other freelance sites are, do you think I’ve underrated or overvalued it? I would like to listen to your personal thoughts.
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You say: “oDesk gives a sense of security to its members by ensuring that you get paid for what you have worked for in a timely manner.”
This is only true of hourly jobs.
Payment is not guaranteed at all for fixed rate jobs. Most of my buyers have been excellent but I was in a team room with about 20 others last year, and everything was going well, until the buyer stopped paying and stopped answering emails. They still owe me over $200, and everyone else is owed money. oDesk could do nothing about it except cancel the buyer’s account.
Overvalued this one.
I alos think this one is exceptionally employer biased also.
I belong to several freelance sites and find Odesk to be the worst site for me to work with.
I do video production and voice over work and find the prices paid to my type of providers to be at the bottom of the barrel.
the first ( and only) job I got from this site I had to wait over 10 days to collect a measly $30.
it is easy to browse the jobs but I think being mixed in with jobs that are paying $2 per hour is a waste of time.
My thoughs only though and my experience.
I do think sites like these are great and serve an excellent purpose for the small business person.
Hi Pat C. I respect what you think about oDesk. But what I said is based on personal experience. I know $2 jobs are everywhere in oDesk not to mention even $.50/hr works but it doesn’t mean that it ends there. What I believe may be missing with oDesk is the regulation of pay rates for the jobs being posted. But other than that, I am fairly satisfied with the results i’ve had working in oDesk. I’m glad to hear that you’ve actually found a place where rates are good. And what you said is true, I and my team are a budding business, so if you need a hand on something that’s cost effective, you can count on us. Success to all of us.
oDesk is better than most other freelance sites but it could still be a lot better than it is.
The provider fees there tend to be lower than other sites and we are very much competing on price not quality, as many unfortunate buyers have learned the hard way.
The recent changes to the job alert system is definitely a worse service than the old system and actually make it much harder to keep informed about relevant jobs. I think the only benefit has been to oDesk as they aren’t having to send out large automated emails to lots of people any more.
Another major flaw is that they limit the number of job alert search terms to three but make no effort at all to make sure buyers actually post jobs in the relevant categories. I do online marketing and every single day there are relevant jobs posted in everything from marketing, ppc, seo, smm, to ecommerce to web design to copywriting or admin, which means it is impossible to monitor all potential work without spending hours a day on it, time I could and should be spending on working for clients.
It is great that they protect providers by guaranteeing hourly rate payments but the fact that there is no protection at all for fixed price jobs is yet another major flaw in their system.
In summary, oDesk gets 7 out of 10 but it could so very easily be at least a 9 if it tried harder, although it is still better than the other sites, which are even worse.
Another very strong and powerful post. I’ve been reading through some of your previous posts and finally decided to drop a comment on this one. I signed up for your newsletter, so please keep up the informative posts!
Hope you subscribe to my blog as well and leave a few comments here and there! Also would appreciate it if you check out some of my products I created and maybe you could promote them on your blog to make us both some money! Check out my site at : Make Money Online with Dino Vedo.
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Dino Vedo
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