1. Watch your price tag.

One of the most influential factors that will affect your bid or proposal is your freelance fee. For some obvious reasons, (which I’m sure you know) that service buyers hire freelancers because of the savings they can actually get. And there’s just one carnal rule for this, “Don’t let your price tag skyrocket that buyers can no longer reach it nor give it at rock bottom price that even Paypal would be ashamed of charging a fee for it.”
Remember, you are a freelancer, you need work but you have bills to pay and needs to suffice, so charge accordingly. Think of the trending that the other bidders are offering and make it as competitive as possible. You can either go down a bit, (tolerable range) or raise a bit higher but still at a reasonable price. And if you would charge higher, make sure that your resume or proposal would also show why you are worthy of a higher fee.

2. Don’t be afraid to bid, but bid wisely

There are jobs that require a certain set of skill depending on the service buyer’s preference. And there will be times that you will not be able to meet all of them. Does that mean that you shouldn’t try and bid at all? Not necessarily. You must consider if the skill needed is really a requirement. They will indicate if its the main skill needed or just an additional factor that may help you in getting a more favorable standing. If the job posted is article writing and sometimes they may indicate that knowledge of HTML would be an advantage, you can still try it out. That is of course at your discretion, which brings me to my next point.
GetAFreelancer gives 15 bids per month to its regular members and would increase by one every month, Odesk gives a maximum of 20 bid allotment for a member who have passed the Odesk Readiness Test, while Elance provides 3 connects only for a free membership. You can purchase additional if your bid runs out.
Considering these details, bidding for a project should therefore be thought wisely. Bid on a project that you think will give you the highest probability of being hired. You might just end up losing a good opportunity because of an unwise choice. So bid wisely, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to spend for another bill while you are still looking for a source of income. Unless you plan on getting an upgraded membership that would cost $12/mo for GAF and $9.95/mo for Elance then using the free membership is still preferable option.

3. Be an early bird

If you are looking for a job, procrastinating or any other form of delay will make your job search miserable. Much the same with a freelancing. So, bid early. Keep yourself up-to-date. Subscribe to an RSS or anything that will keep you informed as soon as jobs are posted. The earlier you bid, the greater the chance that you can get the job especially if there is a sense of urgency for the position being offered.

4. Make your Proposal Stand Out

For about six months that I’ve been working for a recruitment agency, I probably have seen thousands upon thousands of curriculum vitae, both the good and the not so good ones. Not all of them caught my attention. Some have just passed liked an ordinary letter, but others stood among the pack. It’s like separating the colored from the black and white. But if you really want to get a job, make an effort to make it stand out. There are resume’s that are being sold from Resume Planet or you can also visit free-resume-tips.com to give you the basic concept of a simple but attention grabbing curriculum vitae.

5. Maximize the interview part

This portion will actually make or break all the efforts you have made from the previous tips. So don’t ruin what you have started, build it even stronger. Remember, this is not your usual person to person interview where you can be intimidated by the person’s looks. It will either be on your regular regular or through some VOIP service. So get out of the chicken coop or the garage and head to some quiet place where you can understand each other clearly. Relax, that is probably the best thing you can do. If you anticipate too much of the technical side you might end up failing on the simple ones. As what Brian Lamb said, “My basic approach to interviewing is to ask the basic questions that might even sound naive, or not intellectual. Sometimes when you ask the simple questions like ‘Who are you?’ or ‘What do you do?’ you learn the most.”

6. Build your reputation

Publilius Syrus said:
“A good reputation is more valuable than money”.
In freelancing if you want to earn a lot of money, nail a bid easier, a good reputation is one of the keys you should have. Every interaction with a client or prospective employer is an opportunity to build a good reputation. Maximize that opportunity and never missed out on it. Protect your job by protecting your reputation. Build your authority by banking on reputation. That is how important reputation is. Feedbacks will reflect what kind of character you have. And getting a bad feedback will kill your freelance career. Guard it with your life. As a final thought, Warren Bufftett has summarized it in his words:
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently”.

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.