How to Find Freelance Work Online

Land Freelance Tasks Online

Are you tossing around the idea of becoming a freelancer? At a glance, freelance work has a lot to offer. For starters, freelancing allows you to work anytime and anywhere you want. And for the most part, you’ll have control over who you work with and what you’re working on.

If you’re wondering if there’s too much competition and you’re too late to launch a freelance career, the answer is a resounding no. But you do need to know where and how to land freelance jobs. Otherwise, you could end up struggling on a financial roller coaster.

Instead, learn how to build a strong and steady income. Discover where and how to find legitimate freelance jobs, and possibly more importantly, recognize the job scams and red flags that you should run from.

The Growth of Freelancing

Technology has changed the freelance landscape in many positive ways. There’s never been a better time to join the flexible workforce. Where freelancing used to be limited to local businesses, you’ll now discover global opportunities. A massive shift in how companies embrace flexible labor is creating extraordinary potential for freelance jobs worldwide.

That’s not just hopeful thinking either. Studies and reports consistently support that reality. For example, 73% of C-Suite and department leaders surveyed in the 2022 Tech Work Report state that they’re leveraging freelancers along with their in-house employees to create more agility in their labor force.

There’s similar data from Fiverr, revealing that 78% of leaders from a wide variety of industries are turning to freelancers to fill gaps in their talent pool. This bodes well for you as an aspiring freelancer, indicating growing demand.

On the other end of the scale, Upwork reports that only 39% of the workforce is involved in freelancing to some extent, suggesting a significant gap between supply and demand. That means there’s plenty of opportunity for you to expand your earning potential and grow your freelance career.

How to Land Freelance Jobs Online

In recent years, freelance work has become more appealing than ever. The remote and flexible job nature has reshaped our perception of the traditional work mindset.

These days, many freelance jobs are available for different skill sets – from web developers to copy translators. However, finding a suitable job can still be a challenge, even if you’ve already created an online portfolio.

Fortunately, there are plenty of freelance websites that can come in handy when you’re looking for a freelance gig. In this article, we list the 9 best freelance websites for beginners and advanced professionals to find work in 2024.

9+ Best Websites to Find Freelance Work in 2024

Many websites are available to help freelancers find projects. While they’re not all the same, and some are meant only for workers with specific skills, the right website can help you spend less time looking for work so you can spend more time on task. In this article, we’ll highlight top freelance websites to help you kickstart your career. Here are our top 16 freelance websites to choose from:

1. Upwork

Upwork is a freelancing website that connects clients and freelancers from across the globe.

The platform provides a wide range of categories, from web design and software development to customer service and accounting.

Clients and freelancers have multiple ways to connect – clients can choose to post a job and hire talent or buy a predefined service from the project catalog. Similarly, freelancers can access the job board and offer a service to sell.

To get started as a freelancer with Upwork, begin by creating a profile. Ensure it includes details about yourself, your expertise, and your work experience. Keep in mind that clients will decide whether you’re qualified by scanning through your profile whenever you bid for jobs or pitch a project.

Upwork has a sliding scale, meaning the more you work, the less money you pay. For example, the commission fee starts from 20% for the first bill of $500 and gradually reduces as you receive more money.

There are several options for withdrawal, including direct transfer, PayPal, and wire transfer.

2. Fiverr

Fiverr is a platform that connects freelancers with business owners looking for services in various digital projects, including website design, content writing, and voice-overs. Additionally, it’s one of the top freelancing websites for students.

This freelance website provides a streamlined method for both freelancers and business owners to interact with one another. Note that on the website, freelancers are called sellers, their services – gigs, and business owners – buyers.

Instead of sending out bids, sellers can sign up for free, list their gigs, and set their prices. Meanwhile, buyers can simply browse through different categories to purchase.

Whenever a buyer purchases a gig, the system automatically charges their account and puts the money on hold. The system will then take a commission fee and send freelancers 80% of the offered price.

Depending on each freelancer’s seller level, it can take up to 14 days to withdraw their earnings. There are multiple options to withdraw the payments, such as debit card, PayPal, and wire transfer.

Fiverr opens up a world of potential sales with 3.42 million active buyers. There are no hourly rates, just project-based pricing that you get to decide.

Sellers are guaranteed protected payments with an SSL certificate that protects billing and personal information. As well as around-the-clock customer support always ready to help.

3. Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com is another freelance website where professionals and companies from around the world collaborate on various projects. Thanks to the wide range of expertise, clients can easily find an expert of any type.

You can sign up as a freelancer or business owner. Signing up as a freelancer will require you to fill out a short registration form. Provide detailed information, including your skills, educational background, and work experience.

In addition to projects, there are many contests, such as visual or design work. Freelancers can benefit from these contests by earning money along with reviews on their profiles.

Every freelancer will receive full payment after completing a job. However, the platform takes 10% of your total earnings for contests and fixed projects. Like most freelance sites, you can choose to use PayPal or wire transfer for withdrawal.

4. Flexjobs

Flexjobs is a website that specializes in flexible and remote job opportunities, including freelance, part-time and full-time jobs. There are broad categories, from education and training to journalism and writing jobs.

Flexjobs ensures every job listed on the website is legitimate. It verifies and screens all openings, filtering out scams and fake companies. Unlike other online job boards, this freelance website doesn’t display any advertisements on its page.

To find freelance jobs, users need to sign up for a subscription. There are four plans available, starting from $6.95/week. Every subscription gives unlimited access to the job listings, along with a personalized work portfolio, career advice, and free skills testing.

Users can pay for their subscription with a prepaid card or PayPal. There is a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, meaning you can get a full refund if you’re not satisfied with the service.

5. 99designs

Upon signing up, you’ll be instructed to build a profile and include your work experience. The curation team will review your application and determine your designer level. The higher your level, the more visibility you get on the platform.

99designs makes looking for freelance jobs of your expertise easy. By selecting industries, styles, and design categories, you will have access to a list of jobs to choose from.

Whenever you work with a new client, 99designs will charge an introduction fee of $100 and a platform fee ranging from 5% to 15%. Freelancers get paid via PayPal or Payoneer within three business days and sooner for people with higher profile levels.

6. People Per Hour

Freelancers can create an account for free and start setting up a profile. Note that the moderators will review each application before approving it. Once approved, freelancers can start browsing for jobs in multiple categories.

When working on a project, freelancers can send offers and set their prices. Once they finish, they can easily raise an invoice from their dashboard.

Like most freelancing sites, People Per Hour charges freelancers a service fee per client. For $350 earnings, the freelance website takes a service fee of 20%. Fortunately, the fee will decrease as you work more.

7. Toptal 

Toptal is a freelance website that connects highly qualified freelance industry experts with companies. Toptal has a broad range of freelancers, from web developers and web designers to finance consultants and product managers.

Applying to Toptal as a freelancer requires passing five steps of the screening process, from a comprehensive English evaluation to a project assessment. This process ensures only the top 3% make it to the platform.

After passing all of the steps, you’ll have access to various job postings from top clients and companies, such as Motorola and Airbnb. However, failing the test will put your application process on hold for up to a few months.

Toptal has a dedicated service for time tracking and invoicing called TopTracker. With this service, freelancers will get the total price they offer and receive payments via Payoneer, Paypal, or direct local bank transfer.

8. Jooble

Jooble is a search engine for job vacancies and it aggregates from 140,000+ sources worldwide, including corporate websites, online job boards, freelancing platforms, social networks, and classifieds.

A significant advantage to using Jooble is that you don’t have to check multiple online job boards and freelancing platforms, as it centralizes the process of finding freelance opportunities.

Jooble lets you find jobs within a particular region only. On the homepage, you can select a specific city in your country to discover jobs limited to that area.

You don’t have to create an account to find freelance jobs on Jooble. All you need to do is enter the keyword for the job you want into Jooble’s search engine. Apply different filters such as salary range, work experience, and post date to help find your preferred job match.

Since Jooble is an aggregator, selecting a search result will redirect you to the source of the job vacancy. There, you will find more details about the job and how to apply for it.

Sign up for Jooble’s email alerts if you wish to get notified whenever it finds a new job for the keyword you’re interested in.

9. Guru

Guru is a place for freelancers and companies across the globe to work together. Companies can hire professionals with various skills, such as programmers, graphic designers, and product managers.

This freelance website makes it easy to browse job listings and submit quotes to clients. Start by signing up and building a freelancer profile. The system will give job recommendations based on your skill-set and work experience.

Freelancers can bid for long or short-term projects and give a fixed price for each project. There are multiple withdrawal methods to receive your earnings, including PayPal and wire transfer. More importantly, the site ensures freelancers get paid timely with SafePay protection.

Every freelancer that signs up on this freelance website gets a free basic membership. However, paid membership plans include more tools to make your profile stand out.

How We Chose Top Freelance Websites

To ensure that each freelance website on our list is reliable and trustworthy, we weighed in several factors, such as:

• Terms and conditions. Chosen freelance websites have well-documented terms and conditions that protect both freelancers and employers on said platforms.
• Customer support. Each freelance site provides customer support to guide users and resolve any disputes.
• Payment and withdrawal methods. Local and global freelancers can receive payment from freelance websites through multiple options, such as bank transfers and electronic payments.

Conclusion

Finding freelance work to make money online doesn’t have to be complicated. Most sites only require you to sign up for an account and build a profile.

However, don’t forget to double-check how each freelance website works before signing up for an account. Consider the payment system, withdrawal method, and service fee.

Freelance Websites FAQ

This section will answer some common questions about freelancing.

Consider the following ways you can find clients and build your freelance business.

 

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