Elance is one of the most trusted and reliable job marketplace or freelancing website where most of the freelancer (Elancer) can earn decent amount of money and the clients hire Elancer to full-fill their requirement on the basis of following two types of job:
- Hourly Job: In hourly job, the freelancer will earn money of each hour that he or she works. To record the time period you (Freelancer = Elancer working on Elance) did on a particular job, Elance provides time tracking software which is known as Elacne Tracker can be found on the home page of Elance after you login in on your Elance account. Download Elance Tracker and install it on your computer and login in with the same username and password of Elance account. Elance Tracker is seen as shown in the following image:
Elancer who is awarded for a particular hourly job should "turn on" the above tracker when you start the job.
- Fixed Price Job: In fixed price job, the total price to complete the whole job is already fixed. The time period to complete such fixed price job may be within 1 day or 3 days or 1 week or 2 weeks etc. But, mostly the client prefers to those freelancer who deliver the output ( Result of complete work) within 1 day. The payment is secured by Elance Escrow account of freelancer on Elance. Freelancer ( = Elancer that is you ) should not start working until you see the fund on Elance Escrow account. If you don`t see the fund on Escrow after awarding fixed price job to you, then request the client of that job to release the fund on Escrow account and then start working after you see fund ( Dollar) on Elance Escrow account. After you deliver a complete outcome according to the requirements of the client, then your earned fund will transfer on your Elance account.
Ways of Making Money Online from Elance has been described below:
- work as a freelancer: If you want to earn money, work as a freelancer, you need to register on Elance company which is completely free to join. Follow the following few steps.
- Please take a look for the membership plan chart given below:
If you are a beginner, Register or Join on the Basic Free plan. I am also doing freelancing job on the basis of Basic Free membership plan. On the basic membership plan, you will get the following services from Elance which can be understood graphically from the figure shown above.
- Free members can show at least 10 skills on their public profile.
- Portfolio samples you have already done somewhere can be seen as a showcase portfolio from which there will be more chances to hire your from potential client.
- You will get 40 connects per month ( 40/mo) to bid ( Apply) on jobs. Normally, you need 1 connect to bid on a normal job and need 5 connects to bid on a Featured Job. Your connects will be fulfilled automatically in every month.
- You will get the hourly job payment protection ( which is known as Work View TM protection) and Escrow Protection for Fixed price job.
- You can transfer at least one time per month "Free Wire Transfer" freely on your local bank account to your own bank account.
- Elance will deduct 8.75% of you earned in total for all types of Elance members and other remaining fund or dolllar will be available to transfer on your desired accounts.
Other remaining membership plans are Individual, Small Company and Large Company. These membership plans are paid membership. However, Paid membership plans have more services per month, I would suggest you to join as a Basic Free membership Plan If you are a beginner.
Any type of members can earn money equally on Elance, but All depends on Good profile, Portfolio Samples and Skill Tests Passed. If paid members do not have these points, he or she can not make money at all. In the case of Free membership, there are fewer connects per months, so Free membership freelancer should save his or her connects by not applying to those jobs which you can not do well.
Another important thing to know is that, In Elance, you can apply only one job category. To change job category, it takes a month. Choose those category on which you have desired knowledge and skills. Suppose, If you have a lot of knowledge and skills on Excel, Word, Data Entry then these skills belongs to Admin Support category. You can find both ( hourly and fixed price job) on all types of Categories.
The Categories available on Elance are as follows:
- Admin Support : This category includes the sub-categories Data Entry, Virtual Assistant, Research ( Online Data Research or also known as Data Mining), Office Management, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Word Processing, Technical Support, Transcription, Content Management, Social Network Management, Customer Service, Mailing List Development, Event Planning, Fact Checking and other remaining Adminstrative Support jobs. If you choose this Admin Support category, you should have knowledge and skills related to the subcategories of Admin Support. Passing some typical skill tests, such as Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Excel 2007, Admin Support etc. then there will be 76% chances you will be hired for this categories of jobs. You will earn above $200 per month.
- IT & Programming: This category includes the sub-categories Web Programming, Database Development, Software Application, Website Design, Blog Programming, Mobile Application, Data Engineering, Search Engine Optimization, Networking & Security, Data Analysis, Database Administration, Testing & QA, Data Science, Business Intelligence and Other IT & Programming. If your skills and knowledge belongs to this category and sub-categories of IT & Programming, choose this category . You will definitely make money online offline at home more than $500 per month. If you pass the skill tests related to this categories and having good profiles and portfolio samples, you will be hired very soon. You can be your own boss If you have excellent skills and knowledge on this field.
- Sales & Marketing: This category includes the sub-categories Research & Surveys, Lead Generation, Telemarketing, Email Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Product Marketing, Marketing & Sales Consulting and other - Sales & Marketing jobs. If you have a lot of knowledge and skills related to this category and its sub-categories, then you will earn more than $200 per month If you pass the skill test and having good profile.
- Writing & Translation: This category includes the subcategories Article Writing, Web Content writing, Academic Writing, Edit & Proofreading, Copywriting, Creative Writing, Sales Writing, Translation and Other Writing & Translation jobs. If your skills and Knowledge belongs to this category and its subcategories, then you can choose this category and earn a lot of dollar per month. Having skill test passed with very good profile and thumbnail portfolio samples, anybody can collect more than $300 per month working from home.
- Finance & Management: This category includes the subcategories Accounting, Management Consulting, Investment Analysis, Billing & Collections, Financial Reporting, Recruiting, Tax Services, HR Policies & Plans and Other- Finance & Mgmt. If your skills and Knowledge belongs to this category and its subcategories, then you can choose this category and earn a lot of dollar per month. Having skill test passed with very good profile and thumbnail portfolio samples, anybody can collect more than $300 per month working from home.
- Design & Multimedia: This category includes the subcategories Graphic Design, Photoshop, Digital Image Editing, Photography, video, Design Project Management, Page & Book Design and other- Design & Multimedia. If you have a lot of knowledge and skills related to this category and its sub-categories, then you will earn more than $200 per month If you pass the skill test and having good profile.
- Engineering & Manufacturing: This category includes the subcategories Civil & Structural. If you belong to the field of Enginnering & Manufacturing, you may be familiar with AutoCAD software for designing structures, Civil Engineering, Structural Analysis, Interior Designing etc, then you will earn at least $10/hour to $20/hour according to the company or projects.
- Legal: It belongs to other-legal jobs. It is very rare job.
Follow the following steps to be a good freelancer on Elance.
- Sign Up/Register/Join as a Basic Free member at first with the required information. Tick on the option I want to Work and Click on Continue and fill up the form with your email address, Your first name, last name, Username, Password ( 8 characters including one digit ( 1-9 ) and @, or # ), your country, Display name ( Your Full name), tick on the agreement box and click on the option Register.
The following page will open which is the profile of me and click on Join at the top-right corner.
After then, the following page will open, select as I want to work and click on Continue after then fill up the required information.
After then, the following page will open, select as I want to work and click on Continue after then fill up the required information.
- Go to your email inbox and click on the confirmation link to confirm your email address in from the message sent from the Elance company.
- Login in your Elance account.
- Create a great profile, add a smiling & handsome or beautiful picture on your profile.
- Add Thumbnail portfolio samples of previously you worked. To know about this, visit my Elance profile.
- Take skill tests to get hired fast from potential client.
- Search jobs according to your category and skills.
- Write great proposal touching all the requirements of the job description of the client.
- Upload some typical proof on the attachment folder If you have done already any job related to that job description.
- Place your minimum hourly rate such as $3/hr or $5/hr or other amount per hour. Do not specify time period for delivery for hourly job. It will be open for you until freelancer or client stop the work.
- In case of fixed price job, place your total amount to deliver the output of the job within 1 day or 3 days. Most of the fixed-price job is awarded to those freelancers who place minimum price.
suppose a client posted a job that has $500 fixed price job. Then most of the freelancer place a bid with amount around $20 or $30 or $40 to deliver the output(result) within 1 day. Some freelancer place a bid with around $80 or $100 to complete that particular job. Then which one is hired? Obviously, who placed with $20 to deliver within 1 day will be awarded by the client.
- Wait for few hours or 1day or 2 days and mean while, check your Elance inbox time to time to know the response of client.
- If the client prefers your profile, skills, feedback and proposal then the client will ask you by sending message in the inbox of Elance. Now, You can send message or reply according to the client`s response. If you agree with the requirements of the client, then you will be awarded for that job. If the awarded job for you is of hourly job, then you can start that work immediately. Before starting hourly job, don`t forget to turn on the Elance Tracker. Download Elance Tracker software from home page of Elance after you logged in into Elance account.
- Other remaining related to this topic will be updated in the future. Keep on reading and start making money from right now. Thank you.