Still Wondering About Elance?

I joined Elance in April 2009 and am currently a Premier Provider in the Writing and Translation category. Elance helped me get started on my freelance writing career and I continue to be impressed by the services they offer to providers.

It was intimidating to start a new career, but I have always wanted to write. At the time, I had no idea how to become a freelance writer. After some web searching, I identified a few likely sites: Examiner, oDesk, Guru, Wisegeek, LimeExchange, and Elance.

Because I was a beginner and wanted to cover all of the bases, I applied to and was accepted into all of the sites. Some required more extensive information than others and had restricted access to their job listings until I was signed up. A friend had worked from Elance and recommended them, so I started there and was very impressed.

Before you think I drank the Kool-Aid, let me say that I did work for Wisegeek for a few months. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about SEO writing, but in the long term, the requirements were too restrictive and the pay too low so I left them to focus solely on Elance. I still have free memberships on the other sites and receive periodic emails from them with job listings. Those emails are how I know I made the right choice.

Here are few examples of projects currently listed on other freelance sites: 5000 links to be checked and rewritten with a budget of $50-100; 15 pages of original content (1500 words/page) for $5 per page; 6 Excel spreadsheets with research required for eleven items and extensive categorization with a budget of $20.

I would like to say that these are not representative of the caliber of the jobs on those sites, but they in fact are. Elance has its share of jobs with low budgets or incomplete information from buyers, but for the most part overall, the listings are fairly priced and clearly explained.

In addition to access to great jobs, Elance offers several tools that protect providers. The Hourly Work Guarantee, with hours verified by Work View™, assures that providers will get paid for hours worked. The Fixed Price Work Guarantee utilizes escrow to ensure that clients have the funds to pay for the job while ensuring payment for the provider. I have used both systems with great success. I was concerned that Work Viewä would seem intrusive, but it wasn’t at all. It was actually quite a good tool for gaining the trust of a new client. He was able to see that I was working on his project during the approved hours and I was able to gain a repeat client. For fixed price jobs, I always appreciate the comfort provided by that little money icon showing that escrow has been funded.

I am also protected by the Terms of Service. On Craigslist, as an example, a writer may be asked to write an article “on spec”. Basically this is free, unpaid work. Elance’s TOS states that providers cannot provide this type of work and jobs requesting it are removed from the site.

As for navigating the Elance site, it is really quite intuitive and easy-to-use. Each job has its own workroom from which providers can access all of the necessary tools to manage each job. I like to be able to communicate with clients and access all of the information associated with their jobs in one place.

Over the course of the last year or so, I have encountered a few issues and had some questions. The Elance community message boards provided me with suggestions, advice, and a way to blow off steam with others who understand the freelance world. I have also contacted Elance representatives for issues and the experience was very good. I have used email, support tickets, and telephone assistance to ask questions or to request assistance. Each request was answered quickly and helped me to work more efficiently or to resolve a problem.

Is Elance perfect? No; but it’s far superior to the other freelance marketplaces. It has an established presence online as well as a simple, intuitive, efficient interface. I can honestly say that I love working with Elance and I plan to continue to do so for many years.

Interested in trying it out? Use the link below to get started!