Where do freelancers get clients from?We conducted a survey that showed that most customers come from acquaintances, friends and current customers. About 26% of freelancers receive most of their orders through word of mouth.
Freelance exchanges are in second place. They are the main source of orders for 22.5% of specialists. Social networks are in third place - they are the main source of new clients for 17.5% of freelancers.
Features of searching for orders on exchangesIf we consider freelance exchanges, then the situation is simple: the more popular the site, the more performers on it and the higher the competition. The lower the popularity of the exchange, the fewer performers on it, but there are also fewer orders.
You can get into favorable conditions if you register on a new exchange while it is being promoted, and manage to take the top lines of the rating while there is little competition. It makes sense to follow the news of freelancing and respond to the emergence of new sites in time.
Also, exchanges have their own characteristics:
There are general exchanges where orders for specialists of various profiles are published. For example, such exchanges include FL , Freelance.ru , Freelancejob.ru . About half of the clients on such services publish orders in the feed, and half are looking for executors through the catalog. My experience shows that through the catalog you can get more profitable orders than from the tape, because if a client contacts you personally, it means that he is interested in cooperation with a certain performer. The problem is that it is difficult for a beginner to advance in the catalog, it takes time, and sometimes a very long time. Another problem is that on some exchanges it is necessary to buy a place in the catalog, and it is difficult for a beginner to immediately pay a lot of money for advertising.In recent years, many specialized exchanges have appeared on the Runet, for example, for designers, copywriters and programmers. They also have their own characteristics:On the exchanges for programmers, you can find profitable orders; serious customers often come there.Exchanges for copywriters , in my opinion, are aimed at mass customers from among webmasters , SEO specialists , moneymakers , who usually pay no more than 100-150 rubles. for 1000 characters, and most often - from 50 to 100 rubles. Therefore, copywriter exchanges often attract newcomers, and as experience accumulates, the author switches to working with clients directly, because this allows you to earn more than on the exchange. However, there are some nuances here - ContentMonster stands out against the general background of higher earnings of authors, and there are many different customers on Etxt , including generous ones ( if you know how to look for them ).As far as I know, translators do not have popular exchanges on Runet, but there are many catalogs where you should add information about yourself.Exchanges for designers live in different ways, but in general, everything is complicated here. Therefore, designers usually seek orders either through such sites or through general exchanges .
Microservices exchanges stand out separately, the largest of which is Kwork . They were originally designed for customers with small budgets. Now the situation has changed - on the same Kwork, you can sell services for good money for freelancing. But you need to correctly design the corks on the site and get at least a few positive reviews.
For more information about: freelance service technician