How do I earn money online? Part 2 - oDesk, Guru and Elance

Now, if you're feeling more professional, I would recommend finding an effective freelancing website for outsourcing and go for it! It really is easier than you expect it to be in the first place.

This one is my personal favorite. It is simple to use and is very popular amongst employers, with maybe just below 20 new job openings appearing every hour in each category. It is professional, but not too focused on complete perfection, and therefore tolerant towards beginners.

Registering.

You sign up and fill in your contractor profile - your skills, employment history, certifications, education and portfolio. Once you've done all that, all there's left to do is take the oDesk Readiness test. It's easy as long as you've read the oDesk guide and rules. From then on you can go and look for your jobs.

Job Search.

Jobs are divided up into categories: web development, software development, networking and information systems, writing and translation, administrative support, design and multimedia, customer service, sales and marketing, and business services. These, in turn, are divided into 5-10 subcategories each.

Applying for a job.

If you click on a job opening, you will be able to see the employer's description of the job and the specific qualifications you must have to have a chance at getting the job. (Note: you may still apply even if you don't completely qualify, so if you think you have your way with words, go for it in the cover letter!) When you click on "Apply", you will need to fill in a little form, which will include your rate per hour/fixed price (the employer will have stated his budget for the job, whilst you may also see the average bid of the other applicants to get a vague idea), - sometimes - the length of the job, and the cover letter (you may also attach a work sample).

Odesk tests.

It isn't easy to apply and get the job just like that the first time. According to the oDesk manual, an average new user of oDesk will apply to 35 well-chosen job openings before getting his first job. To help you a little, oDesk provides its contractors a very wide variety of tests, which are also free. They are all multiple choice with 40 questions and 40 minutes to answer them. After you have successfully completed the test, you will be presented with your results, on a scale of 1-5,, and a percentile of whereabouts your score fits in out of all the contractors who have also taken this test. If you don't like your results, you may make them private, so they don't show on your profile. You may retake a test once every 30-31 days.

Getting the job and getting paid.

Once the employer has read your cover letter and liked your portfolio, he will invite you to an interview. There, he may ask you some more questions or invite you to contact him over Skype or IM, and once you two have agreed on the rate/price and turnaround time, he will initiate a contract with you. After the contract has ended, the employer will pay you, but you will have to wait 7-10 days for the money to finally be available on your account.

oDesk Team software.

oDesk Team is software that allows a contractor to track their hours of work on their desktop. Along with a timer, snapshots of the desktop will be taken at sensible intervals. That way, the employer will definitely know how many hours to pay the contractor for. As well as this, in oDesk Team each employer's team of contractors will be able to communicate amongst themselves and with the employers, which is a very useful tool indeed.

For more information or to sign up, visit the website of oDesk.

Guru is another freelancer website which works in almost the same way as oDesk. However, there are some mere differences between the two:

• Guru does not provide software similar to oDesk Team.
• Guru skill tests are not free. They are $5 each.
• In Guru, a contractor is allowed to own more than one profile - evidently a profile for every field they have abilities in. However, apart from that, each profile may be basic (you may not attach sample work to your cover letter on any application, transaction fees are 10% and you may only bid on 10 projects every 30 days), Guru profile (up to $35 a month fees, but transaction fees now 5% and 100 bids allowed per month), and finally Guru Vendor profile, but this one is for groups of freelancers working together.
• Guru won't force you to look for jobs suitable for you - you have the option of simply looking at your "Project Matches" every time you log in. You may also choose to have them sent to your email address as notifications.
• Guru allows you to see a report of your business's marketing successes, calculated through your ability to acquire customers, retain them, and how much they pay you.
• Finally, in Guru, you may choose to be payed through SafePay Escrow - a system which will allow you to feel safer when expecting payment from your employer.

To learn more and sign up for Guru, visit the website.

I'll be honest and state that I don't know much about Elance, because when I looked at the membership pricing, I decided against registering as a contractor there. It's all basically the same as in Guru - you may register for free, but you won't be able to make very many bids per month and your transaction fees will be pretty big.

To learn more about Elance and register as a freelancer there, visit the website.