The Best Sites to Look for Skilled Freelancers

As a business owner, hiring people to take over certain tasks will free up much of your valuable time. Delegate certain tasks so you can spend more time with your family, on your hobbies or so you can focus more on increasing profits. 

Examples of tasks that are excellent for freelancers are writing, graphic design, Internet marketing and administration work. The Internet is a powerful tool in helping you locate top-notch freelancers from anywhere in the world. Listed below are the best websites entrepreneurs can utilize in locating these freelancers:

Odesk.com - This is the favorite freelancing site for many business owners. You can find freelancers who are able to do simple to complicated tasks. The clients and freelancers who use this site are located all over the globe. Odesk allows you to track the hours worked or the project status if the job isn’t hourly-based. The site provides a software that can track the hours worked. ODesk has one of the best customer support as well. Expect to get a reply from one of their customer service representatives quickly.

Elance.com - Elance is just as good as Odesk and is another highly popular freelancer site. You have a wide variety of freelancers to choose from who can do jobs like writing, translation, IT management, sales, marketing, graphic design and more. You submit the details of the task you need done and freelancers will bid for the job. Don’t be lured in by cheap bid price. Similar to the real world, experienced freelancers will charge more while those who bid with too low a price usually will provide mediocre to subpar work quality.

PeoplePerHour.com - PeoplePerHour is a British website that allows you to find freelancers similar to the previous sites mentioned. The site is newer compared to Odesk and Elance yet still boasts a quarter million active users. The site was named as one of the best startups of 2012 by Wired magazine.

Craigslist.com - Craigslist is definitely not just for trading or buying garage sale type items. It can be a fantastic source for skilled freelancers. You post the job details under the “Jobs” section which is divided into several types of work. The different job types include accounting, administration, writing, sales, customer service and several more. Since Craigslist isn’t specifically a site for freelancers and clients to meet, unlike Elance and Odesk, you will have to create the job ad yourself from scratch with no supporting software in place. All Craigslist does is make your job ad available to freelancers who can contact you by email. You will have to deal with the project details after the hiring process. 

Entrepreneurs typically communicate with freelancers they find on Craigslist either by email or instant messaging like Skype. Be as detailed as possible in the job description and tell applicants exactly what you  need from them (resume, what type of work samples, pay rate and the like). Tip: Post in as many cities as possible if you are looking for a telecommuting freelancer. You can get cheap yet quality labor in countries like the Philippines and India.

Once you find a reliable freelancer with the skill set you need, invest in the business relationship and build good rapport. Having a solid set of freelancers you can frequently hire for jobs will save you time having to screen and hire new applicants each time you require outside help.