5 Top Crowdsourcing Platforms for Freelance Writers

Being a freelancer, you should know how important it is to have a solid pool of clients to constantly supply you with new projects. Keeping yourself busy for a week and then wasting your time the next month is not good for any freelance work. Since you are reading this article, you are most likely eager to find a good source of new clients.

Today, there are plenty of crowdsourcing websites, however, not all of them can support you as a stable source of new projects. In fact, the majority of crowdsourcing platforms are not reliable. Today, I am going to bring you only the top platforms, which are definitely worth your attention.  

What is good about such websites is that they offer a win-win solution for both businesses seeking writers and freelancers themselves. Businesses do not need to hire permanent writing personnel, as it is cheaper to engage in short-term contracts with professional freelancers. Crowdsourcing platforms give businesses just that. Likewise, freelance writers benefit from such platforms as the latter mitigate many risks and, in general, make the life of a freelancer easier.   

On crowdsourcing websites, companies post their job offerings and ask freelancers to compete for those. To do so, writers are usually required to provide the following information:

• A statement of purpose;
• A desired rate for the work;
• A writer’s resume or CV;
• Previous client’s letters of recommendation (reviews).

Most of the crowdsourcing websites have free registration for writers (job seekers), however, a few may ask for a symbolic registration fee. You should always check upfront each site’s specific policy. 

So, long story short, here are my top 5 crowdsourcing platforms for freelance writers:

Upwork

Upwork is very popular among freelance writers from the U.S. Canada and U.K. It is one of the biggest crowdsourcing platforms in the world (it appeared as a merger of two successful platforms: oDesk and Elance). 

Writers can find all sorts of short and long-term projects here, with hourly, weekly, and monthly rates, as well as projects with fixed rates. Whether you are looking for a simple translation job, writing an article or blogpost, copywriter, or a research project and report – Upwork is the best place!  

Registration on Upwork is free, as well as many basic features. If you want to use the full functionality of this site, however, you need to pay a small registration fee. 

iFreelance.com

This resource is relatively new, but it already has gained huge popularity among young and experienced authors. To begin bidding, you need to create your user profile first, upload information about yourself, including any previous projects. Be specific, as this will increase your chances of finding a good project.

iFreelance.com charges a monthly membership fee, which can vary based on the number of projects in your current portfolio. You can save money if you stay with this website for a long time, as they offer attractive discounts for permanent customers.

Membership on iFreelance.com allows users to:

• communicate with clients directly;
• enhance your portfolio with additional features, such as video and audio presentation;
• create several profiles at one account (good for big corporate clients).

Freelancer.com

This is a true monster among job sites. They offer both crowdsourcing and outsourcing and are good for private and corporate clients.

Registration is free of charge. There are no additional benefits with years of experience at this resource. However, the number and variety of job offers that one can find on Freelancer.com, fully compensate for any possible shortcomings. New job offerings are posted every minute, and a powerful filtering mechanism lets you narrow your search down to any level of detail.   

PeoplePerHour.com

I have worked with this website a few times and was quite satisfied with the work projects I found there. Though its main specialization is graphic design, it is just as good for freelance writers, as thousands of job postings there are asking for all sorts of writing services.

To get the most out of PeoplePerHour.com, follow these guidelines:

• Create your user profile (it’s free of charge) ideally with a photo;
• Use the extended job search filter;
• Make wise use of your available 15 bid proposals a month (anything above that quantity has to be purchased).

Keep in mind, though, that the main currency on PeoplePerHour.com is the British pound (GBP) as they are registered in Great Britain and are especially convenient for local employers and employees.  

Guru.com

As the name suggests, this website is especially good for experienced users. Its main job board has over 160 professional categories to choose from. One can find the best matching project for their professional specialization, background, experience, including big and small projects. 

Free membership allows for 10 bids per month. If you need more, you’ll have to upgrade your membership to one of the 7 plans available.

To be successful at Guru, you’d better take one of the available free-of-charge skill tests. Employers love to check those and may give preference to those freelancers with the highest test scores.

Making the first step is often hard. I recommend you not to rush and take only one particular website to try its different features until you are pretty much comfortable with everything they have to offer. Jumping from one site to another can be very confusing. With enough focus and patience, though, you will succeed in making your life as a freelancer much easier with the help of crowdsourcing platforms.