Do you want to make money online? Do you hate your boss and wish you could work for yourself? Are you fed up with your current working conditions? If you have a computer and an Internet connection, that’s all you need to start earning on the World Wide Web. Whether you’re looking to explore alternative income earning methods or looking to supplement your income while capitalizing on your skills, freelancing online on micro job sites offers the flexibility to work from home or anywhere you can access the internet and use your computer.
You can set your own schedule, work for whoever you want to and make as much money as you need. It’s not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme but your earning potential as a freelancer is limitless and you can build your own business from the ground up.
Micro jobs are small paid tasks that are usually performed by people (mainly freelancers) who are self-employed on a temporary or contractual basis. There are many micro job sites online that can get you started in the freelancing arena. Outlined below are three sites that are well known in the freelance marketplace and a comparison of the features, pros, and cons of each.
Which Are The Most Popular Micro Job Sites?
A Marketplace for Creative & Professional Services
Fiverr is, at the present moment, one of the most successful micro job sites in the world. It is a micro freelance marketplace where you can buy and sell products and services from the professional to the bizarre, for example, you can offer administrative services as a virtual assistant and even sell photos of yourself holding up a vendor’s advert or sign. As the name suggests, services and products start at a minimum of $5. You can enter this marketplace as a buyer or seller, whichever the case, you are required to register on the site and create a profile.
On this profile, you create what are called ‘gigs’ which are basically advertisements for services you provide as a seller. You can determine your own pricing for your gigs, however, the base price is $5, to which you can add extra add-ons or ‘gig extras’ to make more money per gig. As a buyer, you can scope out the service you are interested in, pick the seller and purchase the service.
Whether you want to engage the services of a skilled graphic artist for a project, pay someone to make a prank call or buy a special, one of a kind gift, Fiverr has a Gig economy that is vast, vibrant and offers endless possibilities, unlike other micro job sites.
As is the case of other micro job sites, you can purchase gigs for resale as well for a profit which is another way of working smart instead of hard. Working on Fiverr can give you the opportunity to make money doing things you love to do and there are some people who earn money full-time and run businesses on the site.
A Place to Find, Hire & Be a Freelancer
SEOClerks is another micro job site where you can buy, sell or trade services at affordable prices for a minimum of $1. The site has a good reputation in the micro freelance marketplace and specializes in website-related services such as Search Engine Optimization, article/blog writing, audio, music, graphics, and social networking.
It connects freelancers with clients who are in the market for Internet marketing services. Due to its popularity, the site experiences great traffic which offers the exposure that freelancers need to get the word out there about what you are selling, which is not something that can be said about other micro job sites. Registration is free and the setup of your services or ‘jobs’ with a description of what you’re offering or selling is a part of the process.
This site is geared more towards techno-savvy sellers and buyers that have specialized or technical computer skills or need for such services.
Start Selling, Buying & Promoting SEO Services
Konker is another real earning site, similar to SEOclerks where website related services are bought and sold. It is, by far, the one with the most potential to become a top leader among micro job sites. Registration is also necessary to buy and sell services and the offerings are highly specialized, that is, geared towards people that have special or technical web-related skills.
This site zooms in on what is called a ‘Source Market’. This is a fast-growing micro freelance marketplace for mainly SEO gigs which include SEO packages, backlinking packages, content creation, YouTube ranking and the like. It is considered the Fiverr for any SEO service under the sun. One thing that differentiates this site from sites like Fiverr is that in addition to your income, you can make a commission by promoting your gigs and sharing links with other people.
Pros & Cons – Are These The Right Micro Job Sites For Me?
So how do you choose between the 3 most popular micro job sites? You don’t even have to. You can work on multiple sites, managing a different account on each. The lists below outline some benefits and drawbacks of all three micro job sites.
Freelancing on Fiverr
Pros
- Fiverr offers a wide, endless variety of services that you can offer to the buying public. If you can think of it, you can sell it. You can be creative and put your imagination to work along with the resources and skills you already have and combine them to earn money.
- It is the most varied of all micro job sites.
- The website’s layout is clean, professional, attractive and easy to understand, use and navigate.
- Registration is FREE and open to the worldwide public. This means you can earn real US dollars from anywhere in the world as long as you have access to one of their approved payment methods. You can work for clients from Australia to India, to Canada, imagine having such diverse clientele. How good will your portfolio look? Micro job sites do offer these possibilities.
- They have an App available for free download. You can find it in any mobile app store. This makes it convenient to stay connected and receive quick notifications from clients and respond just as quickly.
- There are multiple payment options available to get your money; namely, PayPal, pre-paid debit cards and direct bank transfer.
- Buyers frequently post projects or tasks and invite sellers to bid. So you don’t have to sit and wait for someone to come along to order your gig. You can aggressively pursue jobs on your own.
- They have an active and interactive community forum where you can get freelancing advice and tips, ask questions and share ideas with other buyers and sellers.
Cons
- It takes a while to get paid. You do not get paid immediately. The buyer will pay the site for your service after delivery and the site releases the hold on your payment after 14 days.
- The site charges a 20% fee (that is $1 for every $5 made) for every gig sold. This is deducted from your earnings.
- It has become the most overcrowded of all micro job sites, which is a serious drawback.
- Customer service is not very responsive and often times not helpful especially when buyers cancel your order and steal your work, it’s difficult to resolve the issue favorably.
- If a buyer gives you a bad review or cancels the order, this negatively affects your rating and makes you less appealing as a seller which will affect your bottom line. Negative comments cannot be removed from your gig. Something that can also affect your rating as a seller is the speed at which you respond to a message from a potential client.
- Competition is very stiff, so if you are new to the site, you will most likely have to sell your services at dirt cheap prices to get the attention of buyers in order to build patronage. Buyers look for sellers with positive ratings, good reviews, the least cancellations and lots of sales.
- Scammers lurk everywhere. They may try to get you to make sale agreements off the site or get you to work for free.
Freelancing on SEOClerks
Pros
- If you are in the business of Internet marketing, this site is one of the best resources for SEO services. It has a high concentration of technical experts. Most of them have a lot of experience in the field and know exactly what they are doing.
- Not only can you earn good money for your services but you can also earn commissions from the sales of affiliate products.
- Registration is FREE and signup is relatively simple.
- Gigs start as low as $1, unlike $5 on other micro job sites.
- The layout of the site is relatively user-friendly.
Cons
- The site’s accepted methods of payment are Payoneer and PayPal. If you live in a country that does not allow either of these subscriptions, you will not be able to work from this site. There are other ways, though, which are outlined in a section below.
- They also have a 20% commission. For instance, if you sell a service for $10, you will only receive $8 – just like on Fiverr.
- They have not yet developed a mobile app, so there is less work on the go.
- Some services are not verified by the provider. This is a drawback as compared to the other two micro job sites.
- Micro job sites like this are targeted by scammers and SEOClerks is no exception. Freelancers must remain vigilant and take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their work.
- It can be difficult to find consistent quality due to the large number of sellers around. So if you are a freelancer that buys and resells services, you have to be careful and take the time to research quality services and service providers.
- Quality services can be very expensive. This is due to the fact that there are a lot of sellers with sound technical expertise.
Freelancing on Konker
Pros
- This site is an excellent source for SEO & Internet marketers to buy and sell specialized services.
- Sellers can earn a commission via affiliate marketing of fellow sellers’ services, thus increasing earning potential exponentially.
- Registration on the site is easy and FREE of cost.
- SEO professionals built this site for SEO professionals. This means there is a large pool of quality services available.
- The earning potential for a freelancer is pretty good.
Cons
- The layout of the site is not very user-friendly, especially for those who are not familiar with the technical jargon frequently featured or used to describe gigs.
- It used to be the most carefully controlled and policed of these three micro job sites to identify and keep fraudulent or unqualified vendors at bay. Not anymore.
- Quality services can be very expensive and hard to find.
SHOW ME THE MONEY!
As a freelancer, you obviously are not interested in working for free, right? No, you want to actually make money online on these micro job sites. So how do you get paid?
On Fiverr, when you create a profile, you must include payment methods. These include PayPal, Direct Deposit to a bank account or a prepaid debit card (Payoneer or Fiverr card). Once you have delivered your completed gig to your buyer, they will release the funds to the site. Your payment remains on Fiverr’s account for 14 days. At that time you can transfer the funds to your preferred payment method. Fiverr does deduct $1 for every $5 you make. If you sell a service for $10, you actually receive $8.
SEOClerks’ payment methods differ from the other micro job sites and include PayPal, Credit Card, Bitcoins, and Payza. You will get access to your funds within 9 days of submitting a completed project. They do have the same 20% commission as Fiverr.
For Konker, the primary payment method used is PayPal. The site doesn’t list any other methods of payment. However, Konker does not have a commission fee. If you sell a service for $10, you get to keep $10. This, coupled with the possibility to earn from promoting other sellers, makes Konker truly unique among micro job sites.
It is important to note that you can link a bank account or a pre-paid debit card to your PayPal account. This way you can get access to your cash if you’re not interested in spending your hard-earned money in online stores and boutiques only. No need to worry, these payment methods are fast, safe and secure.
It’s Time To Be Free!
With freelancing, you can make money online with guest posting or doing the things you love and even things that are fun and silly. Yes, it is possible. You can transition from working a regular 9-5 job and working for other people, to being your own boss.
The popularity of this new-age income earning methods on micro job sites is on the rise and growing in acceptance as people seek more ways to escape the daily hustle and bustle of stuffy corporate jobs, traffic, and work-related stress and working for organizations where they have no control over their income.
Working from home or online anywhere opens up greater possibilities for those hoping to achieve a better balance of work and home life. If you have writing skills, basic computer knowledge, expertise or technical training in any area, you can work from home. So what are you waiting for? What do you have to lose?
Go ahead, point, click and start making real money online. Join the millions of freelancers around the world who have discovered the secret to financial independence by working on micro job sites.