'Net Features : freelance

Freelance Web Professionals Earned Big in 2012

Michael Garrity — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:30:00 GMT

The Internet has changed the way we do a lot of things, and now it seems to even be altering the way we find employment (or new employees, depending on what you’re looking for). That is according to the new Global Online Employment Report just released this morning by the online work platform Elance.

It seems that the demand for online talent grew considerably, with both online hiring and freelancer earnings setting new records in 2012. In 2012, Elance saw an additional 345,000 new businesses (an increase of 54 percent) posting upwards of 80,000 job openings a month. Meanwhile, 779,000 freelancers (a 44 percent increase) signed up with the site to look for work. Throughout the year, these independent professionals earned over $200 million for the first time in the service’s history.

The most commonly hired professionals were mobile Web developers and Web programmers, followed closely by marketers and Web content professionals. This “tech talent gap” showed massive demand for experts with “top skills” in various Web and mobile development areas. For instance, HTML developers saw a 149 percent earnings increase, while PHP and CSS experts saw their income improve by 108 and 103 percent, respectively. Mobile-minded Android and iOS developers also saw increases of 146 and 132 percent.

But it wasn’t just developers raking in the big bucks. Freelance content writers and blog writers both reported increases (151 and 78 percent, respectively), while Web designers saw a 205 percent increase and graphic designers pulled in 165 percent more than they had in the past. Notably, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator experts saw major increases of 165 and 131 percent, respectively. In addition, digital marketers (with a 190 percent increase) and social media marketers (132 percent) also had a significantly more successful 2012.

All of the top 10 GDP countries increased online hiring by an average of 67 percent, including China (204 percent), Japan (109 percent), Italy (70 percent), Germany (50 percent), France (66 percent) and the United Kingdom (42 percent). Eastern Europe, specifically, saw some major earnings increases, largely from Web and programming jobs that leverage the region’s technical talent pool. Poland, Bulgaria and Ukraine are among the highest earning countries on the continent.

And for U.S. freelancers, there is some decidedly positive news from this Elance report, as many out-of-work professionals in regions of high unemployment are finding work and seeing their earnings increase. For example, Rhode Island, which has a 10.2 percent unemployment rate, saw earnings grow by 89 percent. Other states with employment rates in the eight and nine percent range that saw significant earnings increases include New Jersey, Mississippi, Michigan and California.

To check out the full Elance Global Online Employment Report in full, click here.

Yahoo's Contributor Network, Exploring the Freelance Marketplace

Mike Phillips — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Yahoo has fulfilled their vision when purchasing Associated Content six months ago. Rebranded as Yahoo Contributor Network, Yahoo is poised to be the biggest freelance market on the Internet. This week, we talk about the new offering from Yahoo and the new environment of freelancing - a surprisingly strong industry and one that can benefit both freelancers and those who hire them.

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Inside Hiring Online

Administrator — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:56:00 GMT

Freelance marketplace Elance released results of its online hiring practices survey which revealed that the majority of businesses (64%) prefer online hiring versus the traditional model of hiring onsite. That's not surprising when you're dealing with an audience that hires freelance workers online with some frequency (nearly 50% had 2-5 hires in the past 12 months) but it might give some added comfort to those looking to do some hiring online.

Of those that do hire online 87% view it as a critical business strategy to enhance profitability and competitiveness according to the Elance survey. The reason employers like hiring online is that it is cost effective, flexible (staffing up and down as needed), accessible (always-on access), geographic reach, better candidate information and increased visibility (able to monitor work and collaborate online).

“The majority of businesses report that while they are not adding many new employees onsite, they are opting to hire and distribute work to online teams as a core strategy to help them do more with less. Elance provides these businesses with a full featured online workplace that enhances their ability to hire and manage talent and get work done,” said Ellen Pack, Vice President of Marketing at Elance.

One of the most interesting aspects of the survey was a section on the criteria employers consider important when hiring online - take a look below.

Elance Introduces Groups with Sponsored Companies

MaureenA — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Elance is a resource that provides opportunities for freelancers as well as companies looking to hire freelancers. Today it announced the launch of Groups to assist with grouping freelancers with specialized talents and certifications.

According to the release, participating companies set criteria for group members including skill tests and certifications. Participating companies include: Microsoft, PayPal, Facebook, Yahoo!, Zoho, CVSDude, Central Desktop, ooVoo, ConceptShare, Dimdim, Drop.io, ProtoShare, Adobe, Palm, Sun, American Express, Salesforce.com and more.

“Elance’s professional community of individuals and teams who work online have a tremendous breadth and depth of expertise. We are committed to connecting companies with experts who have the demonstrated skills and qualifications to get the job done,” said Elance CMO, Brad Porteus in the announcement.

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Elance Work Index - September

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:29:00 GMT

Elance released their September work index today, a report highlighting hiring trends in the freelance marketplace. Trends from this month's index include:

- The presence of Search engine optimization (+18 in the 17th position), content writing (+5 to the 9th position) and article writing (+2 to the fourth position) indicates companies realize they don't necessarily need to pay for traffic.
- The index indicates that companies are reinventing themselves as branding made a significant jump (+25 to the 54 position) and Public Relations was newly added to the list (in the 87th position).
- PHP regained its number one position as the most sought after skill online. Other programming/development skills in the top ten include Adobe Flash, CSS, and Excel.

Some interesting points came to the fore during my discussion with Brad Porteus, Chief Marketing Officer of Elance this week, related to the trends Elance sees and the viability of their platform. A few statistics helped clear up any confusion or doubt (at least for me) about the efficacy of the Elance platform:

- 60% of projects are filled (considered to be when a "job" is actually assigned to a freelancer)
- Over 90% are ultimately paid (Elance is an escrow service giving it a lot of credibility with buyers)
- Only 1% of jobs enter "dispute" (those that run into trouble are those which attempt to go around the system)

Porteus also addressed some specific areas that consistently top the Elance list including open source (specifically those dealing with the LAMP stack - Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), Design (namely presentation layer work such as graphic design) and as apparent in this month's work index (and mentioned previously), content writing and SEO.

Freelancers: Time Tracking, Invoice and Expense Solutions

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:09:00 GMT

In the fast paced world of the Web, time is the rarest and most valuable commodity. That's why managing your time as a freelancer is so important! Here are a few online time tracking, simple invoicing and expense solutions that you may want to look into to help you get more out of your virtual day as you head down the path towards Web success!...(read more)