How To Make Money On oDesk?

This site won’t be able to claim that it’s about making money online if we won’t be writing about oDesk. We know a good number of people who earns a full time income from this site while working on projects they enjoy at their own pace and space. Intrigued? Read on.

oDesk is a freelance bidding site. The site offers a marketplace from where freelancers (providers) and employers (buyers) can meet to transact. It’s free to sign up for an account on oDesk for both buyers and providers.

The site earns revenue share when a buyer and a provider starts a contract together, and the buyer pays the provider via the oDesk system. oDesk charges a fee, which is 10% of the total payment that a buyer pays a provider.

oDesk is a complete system that allows both buyers and providers to use the site’s resources to work together with less hassle despite distance and time differences.

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Making money on oDesk is similar to making money offline. You need to be a value provider in order to find work and earn. Your skills and work ethics matter most in the marketplace. Your profile on the site will act as your resume. You have to apply to jobs that you qualify for and craft a cover letter that’ll get the buyer’s attention in order to get yourself an interview.

This is how oDesk works, in a nutshell. Making money on the site starts when you’ve finally landed a job and started getting paid for your work. For starters, we’ve listed five easy steps that you can follow to land a job and get paid on oDesk;

Sign up for a free account and complete your profile

A wizard will guide you through this so it’ll be easy. However, please be reminded that your profile acts as your resume on the site so you should make it as compelling as possible. A part of your profile will allow you to write a description of yourself as a provider and the services that you offer. Make full use of this and craft a description that sells the services that you offer.

You also have to make sure that it is complete so list down your skills, achievements, educational background and work experiences on your profile. If you plan to offer freelance writing services on the site, make sure to include links to your writing samples on the Web.

Take the oDesk Readiness Test and ‘other tests’

The oDesk Readiness Test is important for one reason: it ensures that you understand how oDesk works. It’s pretty easy if you took the time to read through the document about how the site works.

It is also important that you take ‘other tests’ on the site. This will not only increase your job application quota (the number of applications that you can send per week), but will also increase your chances of getting hired. Many buyers will only hire providers who have taken the Basic English test because they wanted to make sure that they’ll only be hiring providers who can communicate in standard English.

Start applying

There are a few things that you should remember when applying for a job in oDesk;

Make sure that you qualify for the job for which you are applying for
Make sure that the buyer who posted the job ad is oDesk verified (oDesk has verified that buyer has means to pay providers)
Craft a cover letter that addresses the requirements of the job posting that you are applying for

Prepare for your Interview

Buyers may not ask for a face-to-face interview or even a chat interview with you, but you should still prepare for an interview. Prepare to answer basic interview questions (Why should we hire you?) and to sell yourself to your potential client.

Be a value provider

This is probably where you can cash in more money— when you’ve made yourself a value provider. Value providers work excellently that they get hired easily and get repeat business. The secret to being a value provider is simple: quality work submitted on time.

Note: oDesk has a feedback system that’s critical in building a value provider reputation. Your profile will list down your work history on the site together with the feedback of the buyers that you’ve worked with. You may choose to hide the buyer comments, but not the ratings that you were given so make sure to be at your best when dealing and working with clients.

Making money on oDesk boils down to one thing: working with integrity. Make sure to keep this in mind should you decide to give the site a try.