Upwork Review: Still Relevant in 2022?
Why is Upwork needed?
Upwork is an American freelance marketplace founded in 2003. This platform has been designed for easy collaboration between employers and employees. At the moment, Upwork is considered one of the most famous and largest freelance websites in the world.
The creators of Upwork took a lot of time and effort to make their platform one of the largest. One of the most essential features of this service is that it motivates employers to enter into long-term deals with performers.
For a freelancer to become in demand and earn good money on Upwork, you need to put in a lot of effort. At first, there will not be many orders, as there are other freelancers, and customers usually prefer to choose people with good reviews and experience. But the workflow will increase after the freelancer makes several orders and gets good reviews.
How does the Upwork exchange work?
Upwork allows customers to find contractors for work and employers in more than 70 categories of projects for jobseekers. All projects presented on the platform are arranged alphabetically, and the most frequent categories are SMM, copywriting, design, and PPC. It is also worth noting that all the vacancies presented on the site are remote.
Another indicator of the high quality of the Upwork platform is the strict moderation of the site. If the account does not meet all the stated requirements, it may be blocked for violations.
In order to start cooperating with employers on the platform, it is enough to create an account and decide on the type of activity. The main thing in creating an account is a portfolio, which must be filled in according to the relevant parameters. You also need to upload your photo in good quality. If the applicant fulfills the above conditions, the likelihood that they will cooperate with him increases significantly.
Freelance exchange Upwork offers its users a convenient and simple interface, where, after registration, the platform will provide tips on filling out a profile.
The main page of the exchange shows users how many connections (virtual tokens that a freelancer uses to submit job offers) are left and how full the profile is.
After the user creates an account that is completely suitable in all respects, he will have the most difficult task – to find his first order. It is better for the applicant to apply only for those projects that he or she is really interested in. It happens that for the first cooperation you have to submit from 5 to 10 applications at once. The Upwork platform has introduced a limit on requests: there can be no more than 30 requests per month. If a freelancer needs more entries, 10 entries can be purchased for $1.5.
You can also get free applications for filling out the profile. The service team very often offers users to get them for performing various actions. In the future, the freelancer can include the money spent on requests in his hourly rate.
How to find a freelancer?
Searching for freelancers on the Upwork exchange will not be difficult, as the platform raises the best and most verified applications to the top. For employers to be able to find a person who is really interested in the project, it is necessary to describe the task in as much detail as possible, as well as indicate the time and cost of the work.
Also, the employer can attach a reference and offer the specialist to complete part of the task as a test. The customer should pay attention to what works the freelancer attaches, whether they correspond to the topic of the order, and how many tasks the applicant has completed at the moment. In addition, it will be essential to study the cover letter.
Withdrawal of funds and payment for services
The reviews left by Upwork users show that the platform’s main advantage is the security of payment. This way, when an employer finds a freelancer, the system pre-books the pay. The contractor will receive payment only after he completes the task and it is approved by the customer.
It is also worth considering that the Upwork exchange takes a commission for transferring funds from an employer to a freelancer. This commission depends on the declared value of the order itself and how long the partnership between the customer and the contractor was. The commission will be less if the freelancer and the employer work permanently.
To withdraw funds, freelancers mainly use the Payoneer payment system, which takes a small commission when withdrawing funds (only $1). It is also possible to withdraw funds via PayPal, but such transactions are much more complicated as this payment platform only transfers money between individuals. In addition, the user can also resort to a direct withdrawal of funds to Upwork, but this method is quite complicated since the freelancer will need to go through currency control and pay a commission of $30. Therefore, the best option would be to withdraw funds through the Payoneer system.
Also, to withdraw the money earned on Upwork, the user must add a convenient payment method. To do this, you need to choose how money transactions will take place in the platform settings.
Then you should enter your personal data, after which the customer will be able to transfer money, and the contractor will receive it.
How to find a customer?
Freelancers should apply for new vacancies open no more than a day ago. You also need to keep track of how many freelancers have already applied. Thus, if more than 20 people apply for a vacancy, it is unlikely that it will be successful. The customer will simply get lost with such a large influx of people who want to take on this task. Also, a convenient feature of the platform is that freelancers are automatically selected for exciting vacancies.
Next, the performer needs to select the order that suits him and click on the green button to send his offer. On average, from 1 to 5 connections are spent on one order.
The freelancer then needs to fill out a short form.
After completing the first few jobs, paid orders will begin to be displayed in the account history, there will also be reviews of the work.
To successfully cooperate with customers, a freelancer should pay attention to communication with the employer.
In particular, communication with the client should occur in the “problem-solution” format. That is, you need to start a dialogue by identifying the company’s problem and continue it with options for solving this problem (in orders where there are references). You can also attach examples of similar work performed to the order and tell about yourself. Some performers make the mistake of sending the same message to all customers. The algorithms of the Upwork platform read such actions and lower the application; thus, customers will not see it. Therefore, the contractor must have a unique approach to each client.
How to fill out your profile on Upwork?
For a freelancer to start successfully cooperating with customers, he should fill out his profile correctly. Here are some tips on how to make your profile attractive to the customer:
- Provide information about core skills.
- Tell about the achievements obtained during the work.
- Create a portfolio, including a stylized document with a resume and examples of work performed.
- Pass video verification, after which the Upwork exchange will raise the profile to the top lines.
- Attach certificates of education.
Should you work with Upwork?
Freelancing platform Upwork is one of the most popular at the moment. This is where freelancers get a lot of jobs. Thus, Upwork provides an excellent opportunity to work remotely in almost any field.
But to start successful cooperation with the customer, the contractor should work hard on having a good resume and examples of work performed.
Upwork analogs
There are several analogs of Upwork in the freelance market, the largest of which are Fiverr and Freelancer.
Fiverr is another freelance platform that was founded in 2010 in Israel. This platform offers the purchase of tasks for $5. This is what makes it different from other similar platforms.
Another difference between Fiverr and Upwork is that the former is designed for short-term collaborations, while the latter is for long-term projects.
Freelancer is an Australian platform that was founded in 2004. The platform offers users more than 1500 categories. But this is more of a minus than a plus, as it is difficult for users to find a suitable offer.
As for registering and receiving orders, everything is identical to Upwork. A freelancer must fill out a profile and start looking for a job by sending applications to clients.
The advantage of this platform is that freelancers can search for jobs by language categories, and customers can search for workers by region.
Conclusion
At the end of the Upwork review, we can say that this is a good platform for finding remote professionals and employers. At the same time, it is convenient for both parties. There are few analogs of this platform on the market, and our review showed Upwork has more pluses than minuses. This freelance platform is also relevant in 2022, as users can easily earn money.
As a result, we can highlight that the Upwork freelance platform is an excellent place for customers and freelancers, where they can easily find each other. As for the disadvantages of the platform, one can single out difficulties with the withdrawal of funds since the list of proposed payment methods has only a few options.
Also, the disadvantage of Upwork is that the contractor may experience instability in receiving orders. But the solution to this situation will be long-term cooperation with customers.
