The Best Places On The Web To Find Freelancers
There are many web sites and forums where freelancers offer their services. Where you go will depend on what it is you need done. Forums are one great place to find freelancers. Websites like WarriorForum.com are teeming with freelancers who need work and are willing to work at great prices for the members.
Outsourcing Reputation
Hiring people through forums has the added benefit of being a place where you can look around to see a person's reputation before you hire them. You can search the forum for their name to see if anything negative has been said about them, and to see if any positive remarks have been made.
You can also make a post on a forum and ask for recommendations. You can post something like, “I'm looking for a good graphics designer who works quickly and charges a fair price. Who do you recommend?” You'll probably get a number of recommendations, as well as a few private messages from freelancers who want to work for you.
Popular Freelance Site On The Net
Elance is a very popular freelance website. You can look through a number of different freelancers' portfolios, and you can also see their feedback. People with high feedback and very few negatives are less likely to do a bad job than others might be.
You can also post a bid request and have freelancers bid for your job. You can get a variety of prices and freelancers to choose from, but don't automatically choose the lowest price. Lower priced freelancers are sometimes cheap because they're less experienced.
That's not always the case, though! Sometimes they're cheap because they're new to the site and they need to build a reputation. Rent-a-coder is another popular freelancing site. They're popular for being a place to find programmers, but they don't only have programmers available.
You can also find writers and graphics designers there, and sometimes people who will do things like site submissions and other menial tasks. Perhaps the best way to find a good freelancer is to ask for referrals from friends and acquaintances you've met while networking in this industry.
Pay Your Freelancer Through Escrow
If you're really worried about outsourcing, you could go through a site like Escrow.com. They let you make a deposit for the job, and they tell the freelancer that you've paid. Then the freelancer can being work, knowing the money has already been funded.
Once you're happy with the work, you can tell Escrow.com and they'll release the funds to the freelancer. Just be aware that some freelancers won't do this. They worry you'll claim you don't like the work (and use it anyway).
By using one of the more reputable outsourcing companies and checking references and feedback, you stand the best chance at finding a good freelancer that works at a reasonable price and will do a great job.