Exploring the Opportunity of a Home Office - Top 5 Freelance Websites

Today's job market has become very complex, there is a lot of competition and unemployment numbers are soaring. Finding a job is not about circling possible jobs on Sunday's newspaper and then having to choose between a few offers… quite the contrary. The job market is very competitive, people are accepting less pay and gruelling work hours just to take care of their monthly bills. Modern moms are under pressure having to decide wether to take a big pay cut and stay home with the kids or pay for daycare and work to contribute to family income.

Computers, internet, smart-phones and worldwide outsourcing have changed the way we work today, we now have the tools to work from home and manage jobs from any part of the world. Freelancing jobs give us the opportunity to set up a home business or earn a few extra dollars other than our monthly pay-check.

There are many websites for freelancers, most offer jobs on web and software development and other technical subjects but they also have projects on client support, writing, data entry, accounting and others.

Here's a list of the top 5 online freelance websites:

1. Odesk.com

Odesk is a virtual global job marketplace where people and companies can hire and manage remote workers around the world. Odesk has a series of tools for working online and keeping track of projects, time and automatic weekly payments. The company collects 10% of your payments and the jobs available fall under the categories of: Web Development, Software Development, Writing & Translation, Administrative Support, Customer Service, Sales & Marketing, Networking & Information Systems, Design & Multimedia and Business Services.

2. Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com is an online job marketplace for freelance workers from around the world. This website also has an application that allows software to task you with the work that needs to be done. Other than their global websites they also have specific websites for Australia, UK, Europe & New Zealand. Freelancer.com charges you US $5 or 10% (whichever higher) per project or you can pay a gold membership of $24.95 which drops commissions to 3%. There are jobs available under: Websites, IT & Software, Mobile Phones & Computing, Writing & Content, Design, Media & Architecture, Data Entry & Admin, Engineering & Science, Product Sourcing & Manufacturing, Sales & Marketing, Business, Accounting, Human Resources & Legal and Others

3. Elance.com

Elance is a virtual marketplace for freelancers and freelance agencies where you can negotiate work contracts that hire undefended professionals. As a freelancer you can search the site for potential jobs and make bids. Elance also charges a commission and it ranges between 6.75% and 8.75% of the payments made to you. Jobs posted are mainly information technology and marketing, other categories are web development, programming, creative design, multimedia production, writing, search engine optimization, content translations and research.

4. iFreelance.com

iFreelance.com is another freelance outsourcing platform that brings buyers and freelancers together in one area, making it easier for everyone to search for what they need. The jobs that are posted are under the main categories of website development, graphic arts, writing, editing and software and script programming. The fees are very different from other websites, freelancers pay a membership fee to belong to the service. The basic membership is US $4.69 a month, they also have a silver membership for $6.95 per month and gold one for $9 per month. The higher the membership, the more benefits you get within the service. iFreelance does not charge freelancers a commission.

5. Project4hire.com

Project4hire.com is another website that assists freelancers in finding jobs, and helps clients find freelancers. Project4hire is probably the one with the lowest commission fee which is a charge of 5% of each project. Available jobs fall under the categories of Web Development & Promotion, Software Programming & Support, Graphic Design, Writing, Services, Audio, Video & Multimedia, Engineering, Hardware Support & Repair and Other projects.

Whichever website you pick to work with, make sure you read through each and every one of them. Read their terms and conditions, review their fees, browse through the jobs and see how others work and what they do. Once you pick a website to work with make sure how much time you have available before you take jobs and work your way through it slowly. Once you get the hang of it you'll get into a great work routine and will start seeing that extra cash.