Comments on: 5 Unconventional Places to Scout for Web Work

By: Casey Strouse

Casey Strouse — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:02:02 +0000

I’m gonna give #5 a shot. I’ve had lots of bad experiences with Craigslist, some mild successes with elance.com and freelancer.com, and am looking for a better way to get some work.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 05 May 2011 16:26:23 +0000

My advice would be:
1) Ask your clients to recommend you to people they know. Very powerful as it gives you credibility.
2) Approach companies that are in a similar industry/product. Most companies prefer to use suppliers that have knowledge of their industry.
3) Be persistent and network as much as you can.

By: Jeremy Warne

Jeremy Warne — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:35:47 +0000

While freelancer sites are packed with cheap third world responses, don’t forget the natural advantage that you have in this area. Most people (or certainly a usable proportion on those sites) have a good understanding that you get what you pay for. In addition, almost all of those cheap responses are badly written, cut-and-pasted responses. If you write a proposal which directly responds to the detail they’ve given and requests more, in a professional way, the client won’t believe their luck. Do the first little bit for a discounted rate, then as you build a relationship you can raise it a little.

Another tip: email web agencies in your area and let them know that you’re around. You never know when you’ll chat to someone who’s just finished griping about how they really need just a few extra developer/designer hours in the day to finish a project.

By: mandarmani

mandarmani — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 02:22:38 +0000

I have had good luck with classified listings… great place to look for work

By: priyankar web designer

priyankar web designer — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:01:57 +0000

I found some good work at http://www.shopfordesigns.com

Its a new site and hence less known. The competition is still low there.

By: Justin Harter

Justin Harter — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:34:13 +0000

I’ve found that the larger site job boards like Smash Mag and Elance are packed to the rim with cheap Indian labor. Frankly, I’ll take any client from most anywhere if the job is something we can do, but I stick to my guns and shoot for local clients in and around Indianapolis, Indiana.

By: ravi

ravi — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:31:02 +0000

A great article, thanks! It’s also good to let all your friends know that you’re free right now and you await some webdesigning offers – I’ve learned that there’s always a friend of a friend that has a company that’s just looking for a webdesigner right now

By: Designer

Designer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:00:09 +0000

nice post. thanks

By: liam

liam — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:30:48 +0000

Very Good post, a Great list of resources. The best tip is that advanced Google search, I Didn’t know you could do that with Google and its such a good idea. Thanks for this.

By: Jennifer Sanders

Jennifer Sanders — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:42:10 +0000

Hi Jacob,

I knew about ProBlogger’s job board; however, this post sure does offer a very extensive list of many places to search. I never thought about checking eBay.

There are many places that charge a membership fee to gain the job listings. Kinda sucks for people who need to get a job and are broke. I do understand that the paid job board needs to make money too, but there are tons of people who just can’t afford to pay the memberships of job boards.

I am really glad to see that you wrote this guide, I am sure that many people will find it in the months to come and find if very useful.