The Art of Business: Selling Yourself Online

For years you’ve been able to bid online for just about any service or product. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to use the Web to make a commodity out of you.

You might be offended by the prospect or encouraged by the new marketing potential, but there’s no doubt that online job marketplaces are helping to transform the creative market into another commodity in which products — you — are bought and sold.

If you haven’t seen or tried one, take a look at these sites:

Some of the exchanges allow you to post your portfolio and peruse jobs listings for free. Others require you to pay a monthly or annual fee to become a registered service provider. The fee provides you with space to showcase your services and experience, and also gives you access to bulletin boards where clients post requests for proposals. These services differ from that offered by creativepro.com, which offers a portfolio-hosting service through its partner Random Eye Technologies. Called artistfolios.com, the site allows photographers, illustrators, and designers the opportunity to showcase their work in an open market place, but it does not intervene in the solicitation of or bidding for work.

As you’ll see once you start investigating, the sites vary greatly. Some exchanges are fairly anemic, with only a few or outdated postings. Other sites have plenty of postings but lots of competition as well. And still others are focused more on permanent job placement than freelance work.

Fee-based providers contend that the subscription model weeds out the wannabes and validates their sites as professional marketplaces. These exchanges are often more comprehensive, providing you with additional market info, such as the number of bidders on each project, the average dollar bid to date, the ability to communicate electronically with clients, and read the messages posted by your competitors in their attempts to lure potential clients their way.

Online exchanges may also provide a number of other services for freelancers. Bullhorn.com, for example, offers automatic e-mail notification of jobs. Freeagent.com offers online timecards and invoicing, corporate-style benefit plans including health insurance and retirement savings, and free online computer training courses. eLance provides a quality assurance system that includes client profiles, community forums, direct communication mechanisms, and dispute resolution services.

Hidden Fees?
But beware, the upfront monthly subscription fees may be only the start of the costs you’ll incur. Again, you’ll need to check with each exchange for individual policies as it varies greatly, but expect to sacrifice a percentage back to the exchange for each job you win online.

At first, Rob Weathers, co-owner and senior graphics designer at Defiant Graphics in Lancaster, Calif., wasn’t crazy about the idea of bidding online for projects, but now he’s a believer. Weathers uses eLance exclusively and estimates that one of every three jobs he gets comes from the online marketplace. A banner and web site specialist, Weathers has won a total of 130 jobs since he began using the service in June of 2000. Compensation has ranged from $25 to $5,000 with an average of $400 per job — about $40 to $50 an hour. Weathers pays $150 a month for access to the service, in addition to the three- to seven-percent commission he coughs up for each project.

Weathers has also enjoyed a fair share of return clients and referrals from his eLance jobs. But, he says, it’s all about knowing how to play the game.

“The key is to make your proposal as custom as possible. You don’t want a cut-and-paste response to a detailed bid. Do a little research by looking at the client’s past projects to see what the history is and who has won bids in the past,” said Weathers.

It’s also important to get good customer reviews. “It took me two months to get my first review, but then the jobs were much easier to get after that,” said Weathers.

Another tactic is to engage clients early. “Ask them a question that generates interest. Once they open up a message board and talk to you, your chances of getting the job increases. Even if you aren’t the winning bid, people get to know you and come back later,” said Weathers, who estimates that he wins about one of every ten jobs he bids on.

Online exchanges are also working for Irina Zhankov, Creative Director at Z-Graphics Design Studio in Ithaca, N.Y. Zhankov does complain, however, about a high number of dead projects that never close.

Bidding Down the Price
But there’s a catch with online exchanges: lower compensation.

The compensation squeeze can be attributed in part to the competitive nature of online marketplaces. But there are a few other reasons as well, according to Zhankov.

“A lot of providers are offering their services at an unbelievably low per hour cost or even for free to get good feedback from the client, and that drives down the prices. I don’t mind bidding, but sometimes it’s such a waste of time. It’s very upsetting to see very talented service providers bid way below a reasonable price. And of course it’s tough to compete with so many great designers, but it makes me feel great if I’m selected for the job.”

For North American freelancers, there’s another factor driving down the compensation: global competition. According to eLance, 40 percent of registered service providers are located outside of the U.S. in some 160 other countries. U.S. designers, then are bidding against designers in Russia, India, and elsewhere where a buck isn’t a buck.

Still, both Weathers and Zhankov find the service worthwhile because it brings them new business and has even helped to snag a few long-term clients.

“I would say eight of ten projects are awarded to low-end bidders, but two of ten projects go to the provider with the best quality service, and these are the jobs we go after,” said Weathers.

These sites are not for the casual at heart. The trick is to stay with a site long enough to become intimate with its workings, and then visit often so you can react swiftly to new request for proposals (RFPs). It often takes a serious time investment before the payoff begins.

Forrester Research estimates that the U.S. market for selling services over the Internet will reach $220 billion by the year 2003. McKinsey Consulting forecasts the market will reach $700 billion globally.

Graphic design, naturally, is a small piece of this pie, but the writing is on the wall; Increasingly, designers will have to add online hawking to their bag of tricks.

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This article was last modified on December 14, 2022

This article was first published on March 4, 2002

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