Most of my readers are small business owners or employees, so you should know about using Upwork and Fiverr for your tourism businesses. Every heard of them? They are online job boards for freelancers who can do anything from graphic design to writing to accounting. I have been using their services in various capacities for years. I recently needed a banner ad to run on the Groupstoday.com website, so I thought I would document my process to give you a first-hand example of how to work with these sites.
Similarities with Upwork and Fiverr
Upwork and Fiverr have similar business models: to connect people needing work done, with those willing to do it. As a business looking to hire, you can post the job and ask for proposals. You can also peruse through listings of contractors willing to perform certain tasks, and hire them directly. Payment is done directly through a payment method that you set up when you create an account. For both platforms, you do not pay until the project is completed to your satisfaction.
Both sites depend heavily on user reviews. I have found that individuals I have hired are very concerned about getting a great rating and will go back and forth changing and editing until I was satisfied enough to give a great review- most of the time. As I will explain below, there are always challenges when working with contractors.
Differences between Upwork and Fiverr
Upwork was originally called Elance which was a pioneer in online job matching. It combined with another job site and became Upwork a few years ago. It has a clean interface and I like the information you can see about each freelancer. They can set their pricing on an hourly or per project basis. There are reporting features that are helpful and you can filter who can see your requests by many various parameters.
Fiverr began as a site where people would perform any task for $5. There are some serious business people on there, as well as wacky people who will ‘sing Happy Birthday off-key and record it for you’, or write your business name in the sand on a beach ( got to admire the ingenuity, right?). The website interface is busy and there are a lot of individuals with less experience and skills than those you will find on Upwork. Fiverr has now evolved and gigs can cost more than $5, although most everyone still posts a basic gig for $5.
I decided to hire individuals from both sites to create banner ads for me and compare the results. See what you think!
Develop your proposal
Make sure you are clear with what you are looking for. For my proposal, I knew that I wanted an ad that reflected the colors of my website, used my logo and had a call to action. I also knew the dimensions and criteria for the ad so I included that. Be as clear as you can with your request. That will save you time in the long run. Here is what I used:
I need 2 digital ads produced that will run in rotation for 3 months. It is a box ad that is 300×250 pixels. I have the ideas and text that I want, I just need help producing it. I will want my logo and colors from my website ( sallydavisberry.com). The ad is due on April 8th.
I need the first ad to say: New to Group Tours? Download ’25 terms every tourism pro should know’ for free. It needs to also have my logo.
The second ad should say : Looking for more group tours? Get the book ‘How to attract more tourists to your destination” It should also have my logo.
They will be in rotation on the www.groupstoday.com website. My website is www.sallydavisberry.com.
On both sites, I looked for individuals that I thought would do a great job with the work. I also posted the job listing and had multiple responses within hours. On Upwork, you also have to post the price for the job so I chose $50. Will the finished product be 10 times better than the Fiverr option? Let’s see!
Choosing your freelancer
There are several steps I suggest you take when you are deciding on a freelancer from these sites. Taking the time to hire the right person will save you a lot more time when the project goes well. And when you find a good fit, you can use them again and again, and you will have a new partner in your business.
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Check out freelancer reviews- do they look accurate?
Fiverr tends to have freelancers that have basic reviews that are the same wording – almost like they paid someone to post reviews. I always look for reviews that mention specifics and talk about understanding the needs of the client. The freelancer posts responses to reviews as well so I look for someone that takes the time to customize their response to the project. Upwork reviews tend to be more in-depth and informational.
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Eliminate responses with bad grammar.
I automatically eliminate anyone who calls me ‘sir’ or uses i instead of “I” . That is someone that is not detail oriented and you do not need that hassle in your life!
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Consider hiring multiple people for projects.
This strategy can help you get your project completed with some options. Even though I documented this ad as an experiment for my readers, I would have hired multiple people anyways. I received some good options and probably will hire one of the freelancers for additional work.
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Decide on the freelancer and answer all their questions so they can begin.
Freelancers make their money on completed projects and my experience has been that they start working as soon as they are awarded the job. Many of them will send an email asking for additional information or files needed to get started. The quicker you get the information to them, the sooner they can start working for you.
Winners and losers.
Not all my Upwork and Fiverr gigs have been successes. I hired someone on Fiverr earlier this year to write a blog post for me. It was during a time I was traveling a lot for my job, and I thought the theme of ‘The importance of food to tourism’ was general enough that someone could take that off my to-do list. I gave specific examples and explained that my website was geared towards tourism professionals, not travelers. The result was disappointing and even though we tried to make some changes, I realized that I needed to write my posts, not anyone else. It wasn’t my voice in the text and the information was not what I was looking for.
But I have had some winners too! Years ago when I had my own consulting company, I worked with a designer to develop a logo for an Erie Canal walking program. The resulting logo ended up winning awards and the designer and I still keep in touch.
Results:
These ads are from Fiverr freelancers. There is another one that is a flash ad that came out well but the format doesn’t work on this site.
Here is the Upwork finished product for both ads:
Final thoughts
It has never been easier to hire help for your small business. By hiring freelancers to do jobs or tasks that are not your strengths, you can become much more efficient and productive. Hire someone to do small things and that will leave you free to do the important things that will grow your business. Let me know if you try either of these sites – or go to the freelancer forum on my website to ask any questions you might have!
P.S.- I used the Fiverr ad to get started but will be switching out to the Upwork ones this week.