If you are one of the many skilled Australians hoping to find work online, you’ve probably considered offering your services to an international market. For those with computer related expertise or graphic design, typing, translating, writing or transcription skills, there is plenty of work online. Finding it can seem daunting but persistence can literally pay.
Here are some tactics you can employ to find work online:
- Explore freelancing websites like Elance. Some find the rates on offer on freelance sites very poor but you can get a good idea of the types of businesses that look for the services you offer and the level of competition.
- Set up a website for your business. This doesn’t have to be a costly exercise – there are sites that allow you to set up reasonable site for free or at a very small cost if you use your chosen domain name. Having a website will allow you to advertise far and wide on the Internet and direct traffic to your site address.
- Place your business profile online at free sites like www.whatcanyoudo.com.au. When you write your profile, mention that you are able to service international clients. Use relevant keywords in your public profiles as this may help draw the right people to your profile page.
- Place classified advertisements. In Australia, Gumtree is very popular. For the US, try Craigslist.
- Pay Per Click advertising – search engines like Google and Yahoo offer pay per click advertising. You need to have a website to utilise this advertising method. It does cost money but you can target specific countries with this method so it’s well worth considering.
- Set up a free account with a VoIP service like Skype or Oovoo – if clients want to actually speak to you you’ll be able to link up with clients anywhere from New York to Tehran using these services and have a face to face video call.
- Don’t be shy – join Twitter, Facebook and any other social networking site that will assist you to reach out to the world and find work online.
- Join forums that relate to the type of work you do or your personal interests. It’s a fabulous way of networking with people from all over the world and you never know when you’ll make a valuable contact. Many forums allow you to mention your business and place a link to your site in the forum signature. If you visit and post regularly on these forums you’ll not only meet a few like minded people but you may get a good flow of website visitors as people read your posts.
- Set up a Squidoo lens. It’s like a free mini website. You can advertise your services, link to your website or blog and even include photos of your work.
If you’re offering your services internationally, you’ll find a PayPal account very useful. Overseas businesses can pay by credit card to your PayPal account and you simply transfer the funds to your bank account. They do charge a service fee but making it easy for clients to pay you is essential!
The World is a huge place and we have unprecedented access to nearly every corner of it thanks to the Internet. If you want to find work online and you persist in your efforts, there’s every chance you’ll succeed.