When outsourcing work for the first time, one of the most important aspects is deciding on how much to pay your freelancer. As this might be unfamiliar territory, the aim of this article is to provide some practical advice in addressing this decision.
Why Do We Hire Freelancers?
Generally there are 3 reasons why we utilize the services of freelancers. These include:
- Freeing Up Time Many individuals do not want to sacrifice time for money. When considering the online market, for example, it allows Internet Marketers the opportunity to outsource work such as article writing or graphic designs etc. Many established Internet Marketers will rather pay someone else to do the work for them in order to free up more personal time.
- Professional Service Very often the skills of a professional are required to carry out certain tasks. With our example above, Internet Marketers involved in affiliate programs wants to motivate readers landing on their websites into purchasing the products advertised. Not everyone can write great motivating sales copy, and therefore the services of skilled professionals are often utilized.
- Freedom of Choice
This is a combination of the above 2 points but with the focus of having the freedom of choice in utilizing any freelancer on an as and when required basis. There is no formal contracts entered into, and you have the freedom to decide whom you want to use and for which project.
Tips in Deciding How Much To Pay Your Freelancer
First of all, you will need to determine how a freelancer is to be paid, whether it is per hour or per project, or by some other rate. There is, however, a few ways to gauge payment structures. These include:
- Industry Rates By finding out what others pay for a similar service is often the first step in deciding how much to pay. The more common the skill, the higher the competition tends to be, and therefore the cheaper the rates for the particular service. This, unfortunately, does not necessarily mean that a standard quality will be guaranteed.
- Skills and Experience At the end of the day you want to ensure that you receive value for money, and therefore freelancers with great testimonials and proof of work is often is seen to charge higher rates. A pool of online writers, for example, may charge similar rates to write informative articles about a specific subject, but might not be as effective in writing sales copy. A professional Copywriter, on the other hand, does possess the skills to motivate most viewers in purchasing the product, and therefore charge higher rates for their skills. At the end of the day it all boils down to what you want to achieve.
- Quality of Work Generally, people are willing to pay more when their given product or service beams with quality. If you pay a lower rate compared to the industry norm, than you will need to accept that you might receive substandard quality. On the other hand, you may have just stumbled upon a ‘gem in the making’, especially with new freelancers competing for the same market. In such situations, however, there is nothing more motivating paying a little extra to the freelancer especially if you understand the amount of work that was invested in the end product, and if you want to create a long term relationship with the individual.
- Negotiating Other Rewards The rates charged from a freelancer may not always suit your budget, and therefore other rewards could be negotiated. If, for example, you want a specific designer to create a specialized set of logos and headers, but find the services charged is to steep, you could offer a lower payment in return for a revenue sharing deal. If you want a cheaper flat rate, determine what other rewards the freelancer may be willing to negotiate on.
Final Word
Considering all the above mentioned factors will help you in deciding how much to pay your freelancer as well as identifying a range of fees charged in the specific industry. From here there is nothing stopping you from contacting the individual and negotiating deals.
About the Author: This article was written by Timothy Ng. You can read more of his work at CreditCardFinder.com.au where he has a number of comprehensive guides to all types of credit cards.
really informative, i was thinking a lot about how much to pay them. and then i found iWriter, where i can buy theme-specific posts from freelancers, depending on the values and length. and they’re quite cheap:)
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I agree with all the points raised in the article with one minor question which is about the dependability on freelancers when it is time to submit their production. Hope this could be a topic in your next blog. How to get optimum performance from freelancers?
How to determine Industry Rates? I always go to elance.com to find how much others pay for the same job, but the rates varies a lot.
Doria recently posted..Hidden dangers of using automated trading robots
Thank you for this informative post. I myself writes blog articles but not that often. Only for friends blog sites. They pay $0.75 per article with 400-500 words. I’m not good at it, but still practicing!
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Maintaining a site does require a lot of time. I am willing to pay a professional to do the work required. It is great to know that there are people out there who are willing to help me. My salary would also depend on the skills rarity, work’s difficulty, employee’s productivity and the output’s quality.
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Well, for me it all depends on the quality of article and the length of it. Yes, these points should be consider but in the end the payment should be fair enough for both the writer and you. Thanks for the insights!
In the Netherlands many companies fire their employees because of the financial crisis. When the doning better they hire freelancers because they are flexibel, it happens more and more often.
It is very important to see a Freelancer’s work before you buy to confirm the quality of content you will be receiving and get a better idea on a price to pay. Elance.com is a great site for some information but you should do your own research as well to get accurate results.
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I agree with you Lee. Nothing speaks more of the freelancer than his/her work. If the work is just satisfactory it seems like he/she is not consistent with the job. So make sure that her previous experiences are valuable.
Greg
Webmaster of Lethal Commission Review
I think the bigger question is, “How much is your time worth?” I anyone can honestly answer that, a freelancer’s fee shouldn’t be a big issue. The four tips will absolutely help and is much appreciated Timothy…
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It’s very important to make sure that the freelancer is really skilled in that field, check their previous work then negotiate according to skill and experience. Experience and Skilled workers are paid higher fees than those who have lesser experience.
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You know what? 9 times out of 10 you get what you pay for, so if you want a freelancer who is going to deliver then you’ve got to pay them decent money. it’s nice to think that you can just look around and find somebody that is both good and cheap, but it rarely works out like that.
I have had such varied experiences with freelancers and my biggest tip is to NOT simply go with the cheapest option as it’ll cause more stress than it’s worth. I make sure my freelancers are smart, motivated and have good feedback. Hiring a freelancer simply based on a low price usually means they’ll do a bad job. Compare them to the competition and don’t bottom fish
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we have hired several freelancers with varying experiences. Some have been affordable with great results while others start a project and then cannot be contacted to finish later stages. Wish I would of found this post when we first started contacting and negotiating with freelancers.
Money isn’t the issue here. It the quality of the work that they do that really matters. If they’re really good, then I would mind paying for their time and effort as long as they meet the deadline.
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I live in the Philippines, people in other countries think that freelancers in the Philippines should be paid peanuts. I agree that we may not need to earn as much as in the USA or Europe but still the cost of living is not as low as people think it is.
On the other hand it is not easy to find a good freelancer here.
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I must say, all my experiences with freelancers have been disappointing. I have commissioned several articles in the past, not because I was incapable of writing them myself, but due to time constraints. I ended up spending more time on editing and correcting them than I would have spent by doing them myself in the first place. Even writers with high numbers of articles under their belts were, in my opinion, mediocre.
I know it depends on what you need the article for, and in many IM situations, quality isn’t always of paramount importance, but I would advocate caution if you’re planning anything more than a chunk of text to give Google something to chew on.
Great post. I usually outsource my writing work so that i can devote more of my time into other profitable things that cost much money. This may include doing my basic SEO work, designing, planning for future posts, and many more ideas. When i find myself free, i can get more and more ideas in mind to gather more profits from my business. Thanks for great post once again and such a useful blog.
Exactly Di! If a freelancer quotes you $25 to do something and you think that it is a bit steep since you think you can get it done for $5 or $10, think about how long it would take YOU to produce the same results. If it’s going to take you an hour or two, could you do something more productive or something that will make you more than that $25? Also you have to take into account time for revisions or completely redoing something if the lower-priced provider doesn’t provide something up to par. ~David Walker
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I have been doing freelancing and I am grateful to know that my clients like my performance.
It’s better to pay industry rates according to their expertise and skills.the freelancers are continously working always.but,few members getting right payment.there is no service availble yet to find solution for freelancer payment,if some clients don’t respond for long time.
Thank you
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It’s hard to guess how much the freelancer’s worth, even with all the ratings on certain websites. Your best try is to pay more and hope you run into a good one.
But one thing’s for sure, being cheap about it will get you a poorly done job, equal to the money.
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It is a very nice and informative post.Thanks for sharing your information on how much should we pay a freelancer.The tips are very helpful.
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Outsourcing a task is the best decision to make by a business owner. Yet, you need to consider how reasonable the decision is and to know if it fits within your budget. Most of the marketers I know are after to those freelancers who can provide them quality service at a cheaper price. Some promise to give bonuses, but not really all are true to their words. Anyway, for both parties, they need to be ready for consequences of their decisions.
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Such an informative post. By this, most of the clients/ employees could estimate how much or what amount is to be given to his/her freelancers. Through the time lapse the freelancer worked or the relevant his/her work to the society.
It’s very important to have a price from the beginning, if you start to negotiate while the freelancer began his work, then you might get ripped-off. Give or get a price from the beginning, it’s better to give than get but it depends on the freelancer. Look for as many feedbacks as possible, try to find out more about that person and if you think it’s reliable then start negotiating on a good price. You can say to him a smaller price and promise him that you will need his help again (maybe soon).
Diana Stroe recently posted..Reiki Healing
This is such an informative post, thank you.
When outsourcing, you must make sure that you keep a track on exactly what they are doing – to ensure that you get value for your money. Also keep the lines of communication open. Remember, most of them do work from home and emergencies do occur – they are only human.
I think setting expectations and rates upfront is the best way to go about it.
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Believe me or not, outsourcing can be a little “nightmare” if you are not careful. You can end up with more work than you had prior to have an an outsourcing team. It’s important to hire the right candidate, those who don’t need to be micro-managed. I currently work with one VA who do some traffic work for me, and I am pretty satisfied. We are together for several months now.
Franck
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I admire the valuable info you offer in your article, you got nice ideas here. This post is worth to read becaus you always wonder if you pay the people enough. Thanks for the tips.
great thank you for giving us a such an informative post like that…it help specially for those who have an small income…
Outsourcing for me is risky. I am still trying to master the best way to screen applicants. Hiring an unqualified client would mean additional cost and less work to be done. Though there is a risk, I am forced to find one especially with so much work to be done.
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These were some very nice tips on how much to pay a freelancer. The experience of that freelancer who you have hired is the most important. I don’t think it will be much to pay more to a freelancer who is an expert on his or her field.
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great blog..personally i think that you get what you pay for, so if you want a freelancer who is going to deliver then you’ve got to pay them decent money. good work and cheap prices rarely go togother.
Yes, All the factor affect while paying to freelance. But I guess the best which should be considered while paying to freelancer is his/her Skills and the way they do work.
I think it all depends on the freelancer capability, how he writes, length, quality content and experience in the field.
I always that freelancer have a more professional skills in one certain field and so they could live by it. If we could find the experienced freelancer worked for us, that is of course wonderful. Because there are no any limit between us, the honesty is most important.
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great blog…i am ready to search for andhire a freelancer,obviously the pay will depend on how he writes, and the length and quality content he has not forgetting experience
great, inspiring blog, my friend gets paid $0.75 per article with 400-500 words. i`m thinking of going for the same work to bring in some extra money for christmas!
I just actually today posted my first ad for a freelancer and THANK YOU for these tips! I decided to just start off with a small job at first and I’ll probably hire a couple people and then hope that at least one of them will write well enough to continue writing for me in the future. That way at least I’m not losing a whole ton of money.
Hi Timothy,
I work as both a freelancer and a client. I run some blogs which are community and discussion based, so for those it is quite to have a number of different voices. Another incentive I offer, which is similar to revenue share, is to offer the writer backlinks to their own sites. It’s sort of combining freelancing with guest blogging. This may not work for everyone though, as the writers I typically hire are already writing to the same niche as I am.
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One way is by finding out what others pay for a similar service is often the first step in deciding how much to pay. The more common the skill, the higher the competition tends to be, and therefore the cheaper the rates for the particular service.
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I guess it really depends what you’re looking for. It’s possible to find a very good freelancer that will charge very little like you mentioned, however in order to find one, you often have to go through a lot of “not so good” ones first.
Usually when I find one of these “gems”, I quickly increase their pay accordingly. I believe in paying them what they deserve not what you can get away with.
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Freelancer is like having a part time job…Having different kinds of work experience is very good to expand your work related mastery and enhancement, though the payment is low, still your experience will be paid eventually..
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Outsourcing menial tasks to a freelancer is a great way of freeing up time to do the more important tasks your business desperately needs. In terms of pay though, it’s all about the quality so I’ll obviously pay more if the quality is higher.
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lovely authentic post
Nothing says more about the freelancer than their work. It has to be really good or it comes over that they arent consistent with the job.
great post!!
personally i think that money isn’t the issue here,is more the quality of their work that s important, if they`re good, you dont mind paying for their time and effort as long as they meet the deadlines you give them
interesting blog!!
personally i think it would more depend on the skills rarity, work’s difficulty, employee’s productivity and the output’s quality, my wage would pay for these qualities
great advice, am gonna try your advice of offering a lower payment in return for a revenue as i cant afford the prices ive been quoted
intersting post, i always go to elance.com to see how much others pay before i decide what to pay.
One thing I learned about hiring a freelancer is to build trust and respect to have a long term relationship with them. Remember that they are your employee not your slaves. From time to time we need also to listen to them.
It could be another way: ask for a test or for a trial month to see how good he is, after which you’ll raise the sum you pay him. Some freelancers may have a good opinion about themselves and ask a lot of money for doing a mediocre job; if they have nothing to hide, they might accept your proposal
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In other countries, freelancers are not properly paid by customers. I mean, some clients pay low prices for freelancers’ work.
I think freelancers need more atention when it’s about money if we want them to work better.
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great read, personally i would take into account their skills, rarity, work’s difficulty, employee’s productivity and the output’s quality, my wage would then pay acordingly
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Out sourcing is low on cost but it takes time to get adjusted to it.
Some time in the mist of getting the work done at a low price we ignore the small errors made by the freelancer which end up ruining the project it self.
Very well written article ! cheers!
I have had great results on Odesk hiring people at $1.50 an article for 300 words. You really need to test people out with 1 or 2 article contracts till you find someone who is good then I usually do 10 to 20 article contracts after that.
I can see how this poses some problems, a freelancer doesn’t have fixed rates, and the service does not always equal what he asks. The freelancer market is broad and so are their price range. But with some time invested in studying their rates and portofolios, real deals can be made, a lot better than if you were to work with real companies.
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Odesk is a great way to find freelance contractors.
Very well said .
The bad thing about hiring a freelancers, there is no assurance of the delivery period.
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why is that freelancer’s don’t have a minimum wage?
Great tips!! I admire the valuable info you offer in your article. This is a very important question ” how much must you pay these people”. Thanks for sharing. how to train your dog
A friend of my advised me to work with Indians – they do a good job and they’re cheap. I haven’t tried it yet; do you think it’s just a myth or working with Indians is really a solution?
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Nice questions… it depends on freelancer you choose and your luck… because some of them just pretend that they know the Job very well… but me I believed in sayings that “when you pay peanut you get monkey” you better screen your workers well and select on the best of them…
Yes, This qualification is needed indeed to be good freelacer. and a worker will get his/her payment for his quality work.
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The freelancers that ive employed have worked from a commission basis, as i believe that this makes them work a lot harder, they make 50% of whatever is made for each service that they complete.
I give my freelancers a weeks trial to see the amount of work they can produce, then i can pay them on the basis of what they have done.
I do believe that freelance writers should take the equivalent compensation of the work that they are doing. Companies should give the right compensation especially if they can see that their writers are doing quality output and an asset to them.
Hey, Timothy! I often asked myself this and now I know how to set the price. Thanks for writing this useful article. I didn’t have time to read all these comments, but I bet most of them are positive.
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It really depends on quality you will get from this freelanced or team of freelancers.
I usually stick with my fixed rate that I am willing to pay and before every project I ask for samples, portfolio etc that can assure quality I will get.
But it’s really difficult to find freelanced that can keep the same quality for all project and in the long run. They have to be motivated and inspired and not every time money is the main motivator
I would hope not a fortune. I have not ever had to pay a freelance a whole lot of money. I basically want a fair price.
I will pay more to keep good freelance working for me.
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Thanks for the nice post ..I think we should pay per word if we hiring a freelance writer
This depends on so many things just like it’s been outlined here. However, we should always keep in mind that you will get your money’s worth. So, if you get greedy and expect quality work when you pay less then a cent per word – you’ll have anything thing coming your way.
Would you do that job for that money?
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My simple take in this point is that the more someone charge the more quality and experienced that person is respecting his time , the more cheaper you go the more drop in quality you will see , I would not be tempted to get a cheap offer and run down on it , rather check the experience and time of that freelancer and then decide accordingly !
As an entrepreneur or business owner you have to recognize the fact that you do not have all the skills and knowledge needed in running your business. At times like this, you have to consider hiring a freelancer.
I guess the most common problem when it comes to freelance writing is the ongoing rate of the writers. I’ve seen lots of writers who offer cheap services to clients. So if you’re a writer and do it for a living, you might reconsider your pricing just to earn money.
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Pay for freelancing is depends on work type. Freelancing is really good to complete work easily and also with effective charges. The main benefit of freelancing is that we can save money whenever we have not any project.
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I have had such different activities with independent employees and my biggest tip is to NOT generally go with the most cost-effective option as it’ll cause more stress than it’s value. I make sure my independent employees are sensible, motivated and have fantastic opinions. Choosing a dependable generally according to a low price usually indicates they are going to do a bad job. Assess them to the competition and never platform fish…Thanks..for sharing…me..
This is one of the essential article which will help the clients to find out how to charge for hiring the freelancer. Generally, newbies don’t know how much to charge for ‘writing articles’, hence they end up giving more than estimation of the particular price.
I’ve just started doing freelance work and it’s difficult to know how to price your work because you don’t want to charge too much or too little. Thanks for the great article!
I’d suggest making a list of what you’re good at or skills you think might be of value in the freelance community. For example, I write online as a freelancer and have a few gigs on Fiverr for administrative assistant-type work doing mail merges, etc. Those are skills I have and tasks I can complete from home.
Well with so many freelancing sites available on the internet it has become highly necessary that one knows how to get value for the money that they pay up for work. Outsourcing is beneficial for both the parties because then it is easier to get quality work for lesser amount of money.