Everyone is familiar with the world’s top website design and marketing agencies. The reality is that many of these agencies in the United States have only a few staff members and rely on freelancers for everything else.
This is a smart strategy, after all. Hiring freelancers will help you save money in employment costs, and there are no strings attached with any hire. But, the ugly truth is that finding freelancers can be a hassle and they’re sometimes difficult to work with.
If you’re working on tight deadlines and need immediate help, you’ll need to recognize these core issues in dealing with freelancer platforms, such as Freelancer, Upwork, and all the like.
1. Finding Good Freelancers is Time Consuming
Let’s discuss the elephant in the room — finding qualified freelancers is challenging. Freelancer platforms will advertise that they house thousands of contractors, from website developers to copywriters.
In reality, many of the freelancers on these platforms are either located in third-world countries or are generally unreliable. Sifting through a large pool of candidates has its disadvantages.
If you need to fill an immediate role, you could be forced to take time from your busy schedule to conduct interviews with dozens of candidates.
Good luck…
2. Skills Are Often Misleading
Another issue with freelancer platforms is that the entire premise is misleading. Think about it — too many freelancer platforms don’t even require new signups to have any credentials. They don’t have to take any tests to provide references and work samples. Sure they have some reviews, but more often than not, the bad projects are left unreviewed, leaving only the glowing reviews.
With that said, how can you guarantee that you will receive quality deliverables from them? The truth is you can never be certain until your give them that first assignment, especially with the fact that you can pay a freelancer who can leave your project never to be heard from again.
That’s right — most freelancer platforms require employers to submit payments in advance to freelancers to make them feel more secure in taking on your project.
The downside is that paying a milestone could open up the door for a scandalous contractor to run away with your hard-earned money. Sure, you can get this money back, but the point is that you’ll waste a lot of time chasing a freelancer down and hinder the success and often the progress of your project.
3. Freelancer Platforms Incur Significant Costs
There is no such thing as a free freelancer platform. Overall, you may have to pay to use a platform, whether before placing a job or accepting one. If you plan on using these platforms to regularly hire a bunch of freelancers, then you may have to pay a subscription fee. On flip side, if the freelancer is paying the fees, you are likely paying it anyhow since the freelancer is simply passing the costs back to you.
While these fees will pale in comparison to hiring an employee (with benefits), these costs can become a negative if you’re already struggling with hiring the right freelancer for your project.
What’s the Alternative?
Freelancer platforms have their advantages. But, if you want to automate the hunting process and know for certain you’re dealing with qualified professionals, you may want to consider white labeling this area of your agency instead.
This way, you can partner with a reputable marketing agency that can either supplement your current team or work directly for you. By working with us, you can focus on growing your business and eliminate the stress of meeting tight deadlines. Click here to learn more about our white label marketing services and contact us today!