More options can often enable you to make much better decisions.
As a freelancer, you’re likely looking for ideal projects on a regular basis.
Now if you only have a couple of micro job sourcing platforms to choose from, then this severely limits the diversity of your decisions …
And this restricts you to just a few possibilities, opportunities and results.
So you wouldn’t want that now, would you?
But how exactly can you avoid this problem?
Well it’s really simple — you just need a bigger list of micro job sourcing sites, right?
Though that won’t surely improve the likelihood of getting the best results now, would it?
Well this notion can’t be any further from the truth.
However, you’re advised to use a carefully hand-picked list of ideal micro job sourcing sites that exactly matches your parameters.
And before you begin to review each item in this list, you’re recommended to learn more current facts and figures about this industry.
This alone can drastically optimize your chances of getting viable results from your decision.
So let’s start!
Micro Job Sourcing Industry Facts & Figures by Numbers
There’s a lot of demand for freelancing services and outsourced labor at the moment.
In a recent report this year, Forbes said “Many businesses are turning to outsourced services more now than ever before.”
Also through this survey last year, Upwork and Freelancers Union found out that a total of more than 1 billion hours each week are used in the USA for freelancing activities.
But what are many of these businesses currently looking for?
It turns out that a majority of them is searching for the best talent in industries like ICT (information and communications technology), media publishing, retail, health and pharmaceuticals.
This is according to this global BPO report in 2017 …
And how much on average are freelancers earning today?
Well leading digital payment processing firm Payoneer says, “Across all fields and regions, the average freelance fee is $19 an hour.”
More than 20,000 freelancers in over 170 countries participated in their 2019 survey.
And their report also indicates that male freelancers earn $20 per hour on average, while female remote workers have a $16 average hourly rate.
Now armed with these up-to-date details, you can look at our roundup of the top 15 micro job sourcing sites this year in a much better perspective.
You’ll be able to identify the most common types of freelance projects and virtual worker positions that are currently available in each of these platforms.
This can give you a more informed decision for investing your time and energy into promoting your freelancing services or looking for casual remote employment across these 15 micro job sourcing sites:
Top 15 Micro Job Sourcing Sites of the Year
Upwork
This is today’s most popular micro job sourcing platform for thousands upon thousands of freelancers, virtual workers, service buyers and employers all around the world.
Independent groups, individual employers, SMEs and start-ups post fixed projects and hourly job offers on this site.
Meanwhile, freelancers and service teams respond to these posts, often negotiating mutually beneficial deals.
Aside from helpful remote workforce sourcing options and expense management tools, Upwork also provides payment processing services that make it quicker and easier for both parties to send and receive payouts.
They also have an integrated escrow system that’s designed to protect both freelancers and employers.
Also, instant text, video and voice chatting features are embedded into their platform.
This is for faster and simpler messaging and communication between service buyers and freelancers.
Instant message alerts and project notifications are emailed to both freelancers and clients.
Plus, file sharing functions are integrated into this portal.
This enables much convenience when it comes to remotely collaborating with clients and service providers.
More importantly, you’ll be able to choose the most suitable freelancers, clients and projects for your preferences based on unbiased user ratings and reviews.
As an employer, you’re able to rate your service providers based on a number of parameters like work output quality, task completion punctuality, ease of communication and so on.
Meanwhile, you can also do all these things as a freelancer.
Fiverr
Hundreds of clones are inspired by this micro job sourcing site.
Fiverr is a platform where you can post your $5 service offers for potential buyers to see.
As a freelancer, you can also add special deals to your $5 offers, and it’s up to you to set a price for these additional promos.
Just like Upwork, you can see reviews and ratings left by others in the profiles of service providers and buyers alike.
Plus, there are also built-in communication tools that can make it quicker and easier for you to work with clients and service providers.
More so, Fiverr doesn’t limit you to a specific set of job categories, project types, niches and industries.
Instead, you can post anything that you’re willing to do for $5 or higher.
This can range from common freelancing tasks like content writing and social media marketing to more obscure ones like handing out flyers across certain local areas and participating in social experiments among others.
Plus, don’t worry about the $5 job offer limit.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t be able to earn significant sums of money from your freelancing activities at this platform.
First, you’re likely to be capable of doing these $5 jobs either multiple times a day, or for more than one client on a regular basis.
This can add up to a good amount of monthly earnings from your freelancing ventures.
Second, keep in mind that you can include special deals and promos in your $5 job posts at much higher prices.
For example, if you’re willing to write 500 words of original specialist niche content for $5, then you can include a special deal where you’ll write 2,000 words for $18 or even more words at a significant discount.
Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk)
This is among the oldest micro job sourcing sites on the Web.
It’s been operating in this industry under Amazon Web Services since 2005.
As of this writing, millions of users are registered as “Requesters” and “Workers” in this platform.
These users are from over 190 countries.
Requesters are service buyers.
Meanwhile, workers are freelancers who are willing to carry out the tasks posted by requesters.
Usual small projects are posted here, such as blog commenting, forum posting, logo design and content writing among others.
But odd jobs are more common here than other platforms in this roundup.
https://www.alltechbuzz.net/online-data-entry-jobs/
These can include tasks for labeling thousands of images, collecting URLs of relevant research sources, taking photos of tourist spots in your country and many others.
Because Amazon is a trusted brand, you can see a lot of established companies and multinational corporations here.
They often request a ton of tasks that can be completed by a large team of workers.
So if you operate a team of freelancers as your business, then this can be a worthwhile micro job sourcing platform to explore.
Payouts are processed through Amazon gift cards and Amazon Payments.
You can also request for payments via direct bank wire.
As a service buyer, you can fund your account at this site through your bank or debit and credit cards, along with any other payment option that’s available through Amazon Payments.
Clickworker
This is another micro job sourcing site that has been around for over a decade.
Currently, it’s estimated that this platform has more than 700,000 users worldwide.
These are buyers of common and obscure services, along with freelancers who are willing to complete these tasks.
Usual projects in this site are for collecting data and annotating images, translating or writing content materials of different types and lengths, collating research data from various sources and others.
Some of these job offers require workers to go through evaluation tests.
These are mostly for translation jobs, writing content, data entry tasks and the like.
But for more straightforward tasks like labeling photos and classifying content, workers can start doing these jobs without going through pre-assessment procedures.
Also, payouts are processed through PayPal at the end of each week, and minimum withdrawal is $5.
Crowdsource
Also known as OneSpace, this is another legitimate micro job sourcing portal.
This site is regularly used by a lot of service buyers and freelancers across over 190 countries.
Lots of the projects and micro job offers in this platform are for writing and translating content, editing articles and ebooks among other materials, posting comments and replies in blogs, social media groups and forums.
There are also significant numbers of offers for transcribing videos and audio recordings, classifying objects in photos and images, moderating blogs and social media communities, etc.
You’ll need to pass evaluation tests for many of these jobs before you can apply for these projects.
That’s why this platform has 269 exams for freelancers.
Payments and account funding are processed through PayPal.
There are no minimum withdrawal limits.
This means you can work on a task for say $0.10 or less and have that directly sent to your PayPal account.
Microworkers
More than 700,000 users frequent this micro job sourcing platform as of this writing.
This user base is a combination of small businesses, companies and organizations that require small one-off tasks and much bigger projects to be completed.
And a significant percentage consists of remote workers and virtual service teams from all around the world, each with different skill sets and industry expertise.
Service buyers can create professional looking job offers and projects through this site’s quick and simple to use tools.
Freelancers and virtual teams can also develop quality profiles with their portfolios.
This allows both parties to entice more of their targets to respond to their job offers and service deals.
A lot of projects are for using certain search queries in Google and clicking on results and ads, collecting data from viable research sources on the Web, posting on forums and social groups among others.
https://www.alltechbuzz.net/freelancing-opportunities/
There are also many job offers for creating hundreds of accounts in email and social media platforms, and also for downloading and testing Android or iOS apps and a variety of desktop tools.
Service buyers can fund their payments through PayPal, while workers can use this payment processor for withdrawals.
There’s a minimum withdrawal limit of $9 including payment processing fees.
And there’s also an address verification procedure for enabling payout withdrawals.
But this requirement is just for new freelancers making their first withdrawals.
SEOClerks
This micro job sourcing site is similar to Fiverr.
Freelancers and remote workers can register and post their service offers in this site at any reasonable price that they want.
Service buyers can then purchase your offer, and you get paid after you complete the task.
Many of the service offers in this platform are for writing content materials like articles, blog posts, product reviews and so on.
Others are for creating brief videos, doing voice-overs, designing logos, modifying images and other virtual admin tasks.
There are even offers for posting comments and replies in blogs, Web forums, online communities and social media groups.
That’s because, as its name suggests, SEOClerks mostly cater to the needs of independent publishers, affiliates, small businesses and companies for their search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns.
Also, withdrawal options for freelancers include PayPal, Payoneer and Payza.
Meanwhile, buyers can use their accounts in these digital payment processors or their debit and credit cards to pay for the service offers that they want.
SEOClerks keeps 10% of a freelancer’s earnings as their fee for their marketing, hosting, site moderation and management expenses.
This is similar to what Fiverr is charging at the moment.
Lots of remote workers and freelancers continue to earn a good amount of money from this platform each month.
On the other hand, service buyers can rate freelancers after they complete the task.
They can also leave reviews for other buyers to see.
So remote workers with top ratings and lots of positive reviews have much better chances for consistently getting projects.
Meanwhile, freelancers can also leave ratings and comments about their experience in working with the buyer.
GigBucks
Another popular micro job sourcing site, this platform allows users to post tasks that they’re willing to complete for a certain price.
Service buyers can also post small projects and quick tasks that they want done for various rates.
Both parties can set the prices of their offers and requests from $5 to $50.
As a freelancer, you’re advised to develop a unique offer that can grab the attention of your target buyers.
So if you can complete a certain task that’s very similar to lots of offers from many freelancers, then you’re recommended to either optimize your service ads (including headlines and prices), or add a unique twist to your service packages.
The most common offers and requests in this site are for search and click jobs, downloading and testing mobile apps, creating logos and icons among other images, and a variety of similar tasks.
Some GigBucks freelancers are also successfully offering services like posting comments on blogs, replies and threads on Web forums, research work and other administrative jobs.
Payments are processed through PayPal.
Using this digital payment provider, freelancers can withdraw their earnings, while buyers can pay for the tasks that they want.
But both parties need to register before using the platform, and only 1 account is allowed for each user.
Envato Studio
This micro job sourcing site is also among the largest marketplaces in the world when it comes to themes, scripts and plugins for a variety of Web CMSs (content management systems) and ecommerce platforms like WordPress, Magento and Drupal among others.
Freelancers can post their service offers in this site, and buyers can book them and pay after the worker completes the task.
Common service offers here are for custom logo and website theme design, mobile and Web app development, software programming and other technical tasks.
This is an ideal micro job sourcing platform for web developers, graphics designers, software programmers, mobile app creators, ecommerce data entry experts and so on.
Aside from posting service offers, freelancers and private groups like small businesses and companies can post their completed digital products here for sale.
These are mostly WordPress and Magento themes and plugins, a variety of scripts and Web tools for remote servers and local workstations, among others.
Payment options for both buyers and developers include PayPal, debit and credit cards.
MasterCard and Visa are supported, but not American Express.
Payouts are automatically deposited to the developer’s chosen option every 15th of the month, provided that the developer has an approved payment account that was active before the last day of the month.
For instance, a developer with an approved payment account since September 29 can withdraw his or her earnings on October 15.
However, the earnings of the developer should be equal or more than the minimum withdrawal amount for the selected option.
ProBlogger Marketplace
This is both a micro job sourcing site and a classified job platform.
Service buyers post freelance projects, while employers advertise their in-house and remote vacancies.
This is a popular marketplace for one-off projects and long term job positions that are related to digital marketing, blogging, social media engagement and search engine optimization among others.
Lots of the freelance projects in this platform are for content writers and bloggers.
These are often remote jobs with a 1 to 3-month agreement.
Meanwhile, there are many virtual job positions for long term arrangements.
Most of these are for content writers, bloggers, editors, content managers, community developer advocates and so on.
As a freelancer or remote worker, you can apply to any of these job posts by simply following the details of the ad that you want.
Normally, you’ll be asked to send an email with the latest copy of your CV and a few samples of your work.
But sometimes, they’ll ask you to fill out a Web form, upload or provide links to your sample work and answer a few questions in the same form.
Afterwards, this often involves back and forth email conversations between the service buyer and employer.
A lot of the freelance projects and remote work vacancies that are posted in this platform pay good money.
Many freelancers earn a decent living from the projects in this site, while a lot of virtual workers are continuing to work with employers they found in this platform.
Project and payout terms are also arranged privately between the freelancer and service buyer.
On the other hand, terms of long term contracts for virtual employment or casual remote positions are also between the employer and the applicant.
This also goes for long term in-house employment arrangements.
PeoplePerHour
This platform allows freelancers and virtual workers to post service offers at the hourly rate that they want.
For example, you can post an article writing service at $20 per hour where buyers can expect around 1,000 words of original content about your specialized fields.
Meanwhile, you can offer logo design services at $10 per hour where employers can expect a professional looking logo after 20 hours on average.
Both parties need to register for an account at this platform.
Freelancers are recommended to complete their profiles, upload their portfolios and other necessary details that can entice their target buyers.
Many of the service offers in this site are for digital marketing tasks like posting comments and replies in Web forums and social media groups among other online communities, writing content materials and posting it in the buyer’s WordPress blog, etc.
There are also a lot of deals related to graphics design, social media moderation and management, data entry and other administrative tasks that can be done remotely.
Freelancers can raise an invoice once they complete projects.
Security processing is performed by PeoplePerHour after the buyer releases escrowed funds and pays the invoice.
This can normally take from a few minutes or a couple of hours to 2 to 3 banking days.
On the other hand, employers can use their debit and credit cards, bank accounts, PayPal and Payoneer to pay for the service offers that they want.
These are also available to freelancers as withdrawal options.
Task Rabbit
This micro job sourcing site is where employers and service buyers post one-off tasks and small projects for both local and remote workers.
That’s because some of them offer real world tasks like shopping and cooking.
So the worker needs to be in the same geographic area where the employer is currently based.
But there are also many offers for virtual tasks.
These include selling products on the Web, performing digital marketing and social media moderation, writing content and so on.
Most of these remote jobs are posted by independent publishers, small businesses and Internet affiliates among others.
Employers provide detailed instructions for completing the tasks they need done.
Freelancers need to carefully review their guidelines and requirements.
Once they agree with all terms and hourly rates, they can respond to the job post.
They’re then paid 72 hours upon completing the task.
That’s because employers are given a day or so to review their work.
Freelancers and employers need to be at least 21 years old to join this platform.
They also need to have a Facebook and LinkedIn account.
Withdrawal options for freelancers are PayPal and paper checks.
These options are enabled once your account has $25 or more.
Meanwhile, service buyers can pay using their debit and credit cards, bank accounts and PayPal.
RapidWorkers
This legitimate micro job sourcing platform is quite similar to Microworker.
Lots of freelancers are consistently earning good money from this site.
Many service buyers in this platform are also continuing to have small tasks and one-off jobs completed through more convenient ways.
Most remote jobs posted here are for digital marketing, SEO, graphics design, search and click tasks among other administrative duties.
These include article and blog post writing, forum posting, blog commenting, social media moderation, data entry, gathering research materials and the like.
Service buyers are called employers, while freelancers are known as workers in this site.
Both parties need to register for an account before they can start using this platform.
The registration process is quite similar to that of Microworker.
Payouts are sent to the worker’s PayPal account after earning at least $4 plus 6% PayPal fees.
On the other hand, employers can fund their accounts through credit or debit cards and PayPal, so they can pay for completed tasks.
Freelancer
This is among the biggest micro job sourcing platforms on the Web today.
When they started in 2009, many of the freelance projects and virtual jobs posted here were for completing technical tasks.
These include Web development, mobile app creation, software programming and so on.
Today, it’s a bit of a balance between technical tasks and creative digital marketing jobs.
Lots of posts are for content writers, SEO assistants, social media marketing agents and moderators, graphics designers and so on.
Employers post their job ads in this site.
They can pay for optional add-ons, such as featured posts and long term jobs.
On the other hand, freelancers bid on these posted projects.
They also send proposals to employers.
Employers can then contact them directly through this platform’s messaging tools.
Once they mutually agree on all project terms and requirements, employers deposit a full or partial payment to the site as an escrow deposit.
This is released when both parties mutually agree on a completed task.
As a freelancer, you’re recommended to divide bigger projects into milestones.
This way, you can have escrow funds deposited for each milestone and released upon completing that smaller task.
This is much better than waiting for the entire project to be completed before getting paid.
Available withdrawal options for freelancers are PayPal, Skrill (only non-USD payouts), bank wire and Freelancer debit card.
Employers can pay using PayPal, Skrill (again, still non-USD payments), credit and debit cards.
Take note that each withdrawal or payment option has its own minimum limits, fees, and some of these aren’t available in certain countries.
Various Web Forums & Online Communities
Niche forums, social groups and communities can also be good sources of virtual workers, service providers, freelance projects and remote jobs.
For example, the biggest Web forums that are dedicated to SEO, digital publishing and affiliate marketing like The Warrior Forum and DigitalPoint have marketplaces where service buyers and freelancers can post their projects and offers.
Meanwhile, communities like StackExchange and Github are good places to scout for collaborators, developers and technical consultants.
Participating in engaging conversations about specific development projects and programming issues can lead to collaboration opportunities and freelance gigs.
How Can You Quickly Get Better Freelance Projects & Remote Jobs?
Now that you’re armed with a list of the top 15 micro job sourcing platforms today, the only thing that’s left for you to do is to start responding to current projects and remote job vacancies posted on those sites.
But that still won’t improve your chances of successfully closing contracts.
That’s why we prepared a checklist of recommendations and tips, just for you.
These can increase the likelihood of freelancers to get much better freelance projects and virtual jobs.
So here you go:
- Prepare your portfolio. It should contain the best projects that you’ve completed. These should, of course, be relevant to your target freelance gigs and remote jobs. But don’t forget to ask for the permission of your clients who awarded you these projects. Tell them you’ll be showing your completed work to potential employers and service buyers;
- Improve your CV. Develop it in ways that can instantly communicate your latest achievements, skill sets, and expertise in fields that are most relevant to your ideal freelance projects and remote jobs. You’re recommended to integrate proven copywriting principles into your CV. Remember, your CV should captivate the attention of your target clients. Then, its details should entice them to read the rest of your CV. Finally, they should feel compelled to contact you after viewing your CV;
- Create a list of references. These are the current contact details of your former employers and clients. Focus on those whose projects you’ve completed that you want to include in your portfolio. Then, integrate their contact details into your portfolio and CV. Of course, ask for their permission. This way, they’ll also be notified that someone might contact them to ask about you;
- Make it quicker and easier for your target clients and employers to view your CV and portfolio. You’re recommended to purchase a domain and set up a single page, responsive website for displaying your CV and portfolio. Ensure that it looks good in the majority of devices and screen sizes most likely used by your ideal clients. And of course, make it convenient for them to contact you directly through phone, SMS, email, social media messaging, VoIP and so on;
- Carefully choose the most suitable micro job sourcing sites from our roundup for your skills and expertise. For example, it might be in your best interest to test out Envato Studio if you’re a Web developer with graphic design experience.
Meanwhile, the ProBlogger marketplace and SEOClerks are ideal for content writers with SEO knowledge and digital marketing expertise; - Enhance your service offers at your chosen micro job sourcing sites. Remember, not all sites in our list allow freelancers to post offers. But you can do this in Fiverr, PeoplePerHour and a few other micro job sourcing platforms in our roundup. You can do this by reviewing the most popular service offers under categories that interest you. Try to understand why lots of clients are particularly interested in those service offers. Then, integrate all the most effective things that you’ll be able to pinpoint into your posts;
- Spend time carefully crafting just the right proposals for your target projects and virtual jobs. This means you should review each job post in more detail before responding to it. You’re also advised to learn more about your target clients and employers. Try to identify the things that they’re focusing on at the moment, and think of ways that can enable you to help them produce much better results. And at a certain point, intelligently develop your proposals into custom arrangements that are most suitable for their priorities today; and
- Hang out in social media groups and communities where many of your target clients and employers are likely spending a lot of time. These are LinkedIn groups, Facebook communities, Web forums, and so on. Complete your profiles on those platforms in ways that can make it more interesting for your ideal viewers. Also, participate in meaningful conversations about topics and industries where you specialize. This way, you can demonstrate your unique skills, authority knowledge, and real-world experience in those subject areas.
Keep these tips and recommendations in mind. Try to come up with creative ideas from these suggestions. Develop those in ways that can allow you to get much better projects and remote jobs from your ideal clients and employers.
