Top Five Services You Should be Hiring Freelancers for as a Small Business
Nearly one-third of Americans are already doing freelancing work of some kind. By 2020, that number is expected to grow to 40 – 50 percent (read – The Future of Freelancing). It is not only the freelancers who are benefiting from the role, but companies and non-profit organizations are also benefiting from the freelance movement.
Freelancing is a big business and is adding over $715 billion annually to the economy. How can you take advantage of this booming market? Here are five services that your business or non-profit can consider outsourcing.
Logo design- A logo is a symbol, an emblem or a sign that represents a company, individual or organization. A logo garners instant public recognition for a brand. With a logo, you announce that you are a legitimate, credible and trustworthy company.
The problem for many is that logo design can be incredibly expensive, especially if going through an agency. As a small business or non profit organization, spending thousands of dollars on a logo may not be feasible, which is the main reason why it’s suggested that you outsource your logo design project. Outsourcing your logo design to a freelancer can often result in significant savings while achieving the outcome you desire.
Other graphic design services- Graphic design is the art of planning/projecting ideas through textual and visual content and includes graphic forms, images, and even text. A graphic designer creates design solutions with a high visual impact. Their designs are needed for a large number of activities and products such as books, advertising, magazines, product packaging, displays, corporate communications, websites, corporate identity and more. They have roles such as art directors, animators, printmakers, web designers, multimedia specialists, production designers, exhibition designers and so on.
Although graphic design work can be costly, it doesn’t mean that you have to foot a hefty bill to get the service done. Outsourcing this work to freelancers is a promising way to receive quality work at a fair price.
Blog writing- A blog allows you to address your audience/clients as a crowd. You can influence people with your blog and it is also a forum to discuss your thoughts with clients and elicit responses from readers. But good writing skills come with practice and time. That is why professional bloggers are so high in demand.
Outsourcing writing for your blog posts, press releases, website content, and others will serve you greatly in the long run as quality writing certainly trumps mediocre content. Good content requires research and the know-how to address certain audiences.
Website design- Web design is the art of planning and designing a website. Web design includes aspects like layout, graphics, content, fonts and more. A web designer also includes website structure, information architecture, user interface, website layout, navigation ergonomics, colors, contrast, imagery, fonts and icon design. It is a very skilled service and requires a lot of knowledge, experience and training. Now there are readymade web templates so most professional companies just use them to create websites.
But if you don’t want a cookie-cutter website, you can hire a freelancer to create a custom website for you. Website design is one of the most popular categories of services for freelancers on the Internet. In our fast growing online world, a website has become a necessity. Websites created by freelance website designers is usually on par with that made by professional agencies. Moreover, a decent website can cost at least $3,000 on an average to create. Most freelancers will work for much less than that. A freelancer can give often provide you these rates as he/she does not have typical overhead expenses such as support staff, rented space, office bills and more.
Marketing/SEO- SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a process where you try to get traffic from ‘organic’, ‘natural’, ‘free’ or ‘editorial’ search results on a search engine. SEO is a type of online marketing. Online marketing also includes pay per click advertising, affiliate marketing, content marketing, website design, social media marketing, online reputation management, display advertising, email marketing and many more things. This shows that online marketing/SEO is also a skill. Just having a website is not enough. You have to market your goods and services online, as you would offline.
Online marketing/SEO has a number of benefits. It builds your brand, drives brand loyalty, increases customer satisfaction, provides convenience, reduce sales cost and it is cost effective. Best of all, you can measure the results through analytics. There is so much to do sometimes that a company has no choice but to hire a full time online marketing/SEO expert. But if your online marketing needs/SEO needs are intermittent, you can outsource it, many companies already do.
Why engage a freelancer?
It is an old stereotype that freelancers are people who cannot find full time services. Many people have actually quit their full time services to become freelancers because it pays so well. Now most freelancers are experienced professionals who have specific skills, with a strong track record and brand. Many freelancers commit significant effort and time to continue learning, refine their skills and add new ones. Many of them are subject matter experts and if you have a specific business issue, these freelancers with their deep expertise can help you resolve them.
Cost is another reason why small companies have started hiring more freelancers. Companies employ freelancers on a per cost basis, for specific services like logo design or marketing/SEO. This means small companies can take on multiple consultants, for the price of a single hire who may have limited skills. So if you have ever thought about hiring a freelancer for a service you want to be done at your business, you should seriously consider hiring a freelancer. But be careful. Exercise diligence because there are many amateurs masquerading as ‘freelancers’. They will take your money and won’t give you the results you want. Ask for references, sample works. You can even ask them to do a trial work and if you like what you get, you can give them more work.