There are a lot of websites that are being used by clients to hire freelancers depending on their jobs and projects. Here are the top listed websites that freelancers and clients chose. Either if you are looking for a job or potential clients, then this post is for you.

Each sites works differently. From the pricing, the availability of connections, the premium accounts etc. So these websites below will be listed together with the important information for your guidance. In these platforms, clients and business owners can browse the top and newbie freelancers depending on their location, specialization and also their budget. The clients can also see the reviews left by the other clients in which helps the freelancer to grow and build trust for their future projects.

On some sites, freelancers have to bid for the specific budget in which the clients may choose to go with the cheapest budget or the highest bid depending on the freelancer's skills towards the tasks that the clients required. Whatever the website is, the purpose of these freelancing sites is not just to help the clients to see the freelancers' portfolios but also to help the freelancers land their jobs basing on their skills and to build up their profile, experience working remotely and to have a peace of mind working at home.

Here are the lists of top website that you can build an account.

Upwork: Upwork is a free freelance website aiming for small and huge businesses. Working under Upwork also makes you feel safe as they have a protection and you may be able to see the clients having a payment verified and unverified. Also, they have what they call ‘connects' in which you can use when you submit your resume and cover letter to the clients. Today, if your ‘connects' are all used, you can upgrade your account to premium to be able to purchase connects. And as of today, Upwork is requiring every freelancer, whether you have a new or old account to have video call verification and passing a government ID to avoid scammers and spam. In that way, not only freelancers will be protected but also the clients.

Fiverr: Similar to Upwork, Fiverr is the largest website for businesses especially for the client's budget. The average rate of freelancers in Fiverr compared to other websites is more affordable made for the client's need. Most freelancer newbies sign up here in Fiverr as their stepping stone especially in building up their portfolios and experiences. However, Fiverr charges 20% fee on both clients and freelancers.

Freelancer.com: Freelancer.com is also a large website that aims for the freelancers to grow and build their career and their portfolios. The company claims that 95% of their clients hire freelancers from their website. There are lots of jobs posted over 15million and increasing and 30billion users on the website. They use PayPal as mode of payment. Their payment option can give you peace of mind. Freelancer.com will hold the client's escrow until the work is completed correctly. But since there are many experienced freelancers here, you may have to step up your game and build your portfolio pretty well.

LinkedIn: Most people think that this website is a place to build up portfolios and increase connections, LinkedIn is like a twitter website but in a corporate or business ways. LinkedIn is not just building a profile portfolio but also clients use this for hiring freelancers. LinkedIn ProFinder is used by the clients to post jobs in which automatically match the freelancers' skills. That's why freelancers can easily access and see the job posted by the clients in which they can send their resume and cover letter easily. LinkedIn is a free website and you can also upgrade to Premium/Pro to access more information.

OnlineJobsPh: Like the Freelancer.com, onlinejobsph is a free website that freelancers can build up their portfolio. You have to take their required test and verify your profile by uploading government ids so your points will increase which makes the client trust you when you are sending them a proposal. Also, the more points you have, the more you can apply for the job that requires 70points up by the client.

If you are a freelancer and wanting to build up your portfolio and posts by using an image, but worried because you might get sued for copyright, then here are the top websites list where you can find images to be used for free, and not just free but also a copyright-free. Some websites allows you to download and use the photos for private use (example: background photos, Instagram use etc.) This also includes creating business cards, thru website creation and even posters.

Freerange: You can register here for free and once signed up, high-resolution images will welcome you for free in which you can use depending on your needs and niches. If you are a photographer or aspiring photographer, Freerange also offers Google AdSense revenue sharing when you contribute. Not only you share photos but also you can have some revenue because of Google AdSense. Also, the team behind launched another website that specialized in vintage called Vintage Stock Photos. Before, the content actually requires payment but it has now changed so for now, you can find more than thousands of bucks worth of quality vintage photos available with no extra charge.

Unsplash: it is a side-project started by Crew, Crew is an online marketing agency that is dedicated to make your designs into reality. Aside from providing free stock photography, Unsplash also takes in and publish graphic design works that is being done by their users with their so-called MadeWith section.

Pexels: started in 2015, Pexels is a website that aims to help in which has grown to have developed a reputable stock photo library. Pexels is also unique because it doesn't display images located on the Pexels Website but also outsources images from high-quality websites such as Gratisography, Little Visuals and more. Pexels screens their image to ensure the users to have the highest quality image available. You can also download high quality videos from the website.

Flickr: Flickr is also one of the famous website that has greatest image libraries in the internet. Although flickr is not for public domain images, you can find here the highest quality images from the users.

Life of Pix: Created by LEEROY advertising agency in Montreal, Life of Pix is free public domain photography. Also, their so-called Life of Vids website contains impressive video footages that are also available for free. Two birds in one stone.

StockSnap: Created by the people from Snappa, every photo that you can see in StockSnap is free to use. This website provides an excellent and high-quality images, and even extensive library of free images. With hundreds and even thousands of images that is being uploaded every week, StockSnap is definitely not just your ordinary photo website.

Pixabay: Pixabay is a great website resource for both beginners and professional photographers. Pixabay allows easy access to camera search which the users are allowed to explore images based on the camera used to take them. Pixabay is also used to integrate images from another image hosting sites. They also gather the best and high-quality images for free to use in your personal or commercial use.

Burst: Burst provides a sleek interface to explore as it also aims to have a very wide selection of the images base on the users preferred categories. It also provides from low to high resolution images depending of the user's needs, whether it will be used for commercial or personal use, or even the user's own website or their client's.

KaboomPics: KaboomPics is the user's most favorite website among all. Why? Because it provides impressive and breathtaking images, from the UI design to the image reservoir, you can find a lot of images that will make your eyes and mind impress. They also feature a color picker search engine and color palettes for the images as well. KaboomPics offers informative images to be use for ideas in photoshoot, blogposts, and more.

Wikimedia: Wikimedia is a website that aims for the graphic designers, photographers, bloggers become their image necessities. Wikimedia provides a great image from whether you are looking for historical photographs up to the present. Not only that, the website also offers a high-quality images as the website is also a part of a large organization that dedicates a free images, education, and information.

How will you stand out uniquely despite of the high freelancer demands on the market? How will you convince your client that you are the one that they are looking for to land on their job preferences? These tips will help you not just to survive, but also to do your best being a freelancer.

Find Out Your Greatest Niche Skills.

You have to know what your greatest skill is. Are you someone who loves doing graphic designs, or are you a dedicated writer, or the one who loves helping people in communicating, or the one who just love office-related work? You need to know it so you will have an idea on what to present and how to present it on your potential client. More is more. The more you have skills, the more you have a chance to land on a job, whether it will be a part-time or a full-time remote job. Marketing yourself will be easier and less competition.

Show Professionalism in Communication.

Clients are still your boss. Be formal when speaking especially when you are presenting yourself. Start it in your cover letter. For example: I came across your post regarding this job and I thought to myself that I am able to help you with it. If you needed my help, please don't hesitate to contact me as I'll be glad to assist you.

Clients will not be able to be impress but also they can feel that you are worth the trust and easier to work with. Always remember not to be boastful.

Work and Communicate with the Language You Are Comfortable Speaking.

Being a freelancer, you are able to work with different countries such as in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong etc. Being an English-speaker, you also preferred to work with an English-speaking client. Unless you know and have a fluency in other language, then you may opt to have it as a choice. Use it as your advantage as some clients gives additional pay if you can speak more language aside from English. Work with ease as you can also express your ideas in the language that you are preferred to use together with your future clients.

Promote Yourself.

Never stop learning. Just because you landed a job doesn't mean that you will stop learning and experience new other things outside your job niche. No matter how you became a topnotch and a well-known freelancer, you should not stop promoting and making a target audience in your post. Whether if it's your social media sites or even your own website. Continue to be active. If you are having a full-time job and you still have an extra time, you can be active in posting and engaging in your social media sites or post on your website daily. Or even use a scheduled app so you can post and schedule it at the same time, targeting your preferred audience base on your topic. Or you can find a part-time job based on your preferred niche for example, sending cold emails to clients. There are so many ways to promote yourself. In short, be active.

Talk to the Professionals.

If you are new to freelancing and you have a coach, you can ask him or her about your questions and guides regarding being a freelancer. You can also ask for some tips and tricks especially on how you will be able to charge your potential client based on the niche and the proper ways on how to communicate on your clients. As everyone was saying, never stop learning and exploring things.

Do Market Research.

Google it my friend! It is important for you to do a market research regarding the company that you are going to be soon a part of it. Legitimacy is definitely an important pace. You will also have to research for some reviews especially if it's a retail company. It is really important for you to be able to know and to get some sense especially on the size of the company. You will soon to know how much the project or numbers of projects that they needed means to the company and its purpose.

Business networking is a socioeconomic activity by which businesspeople engage in business relationships to create or act upon business opportunities, share information and find potential partners for ventures.

Networking for a freelancer is crucial as you don't count on a team to solve problems or create new business opportunities, but you have to seek for them on your own. Networking allows you to find other likeminded businesspeople with similar interests and goals as you but with different skills or resources that along with yours might lead to a new venture, new opportunities or an exchange of skills/knowledge.

Networking is important because it allows you to make the most of your personal and industry connections that will probably bring you a regular supply of new business. As a freelancer, you are always in need of new work, and the easiest way to find new projects is when you get new work from people you know. That is why your personal network is an invaluable resource.

Therefore, networking is important because it may lead to new businesses and client leads. Also, networking leads to information and project leads, sometimes even before the project has been announced. Another reason why it networking is crucial for freelancers is because it allows you to make a connection. Portfolios and cover letters are sometimes too impersonal and there are many other people out there who possess the same qualifications you have. Getting to know someone on a first name basis allows them to get to know you better, and people prefer to hire someone they know and like. The last reason is that meeting other freelancers allows you to team up and pitch for bigger opportunities.

They way you can grow your business network is, first and foremost, by networking every day. Networking is not just about exchanging business cards, but also about talking to people. This doesn't necessarily only happen at networking events but it can take place anywhere. If you meet someone who could be interested in your services, you should keep it casual and that person to get in touch or ask for their contact details. You don't want to seem to eager.

Networking is not also about taking but also about giving. Try to help others often and look at it as an investment. This is one of the best ways to build your network. When you help others, you are automatically letting them know what you are capable of doing, what your ability is in, and that you are willing to share that knowledge.

You can help others by replying to their email, responding to a tweet for help, writing a blog post offering advice, giving support over the phone, or meeting someone for a coffee to chat about the issues they are facing. You'll see the favour is returned when those you helped recommend you to others who are looking for similar expertise - clients.

You might also want to keep your relationships fresh. Try and get in touch with those contacts you haven't heard of in a while to keep your relationship from going stale. Even if it doesn't lead to a new business opportunity, they might recommend you to someone who requires your services.

Make friends with other freelancers. Don't think of them as competitors as most freelancers want other freelancers to succeed. You might want to team up with them at some point to pitch for bigger work that requires a team or you might refer businesses to each other. If you stay in touch with them, you might have access to more opportunities.

It doesn't end at making friends with freelancers, but you must also connect people. That's part of networking as they might do the same for you. After referring people, these opportunities will hopefully come back to you as people remember the opportunities you have created for them.

One way to meet fellow freelancers is by going to networking events in your industry. Attend these events with the purpose of meeting other professionals and listen and learn about what they are doing and what is going on in your community. Their insight might help you professionally. Some of the websites that list networking events are Meetup, Eventbrite and Lanyrd.