30 Sites Every Freelancer Should Visit and Utilize
Posted June 4, 2009 in Tools/Resources 72 Comments »
Freelancers are constantly searching for new resources. Sometimes these resources come in the form of browser plugins and other times as online tools to help us become more productive. There are countless tools, plugins, blogs, social networking sites and other resources out there that can be beneficial to freelancers.
You probably already know of a lot of these resources, but some of the quality ones may be hiding from you. Below you will find 30 sites (blogs, forums, and job boards) that I regularly use. Although there are more that I subscribe to, these are some that just can’t be missed.
Useful Blogs For Freelancers
- FreelanceFolder – Jon C. Phillips, an amazing web designer is the founder of Freelancer Folder. It was later bought by Mason Hipp who is the current owner. Under Mason’s watch freelance folder has grown to be one of the top blogs in this particular niche. With 13,000 plus subscribers, Freelance Folder is definitely a blog you want to add to your feed reader (most of you already have –)
- FreelanceSwitch — Freelance Switch is a part of the envato network. If you are looking for advice on freelancing, this is one blog that you want to add to your feed reader as soon as possible.
- Freelance-Zone – Freelance-Zone has been around since 2002 serving the needs of freelancers. A site that has survived until now is certainly worth freelancer’s attention.
- 43Folders — This blog has been around since 2004. Merlin Mann, the owner and writer talks about finding time and ways to do your best creative work. This is certainly one of the best blogs a freelancer can subscribe to.
- WakeUpLater — The joy of freelancing is working when you want, where you want. Wake Up Later will help you gain some insight in that field. You can find freelancing advice, free stuff for freelancers and other tips and tricks.
- Problogger – Everyone that is active in the blogosphere knows Darren Rowse. One of the first person who became a full time blogger, inspiring many others. If you are looking for some advice on how to become a full time blogger or an effective freelancer, Problogger offers some of the best tips that are out there.
- SmashingMagazine – If you are pursuing your freelance career in designing, Smashing Magazine is your source for inspiration and ideas. This blog features designs and lists that are simply too amazing to be ignored. If you are a designer and have yet to check this blog out, trust me, you are missing on something really good.
- TheSimpleDollar – Sure, it’s a finance blog. But thesimpledollar shares some of the tips that applies to us not just as individuals but as freelancers as well. Get your finances on track and subscribe to thesimpledollar.
- Noupe – One of the fastest growing blogs and very popular among designers, Noupe offers insight and articles that cater to designers and web-developers.
- MenWithPens – One of the best blogs for writers and freelancers. Men With Pens ranks no.2 among best blogs for writers. If you are a writer and plan on boosting your freelancing career in writing, these men have got all the advice that will help you become a top writer and an effective freelancer.
Forums For Freelancers
- TalkFreelance – One of the popular forums among freelancers that has many segments allowing freelancers to discuss different aspects of freelancing.
- FreelanceLounge – Another useful forum for freelancers to discuss freelancing topics and participate in discussions related to their field.
- Freelance UK Forum – Pretty popular forum. Although this is a UK forum, since most freelance work happens over the web, location doesn’t really matter. This forum has topics on a wide variety of freelance topics. Go ahead and participate.
- eLanceTalk – A forum for freelancers that is mostly dedicated to design, SEO and hosting along with other freelancing topics.
- FreelanceSwitch Forum – A very popular forum among designers and web developers but also caters to other freelancing topics. This forum as you can imagine is a part of FreelanceSwitch.
- FreelanceFolder Forum – A forum mostly utilized by the FreelanceFolder community. It’s simple, basic and has only 3 topics related to freelancing which I think covers almost everything.
- FreelanceWriting Forum — Part of Freelancewriting and mostly focuses on the writers community and topics related to freelance writers.
- WhyDoWork – A very popular forum with over 38,000 members. The forum is basically for people who work from home and most freelancers do just that. A great resource and community to be a part of.
- LogoPond – A very active forum that mainly focuses on designers.
- WritersForum – If you are a writer and want to get into freelancing, this forum will certainly cater to your need for discussion and answers to any questions you might have.
Job Boards For Freelancers
- Guru – One of the world’s largest online marketplace for freelance talent.
- Elance – Outsourcing to freelancers.
- GetAFreelancer – For freelance programmers and designers.
- AllFreelanceWork – Jobs for freelancers and contract workers.
- iFreelance – Find or post freelance jobs.
- Sologig – Get connected with freelance, consulting, and contract jobs.
- NoAgenciesPlease – A fee free direct recruitment service for new media freelancers.
- GoFreelance – This site provides you with thousands of freelance gigs to choose from.
- FreelanceJobSearch – The name says it all, a place for you to search freelance jobs.
- GetaCoder – A freelance job site for programmers, coder, web developers, etc.
There are numerous other great resources for freelancers and this is not an extensive list at all. Please share some of the resources you know of (blogs, forums, job boards, articles) that might help a fellow freelancer out.
About the author: Ritu is a freelance writer who has been involved in social media for several years. At the moment he is working on a variety of projects, but is always open to new ideas. Contact him at email(at)ritubpant(dot)com or follow @ritubpant on twitter.
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72 Comments
Selene M. Bowlby
June 4th, 2009 at 10:26 amThis is an excellent list, Ritu! I frequent many of the sites here, but you’ve pointed out quite a few that I have not heard of, so thank you!
Simon
June 4th, 2009 at 10:28 amA nice list to add to my bookmarks there, Thanks!
Simon
creeFr
June 4th, 2009 at 10:32 amA few additional communities and blogs can also be found at http://freelancercrowd.com/links/communities.html
Michael Rivers
June 4th, 2009 at 10:52 amWhat great information!! I’ve book marked the sites I want to go back to. Thanks!!
Veera
June 4th, 2009 at 11:21 amThanks for the resources.
Problogger is the first blog I came to know when I started my blogging. This post surely helps me to know more related resources.
Travis
June 4th, 2009 at 11:32 amYou guys forgot about Werkadoo!
http://www.werkadoo.com/default.aspx
Mandi Leman, Blellow CEO
June 4th, 2009 at 12:10 pmExcellent list! Don’t forget Blellow! We launched in April at SxSW and have a wonderful community of creative and tech freelancers and entrepreneurs! Blellow is a social network (forum), blog, and has jobs and projects boards to boot. :) http://www.blellow.com
Anne
June 4th, 2009 at 12:17 pmGreat list. The Freelance Zone’s RSS feed however, is a dud. Pity, I was going to subscribe to their blog.
Ritu
June 4th, 2009 at 12:25 pm@Anne : I have sent Joe Wallace (editor of Freelance Zone) an email in regards to the RSS feed. Meanwhile, if you want here is the link to grab the feed while they take care of the issue http://freelance-zone.com/feed/rss/ .
Thanks!
WebDev
June 4th, 2009 at 1:16 pmGreat list! I didn’t knew your site, however it is fascinating. What I’d like to put on the job board list is the good ol’ RentACoder.com It’s one of the oldest job board out there, I think.
Ps: You just got another RSS subscriber :P
theCount
June 4th, 2009 at 1:21 pmNice list of resources for freelancers, although you guys forgot two important sites:
Behance: http://www.behance.net
and
oDesk: http://www.odesk.com
good list going in my bookmarks!
Ramon Fincken
June 4th, 2009 at 1:41 pmNice list ! Missing http://www.linkedin.com though :)
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
June 4th, 2009 at 2:20 pmWoot! Thanks for the mention, Ritu, and thanks for pointing out a couple of sites that I should check out!
Anne
June 4th, 2009 at 2:49 pmThanks Ritu :) I found their Feed Burner Feed in their left hand side-bar in the meantime.
Ritu
June 4th, 2009 at 4:03 pmThanks for all the comments and for sharing sites and tools that you use.
@James @ Anne You are very welcome!
Ryan Bickett
June 4th, 2009 at 4:38 pmGreat list of sites. Some I have, many I don’t and will be adding to my bookmarks. Thanks for taking the time to pull together and share these resources!
Alex C.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:07 pmWhoa! Some very cool websites there! Really useful resource,
thanks for sharing!
Regards!
Todd S
June 4th, 2009 at 7:21 pmGreat list, thanks! I’m going to check out the Job Boards for sure, always nice to have new ones in my arsenal.
Gabe Diaz
June 4th, 2009 at 9:33 pmGreat list, I follow many of these but have found some new ones. Thanks!
Mike Smith
June 4th, 2009 at 9:51 pmnice list. A couple of the forums I hadn’t known about. Subscribed to all of the blogs already :)
JR
June 4th, 2009 at 10:11 pmhttp://www.leadurls.com aggregates a bunch of the better job boards + distinguishes between full time jobs and freelance gigs.
Ranjith
June 4th, 2009 at 11:07 pmVery Use full for freelance writers, here is related
Dimitris
June 5th, 2009 at 1:46 amThis is a great list. I always wanted to find a list like this.Thanks
Priyanka
June 5th, 2009 at 4:23 amA good list! will take a look at some of them
fysalali
June 5th, 2009 at 5:59 amGreat list, I follow many of these but have found some new ones. Thanks!
http://www.vip4arab.com
Meryl K. Evans
June 5th, 2009 at 9:13 amWebWorkerDaily.com (disclaimer: I write for ‘em)
Susan Johnston
June 5th, 2009 at 9:44 amFor general freelance info:
http://www.freelancedom.com/
Specifically for freelance writers:
http://editorunleashed.com/
http://freelancesuccess.com/
Catherine
June 5th, 2009 at 10:20 amLove this information. Thank you for taking the time to put it together.
I thought it was so important, I included a post about your information — you can read it here . . .
http://www.pronfwriter.com/2009/06/if-youre-a-freelancer-youve-got-to-know-this.html
Cyndi Papia
June 5th, 2009 at 11:48 amAgain, another fabulous list. I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog, wish I was 1/3 the blogger you are!
Chris Green
June 5th, 2009 at 5:34 pmWhat about Designers Talk, they have a great section for freelancers.
http://www.designerstalk.com/forums/
Ray
June 6th, 2009 at 1:43 amWebAppers is a great source of free web resources for freelancer as well.
http://www.webappers.com
Nikhil
June 6th, 2009 at 4:20 pmNice list…
Luke
June 6th, 2009 at 10:03 pmGreat list thank you. Lots of new resources for me in there
Colin Wright
June 7th, 2009 at 12:56 amWow, very complete and solid list. Several I hadn’t heard of on there.
Joe
June 8th, 2009 at 12:03 amThanks for the list, definitely worth bookmarking some of those.
Joe
http://www.twitter.com/beyondempty
PhaoLoo
June 10th, 2009 at 9:54 pmReally great and informative sites for me. Some I’ve visited before, some are new to me.
Juan Medín Piñeiro
June 12th, 2009 at 8:56 amExcellent! Thanks for sharing. I’ve added them to my bookmarks to read and filter them later.
Pam at BeCheap.ca
June 12th, 2009 at 8:00 pmI’m bookmarking this for tomorrow’s morning cuppa. I know some of those sites, so I bet the others will be good’uns too!
Vu Tran
June 16th, 2009 at 3:40 amGreat links! I’m subscribed to most of the freelancing blogs. Not so much on the freelance forums though.
KatUS
June 17th, 2009 at 3:46 pmI saw an ad of LimeExchange.com running on freelance folder, u missed that? I have been using it for a while, looks good to me.
Alisa Rogers
June 26th, 2009 at 7:38 amI have read your blog and links, they are really nice and I appreciate it, your efforts are marvelous and outstanding. you have a great resource of freelancers.
Ruth
June 30th, 2009 at 10:38 amThat’s a fantastic list Ritu! I’d just like to add that http://www.peopleperhour.com is an excellent freelancing marketplace.
Shveta JAin
July 13th, 2009 at 1:12 amI think , in the list http://www.ezdia.com is missing
eZdia allows you to create your own knowledge library from the community you build of trusted experts and recommended sources. Search, Learn, Create, and Teach with the eZdia Platform. eZdia will change the way you interact and gain knowledge. …
Sapna
July 13th, 2009 at 7:10 amNice and really beneficial post for freelancers, I think you can also include mturk.com in your freelancer site list.
Shveta JAin
July 20th, 2009 at 10:49 amI know one more website. Really good one to keep your knowledge at one place .
http://www.ezdia.com
personal finance blog
August 14th, 2009 at 2:00 amI just bookmarked yours’ 20 must read blogs,now I bookmarked this post.
Vivek
August 18th, 2009 at 4:52 amGreat List :)
ConsultGenie.com is another site you can add to your list.
ConsultGenie is an online marketplace where enterprises from all industries and of all sizes can find and hire qualified, tested and rated consultants and temporary staff (Providers). If you’re looking for a Provider just search and select on this portal.
For some interesting articles go to :http://consultgenie.wordpress.com
Ventsislav Tomev
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:28 pmWow great list. You can also try http://www.freelance-jobs-now.com for a lot of freelance projects from various freelance sites.
Happy bidding!
Matt
October 29th, 2009 at 8:30 amThank you, I´ve searched for a list of such sites. Fo me as a german freelancer it´s very important to get informations from international sources.
Ankit
November 10th, 2009 at 5:15 amAnother freelancing site is eZdia which asks you to post your resume and you have employers seeking you for their projects. You get the job based on your skills. If you meet the requirements you will certainly get jobs on eZdia .
It allows employers to communicate with potential employers via a chat. A skype plugin has also been added to felicitate communication. Thus You can say , eZdia has brought in a change in freelancing never seen before.
blue2x
November 17th, 2009 at 12:48 amgreat post, my fav would be this site, freelanceswitch and logopond. how about craigslist?
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