One really good way to attract good freelancers is to create clear project descriptions. This saves you both time and money, as you don’t need to weed through a pile of unqualified candidates. That’s why I’ve created the following ten common job descriptions across the five key areas that you can tweak and post on project boards, in ads, and elsewhere.
DESIGN TEAM
Web Designer
Wanted: an experienced web designer to create a custom five-page website in a relationship/family niche.
Please note that we are NOT looking for someone who can edit an HTML template. We need a skilled designer who can do custom designing and layout.
Your skills include:
- Conceptualizing a project.
- An artist’s eye (and the tech skills to turn a vision into a reality).
- Intermediate coding knowledge for creating simple forms.
- Experience with designing user-friendly sites and doing usability testing.
- A background in marketing so that you understand how to create a site that’s both beautiful and effective in terms of lead generation and sales.
- Ability to create custom graphics.
Experience with [some certain code or even software] a plus.
Deadline: [Insert your deadline for this project.]
Budget: [List your budget range for the project.]
Please send your project proposal by [certain date].
Ecover Designer
People really do judge a book by its cover, and that’s why we need YOU to create something that will impress our prospects and customers!
Wanted: a talented graphics designer to create a set of five custom ecovers for a golfing product aimed at middle-age men who want to improve their game.
All five covers will be based on the same design, they’ll just be different sizes. These sizes include: [list the exact dimensions of the covers you want].
Here are the required skills for this project:
- Ability to brainstorm ideas that are good fits for a particular project.
- Skilled at turning words and ideas into beautiful, professional covers.
- Some marketing knowledge so that you understand how important your cover design is to the overall marketing process.
Prefer designers who use Photoshop and can send the image to us in the following formats: [list your preferred formats, such as both .jpg and .png, and source files too if required].
Deadline: [Insert your deadline.]
Budget: [Insert your budget for this project.]
Special note: we need at least four ecovers each and every month at a minimum, so you’re likely to get steady, ongoing work from us if you do a good job with this particular project.
Please send a link to your portfolio along with your project proposal.
CONTENT TEAM
Blog Article
Wanted: an experienced writer to create a 1000-word blog article in the weight loss niche.
Working title: Five Surefire Ways to Drop 10 Pounds Fast.
Intended audience: Women over 40 who’ve tried a variety of diets, but struggle to lose weight.
Purpose of the article: to direct readers to our lead page, where they’ll join our mailing list.
Here are the skills you possess:
- Speak and write English well as a first language.
- Ability to craft engaging content with a conversational tone, light humor, and light storytelling.
- Skilled at creating attention-getting titles.
- Skilled at creating content that drives readers to take a specific action (includes skills with crafting strong calls to action).
- An understanding of our niche, how to create content that resonates with them, and what motivates them.
- Ability to deliver the final article as a .docx document.
- The ability to create related content (such as autoresponder emails) is a plus.
Deadline: [Insert deadline].
Budget: [Insert your budget range for this project].
Contact me with your project proposal and a link to your portfolio with similar items. If you’re hired, I’ll send a detailed project brief which includes an outline and samples.
Take note that we need someone who can create at least 10 new blog articles per month in this niche, so we prefer to get bids from those who are able and willing to handle future work.
Autoresponder Series
Wanted: an experienced writer to create a five-part autoresponder series in the relationship niche. Each email should be 500 words, for a total of 2500 words for the project.
Audience: Middle-age women who are experiencing problems in their marriage, including communication problems and repeated arguments on the same topics. They’re looking for tips and ideas to help save their marriage.
Intended purpose: these five emails will all lead to a paid product that’s designed to help couples overcome communication problems and renew their romance.
Description: The five emails will each cover one “secret” for developing a better relationship, including how to get your partner to open up, how to speak each other’s love language, and similar topics. If you’re hired for this job, you’ll get a detailed outline for each email.
Requirements:
- English as a first language.
- Ability to create engaging content that gets people to take action.
- A background in marketing to understand how this content will be used to generate sales.
- An ability to create five emails that are useful yet incomplete, so that they lead readers to the paid offer.
- Experience in creating content for marriage/relationship niches.
Deadline: [List your deadline.]
Budget: [List your budget range.]
Please send your proposal along with a link to your portfolio, especially those pieces in the same niche.
Product creation (e.g., tripwire report)
Wanted: Experience, engaging writer to create 10,000-word report that we’ll sell as a frontend (tripwire) product.
Intended audience: online marketers who want to improve their Facebook advertising results.
Working title: How to Set Up an Effective Facebook Advertising Campaign.
Description: This topic will include sections on keyword selection, crafting good ad copy, creating eye-catching graphics for an ad, and testing/tracking campaigns to improve conversions.
Purpose: People will purchase this report for $10, and it will provide useful information and a compelling advertisement at the end to help persuade them to purchase our flagship Facebook advertising course.
Project requirements:
- You must be a skilled writer who can create engaging content and a well-organized, well-researched report.
- Knowledge about Facebook advertising is required.
- A marketing background preferred so that you understand how to create useful, persuasive content that impresses readers.
- The ability to capture and edit screenshots is a plus.
Deadline: [Insert your deadline.]
Budget: [Insert your budget range.]
Special note: We create approximately four of these sorts of reports every month, so we’re looking for a strong writer who can provide high-quality content on an ongoing basis. If you do a good job with this project, you’ll be considered for future work.
Please send your project proposal and a link to your portfolio.
TECH TEAM
Web Developer
In search for web developer to build and maintain a WordPress-based website for an information marketer in a weight loss niche. You’ll create a custom theme with a blog and five WP pages.
You’ll possess the following skills:
- Experience in developing WordPress sites, including how to customize Genesis themes, create forms, install and edit themes, and install plugins.
- Knowledge and experience with maintaining and securing websites, including database management.
- The ability to create and edit five simple images.
- The ability to maintain the website over the long term, including updating software and scripts.
Deadline for creating the website: [Insert deadline.]
Budget for this project: [Insert range.]
Your next step: Contact me with your project proposal and portfolio.
MARKETING TEAM
Affiliate Manager
Seeking motivated individual to start and manage an affiliate program in the “online marketing” niche. Your duties will include:
- Setting up products on the ClickBank platform.
- Creating marketing materials for affiliates (or managing another freelancer, where appropriate). Materials include rebrandable report, five emails, five articles, five social media blurbs and five graphical ads (e.g., banners).
- Finding and recruiting new affiliates to join the team.
- Developing and nurturing relationships with super affiliates.
- Employing retention strategies.
- Fielding all affiliate inquiries.
- Motivating affiliates with weekly emails and blog posts.
You’ll need experience with:
- The ClickBank platform.
- People management and motivation.
Bonus if you already have contacts in online marketing that you can recruit to the team.
Compensation: [Describe compensation, such as a flat monthly fee + percentage of affiliate profits.]
Contact me with your resume and explanation as to why you’d be a great affiliate manager.
Social Media Management
We’re in search of an individual to manage our social media marketing strategy. We’ve already developed the strategy – we just need you to implement it.
Who we are: [Describe your company for context.]
Your duties will include:
- Creating content for our three main platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- Designing and running contests to attract new followers.
- Interacting with followers to develop relationships.
- Creating short videos to post (once per month), such as a “behind the scenes” videos or interviews.
- Tracking, analyzing and optimizing our social media strategy.
- Turn followers into subscribers.
Experience with social media marketing on all of the above platforms required. You also need to be an experienced and engaging writer.
Compensation: [Describe your budget range per month for this job.]
Contact me today with your resume, and let me know how you can help us grow our social media presence and generate leads.
Copywriter (for a sales letter)
Wanted: A highly skilled copywriter to create a sales letter for a monthly $15 membership site for men who want to burn fat through good nutrition and weight lifting. Estimated 2000 to 3000 words long. Also want a set of five headlines to test.
Requirements:
- You must have demonstrated skills and experience with creating high-converting copy.
- Experience creating copy for the weight loss market (especially men) required.
- Ability to do optimization testing preferred.
Contact me with your bid and a link to your portfolio. If hired, you’ll receive a detailed project brief with complete audience demographics, membership site benefits, payment terms, guarantee, testimonials and more.
SUPPORT TEAM
Customer Service Rep
Wanted: A part-time customer service representative to handle customer inquiries via a help desk and live chat Monday through Friday from 1:00pm to 5:00pm EST.
Who we are: [Provide description of your company, what you sell, and what type of customers you have to give prospective reps some context.]
Requirements:
- Must comprehend, speak and write English. English as a second-language is okay, as long as your comprehension and speaking skills are excellent.
- Ability to occasionally handle difficult or upset customers calmly.
- Ability to promptly, cheerfully, and professionally field customer service inquiries.
- Ability to work independently, and confidently make decisions about how best to help a customer. (You will receive training first.)
- Ability to work on pressure during product launches or other high-volume times.
Compensation: [Enter your compensation range.]
Please send your resume along with an explanation of why you’d be a good fit for this job. If you make the hiring shortlist, you’ll have to complete a Skype interview, as well as an English-proficiency test.
Bonus Two:
Get Up And Running Fast With The
Freelance F.O.R.C.E. Printable Checklist
We covered a lot of good information in the Freelance F.O.R.C.E. course. Now you can remind yourself of the key highlights at a glance with this checklist. This is such a useful tool that you’ll want to print it off and hang it in your work area so that you can refer to it often.
Take a look…
Freelance F.O.R.C.E. Checklist
Examine your business to uncover your needs in the five key areas:
- Content
- Design
- Tech
- Support
- Marketing
Take note that you may hire just one person for each key area for starters, but you’ll add to your team as your business grows.
Consider creating process maps to help both you and your freelancers complete common tasks for your business.
Decide whether you’re going to have your team members interact with one another. (If so, start developing a group cohesion/bonding strategy.)
Get organized by using a project management platform such as Basecamp or Slack.
Outline the steps of each task you need completed, and assign team members for each step.
As needed, research how to do the task, including getting input from experts.
Start mapping your outsourcing calendar:
Step 1: List all the possible tasks you need done.
Step 2: Prioritize these tasks.
Step 3: Plan your outsourcing calendar for the next 6 months.
Create a business framework and share it with your freelancers to help them complete your tasks with better results. This framework includes:
- Core values.
- Company mission.
- Company vision.
- Company goals.
- Branding.
- Company culture.
Be sure to go over these items with your new freelancers, and remind them of these components as needed in project briefs.
Consider creating a company handbook and/or introductory video to give to freelancers when they join your team.
Create an effective onboarding process to help retain freelancers on your team. This includes:
- Completing contracts, which include project scope, payment details, deadlines and other relevant items.
- Connecting team members (where applicable).
- Creating training materials, including process maps, systems and tutorials.
Craft effective project descriptions to ensure you get good results. Include these elements:
- Overview and working title of the project.
- Purpose of the project/objectives.
- Intended audience.
- Specific formatting instructions/outline.
- Samples and examples.
- Finishing details (deadline, budget, milestones, etc.).
Check to be sure you’re not making these time-consuming and costly mistakes:
- Hiring before you get crystal-clear about your needs.
- Viewing outsourcing as an expense rather than an investment.
- Rushing through the due diligence process.
- Failing to create a backup plan.
- Creating a high turnover rate.
Work to turn your freelancers into a highly effective, profitable team using these tips and strategies:
- Communicate regularly.
- Create consistency.
- Be available to your freelancers.
- Create bonding opportunities.
- Be sensitive to cultural differences.
- Manage expectations (both yours and your freelancers’).
- Hone your people and project management skills.
Use the five-component strategy for finding the R.I.G.H.T. freelancers for your team. These five components include:
- Rates.
- Independence.
- Good fit.
- Hard-working.
- Trained.
Ask the following five questions during the hiring process:
#1. Why should I choose you (over similar freelancers)?
#2. Do you have experience [with some specific type of project]? If so, please explain.
#3. What are your expectations for the work environment?
#4. Why have you parted ways with other employers/outsourcers?
#5. Why do you want to work here?
Print off this checklist!
Bonus Three:
50 Jobs You Can Outsource To
Grow Your Business Faster Than Ever
What sorts of tasks do you plan on outsourcing?
You probably have a tentative list in mind. But I’m guessing that list is fairly short. And that’s because most business owners have never really thought about the variety of tasks they can outsource to grow their business. That’s why you’ll want to look at this list 50 tasks that you can hire someone else to do – some of them might surprise you!
Here they are in no particular order…
1. Design your website. This may include installing a platform such as WordPress and creating a custom theme.
2. Maintain your website. This includes making sure all your plugins and forms are in good working order.
3. Secure your website. This ensures your blog and other pages are secure and safe from hackers, database corruption, and similar.
4. Designing graphics. This includes web graphics, banner ads, ads for platforms such as Facebook and similar.
5. Design a logo. You can even hire someone to come up with your branding strategy.
6. Produce ecover graphics and other packaging for your products.
7. Do market research. This includes both overall niche research, as well as researching product ideas.
8. Research content (for blog articles, emails, reports, etc.).
9. Outline content (for articles, reports, video scripts, etc.).
10. Format content for blogs, layout the interior of ebooks, etc. to create a professional appearance.
11. Write blog articles for both your blog and guest blogging opportunities. You can also hire someone to proof, format and upload the content.
12. Craft emails (solo or a series). These could be instructional “how to” emails, tips, product reviews, case studies, promotions, and similar.
13. Create content for social media. This includes Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and may include videos, graphics, articles, tips, quotes, memes and similar.
14. Produce videos, which includes instructional videos, welcome videos, promotional pieces and more.
15. Do voice overs for videos, which includes paid products, instructional videos and promotional videos.
16. Create slides for videos, webinars, and presentations.
17. Write sales letters and video sales letter scripts.
18. Create advertising such as display ads, pay per click ads, Facebook ads, etc.
19. Design a lead page (and optimize it for maximum conversions).
20. Create a lead magnet, such as a report, ebook, gear list, checklist or similar useful item.
21. Produce paid reports, ebooks, videos, and other products. May also include updating these products, splintering them to create new products, and repurposing them.
22. Recruiting marketing (joint venture) partners, and nurturing these relationships over time. May also include overseeing the joint ventures you do to be sure your partners have a good experience.
23. Managing an affiliate program, which may include motivating affiliates, creating marketing materials for them, paying them, etc.
24. Crafting a marketing strategy. This could be an overall marketing strategy, or a specific strategy such as a social media strategy, an email marketing strategy, a content marketing strategy, etc. You can also hire someone to implement these strategies.
25. Project management and team management (e.g., managing your freelancing team, serving as the “middleman” between you and the freelancing team, etc.).
26. Customer service (via email, help desk, phone, etc.).
27. Invoicing and payments. (For example, paying your other freelancers or invoicing associates.)
28. Developing apps, plugins and software. May also include developing scripts/programs for your own personal use, such as tools for your website.
29. Creating podcasts, editing them, uploading them, and/or distributing them.
30. Managing content distribution. E.G., finding guest blogging opportunities, managing content syndication, etc. This includes articles, videos and audio content.
31. Doing search engine optimization. Includes onpage optimization, link-building, and keyword research.
32. General virtual assistant tasks. Includes “gatekeeping,” scheduling, personal email management, creating training materials, etc.
33. Organization. This may include organizing files, organizing lists (such as membership site member lists), etc.
34. Accounting and basic bookkeeping.
35. Platform moderation. This includes moderating comments on your blog, as well as on your social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc.).
36. Staff/team training and motivation. For example, you can hire someone to take new freelancers through the onboarding and education process. This person might also employ freelancer-retention strategies.
37. Group/forum management. This includes starting conversations and encouraging interaction in your communities, such as your Facebook group or on a forum.
38. Email marketing. To include creating a strategy, building the list, creating content, etc.
39. Editing and proofreading, including web content, emails, reports, ebooks, membership content, social media content, and everything else you create.
40. Basic image creation and editing for things such as ebook graphics, blog post graphics and similar.
41. Creating infographics for distribution on your blog, on social media, or even to be used as lead magnets.
41. Developing viral content (including memes, comics, videos, etc.).
42. Press release writing and distribution, both locally and nationally.
43. Competitor analysis, especially as part of entering a new niche.
44. SWOT analysis, as part of developing a business plan.
45. Traffic analysis on an ongoing basis to see if you’re meeting your goals in terms of pure traffic numbers and conversions.
46. Publicity management, such as handling consumer complaints that have been made public on social media.
47. Community participation/commenting. This is where a freelancer comments on other peoples’ blogs and social media pages on your behalf.
48. Lead/traffic generation. This can be one specific type (such as generating leads via free webinars), or the freelancer may develop and implement your entire lead generation strategy.
49. Brainstorming. Some freelancers are very creative and will be willing to brainstorm a wide variety of topics with you, from business ideas to product ideas to branding to out-of-the-box marketing ideas.
50. Conversion testing. This includes ads, sales letters, emails, and other campaigns. You may test pricing, product names, sales copy, venues and more.
Conclusion
There you have it: 50 tasks (okay, that was more than 50 tasks!) you can outsource to your freelancers. Some of these are one-off tasks (such as market research) that you may hire someone to do every once in a while, while others are ongoing (such as the virtual assistant tasks). So, now it’s your turn: take a look at your business to see where freelancers can best help your business grow!
